Friday, August 19, 2005

O, Lord, I have come to do Thy will!

In 1904 many people who were familiar with the Daughters of the Heart of Jesus (founded in 1872) by Mother Mary of Jesus (Marie Deluil-Martiny) wanted to participiate in the work of expiation which the Daughters practiced. By 1909, Pope Pius X gave his blessing to the work of "The Association of Victim Souls in Union with the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary." He placed his name at the head of the list of members and granted various indulgences and privileges. Later, Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI blessed and encouraged the association.

By 1924 there were over 160,000 laity, religious, and clerics who joined the effort in making oblations and offering their daily sufferings in the work of redemption, and in following the holy conditions of membership. A Benedictine priest, the Very Rev. Joseph Kreuter of St. John's Abbey encouraged the association's continuation into the mid-twentieth century. While there seems little to no information on the existence of the association, at least in active form among laity today, the foundress of the Daughters was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 22, 1989.

There are obviously religious communities which carry on the work of offering sufferings as victim souls along with other apostolates, but it is my prayer that the work of the earlier assocation could be revived, updated, and continued today. To this end, I ask the intercessions of the Very Rev. Kreuter and Blessed Marie of Jesus Deluil-Martiny. I pray for Jesus to guide and approve this work, if He desires me in whatever way to promote the cause of victim souls, and for the Blessed Virgin Mary to purify the attempts and lead all to Jesus in these efforts.

This was written several days ago. Since then, the work has progressed slowly but steadily on a small book which will hopefully help people more clearly understand the need and role of victim souls in our world today. A venerable priest just wrote and expressed his insistence that what the Church needs now is victim souls making reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus! Priests need the power of offered suffering and sacrifice; lay people need it; and the Bishops need it. The conversion of the world must come through the Church, and without any means to "do" things physically to change matters, we can "do" things spiritually--using our physical sufferings and making even small sacrifices for the good. This work of victim souls is actually turning suffering and sacrifice into prayer. Intention is the important beginning and end to this work: the intention must be of love and for love of God and through Him for the love of others.

We can do this! O Lord, I have come to do Thy will!

More hours of prayer in the chapel, keeping Jesus company, has been a magnificent gift to lifting me out of near-despairs. When it got down to what more could I sacrifice bodily--my toes?--did I realize that I must do all I can to enter into interior prayer. I don't know how, and it will take God's grace, but I must start by being physically and mentally and spiritually present before Him in His Tabernacle as much as possible. Of course, one must not neglect duty to others; but in my case, I can always manage more discipline to be with Him in solitude and prayer, directly face-to-face in the chapel. What I mistakenly thought would be a kind of sacrifice, in putting in more time at the chapel, has ended up being a gift of peace and even more energy and time.

Now, I might not be able to write as frequently on this blog for awhile--to which anyone who reads it might find great relief! I am writing daily on the little book, and then I must learn how to develop a web page. My writing needs to be less rambling and on personal experiences, at least in this little book. It will be more readable and shorter, I pray!

May Jesus and Mary and all the angels and saints and the holy souls in purgatory and all of you please pray for me to do the best I can for God. I will offer prayers and this effort for all of your physical and spiritual lives and growth in holiness.

Listen to My Blood!

This morning at Panera, I was asked by a patron just how it is that Jesus can practically use sufferings, such as if he offered the hassles of his job--a job he finds very laborious and frustrating. So, I did my best to explain Jesus in His timelessness, and that we continue to hurt Him by our indifference, insults, and offenses in our earth time. Then I tried to explain how St. Paul brings this out in Col. 1:24--the one that is so easy to overlook--which says how he makes up in his sufferings for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, in the Church. More is discussed, such as the power of making a vow, even a small or limited one, and I assure the young man that if he makes a vow to Jesus to offer his work sufferings to Him, that Jesus will respond in some way, letting him know He is using them and is pleased.

And this, after a grizzly night of personal pain and doubts! I have read in another rare book on victim souls that it is best if a person making the offering have a spiritual director, and regardless if the person can't find one, that much reading, preparation, and on-going practices on the way of holiness are undertaken. So, I become concerned that what I am writing is not clear, is not succinct, is not even what Jesus may want. Perhaps He'd rather I spend the hours praying in front of Him in the Tabernacle, in a chapel, in hiddenness.

Then morning comes, and I recall an experience someone had nearly a year before converting to Catholicism. (I mention this latter point because it always amazes me how Jesus prepares a soul for His will, without the soul comprehending in advance.)

The person was lying in bed, having much pain. It became so intense that something happened to the body, yet not physically, as if being lifted up. The person was lifted up and then could see Jesus on the Cross. The soul's body was placed on His crucified Body; and the right ear was placed against the wound on His right side; and the soul was told in words heard inside itself, "Listen to My blood!" The person felt His blood, slightly warm, flow into the ear. The person could smell the blood, too. In an instant this happened, and then the soul found itself, in body, again lying on the bed, in pain, as if nothing had happened.

Several months later (after the person was well into private Catholic instruction with a priest) the person one morning heard again: Listen to My blood! Then followed an outpouring of explanation, which the person wrote down.

This morning I remembered this "poem" of ten years ago which the soul shared with me. I located it and re-read it, as the words help me focus on what Jesus asks and provides. Maybe I will share it with the young man who asks me good questions here at Panera.

Listen to My Blood, I tell you:
That's why I drew your ear to My wounded side,
pressed your ear into My Self, so you could hear
the message of suffering sacrifice,
so you could sound out My pain and know that you are not alone,
and know that My blood speaks for you and all who love Me enough to listen.

Listen to My Blood!
And you will hear the rhythm of the universe coursing through your veins from Mine,
whispering secrets of divinity,
of My loneliness and persecutions,
of My physical and mental torments.
Oh yes, I felt all human stirrings of desire and held My heart out to this world
of beauty, sensation, and tempting wonders.

But listen to My blood, you mortal--
you who would wish not to suffer so on one level yet yearn to be
one with My blood for now and ever--
listen well, for My blood flows into you and fills you with powers of forgiveness,
healing, hope, belief, and love,
and nourishes you with the peace to seek and find Me within your human heart.

Listen to My blood and smell its sweetness,
like the sickening pain so sweet that it seems unnatural for you to suffer so,
but I tell you that the strength of My blood cleanses your weakness,
washes your fears into the deep veins of faith,
floods your longings with satisfaction,
gushes My greatness into your soul which now is weeping, now laughing with joy.

For My sorrows are your sorrows, My loneliness your loneliness,
My joy, My life's blood--all yours, My love who hears with bloodied ear.
My love, My love, do you know My Love? Just listen!

Maybe it is the devil who is trying to dissuade me from writing about and for potential Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart. Maybe that is why I have such doubts at night and desire to just be hidden in the chapel, still and alone with Jesus in the Tabernacle instead of here in a corner booth of Panera, writing. I happened to turn to some pages written by Conchita, the Servant of God from Mexico who was a victim soul. I turned to the spot where Jesus told her He wanted her to be a victim of love for Him and that He needs souls to help assuage the effects of so much sin and lack of love of Him. I flipped on a few pages and noticed a section from Conchita's diary as to how the devil tried to convince her that rather than helping souls by offering her sufferings as a victim soul, that she would cause more harm and delude people, and so forth.

Regardless, until I gain more guidance on this writing from my spiritual director, I will quote from the old Guide what the Sacred Heart of Jesus gives to those who offer their sufferings to Him.

"Our Lord gives a Victim Soul:
1. His Heart, wherein we find all necessary graces; for He is the magnificent supplement to our feeble powers.
2. His Passion, to supernaturalize and deify our sufferings.
3. The Precious Blood and Water which came from His wound of love to offer it in sacrifice, in propitiation and reparation.
4. The Eucharist, to live by it, to be nourished by it and to make other souls live by it.
5. His Mother, the Virgin Mary, to honor her and have her honored, to glorify her by imitating her steadfast constancy in immolation."

In the next post I will utilize the guidelines of the old association of victim souls as to who may become an "associate." I will also share some of the history of this association which was approved by two pontiffs and at one time had thousands of members. Since there seems to be no active apostolate now, I pray and hope that this is my little task in writing and developing an updated plea for victim souls--extending the boundaries for even more souls who suffer and love and desire to offer themselves to Jesus' Sacred Heart.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Purpose and Conditions for Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart

Yesterday I awoke early, as usual, dealing with physical pain. Soon, the emotional pain set in with thoughts of how the physical pain has been a presence for nearly 21 years. The question presented itself: "Where is Dana Mansfield?" He drank and drove and careened his car into ours--being the impetus for major life changes and my vocation as a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart. It wasn't for several years, though, that I learned about victim souls. The priest who confirmed me in the Church told me about victim souls and diagnosed my condition.

Today I awoke early, as usual, dealing with physical pain. The traffic noise riled me, and I asked, "Lord, what am I doing here? Is this added annoyance which is driving me NUTS really a sacrifice you want me to make? Surely I could eliminate this one from the line-up of sufferings."

This is a point I am hoping to make in this writing, disjointed as it is between conversations at Panera and the pain: victim soul work takes on-going faith and focus. Even after years of experiences, prayer, spiritual direction and reading on the subject, I still lose my focus and at times have great doubts.

God always dispells the doubts and gets me re-focused for the tasks at hand, in the vocation of suffering. But I don't know if my weaknesses will ever disappear while in this body. I could just as easily go into a despair today as the first day I heard about victim souls and the good of the vocation.

Yesterday I was ready to fold it up and attempt another escape--this time to a rural setting. I decided my "assignment" here was finished, and I could do well enough with some on-going prayers and maintenance-suffering offered from a distance. I went to Mass. Then my attitude and focus got righted. The priest read the Gospel, Matthew 20:1-16. Jesus tells the parable about the landowner going out at daybreak and other times during the day to hire workers. He returned at the 11th hour, and asked those he found standing around, "Why have you been standing idle here all day?"

They gave a lame excuse, but the landowner listened and sent them out into the vineyard to work. When the time came to pay all the workers, the ones hired last got the same pay as the ones who had worked all day. Of course, the ones who had worked all day felt this was unfair. The landowner explained, though, that he had given them their pay and not to be envious because he is generous to all.

The priest illuminated all of us at daily Mass on this Scripture. Personally, I was hit on the head. He pointed out that even though the workers griped at what they perceived as unfair, these all-day workers had agreed to the terms of the work--regardless of the workers who put in only an hour or two, for whatever their reasons. Suddenly, I remembered a dream in which a soul was reminded of agreeing to the work.

The person had a metal band around the head, sort of like a halo but quite different in function! The band was being tightened, bit by bit, and the soul complained loudly to the point of crying and rebelling. An angel stood beside the soul and calmly remarked, "But you agreed to this!"
In this case, the angel delivered a much-needed reminder.

