O most compassionate Jesus! Thou alone art our salvation, our life and our resurrection. We implore Thee, therefore, do not forsake us in our needs and afflictions, but by the agony of Thy most Sacred Heart and by the sorrows of Thy immaculate [pg 271] Mother, succor Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy most precious blood. Amen.
Twenty-eighth Day. All Graces Come from the Heart of Jesus.
All virtues are found in the Heart of Jesus. His Heart is the furnace of divine love, always burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit, purifying, kindling, and transforming into Himself all who yield themselves to Him, or who wish to be His. “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.” I will extol Thee, O God, my King, and I will bless Thy name forever. Since all good flows from Thy most sweet Heart, O Jesus, I should not attribute to myself anything of the good I may have done, nor regard with self-satisfaction the gifts of God, but ascribe all to Him, and return all to their original source, which is the Heart of Jesus. Place all your sins in the Heart of Jesus. Through that Heart you should ask for grace and pardon, and praise and bless Him for all His mercies. I acknowledge, O my God, Thy supreme dominion over me, and all created things. I bow down before Thy infinite sanctity, perfection and excellence, which entitle Thee to the fullest love, service, and praise of all Thy creatures. In Thy presence I protest my detestation of my countless sins, with which I have outraged Thy love, and deeply repentant, I implore of Thee a full pardon. Open wide Thy Heart of love, and let stream on my heart all the full sympathy of Thine. I know Thou canst not trust me, as I am ever prone to break my word and betray Thee. Hence I need all Thy care, all Thy grace to persevere in the good resolutions Thou formest in my soul. O sweet Virgin Mother of my [pg 272] Jesus, help me to praise and bless the Lord for all the benefits He has bestowed on me, and for all those He will grant for all eternity.
Prayer.
My sweet Jesus, I give Thee my soul, my body, and my will, resigning myself in all and forever to Thy most holy grace. Do with me what Thou pleasest. Make me ever love Thee in this life and in the next; do this, and then dispose of me and of everything I have as Thou wilt. Tell me what Thou askest of me; for with Thy grace I will execute it, be it what it may. Amen.
Twenty-ninth Day. The Heart of Jesus the Source of Sanctity.
This adorable Heart offers to us at once the motive, the example, and the grace of holiness. What could be more of an incentive to keep ourselves from sin, than the remembrance of Our Lord's Sacred Heart, which was saddened by sin to such an excess as to cause His sacred body to sweat drops of blood? What more calculated to inspire us with zeal for our sanctification than the study of this Heart, which calls us to it with so much love, and by so many sacrifices? St. Bernardin of Sienna speaks of this divine Heart as a furnace of the most ardent love, capable of setting the whole world on fire. We find in the Heart of Jesus the grace of holiness, for as Blessed Margaret Mary says, “Nothing is better calculated to raise the soul in a very short time to the loftiest degree of holiness than devotion to this dear Heart.” She also says that those who labor for the salvation of souls will find in this devotion the gift of touching the [pg 273] hardest heart. It is because this divine Heart is the throne whereon mercy is seated, that invocations made to it are never in vain. It is the strong tower against which all temptations are powerless. It is the source of all benedictions. Oh, we should love with all our strength the amiable Heart of Jesus, no matter what it may cost us! We should sanctify ourselves at any cost, and to do this we should love and burn incessantly in the furnace of the pure love of God, which will purify and sanctify us at one and the same time. Let us, then, abandon ourselves into the hands of God, and we shall soon see that He will employ every means to make us perfect. He who loves perfectly makes no resistance. My Jesus, take unto Thee my heart; I give myself wholly to Thee. May I ever be scrupulously faithful and unflinchingly constant in loving Thee, this day and every day of my whole life.
Prayer.