So, too, I keep offering myself to do the work of a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the offering has long-since been accepted. The work goes on, and sometimes I am focused and courageous, but other times I gripe and complain, cry, balk and doubt. Repeatedly, I am reminded that I agreed to the terms and conditions of the great work of suffering, and there are many workers in the vineyard, and many more are needed and used. Some have been working all their lives; others like me have come mid-way, and others will come toward the end of their lives. Suffering is just as difficult no matter how long the duration. I must not resent these sufferings. I must not envy those who are called to other fields for now, and who might join the victim soul vineyard at later in their lives. Oh, how I have been a fair-weather, mediocre worker for the generous Jesus!

But don't be discouraged, any who offer yourselves as Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart! Even the great saints waffled in their resolve, surprisingly. St. Margaret Mary Alocoque kept being pulled back to the pleasures of the world--even when Jesus appeared to her in person! One time, she writes, Jesus appeared, covered with blood from the scourging and reproached her. "Dost thou sigh for pleasure? I never tasted any. I gave Myself up to all sorts of bitterness for they love and to gain they heart,--and thou dost still wish to dispute it with Me!"

For awhile, St. Margaret Mary desisted the temptation to comforts, but soon resumed her search for "vanities." On another occasion Jesus appeared and said, "I have chosen thee for My spouse, and thou didst promise fidelity [a promise she made when a young girl which precipated her miraculous healing from imminent death] when thou didst make to Me the vow of chastity. It was I who urged thee to make it before the world had any share in thy heart, for I wished to possess it pure and unsullied by any earthly affection."

The saint's biographer adds to this sequence: "Who would not believe that a heart like Margaret's, so pure, indeed so angelic, endowed with such generosity, would not enthusiastically respond to these tender and magnificent advances? Nevertheless, even at this moment she hesitated; and never, perhaps, in this terrible struggle of four years had she been more strongly tempted to yield." The devil, taking this foothold, worked her over more than ever, placing more doubts in her mind and trying to turn her completely from the idea of her vocation as a religious.

However, at a critical moment one day at Mass, after Holy Communion, Jesus came again to her to strengthen her resolve to His will. "Oh remember, if thou dost contemn Me, I shall abondon thee forever; but if thou art faithful to Me, I shall never leave thee. I will render thee victorious over all thy enemies. I excuse thy ignorance, because thou dost not yet know Me. But if thou art faithful to Me, I shall teach thee to know Me and shall manifest Myself to thee." St. Margaret Mary left Mass that day, renewed her vow, and accepted her vocation.

Now, to quote the Guide, you will be given encouragement as to the purpose of your making an offering of yourself as a victim soul.

"The Victim Souls abandon themselves unreservedly to the Adorable Heart of Jesus in order that He may dispose of them according to His good pleasure. Desiring nothing but His Holy Will, they accept in advance and in a spirit of reparation all the pains and sufferings, both of soul and body, that He may judge good to send them, in order that they may assist ever more and more in the extension of the Reign of the Heart of Jesus--in order to obtain the exaltation of Holy Church--abundant graces for the Priesthood and the salvation of souls."

If you desire to be a worker in Christ's vineyard of victim souls, the following conditions are offered, in updated form for this apostolate of The Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart.

1. To make with the consent of one's confessor or spiritual director, the Act of Immolation [or one written with the guidance and approval of one's confessor/director] and to be firmly resolved to persevere until death in this spirit of immolation.

2. To repeat the vow annually in the presence of one's confessor/director and to offer daily a shortened vow or equivalent prayer; and to adopt or wear an outer sign [recommend a Crucifix] as a private witness and reminder of one's personal life of sacrifice of one's soul in union with the Heart of Jesus perpetually immolated on the altar.

3. It is recommended that each member pray at least one Mystery of the Rosary daily; to recite the Seven Last Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross and conclude with the Precious Offering of the Blood and Water which flowed from the Wound in the Heart of Jesus; and to recite the Seven Sorrows of Mary, the first Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart.

4. Daily Mass [if unable to attend should make a spiritual communion] and weekly confession.

5. A daily Holy Hour [weekly, if daily not possible] and the Stations of the Cross [daily or weekly] are recommended.

What Jesus asks of Victim Souls of the Sacred Hearts:

1. Total devotion of all interests to the glory of God and for the needs of the Catholic Priesthood;

2. Absolute obedience to the directions of Holy Church;

3. An understanding and fulfillment of the Mass and Holy Communion;

4. A deep desire for the love of the Heart of Jesus to reign over souls, parishes, dioceses, and nations;

5. Confidence in Jesus' mercy and love and a willingness to sacrifice oneself to His will.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Jesus the Victim

Why do people have a problem with the use of the word "victim"? It surely has to do with the turn in our culture--the turn from the spiritual to the temporal, from God to self. For, in a dictionary published 45 years ago, the primary meaning has flip-flopped with the definition given in a dictionary published in the past 10 years. In the past, and for centuries, the term from Latin, victima, meant a living being sacrificed to some deity or in the performance of a religious rite. The secondary use was of one injured, destroyed, or sacrificed under any of various conditions.

Today the meaning of "victim" is primarily connoted as one who is abused, taken advantage of, injured, or killed by another. Additional meanings include those who suffer injury, loss, or death as a result of their own voluntary actions. In general, people consider victims to be pitied or to be spurned as weak and setting themselves up for being victimized.

The dichotomy between the defnition which the world gives and the soul needs may continue for as long as the world exists. We are now in an era in which excessive emphasis is placed upon care of the self, the body, the temporal. Pain is to be shunned, and those who remind us of pain and death usually live in nursing homes or in some places, euthanized. Pain and responsibility are further alleviated through abortion, divorce, contraceptive sex, drugs and alcohol.

But always, always, there remains the reality of the spiritual realm, and the soul which is infused by God into every human being. There is the reality of the spiritual journey throughout this temporal world and into eternity. There is the reality of human suffering and death, and of hell and heaven. There is the reality that every step or choice we make in this life is a step toward hell or a step toward heaven. Truth truly exists in each detail and all broad sweeps of thought.

The word "victim" is a reality in the spiritual definition. That reality is not one of weakness or psychological unhealthiness. A victim is one who is called, chosen, and agrees to an act of sacrifice to God. The most exemplary, perfect, loving example is by God Himself, in the form of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God: Jesus. For those who disavow themselves of the reality of the spiritual, of God, and of this definition of "victim" are muddling out, for now, as does gray from black and white. Perhaps, later, a conversion of understanding in the intellect may come, and with it, an act of love for God may ensue from the will. For now, however, spiritual souls of the Faith must proceed.

Christ as Victim is explained and supported by holy Scripture and writings of Church Fathers in the Cathechism of the Catholic Church. In explaining why the Word became flesh--why God became man--the writings from I John 4:10, 4:14, and 3:5 are utilized [Catechism, Article 3:457.] "The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who 'loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins': 'the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world,' and 'he was revealed to take away sins.'"

As St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote for then, and ringing true now, "We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?" [Orat. Catech. 15:PG 45, 48B.]

The Catechism explains how God initiates redemption through love. "By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part. 'In this love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.' [I John 4:10, 4:19.] God 'shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.'" [Romans 5:8.]

Jesus agreed to His suffering and death. He also explained to His disciples and all of us hence, through His words immortalized in John 6, that He would leave Himself to be eaten. How? In the form of bread and wine which, when consecrated during the Sacrifice of the Mass, becomes His Real Presence, transubstantiated--His Body and Blood, the Eucharist. "The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice. 'The victim is one and the same: the same now offered through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the amnner of offering is different.' 'And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner...this sacrifice is truly propitiary.'" [Council of Trent (1562): Doctrina de ss. Missae sacrificio, c.2: DS 1743; cf. Heb 9:14, 27.]

The ordained priest has a specific connection with Christ the Victim which affects the role and aims of all victim souls. "'It is in...the Eucharistic assembly of the faithful...that [priests] exercise in a supreme degree their sacred office; there, acting in the person of Christ and proclaiming his mystery, they unite the votive offerings of the faithful to the sacrifice of Christ their head, and in the sacrifice of the Mass they make present again and apply, until the coming of the Lord, the unique sacrifice of the New Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a spotless victim to the Father' [Lumen gentium 28; cf. I Cor 11:26.] From this unique sacrifice their whole priestly ministry draws its strength" [Presbyterorum ordinis 2].

Many saints, known and unknown to mankind, willingly accepted the role as victim and offered themselves in love to be united with Christ's expiatory and redemptive sufferings. The following personal words of the well-known St. Therese of Lisieux will hopefully further explain and extend acceptance of the concept of holy victim.

"This year June 9, [1895] the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, I received the grace to understand more than ever before how much Jesus desires to be loved. I was thinking about the souls who offer themselves as victims of God's Justice in order to turn away the punishments reserved to sinners, drawing them upon themselves. This offering seemed great and very generous to me, but I was far from feeling attracted to making it.

"From the depths of my heart, I cried out: 'O my God! will Your Justice alone find souls willing to immolate themselves as victims? Does not Your Merciful Love need them too?...It seems to me that if You were to find souls offering themselves as victims of holocaust to Your love, You would consume them rapidly; it seems to me, too, that You would be happy not to hold back the waves of infinite tenderness within You. If Your Justice loves to release itself, this Justice which extends only over the earth, how much more does Your Merciful Love desire to set souls on fire, since Your Mercy reaches to the heavens. O my Jesus, let me be this happy victim; consume Your holocaust with the fire of Your Divine Love.'"

Through Jesus, the divine Victim, the saints desired and learned how to make loving acts of immolation, offerings of sacrifice to His Sacred Heart. They offered themselves as victims of justice and victims of love. We can learn much, also, and gain desire, from getting to know Jesus all the more through Scripture, prayer, and offering of ourselves as victim souls. We can also learn from the lives of the saints whose writings help explain more the way of the victim. We must not shrink from the world's misunderstanding or desecration of the word "victim."

Monday, August 15, 2005

More Samples of Acts of Immolation as Victim Soul

Someone shared a suffering he is experiencing, which is for now situational--a temporary situation. I explained that he could offer himself to Jesus as a Situational Victim Soul. He wasn't convinced. While I had explained the concepts, and he has read about victim souls, he might be hindered by having read about the rare victim souls who experience unusual, supernatural phenomena. Well, even the most incidental of Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart could experience supernatural graces. However, as we have discussed, receiving is not the point or goal. The goal is expiating for sins and making reparation to Jesus' Sacred Heart. The goal is to unite with Jesus and help Him save souls (including our own). It is to live out Jesus' invitation: Take up your cross daily and follow Me.

I must work harder at this business! I must tell Jesus that I am sorry that I am not getting through to some of my friends! They don't take it seriously and thus waste much suffering which could alter the course of their souls, other souls, of the negative events in the world.

Here where I write at Panera (a priest said this is my "Bethlehem"--house of bread) I met a young woman who suffers. In the course of conversation, she objects to the term "victim." I will write about this term more and pray that it won't continue to be a stumbling block for people. I will write about how Jesus is the Divine Victim. But first, I will offer more sample vows for those who see the good of offering themselves and their sufferings to Jesus and want to proceed.

[Ah, right now is another example of how much could be offered to Jesus' Sacred Heart! A woman who works here is cleaning the tables. A group of two mothers and their children just left--a noisy, messy gang. The worker came over to begin her job of cleaning the debris. She tells me just how horrible the messes can be--so unnecessary that parents and children be rude and disrespectful of property. She doesn't need to go further; I have observed. It is a suffering. This worker wants to do a good job and wonders if she is making any progress. I tell her she is uplifting the world by doing her best. I hope to get to know her better and explain how she can be a Situational Victim Soul and offer the suffering of cleaning messes of needlessly slovenly patrons. Her offering can make reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.]

The following are samples of vows which people can make or use as examples in order to write their own. The time, place, witnessing, signs of commitment, and whatever else seem helpful may be agreed upon by the soul, a spiritual director, and Jesus. The actual work may begin immediately and then proceed in the way of holiness.

Act of Immolation: Situational Victim Soul

Dear Lord Jesus, Who suffered and died on the Cross as Victim of Love for my sins and the sins of the world, I desire to unite with You and to offer all the situations in my daily life which are crosses for me. I offer to suffer with love, the challenges and trials of my personal life, my family life, my work life, my social life, and my spiritual life which come situation by situation.

I offer these crosses to You, my Jesus, with the same intention that You offer and sacrifice in the variety of situations in which You suffer and endure for souls. Please accept my humble and sincere offering for love of You, and use it to make reparation for my sins, the conversion of sinners, for holy Church and all Her priests, and whatever else You desire.

Please accept this act of sacrifice through the aid of Mary and in union with the sacrifices of her Immaculate Heart. Please accept me as a Situational Victim Soul of Your Sacred Heart, imperfect and untrained as I am. I trust that You will lead me to more perfect love and union with You through the power of love with which I make this act of immolation. Amen.

Act of Immolation: Supportive Victim Soul

O my Jesus, how deeply I see and feel in the sufferings of those around me, the very sufferings that You experienced from persecutions, hardships, agonies, scourging, carrying the heavy cross, being nailed to its beams, and dying by crucifixion. I see You in these suffering people, and I suffer in compassion with them and in small part with You through their sufferings.

I offer my compassionate sufferings for [may mention specific suffering souls or in general such as those who are slaughtered in the womb of their mothers] to You, my Jesus, with the same selfless, loving intention that You offer and suffer for souls. Please accept my humble and sincere offering for love of You, and use it to make reparation for my sins, the conversion of sinners, for holy Church and all Her priests, and whatever else You desire.

Please accept this act of sacrifice through the aid of Mary and in union with the sacrifices of her Immaculate Heart. Please accept me as a Supportive Victim Soul, that I might assist in Your work of helping the suffering to bear their crosses. I promise, with Your help, to teach those who suffer how to offer themselves, also, as victim souls of Your Sacred Heart. I trust that You will lead me to more perfect love and union with You through the power of love with which I make this act of immolation. Amen.


Act of Immolation: Imminent Victim Soul

Dearest Lord, Who suffered and died on the Cross as a young man wrenched suddenly from Your holy and public ministry, from Your loved ones and friends, I thank You for Your perfect sacrifice to atone for my sins and the sins of the world. I desire to unite with You and to offer my life as it could be brought to a sudden suffering and death without warning.

I offer any fears or lack of heroic suffering in the event of my unexpected death to You, my Jesus, and beg of You graces to suffer and endure as You suffer and endure for souls. Please accept my humble and sincere offering for love of You, and use it to make reparation for my sins, the conversion of sinners, for holy Church and all Her priests, and whatever else You desire.

Please accept this act of sacrifice through the aid of Mary and in union with the sacrifices of her Immaculate Heart. Please accept me as an Imminent Victim Soul of Your Sacred Heart, imperfect and unprepared as I am. I trust that You will lead me to more perfect love and union with You through the power of love with which I make this act of immolation. Amen.

Act of Immolation: Secondary Victim Soul

Dear Lord Jesus, Who suffered and died on the Cross as Victim of Love for my sins and the sins of the world, I desire to unite with You and to offer all the on-going sufferings which afflict me but which do not, thankfully, hinder me from an active life. I offer to suffer with love, the challenges and trials of this affliction, for however long in endurance or depth.

I offer the tedium, the constancy, the limitations, the long-range difficulties and implications of this suffering to You, Jesus, and ask the grace to suffer with patience and also in gratitude for what I am able to do. Please accept my humble and sincere offering for love of You, and use it to make reparation for my sins, the conversion of sinners, for holy Church and all Her priests, and whatever else You desire.

Please accept this act of sacrifice through the aid of Mary and in union with the sacrifices of her Immaculate Heart. Please accept me as a Secondary Victim Soul of Your Sacred Heart, imperfect as I am. I trust that You will lead me to more perfect love and union with You through the power of love with which I make this act of immolation. Amen.

Act of Immolation: Primary Victim Soul

Dear Lord Jesus, Who suffered and died on the Cross as Victim of Love for my sins and the sins of the world, I desire to unite with You and to offer my life of suffering which seems to be the vocation for which I am called and chosen. Help me to trust and to look to You always for the guidance and graces in order to imitate You daily in carrying the cross to Calvary, in suffering, and eventually in death.

I offer my temptations to doubt, hopelessness and anger. I offer my helplessness and attempts to struggle loose and flee this life of suffering. I offer any ingratitude for this vocation of suffering. Please accept my humble and sincere offering for love of You, and use it to make reparation for my sins, the conversion of sinners, for holy Church and all Her priests, and whatever else You desire.

Please accept this act of sacrifice through the aid of Mary and in union with the sacrifices of her Immaculate Heart, and accept me as a Primary Victim Soul of Your Sacred Heart, imperfect, frightened and weary as I am. I trust that You will lead me to more perfect love and union with You through the power of love with which I make this act of immolation. Amen.

[Note: Primary Victim Souls are encouraged to making the longer, formal Act of Immolation which is suggested on the previous post, unless a personally written act is preferred and approved by a spiritual director.]







Sunday, August 14, 2005

Types of Vows of Immolation as Victim Soul

Notwithstanding the realities written thus far, it is important to emphasize that everyone either suffers now or will suffer and that being a victim soul is an opportunity for everyone to offer these sufferings as a gift to Jesus, in reparation and for specific intentions. I pray that nothing written has frightened you from offering yourself as a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart. Rather, I trust you have prayed and desire to offer yourselves to the degree you are able, in the type of suffering you encounter in daily life, out of love for Jesus and souls. You may be Catholic or non-Catholic; you may make the vow formally, informally, with a witness, or in solitude.

Before giving examples of private vows, let us consider the possibilities of how to make this offering. Consider someone you love very much. Which would you prefer: that person to quickly say, "Love ya!" or "I guess I'll help you out" or "Thinking of you!"; or, would you prefer that person stop activity and thoughts, kneel, look into your eyes, and speak slowly with devout conviction, "I love you so much, and I know that you'd like me to be close to you, to help you with your work, to communicate openly with you more and more, and to give you what it most costs me to give. I promise this and more..."? Would you also appreciate a tangible sign or gift of these promises?

Consider how Jesus would like to receive our most loving offering of whatever sufferings may come our way. Then proceed with what you conclude. I will share an example of a private offering by a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart. The soul wrote it days in advance after prayer and some understanding of reparative suffering and victim soulhood. A priest received the offering as the alter Christus that he is, in front of the altar and Tabernacle which contains Jesus' Real Presence (Body and Blood: the consecrated Host). This occurred on a selected feast day of the Church, that of a victim soul saint, which seemed appropriate to the offering. On that day, the person making the act of immolation knelt and carefully read the vow which the priest and the Primary Victim Soul signed and dated.

As a private act of willingness to accept whatever the extent of suffering, the soul had beforehand pricked a finger and placed the blood drop inside a small heart drawn in ink on the written vow. An outward sign also was chosen which would ever remind this victim soul of the vocation: a large Crucifix with an attached medal of the Virgin in Prayer. (Mary knows all about suffering). Later, the priest blessed two rings of personal signficance to the one making the offering, which were added to the Crucifix and medal; and he symbolically wed the soul to the Cross. Yearly, the victim soul chooses to repeat, kneeling, the written offer of immolation to Jesus.

Additionally, fervent acts of love and private verbalizations are made in short, spontaneous prayers. These are very pleasing to the Beloved, also, but the formal covenant, witnessed, with a sacramental as a "foundation stone" is an efficacious, time-honored, Scriptural and Traditional format. For one reason, the written vow is a specific reminder of commitment: the job description. The Crucifix with medal and rings is an outward witness: the visible sign.

However, the point remains: through prayer, reflection, spiritual reading and consulting spiritual friends and a director, a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart will be inspired as to the structure and elements of whatever offering is most suitable and loving to Jesus and which reflects the degree or type of suffering the person is able to offer. Be realistic and prudent.

Another example of an act of immolation is that of the first and preeminant Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart: the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her vow was quite simple and spontaneous, or so it seems. The Angel Gabriel appeared to her one night when she was in prayer, alone in her room, and told her she was chosen to be the mother of God. She asked a practical question, was given an answer, and immediately made her fiat: "Let it be done unto me according to Thy Word." From this evolved her life as a victim soul of all categories at varying times of her earthly existence. Of course, she is in a different level than all of us. Mary was created without original sin; she was already in union with Christ as His mother and by her will being united to God's will. She experienced what is called "infused grace" to handle all the sorrows which she would endure. She didn't need a written reminder of why or for Whom she offered her sufferings. She pondered all these things in her heart, whereas most of us agree to distractions which obstruct meditating and pondering upon much of anything.

Truly, Jesus can do all things with all souls. In some situations (such as if He or some verified heavenly messenger appears and personally invites a soul to be a victim of love), a simple "fiat" could be a valid act of immolation. Jesus can accept and lead the soul forth from any offering. The formal offering, however, is very helpful for those of us who don't have great or perfect faith and who benefit by a well-thought out, written commitment.

The old guide provides three examples of the written vow. One is long for the formal offering; two are shorter and could be prayed daily. The language is of the time period in which this guide was written. You may choose to change the wording to that which you communicate with Jesus, but the content is solid and inclusive for victim souls--is tried and true. You may also choose to write your own Act of Immolation.

I suggest that a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart may profit in beginning the the Act of Immolation by stating the victim soul category/ies and type/s of suffering. In this way, the victim soul accepts and verifies the sufferings and offers them as gift, with focused meaning. For example, the Primary, Secondary, and Situational Victim Souls may state their categories and offer their types of suffering accordingly. The Supportive Victim Souls may include mention of their compassionate sufferings and vow to help those they support to understand and offer their sufferings, as well, in expiation and reparation as Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart.

All souls could (and should) make an oblation as Imminent Victim Souls with an inclusion to their vows, such as: "I know that I could be given suffering at any moment, which could change my life and bring death; thus, I offer myself as an Imminent Victim Soul so that my suffering and death may be used as reparation to Thy Sacred Heart, O Jesus!"

Formal Act of Immolation for Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart

My most adorable Savior! Vouchsafe to accept this desire of mine to devote myself wholly and entirely to the task of loving and appeasing Thy most Sacred Heart. Deign to look with pleasure upon the sacrifice I offer up to Thee of all I am and all I possess.

To Thee I resign, through the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary, my person and my life, all my labors, my pains, my sufferings, to make amends for the wrongs Thou hast suffered and all the shocking ingratitude Thou has met through the hands of men, intending also to prevent thereby my committing similar crimes.

Yes, my Jesus, let it all be Thine: my soul with its intellect and free will, my heart with its desires and aspirations, my powers and faculties and all my actions, my life and my health, my spiritual progress and my eternal salvation; whatever be dear to me for the present or the future, for time or eternity, let it all be Thine for ever and ever. Henceforth, nothing shall be my own; no, it shall all be devoted to Thee as a sacrifice of expiation, put at the disposal of Thine adorable Providence. Make, then, of me and all my goods whatever Thou wilt, make use of me or put me away as a useless tool, comfort me or torture me. Let Thy holy will dispose of it all.

I further present and vow to Thee through Mary, my heavenly mother, all the merits and rights acquired by me through holy Masses and Communions, prayers and penances, works of charity, humility, obedience and all other virtues that I shall ever perform to the last moment of my life. Let them all serve to honor and propitiate Thy most Sacred Heart.

Behold, O Lord, how I thus wholly belong to Thy Heart, wholly and entirely to Thee. I know I give Thee very little but I give Thee all I can and never will I take back anything I have given Thee. I feel within me a burning desire to appease and to gladden Thee. I shall, however, not be able to do so without that heavenly help which Thou only canst render me. Let Thy holy will regarding me be done. I do put obstacles in its way, I know; I am fully aware of it, but Thou knowest that this is not the consequence of my will but that of frailty, and that I do not intend to hinder the execution of Thy holy will.

Complete then, O divine Heart, this Thy work. It is Thou alone who must do it all; Thine also will be the honor of having made me holy, if I, so frail a being, should become holy. The greater my frailty, the greater the honor that will accrue to Thee; and this is the very reason why I desire to reach perfection. Graciously grant that I may live and die as a true Victim Soul of Thy divine Heart. Amen.

A Short Act of Immolation (may be used daily)

O sweetest Jesus, divine Victim, ever being sacrificed on our altars for the salvation of mankind, I desire to unite with Thee, to suffer with Thee to sacrifice myself with Thee in union with the many thousands of Victim Souls of the Heart of Jesus.

To this end I offer to Thee all my sufferings and afflictions, all humiliations and all the crosses with which Thy divine providence will line the path of my life. I offer it all to Thee with that very same intention with which Thou, O divine Heart, offer and sacrifice Thyself.

Vouchsafe to ordain that this humble sacrifice of mine draw down rich blessings upon holy Church and all its priests, upon our country, and the poor sinners, my brothers.

Deign to accept it through the hands of Mary and in union with the dolorous sacrifices of her Immaculate Heart. Amen.

Act of Oblation for Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart


"'Ecce Venio,' Behold me, O Good and Sweet Jesus! Divine Lamb, perpetually offered on our altars for the salvation of the world. I wish to be united to Thee, to suffer with Thee, to be immolated with Thee in union with the Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.


"For that end I offer Thee whatever pains, griefs, humiliations and crosses Thy Divine Providence has placed in my path. To Thee I offer them according to the intentions for which Thy Sacred Heart offers and immolates Itself.


"May my poor sacrifices bring blessings upon the Church, on the priesthood, on our country, on our brethren and all poor sinners. Be pleased to accept it through the hands of Mary, our Mediatrix, and in union with the sufferings of her Immaculate Heart. Amen."




Saturday, August 13, 2005

Preparatory Comments for the Act of Immolation

Before making an act of oblation as a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart, I share with you this dream which gives an idea of victim soul offering.

I was in a room with many people, and we were all lying down on the floor, curled sideways, cuddled up against each other like new-born puppies nestling. Then I saw a man: working-class, thirtyish, wearing glasses-- and holding a machine gun. He told us in a peaceful voice that we would all be shot but that he would do so as gently as possible, and that we should think of it as a sprinkling of pebbles that would hurt only for an instant. Then he came and leaned over me and asked, "Do you want to make your soul right before you die?" He was very kind and concerned.

In my mind I assumed this man didn't know I was Catholic or if he did, that was the reason for the massacre. I calmly explained to him, that I am a Catholic and have a spiritual director and have been to confession recently so am about as right with God as I guess I could be. The man accepted my response without hesitation.

We were sprayed with bullets. I wasn't killed in this round, but it seemed some were. All was exceedingly quiet and calm, yet I personally felt the reality of my impending death. I had my crucifix and some religious tapes with me which I placed in a box which was there (as items in dreams can appear in the unfolding). I addressed the tapes to a friend who I hoped would be inspired to convert, and the Crucifix to my adult children. It didn't occur to me that these people might not mail the box. The top of the box was torn, and without any notion of attempting escape, but rather, with the need to find a piece of string to secure the box for mailing, I walked down a hall hoping to find string in another room. I passed a room to my right, and surprisingly I saw many priests vesting for Mass! Still, the thought of escape was not present. Rather I knew that I would return to the room, with the others, to give up my life.

Now, you may be wondering about the meaning of this strange dream.

When I first awoke, I was horrified. Was this the work of the devil--trying to upset me by such images? The more I prayed for illumination, and throughout the day, the more the dream unravelled its powerful message--a message to help explain some aspects of being a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart.

The images are modern-day and not the images of the angels with arrows or darts. The people in the room represent victim souls. They are calm, willing, and have done their best to be right with God through the Sacraments and their own souls' dispositions. The man with concern yet with a job to do is equivalent to the descriptions by saintly victim souls who describe a seraph or Jesus appearing to wound them and enact the sacrifice of love. He assures the soul it will not be painful for long. The process is not cruel. The person does not physically die, but the soul dies to itself in a certain degree; and most often there is no visible sign of the wounding. Often, there is no manifestation of this process at all!

In the above dream, however, the crucifix (to be given as a personal effect of one's own atonement) and the religious tapes (attempt to spread the faith for conversions) represent two aims of victim souls. The Sacristy, the room with priests vesting, symbolizes the third aim, the offering for priests and their work in holy Church.

The calm acceptance and docility of the victim soul facilitates this offering, this act of oblation, in reparation and expiation for these aims. What should have been horrific in this dream was not at all. The room, hallway, man with machine gun, priests, and victims were all calm, quiet, peaceful, and luminous. Only within my intellect was there an initial reality in fear of pain and dying, but the man's sincere and matter-of-fact manner made the process seem necessary and inevitable. All told, it simply seemed like a job that needed to be accomplished.

I pray this dream doesn't frighten or hinder but rather helps explain in images the extent of loving sacrifice, the aims, the worth of those aims, and the peace. Fear not! We must overcome all estrangement from this mystery of expiatory suffering, the mystery of the Cross.

It is with some reservation that I proceed to sharing specific acts of oblation for Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart. My concerns are that there is still preparation which could be helpful. Joshua in the Old Testament gave a challenge to the people, and they quickly accepted. "...choose today whom you wish to serve,....As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord." (Who of the people dared say they didn't want to serve the Lord in the face of such a challenge?) The people answered immediately (not preparing themselves or thinking it through for long), "It is the Lord our God we choose to serve; it is His voice that we will obey." Joshua made a covenant for the people and wrote down the statute and ordinance. Joshua then set up a stone in the sanctuary, as a witness to their words in case they would deny God and fail in their oblation. As we know from history, many did fail. It is not good to fail in one's oblation.

So, you see that even though I jumped into offering myself as a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart several years ago, I have stumbled and struggled but am persevering by the grace of God and the Church, the Sacraments, spiritual direction, and much personal effort, too. If you choose to make an act of immolation at this point, that is good. But please do not take it lightly or decide further preparation is unnecessary or that the path is too tough to continue. Further preparation in the way of holiness, the way of perfection, will assist you, as Jesus and His Church will provide what is necessary. All you need to do is cooperate.

Written, sample acts of immolation will be shared on the next post for desirous, loving, Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart. Immolation means to offer as a sacrifice. Do not shrink from the terms immolation, sacrifice, and victim. We are wrongly drawn to self-gratification. We forget that Jesus did not tell us that in receiving that we are blessed. Rather, His Way is that of giving without expecting anything in return. The right motives and intentions (love of God and souls) are critical. When we stop shrinking from sacrificial giving, we enter into the narrow path by which Jesus leads us on the way of truth and life.

Miserentissimus Redemptor: Reparation to the Sacred Heart

ON REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART
MISERENTISSIMUS REDEMPTOR
To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and other Local Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Blessing.
1.
Our Most Merciful Redeemer, after He had wrought salvation for mankind on the tree of the Cross and before He ascended from out this world to the Father, said to his Apostles and Disciples, to console them in their anxiety, "Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." (Matt. xxviii, 20). These words, which are indeed most pleasing, are a cause of all hope and security, and they bring us, Venerable Brethren, ready succor, whenever we look round from this watch-tower raised on high and see all human society laboring amid so many evils and miseries, and the Church herself beset without ceasing by attacks and machinations. For as in the beginning this Divine promise lifted up the despondent spirit of the Apostles and enkindled and inflamed them so that they might cast the seeds of the Gospel teaching throughout the whole world; so ever since it has strengthened the Church unto her victory over the gates of hell. In sooth, Our Lord Jesus Christ has been with his Church in every age, but He has been with her with more present aid and protection whenever she has been assailed by graver perils and difficulties. For the remedies adapted to the condition of time and circumstances, are always supplied by Divine Wisdom, who reacheth from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly (Wisdom viii, 1). But in this latter age also, "the hand of the Lord is not shortened" (Isaias lix, 1), more especially since error has crept in and has spread far and wide, so that it might well be feared that the fountains of Christian life might be in a manner dried up, where men are cut off from the love and knowledge of God. Now, since it may be that some of the people do not know, and others do not heed, those complaints which the most loving Jesus made when He manifested Himself to Margaret Mary Alacoque, and those things likewise which at the same time He asked and expected of men, for their own ultimate profit, it is our pleasure, Venerable Brethren, to speak to you for a little while concerning the duty of honorable satisfaction which we all owe to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the intent that you may, each of you, carefully teach your own flocks those things which we set before you, and stir them up to put the same in practice.
2.
Among the many proofs of the boundless benignity of our Redeemer, there is one that stands out conspicuously, to wit the fact that when the charity of Christian people was growing cold, the Divine Charity itself was set forth to be honored by a special worship, and the riches of its bounty was made widely manifest by that form of devotion wherein worship is given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Coloss. ii, 3). For as in olden time when mankind came forth from Noe's ark, God set His "bow in the clouds" (Genesis ix, 13), shining as the sign of a friendly covenant; so in the most turbulent times of a more recent age, when the Jansenist heresy, the most crafty of them all, hostile to love and piety towards God, was creeping in and preaching that God was not to be loved as a father but rather to be feared as an implacable judge; then the most benign Jesus showed his own most Sacred Heart to the nations lifted up as a standard of peace and charity portending no doubtful victory in the combat. And indeed Our Predecessor of happy memory, Leo Xlll, admiring the timely opportuneness of the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, said very aptly in his Encyclical Letter, "Annum Sacrum," "When in the days near her origin, the Church was oppressed under the yoke of the Caesars the Cross shown on high to the youthful Emperor was at once an omen and a cause of the victory that speedily followed. And here today another most auspicious and most divine sign is offered to our sight, to wit the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a Cross set above it shining with most resplendent brightness in the midst of flames. Herein must all hopes be set, from hence must the salvation of men be sought and expected."
3.
And rightly indeed is that said, Venerable Brethren. For is not the sum of all religion and therefore the pattern of more perfect life, contained in that most auspicious sign and in the form of piety that follows from it inasmuch as it more readily leads the minds of men to an intimate knowledge of Christ Our Lord, and more efficaciously moves their hearts to love Him more vehemently and to imitate Him more closely? It is no wonder, therefore, that Our Predecessors have constantly defended this most approved form of devotion from the censures of calumniators, and have extolled it with high praise and promoted it very zealously, as the needs of time and circumstance demanded. Moreover, by the inspiration of God's grace, it has come to pass that the pious devotion of the faithful towards the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus has made great increase in the course of time; hence pious confraternities to promote the worship of the Divine Heart are everywhere erected, hence too the custom of receiving Holy Communion on the first Friday of every month at the desire of Christ Jesus, a custom which now prevails everywhere.
4.
But assuredly among those things which properly pertain to the worship of the Most Sacred Heart, a special place must be given to that Consecration, whereby we devote ourselves and all things that are ours to the Divine Heart of Jesus, acknowledging that we have received all things from the everlasting love of God. When Our Savior had taught Margaret Mary, the most innocent disciple of His Heart, how much He desired that this duty of devotion should be rendered to him by men, moved in this not so much by His own right as by His immense charity for us; she herself, with her spiritual father, Claude de la Colombiere, rendered it the first of all. Thereafter followed, in the course of time, individual men, then private families and associations, and lastly civil magistrates, cities and kingdoms. But since in the last century, and in this present century, things have come to such a pass, that by the machinations of wicked men the sovereignty of Christ Our Lord has been denied and war is publicly waged against the Church, by passing laws and promoting plebiscites repugnant to Divine and natural law, nay more by holding assemblies of them that cry out, "We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke xix, 14): from the aforesaid Consecration there burst forth over against them in keenest opposition the voice of all the clients of the Most Sacred Heart, as it were one voice, to vindicate His glory and to assert His rights: "Christ must reign" (1 Corinthians xv, 25); "Thy kingdom come" (Matth. vi, 10). From this at length it happily came to pass that at the beginning of this century the whole human race which Christ, in whom all things are re-established (Ephes. i, 10), possesses by native right as His own, was dedicated to the same Most Sacred Heart, with the applause of the whole Christian world, by Our Predecessor of happy memory, Leo Xlll.
5.
Now these things so auspiciously and happily begun as we taught in Our Encyclical Letter "Quas primas," we Ourselves, consenting to very many long-continued desires and prayers of Bishops and people, brought to completion and perfected, by God's grace, when at the close of the Jubilee Year, We instituted the Feast of Christ the King of All, to be solemnly celebrated throughout the whole Christian world. Now when we did this, not only did we set in a clear light that supreme sovereignty which Christ holds over the whole universe, over civil and domestic society, and over individual men, but at the same time we anticipated the joys of that most auspicious day, whereon the whole world will gladly and willingly render obedience to the most sweet lordship of Christ the King. For this reason, We decreed at the same time that this same Consecration should be renewed every year on the occasion of that appointed festal day, so that the fruit of this same Consecration might be obtained more certainly and more abundantly, and all peoples might be joined together in Christian charity and in the reconciliation of peace, in the Heart of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
6.
But to all these duties, more especially to that fruitful Consecration which was in a manner confirmed by the sacred solemnity of Christ the King, something else must needs be added, and it is concerning this that it is our pleasure to speak with you more at length, Venerable Brethren, on the present occasion: we mean that duty of honorable satisfaction or reparation which must be rendered to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For if the first and foremost thing in Consecration is this, that the creature's love should be given in return for the love of the Creator, another thing follows from this at once, namely that to the same uncreated Love, if so be it has been neglected by forgetfulness or violated by offense, some sort of compensation must be rendered for the injury, and this debt is commonly called by the name of reparation.
7.
Now though in both these matters we are impelled by quite the same motives, none the less we are holden to the duty of reparation and expiation by a certain more valid title of justice and of love, of justice indeed, in order that the offense offered to God by our sins may be expiated and that the violated order may be repaired by penance: and of love too so that we may suffer together with Christ suffering and "filled with reproaches" (Lam. iii, 30), and for all our poverty may offer Him some little solace. For since we are all sinners and laden with many faults, our God must be honored by us not only by that worship wherewith we adore His infinite Majesty with due homage, or acknowledge His supreme dominion by praying, or praise His boundless bounty by thanksgiving; but besides this we must need make satisfaction to God the just avenger, "for our numberless sins and offenses and negligences." To Consecration, therefore, whereby we are devoted to God and are called holy to God, by that holiness and stability which, as the Angelic Doctor teaches, is proper to consecration (2a. 2ae. qu. 81, a. 8. c.), there must be added expiation, whereby sins are wholly blotted out, lest the holiness of the supreme justice may punish our shameless unworthiness, and reject our offering as hateful rather than accept it as pleasing.
8.
Moreover this duty of expiation is laid upon the whole race of men since, as we are taught by the Christian faith, after Adam's miserable fall, infected by hereditary stain, subject to concupiscences and most wretchedly depraved, it would have been thrust down into eternal destruction. This indeed is denied by the wise men of this age of ours, who following the ancient error of Pelagius, ascribe to human nature a certain native virtue by which of its own force it can go onward to higher things; but the Apostle rejects these false opinions of human pride, admonishing us that we "were by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians ii, 3). And indeed, even from the beginning, men in a manner acknowledged this common debt of expiation and, led by a certain natural instinct, they endeavored to appease God by public sacrifices.
9.
But no created power was sufficient to expiate the sins of men, if the Son of God had not assumed man's nature in order to redeem it. This, indeed, the Savior of men Himself declared by the mouth of the sacred Psalmist: "Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not: but a body thou hast fitted to me: Holocausts for sin did not please thee: then said 1: Behold I come" (Hebrews x, 5-7). And in very deed, "Surely He hath borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows. . . He was wounded for our iniquities (Isaias liii, 4-5), and He His own self bore our sins in His body upon the tree . . . (1 Peter ii, 24), "Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross . . ." (Colossians ii, 14) "that we being dead to sins, should live to justice" (1 Peter ii, 24). Yet, though the copious redemption of Christ has abundantly forgiven us all offenses (Cf. Colossians ii, 13), nevertheless, because of that wondrous divine dispensation whereby those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ are to be filled up in our flesh for His body which is the Church (Cf. Colossians i, 24), to the praises and satisfactions, "which Christ in the name of sinners rendered unto God" we can also add our praises and satisfactions, and indeed it behoves us so to do. But we must ever remember that the whole virtue of the expiation depends on the one bloody sacrifice of Christ, which without intermission of time is renewed on our altars in an unbloody manner, "For the victim is one and the same, the same now offering by the ministry of priests, who then offered Himself on the cross, the manner alone of offering being different" (Council of Trent, Session XXIII, Chapter 2). Wherefore with this most august Eucharistic Sacrifice there ought to be joined an oblation both of the ministers and of all the faithful, so that they also may "present themselves living sacrifices, holy, pleasing unto God" (Romans xii, 1). Nay more, St. Cyprian does not hesitate to affirm that "the Lord's sacrifice is not celebrated with legitimate sanctification, unless our oblation and sacrifice correspond to His passion" (Ephesians 63). For this reason, the Apostle admonishes us that "bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus" (2 Corinthians iv, 10), and buried together with Christ, and planted together in the likeness of His death (Cf. Romans vi, 4-5), we must not only crucify our flesh with the vices and concupiscences (Cf. Galatians v, 24), "flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world" (2 Peter i, 4), but "that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies" (2 Corinthians iv, 10) and being made partakers of His eternal priesthood we are to offer up "gifts and sacrifices for sins" (Hebrews v, 1). Nor do those only enjoy a participation in this mystic priesthood and in the office of satisfying and sacrificing, whom our Pontiff Christ Jesus uses as His ministers to offer up the clean oblation to God's Name in every place from the rising of the sun to the going down (Malachias i, 11), but the whole Christian people rightly called by the Prince of the Apostles "a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood" (1 Peter ii, 9), ought to offer for sins both for itself and for all mankind (Cf. Hebrews v, 3), in much the same manner as every priest and pontiff "taken from among men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God" (Hebrews v, 1).
10.
But the more perfectly that our oblation and sacrifice corresponds to the sacrifice of Our Lord, that is to say, the more perfectly we have immolated our love and our desires and have crucified our flesh by that mystic crucifixion of which the Apostle speaks, the more abundant fruits of that propitiation and expiation shall we receive for ourselves and for others. For there is a wondrous and close union of all the faithful with Christ, such as that which prevails between the head and the other members; moreover by that mystic Communion of Saints which we profess in the Catholic creed, both individual men and peoples are joined together not only with one another but also with him, "who is the head, Christ; from whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity" (Ephesians iv, 15-16). It was this indeed that the Mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus, when He was near to death, asked of His Father: "I in them, and thou in me: that they may be made perfect in one" (John xvii, 23).
11.
Wherefore, even as consecration proclaims and confirms this union with Christ, so does expiation begin that same union by washing away faults, and perfect it by participating in the sufferings of Christ, and consummate it by offering victims for the brethren. And this indeed was the purpose of the merciful Jesus, when He showed His Heart to us bearing about it the symbols of the passion and displaying the flames of love, that from the one we might know the infinite malice of sin, and in the other we might admire the infinite charity of Our Redeemer, and so might have a more vehement hatred of sin, and make a more ardent return of love for His love.
12.
And truly the spirit of expiation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in the worship given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and nothing is more in keeping with the origin, the character, the power, and the distinctive practices of this form of devotion, as appears from the record of history and custom, as well as from the sacred liturgy and the acts of the Sovereign Pontiffs. For when Christ manifested Himself to Margaret Mary, and declared to her the infinitude of His love, at the same time, in the manner of a mourner, He complained that so many and such great injuries were done to Him by ungrateful men -- and we would that these words in which He made this complaint were fixed in the minds of the faithful, and were never blotted out by oblivion: "Behold this Heart" -- He said -- "which has loved men so much and has loaded them with all benefits, and for this boundless love has had no return but neglect, and contumely, and this often from those who were bound by a debt and duty of a more special love." In order that these faults might be washed away, He then recommended several things to be done, and in particular the following as most pleasing to Himself, namely that men should approach the Altar with this purpose of expiating sin, making what is called a Communion of Reparation, -- and that they should likewise make expiatory supplications and prayers, prolonged for a whole hour, --which is rightly called the "Holy Hour." These pious exercises have been approved by the Church and have also been enriched with copious indulgences.
13.
But how can these rites of expiation bring solace now, when Christ is already reigning in the beatitude of Heaven? To this we may answer in some words of St. Augustine which are very apposite here, --"Give me one who loves, and he will understand what I say" (In Johannis evangelium, tract. XXVI, 4). For any one who has great love of God, if he will look back through the tract of past time may dwell in meditation on Christ, and see Him laboring for man, sorrowing, suffering the greatest hardships, "for us men and for our salvation," well-nigh worn out with sadness, with anguish, nay "bruised for our sins" (Isaias liii, 5), and healing us by His bruises. And the minds of the pious meditate on all these things the more truly, because the sins of men and their crimes committed in every age were the cause why Christ was delivered up to death, and now also they would of themselves bring death to Christ, joined with the same griefs and sorrows, since each several sin in its own way is held to renew the passion of Our Lord: "Crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making him a mockery" (Hebrews vi, 6). Now if, because of our sins also which were as yet in the future, but were foreseen, the soul of Christ became sorrowful unto death, it cannot be doubted that then, too, already He derived somewhat of solace from our reparation, which was likewise foreseen, when "there appeared to Him an angel from heaven" (Luke xxii, 43), in order that His Heart, oppressed with weariness and anguish, might find consolation. And so even now, in a wondrous yet true manner, we can and ought to console that Most Sacred Heart which is continually wounded by the sins of thankless men, since --as we also read in the sacred liturgy -- Christ Himself, by the mouth of the Psalmist complains that He is forsaken by His friends: "My Heart hath expected reproach and misery, and I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none" (Psalm Ixviii, 21).
14.
To this it may be added that the expiatory passion of Christ is renewed and in a manner continued and fulfilled in His mystical body, which is the Church. For, to use once more the words of St. Augustine, "Christ suffered whatever it behoved Him to suffer; now nothing is wanting of the measure of the sufferings. Therefore the sufferings were fulfilled, but in the head; there were yet remaining the sufferings of Christ in His body" (In Psalm Ixxxvi). This, indeed, Our Lord Jesus Himself vouchsafed to explain when, speaking to Saul, "as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter" (Acts ix, 1), He said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest" (Acts ix, 5), clearly signifying that when persecutions are stirred up against the Church, the Divine Head of the Church is Himself attacked and troubled. Rightly, therefore, does Christ, still suffering in His mystical body, desire to have us partakers of His expiation, and this is also demanded by our intimate union with Him, for since we are "the body of Christ and members of member" (1 Corinthians xii, 27), whatever the head suffers, all the members must suffer with it (Cf. 1 Corinthians xii, 26).
15.
Now, how great is the necessity of this expiation or reparation, more especially in this our age, will be manifest to every one who, as we said at the outset, will examine the world, "seated in wickedness" (1 John v, 19), with his eyes and with his mind. For from all sides the cry of the peoples who are mourning comes up to us, and their princes or rulers have indeed stood up and met together in one against the Lord and against His Church (Cf. Psalm ii, 2). Throughout those regions indeed, we see that all rights both human and Divine are confounded. Churches are thrown down and overturned, religious men and sacred virgins are torn from their homes and are afflicted with abuse, with barbarities, with hunger and imprisonment; bands of boys and girls are snatched from the bosom of their mother the Church, and are induced to renounce Christ, to blaspheme and to attempt the worst crimes of lust; the whole Christian people, sadly disheartened and disrupted, are continually in danger of falling away from the faith, or of suffering the most cruel death. These things in truth are so sad that you might say that such events foreshadow and portend the "beginning of sorrows," that is to say of those that shall be brought by the man of sin, "who is lifted up above all that is called God or is worshipped" (2 Thessalonians ii, 4).
16.
But it is yet more to be lamented, Venerable Brethren, that among the faithful themselves, washed in Baptism with the blood of the immaculate Lamb, and enriched with grace, there are found so many men of every class, who laboring under an incredible ignorance of Divine things and infected with false doctrines, far from their Father's home, lead a life involved in vices, a life which is not brightened by the light of true faith, nor gladdened by the hope of future beatitude, nor refreshed and cherished by the fire of charity; so that they truly seem to sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Moreover, among the faithful there is a greatly increasing carelessness of ecclesiastical discipline, and of those ancient institutions on which all Christian life rests, by which domestic society is governed, and the sanctity of marriage is safeguarded; the education of children is altogether neglected, or else it is depraved by too indulgent blandishments, and the Church is even robbed of the power of giving the young a Christian education; there is a sad forgetfulness of Christian modesty especially in the life and the dress of women; there is an unbridled cupidity of transitory things, a want of moderation in civic affairs, an unbounded ambition of popular favor, a depreciation of legitimate authority, and lastly a contempt for the word of God, whereby faith itself is injured, or is brought into proximate peril.
17.
But all these evils as it were culminate in the cowardice and the sloth of those who, after the manner of the sleeping and fleeing disciples, wavering in their faith, miserably forsake Christ when He is oppressed by anguish or surrounded by the satellites of Satan, and in the perfidy of those others who following the example of the traitor Judas, either partake of the holy table rashly and sacrilegiously, or go over to the camp of the enemy. And thus, even against our will, the thought rises in the mind that now those days draw near of which Our Lord prophesied: "And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold" (Matth. xxiv, 12).
18.
Now, whosoever of the faithful have piously pondered on all these things must need be inflamed with the charity of Christ in His agony and make a more vehement endeavor to expiate their own faults and those of others, to repair the honor of Christ, and to promote the eternal salvation of souls. And indeed that saying of the Apostle: "Where sin abounded, grace did more abound" (Romans v, 20) may be used in a manner to describe this present age; for while the wickedness of men has been greatly increased, at the same time, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, a marvelous increase has been made in the number of the faithful of both sexes who with eager mind endeavor to make satisfaction for the many injuries offered to the Divine Heart, nay more they do not hesitate to offer themselves to Christ as victims. For indeed if any one will lovingly dwell on those things of which we have been speaking, and will have them deeply fixed in his mind, it cannot be but he will shrink with horror from all sin as from the greatest evil, and more than this he will yield himself wholly to the will of God, and will strive to repair the injured honor of the Divine Majesty, as well by constantly praying, as by voluntary mortifications, by patiently bearing the afflictions that befall him, and lastly by spending his whole life in this exercise of expiation.
19.
And for this reason also there have been established many religious families of men and women whose purpose it is by earnest service, both by day and by night, in some manner to fulfill the office of the Angel consoling Jesus in the garden; hence come certain associations of pious men, approved by the Apostolic See and enriched with indulgences, who take upon themselves this same duty of making expiation, a duty which is to be fulfilled by fitting exercises of devotion and of the virtues; hence lastly, to omit other things, come the devotions and solemn demonstrations for the purpose of making reparation to the offended Divine honor, which are inaugurated everywhere, not only by pious members of the faithful, but by parishes, dioceses and cities.
20.
These things being so, Venerable Brethren, just as the rite of consecration, starting from humble beginnings, and afterwards more widely propagated, was at length crowned with success by Our confirmation; so in like manner, we earnestly desire that this custom of expiation or pious reparation, long since devoutly introduced and devoutly propagated, may also be more firmly sanctioned by Our Apostolic authority and more solemnly celebrated by the whole Catholic name. Wherefore, we decree and command that every year on the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, -- which feast indeed on this occasion we have ordered to be raised to the degree of a double of the first class with an octave -- in all churches throughout the whole world, the same expiatory prayer or protestation as it is called, to Our most loving Savior, set forth in the same words according to the copy subjoined to this letter shall be solemnly recited, so that all our faults may be washed away with tears, and reparation may be made for the violated rights of Christ the supreme King and Our most loving Lord.
21.
There is surely no reason for doubting, Venerable Brethren, that from this devotion piously established and commanded to the whole Church, many excellent benefits will flow forth not only to individual men but also to society, sacred, civil, and domestic, seeing that our Redeemer Himself promised to Margaret Mary that "all those who rendered this honor to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly graces." Sinners indeed, looking on Him whom they pierced (John xix, 37), moved by the sighs and tears of the whole Church, by grieving for the injuries offered to the supreme King, will return to the heart (Isaias xlvi, 8), lest perchance being hardened in their faults, when they see Him whom they pierced "coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matth. xxvi, 64), too late and in vain they shall bewail themselves because of Him (Cf. Apoc. i, 7). But the just shall be justified and shall be sanctified still (Cf. Apoc. xxii. 11) and they will devote themselves wholly and with new ardor to the service of their King, when they see Him contemned and attacked and assailed with so many and such great insults, but more than all will they burn with zeal for the eternal salvation of souls when they have pondered on the complaint of the Divine Victim: "What profit is there in my blood?" (Psalm xxix, 10), and likewise on the joy that will be felt by the same Most Sacred Heart of Jesus "upon one sinner doing penance" (Luke xv, 10). And this indeed we more especially and vehemently desire and confidently expect, that the just and merciful God who would have spared Sodom for the sake of ten just men, will much more be ready to spare the whole race of men, when He is moved by the humble petitions and happily appeased by the prayers of the community of the faithful praying together in union with Christ their Mediator and Head, in the name of all. And now lastly may the most benign Virgin Mother of God smile on this purpose and on these desires of ours; for since she brought forth for us Jesus our Redeemer, and nourished Him, and offered Him as a victim by the Cross, by her mystic union with Christ and His very special grace she likewise became and is piously called a reparatress. Trusting in her intercession with Christ, who whereas He is the "one mediator of God and men" (1 Timothy ii, 5), chose to make His Mother the advocate of sinners, and the minister and mediatress of grace, as an earnest of heavenly gifts and as a token of Our paternal affection we most lovingly impart the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable Brethren, and to all the flock committed to your care.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, on the eighth day of May, 1928, in the seventh year of Our Pontificate.
Prayer of Reparation
O sweetest Jesus, whose overflowing charity towards men is most ungratefully repaid by such great forgetfulness, neglect and contempt, see, prostrate before Thy altars, we strive by special honor to make amends for the wicked coldness of men and the contumely with which Thy most loving Heart is everywhere treated.
At the same time, mindful of the fact that we too have sometimes not been free from unworthiness, and moved therefore with most vehement sorrow, in the first place we implore Thy mercy on us, being prepared by voluntary expiation to make amends for the sins we have ourselves committed, and also for the sins of those who wander far from the way of salvation, whether because, being obstinate in their unbelief, they refuse to follow Thee as their shepherd and leader, or because, spurning the promises of their Baptism, they have cast off the most sweet yoke of Thy law. We now endeavor to expiate all these lamentable crimes together, and it is also our purpose to make amends for each one of them severally: for the want of modesty in life and dress, for impurities, for so many snares set for the minds of the innocent, for the violation of feast days, for the horrid blasphemies against Thee and Thy saints, for the insults offered to Thy Vicar and to the priestly order, for the neglect of the Sacrament of Divine love or its profanation by horrible sacrileges, and lastly for the public sins of nations which resist the rights and the teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast instituted. Would that we could wash away these crimes with our own blood! And now, to make amends for the outrage offered to the Divine honor, we offer to Thee the same satisfaction which Thou didst once offer to Thy Father on the Cross and which Thou dost continually renew on our altars, we offer this conjoined with the expiations of the Virgin Mother and of all the Saints, and of all pious Christians, promising from our heart that so far as in us lies, with the help of Thy grace, we will make amends for our own past sins, and for the sins of others, and for the neglect of Thy boundless love, by firm faith, by a pure way of life, and by a perfect observance of the Gospel law, especially that of charity; we will also strive with all our strength to prevent injuries being offered to Thee, and gather as many as we can to become Thy followers. Receive, we beseech Thee, O most benign Jesus, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Reparatress, the voluntary homage of this expiation, and vouchsafe, by that great gift of final perseverance, to keep us most faithful until death in our duty and in Thy service, so that at length we may all come to that fatherland, where Thou with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God for ever and ever. Amen.
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Friday, August 12, 2005

Reparation Due to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

You may be eager to have the foundational information conclude and to move on to making an offering, or an act of oblation as a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart. This opportunity will come, but first let us explore the undergirding themes of expiation and reparation--so necessary to a deeper offering which comes from knowledge which leads into a loving act of the will.

The word expiate comes from expiare, a Latin term which breaks down into: ex - intensive + piare - to atone < pius, devout. Expiation, then, is the devout, intensive act of atonement. Atonement is satisfactory reparation for an offense or injury. In regard to Christianity, atonement is the redeeming effect of Christ's incarnation, sufferings, and death; thus, it is ultimately the reconciliation between God and men, through Christ. This process is an act of reparation--of repairing, of making amends.

Victim Souls of the Sacred Heart must be willing to offer themselves to Jesus, to His Sacred Heart, in union with His work of expiation and reparation. This is an act which will result in atonement, of being at one with His incarnation, sufferings, and death and the redemptive results. Victim souls may not know the specific results; working in the dark, in faith, is a job requirement. Victim souls may not know for whom they suffer or why. They may only know in faith, desire with hope, and offer through love. The only certainty is that they have made an act of immolation (offering sufferings to the Sacred Heart of Jesus) and that Jesus has accepted and is using their sufferings for what is needed to make reparation, to repair the damages wrought by mankind.

This is serious business. This is rewarding work. This is the stuff of the saints that will bring holiness and sanctification to otherwise mediocre lives. We are all called to holiness by God. Offering oneself as a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart might mean utilization of sufferings already present in life, or it might mean more sufferings allowed, or it might mean less of some kind of suffering. But then, these sufferings may occur regardless, due to human choices and sin. So many unknowns in life, aren't there? What is a "given" in the life of a Victim Soul is that Jesus always accepts the offering and sufferings to the degree a victim soul can give, and He guides and sanctifies the effort. Jesus provides the way of union to His Sacred Heart, the way of perfection, through the cross, and makes all things new by grace and love. This is great work!

Part of the preparation of making such a decision is to pray for God's help in making an offering. Pray for discernment of His will and assess whether or not you are really desiring to be a Victim Soul of the Sacred Heart, now that you have a fairly good idea of what is involved and what are the rewards--those great benefits to Jesus, mankind, and one's own soul. Consider the three major aims of victim souls: atonement for one's own sins and the ingratitude and offenses committed against our Lord; conversion of sinners; and for priests and to obtain blessing on their apostolic work. Consider the myriad other intentions to which the victim soul and Jesus may utilize the power of the sufferings--all types of minor and major sufferings.

In this informative process, please consider, also, the fact that the Church in its apostolic authority has requested such offering: that souls make reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in this very path of penance, of intensive, devout atonement. I ask you to read the following exerpts from Pope Pius XI's encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor (Reparation to the Sacred Heart), read to the Faithful on May 8, 1928. The entire encyclical is available on another post; and while these exerpts are the bulk of it, and seem lengthy, taking the time to be authoritatively informed is prudent and wise prior to either dismissing being a victim soul or jumping rashly into an act of oblation. (I have highlighted what I find pertinent to the topic.)

ON REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART
MISERENTISSIMUS REDEMPTOR
To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and other Local Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Blessing.
1.
Our Most Merciful Redeemer, after He had wrought salvation for mankind on the tree of the Cross and before He ascended from out this world to the Father, said to his Apostles and Disciples, to console them in their anxiety, "Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." (Matt. xxviii, 20). These words, which are indeed most pleasing, are a cause of all hope and security, and they bring us, Venerable Brethren, ready succor, whenever we look round from this watch-tower raised on high and see all human society laboring amid so many evils and miseries, and the Church herself beset without ceasing by attacks and machinations. For as in the beginning this Divine promise lifted up the despondent spirit of the Apostles and enkindled and inflamed them so that they might cast the seeds of the Gospel teaching throughout the whole world; so ever since it has strengthened the Church unto her victory over the gates of hell. In sooth, Our Lord Jesus Christ has been with his Church in every age, but He has been with her with more present aid and protection whenever she has been assailed by graver perils and difficulties. For the remedies adapted to the condition of time and circumstances, are always supplied by Divine Wisdom, who reacheth from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly (Wisdom viii, 1). But in this latter age also, "the hand of the Lord is not shortened" (Isaias lix, 1), more especially since error has crept in and has spread far and wide, so that it might well be feared that the fountains of Christian life might be in a manner dried up, where men are cut off from the love and knowledge of God. Now, since it may be that some of the people do not know, and others do not heed, those complaints which the most loving Jesus made when He manifested Himself to Margaret Mary Alacoque, and those things likewise which at the same time He asked and expected of men, for their own ultimate profit, it is our pleasure, Venerable Brethren, to speak to you for a little while concerning the duty of honorable satisfaction which we all owe to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the intent that you may, each of you, carefully teach your own flocks those things which we set before you, and stir them up to put the same in practice. ...
6.
But to all these duties, more especially to that fruitful Consecration which was in a manner confirmed by the sacred solemnity of Christ the King, something else must needs be added, and it is concerning this that it is our pleasure to speak with you more at length, Venerable Brethren, on the present occasion: we mean that duty of honorable satisfaction or reparation which must be rendered to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For if the first and foremost thing in Consecration is this, that the creature's love should be given in return for the love of the Creator, another thing follows from this at once, namely that to the same uncreated Love, if so be it has been neglected by forgetfulness or violated by offense, some sort of compensation must be rendered for the injury, and this debt is commonly called by the name of reparation.
7.
Now though in both these matters we are impelled by quite the same motives, none the less we are holden to the duty of reparation and expiation by a certain more valid title of justice and of love, of justice indeed, in order that the offense offered to God by our sins may be expiated and that the violated order may be repaired by penance: and of love too so that we may suffer together with Christ suffering and "filled with reproaches" (Lam. iii, 30), and for all our poverty may offer Him some little solace. For since we are all sinners and laden with many faults, our God must be honored by us not only by that worship wherewith we adore His infinite Majesty with due homage, or acknowledge His supreme dominion by praying, or praise His boundless bounty by thanksgiving; but besides this we must need make satisfaction to God the just avenger, "for our numberless sins and offenses and negligences." To Consecration, therefore, whereby we are devoted to God and are called holy to God, by that holiness and stability which, as the Angelic Doctor teaches, is proper to consecration (2a. 2ae. qu. 81, a. 8. c.), there must be added expiation, whereby sins are wholly blotted out, lest the holiness of the supreme justice may punish our shameless unworthiness, and reject our offering as hateful rather than accept it as pleasing.
8.
Moreover this duty of expiation is laid upon the whole race of men since, as we are taught by the Christian faith, after Adam's miserable fall, infected by hereditary stain, subject to concupiscences and most wretchedly depraved, it would have been thrust down into eternal destruction. This indeed is denied by the wise men of this age of ours, who following the ancient error of Pelagius, ascribe to human nature a certain native virtue by which of its own force it can go onward to higher things; but the Apostle rejects these false opinions of human pride, admonishing us that we "were by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians ii, 3). And indeed, even from the beginning, men in a manner acknowledged this common debt of expiation and, led by a certain natural instinct, they endeavored to appease God by public sacrifices.
9.
But no created power was sufficient to expiate the sins of men, if the Son of God had not assumed man's nature in order to redeem it. This, indeed, the Savior of men Himself declared by the mouth of the sacred Psalmist: "Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not: but a body thou hast fitted to me: Holocausts for sin did not please thee: then said 1: Behold I come" (Hebrews x, 5-7). And in very deed, "Surely He hath borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows. . . He was wounded for our iniquities (Isaias liii, 4-5), and He His own self bore our sins in His body upon the tree . . . (1 Peter ii, 24), "Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross . . ." (Colossians ii, 14) "that we being dead to sins, should live to justice" (1 Peter ii, 24). Yet, though the copious redemption of Christ has abundantly forgiven us all offenses (Cf. Colossians ii, 13), nevertheless, because of that wondrous divine dispensation whereby those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ are to be filled up in our flesh for His body which is the Church (Cf. Colossians i, 24), to the praises and satisfactions, "which Christ in the name of sinners rendered unto God" we can also add our praises and satisfactions, and indeed it behoves us so to do. But we must ever remember that the whole virtue of the expiation depends on the one bloody sacrifice of Christ, which without intermission of time is renewed on our altars in an unbloody manner, "For the victim is one and the same, the same now offering by the ministry of priests, who then offered Himself on the cross, the manner alone of offering being different" (Council of Trent, Session XXIII, Chapter 2). Wherefore with this most august Eucharistic Sacrifice there ought to be joined an oblation both of the ministers and of all the faithful, so that they also may "present themselves living sacrifices, holy, pleasing unto God" (Romans xii, 1). Nay more, St. Cyprian does not hesitate to affirm that "the Lord's sacrifice is not celebrated with legitimate sanctification, unless our oblation and sacrifice correspond to His passion" (Ephesians 63). For this reason, the Apostle admonishes us that "bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus" (2 Corinthians iv, 10), and buried together with Christ, and planted together in the likeness of His death (Cf. Romans vi, 4-5), we must not only crucify our flesh with the vices and concupiscences (Cf. Galatians v, 24), "flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world" (2 Peter i, 4), but "that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies" (2 Corinthians iv, 10) and being made partakers of His eternal priesthood we are to offer up "gifts and sacrifices for sins" (Hebrews v, 1). Nor do those only enjoy a participation in this mystic priesthood and in the office of satisfying and sacrificing, whom our Pontiff Christ Jesus uses as His ministers to offer up the clean oblation to God's Name in every place from the rising of the sun to the going down (Malachias i, 11), but the whole Christian people rightly called by the Prince of the Apostles "a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood" (1 Peter ii, 9), ought to offer for sins both for itself and for all mankind (Cf. Hebrews v, 3), in much the same manner as every priest and pontiff "taken from among men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God" (Hebrews v, 1).
10.
But the more perfectly that our oblation and sacrifice corresponds to the sacrifice of Our Lord, that is to say, the more perfectly we have immolated our love and our desires and have crucified our flesh by that mystic crucifixion of which the Apostle speaks, the more abundant fruits of that propitiation and expiation shall we receive for ourselves and for others. For there is a wondrous and close union of all the faithful with Christ, such as that which prevails between the head and the other members; moreover by that mystic Communion of Saints which we profess in the Catholic creed, both individual men and peoples are joined together not only with one another but also with him, "who is the head, Christ; from whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity" (Ephesians iv, 15-16). It was this indeed that the Mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus, when He was near to death, asked of His Father: "I in them, and thou in me: that they may be made perfect in one" (John xvii, 23).
11.
Wherefore, even as consecration proclaims and confirms this union with Christ, so does expiation begin that same union by washing away faults, and perfect it by participating in the sufferings of Christ, and consummate it by offering victims for the brethren. And this indeed was the purpose of the merciful Jesus, when He showed His Heart to us bearing about it the symbols of the passion and displaying the flames of love, that from the one we might know the infinite malice of sin, and in the other we might admire the infinite charity of Our Redeemer, and so might have a more vehement hatred of sin, and make a more ardent return of love for His love.
12.
And truly the spirit of expiation or reparation has always had the first and foremost place in the worship given to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and nothing is more in keeping with the origin, the character, the power, and the distinctive practices of this form of devotion, as appears from the record of history and custom, as well as from the sacred liturgy and the acts of the Sovereign Pontiffs. For when Christ manifested Himself to Margaret Mary, and declared to her the infinitude of His love, at the same time, in the manner of a mourner, He complained that so many and such great injuries were done to Him by ungrateful men -- and we would that these words in which He made this complaint were fixed in the minds of the faithful, and were never blotted out by oblivion: "Behold this Heart" -- He said -- "which has loved men so much and has loaded them with all benefits, and for this boundless love has had no return but neglect, and contumely, and this often from those who were bound by a debt and duty of a more special love." In order that these faults might be washed away, He then recommended several things to be done, and in particular the following as most pleasing to Himself, namely that men should approach the Altar with this purpose of expiating sin, making what is called a Communion of Reparation, -- and that they should likewise make expiatory supplications and prayers, prolonged for a whole hour, --which is rightly called the "Holy Hour." These pious exercises have been approved by the Church and have also been enriched with copious indulgences.
13.
But how can these rites of expiation bring solace now, when Christ is already reigning in the beatitude of Heaven? To this we may answer in some words of St. Augustine which are very apposite here, --"Give me one who loves, and he will understand what I say" (In Johannis evangelium, tract. XXVI, 4). For any one who has great love of God, if he will look back through the tract of past time may dwell in meditation on Christ, and see Him laboring for man, sorrowing, suffering the greatest hardships, "for us men and for our salvation," well-nigh worn out with sadness, with anguish, nay "bruised for our sins" (Isaias liii, 5), and healing us by His bruises. And the minds of the pious meditate on all these things the more truly, because the sins of men and their crimes committed in every age were the cause why Christ was delivered up to death, and now also they would of themselves bring death to Christ, joined with the same griefs and sorrows, since each several sin in its own way is held to renew the passion of Our Lord: "Crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making him a mockery" (Hebrews vi, 6). Now if, because of our sins also which were as yet in the future, but were foreseen, the soul of Christ became sorrowful unto death, it cannot be doubted that then, too, already He derived somewhat of solace from our reparation, which was likewise foreseen, when "there appeared to Him an angel from heaven" (Luke xxii, 43), in order that His Heart, oppressed with weariness and anguish, might find consolation. And so even now, in a wondrous yet true manner, we can and ought to console that Most Sacred Heart which is continually wounded by the sins of thankless men, since --as we also read in the sacred liturgy -- Christ Himself, by the mouth of the Psalmist complains that He is forsaken by His friends: "My Heart hath expected reproach and misery, and I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none" (Psalm Ixviii, 21).
14.
To this it may be added that the expiatory passion of Christ is renewed and in a manner continued and fulfilled in His mystical body, which is the Church. For, to use once more the words of St. Augustine, "Christ suffered whatever it behoved Him to suffer; now nothing is wanting of the measure of the sufferings. Therefore the sufferings were fulfilled, but in the head; there were yet remaining the sufferings of Christ in His body" (In Psalm Ixxxvi). This, indeed, Our Lord Jesus Himself vouchsafed to explain when, speaking to Saul, "as yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter" (Acts ix, 1), He said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest" (Acts ix, 5), clearly signifying that when persecutions are stirred up against the Church, the Divine Head of the Church is Himself attacked and troubled. Rightly, therefore, does Christ, still suffering in His mystical body, desire to have us partakers of His expiation, and this is also demanded by our intimate union with Him, for since we are "the body of Christ and members of member" (1 Corinthians xii, 27), whatever the head suffers, all the members must suffer with it (Cf. 1 Corinthians xii, 26).
15.
Now, how great is the necessity of this expiation or reparation, more especially in this our age, will be manifest to every one who, as we said at the outset, will examine the world, "seated in wickedness" (1 John v, 19), with his eyes and with his mind. For from all sides the cry of the peoples who are mourning comes up to us, and their princes or rulers have indeed stood up and met together in one against the Lord and against His Church (Cf. Psalm ii, 2). Throughout those regions indeed, we see that all rights both human and Divine are confounded. Churches are thrown down and overturned, religious men and sacred virgins are torn from their homes and are afflicted with abuse, with barbarities, with hunger and imprisonment; bands of boys and girls are snatched from the bosom of their mother the Church, and are induced to renounce Christ, to blaspheme and to attempt the worst crimes of lust; the whole Christian people, sadly disheartened and disrupted, are continually in danger of falling away from the faith, or of suffering the most cruel death. These things in truth are so sad that you might say that such events foreshadow and portend the "beginning of sorrows," that is to say of those that shall be brought by the man of sin, "who is lifted up above all that is called God or is worshipped" (2 Thessalonians ii, 4).
16.
But it is yet more to be lamented, Venerable Brethren, that among the faithful themselves, washed in Baptism with the blood of the immaculate Lamb, and enriched with grace, there are found so many men of every class, who laboring under an incredible ignorance of Divine things and infected with false doctrines, far from their Father's home, lead a life involved in vices, a life which is not brightened by the light of true faith, nor gladdened by the hope of future beatitude, nor refreshed and cherished by the fire of charity; so that they truly seem to sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Moreover, among the faithful there is a greatly increasing carelessness of ecclesiastical discipline, and of those ancient institutions on which all Christian life rests, by which domestic society is governed, and the sanctity of marriage is safeguarded; the education of children is altogether neglected, or else it is depraved by too indulgent blandishments, and the Church is even robbed of the power of giving the young a Christian education; there is a sad forgetfulness of Christian modesty especially in the life and the dress of women; there is an unbridled cupidity of transitory things, a want of moderation in civic affairs, an unbounded ambition of popular favor, a depreciation of legitimate authority, and lastly a contempt for the word of God, whereby faith itself is injured, or is brought into proximate peril.
17.
But all these evils as it were culminate in the cowardice and the sloth of those who, after the manner of the sleeping and fleeing disciples, wavering in their faith, miserably forsake Christ when He is oppressed by anguish or surrounded by the satellites of Satan, and in the perfidy of those others who following the example of the traitor Judas, either partake of the holy table rashly and sacrilegiously, or go over to the camp of the enemy. And thus, even against our will, the thought rises in the mind that now those days draw near of which Our Lord prophesied: "And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold" (Matth. xxiv, 12).
18.
Now, whosoever of the faithful have piously pondered on all these things must need be inflamed with the charity of Christ in His agony and make a more vehement endeavor to expiate their own faults and those of others, to repair the honor of Christ, and to promote the eternal salvation of souls. And indeed that saying of the Apostle: "Where sin abounded, grace did more abound" (Romans v, 20) may be used in a manner to describe this present age; for while the wickedness of men has been greatly increased, at the same time, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, a marvelous increase has been made in the number of the faithful of both sexes who with eager mind endeavor to make satisfaction for the many injuries offered to the Divine Heart, nay more they do not hesitate to offer themselves to Christ as victims. For indeed if any one will lovingly dwell on those things of which we have been speaking, and will have them deeply fixed in his mind, it cannot be but he will shrink with horror from all sin as from the greatest evil, and more than this he will yield himself wholly to the will of God, and will strive to repair the injured honor of the Divine Majesty, as well by constantly praying, as by voluntary mortifications, by patiently bearing the afflictions that befall him, and lastly by spending his whole life in this exercise of expiation.
19.
And for this reason also there have been established many religious families of men and women whose purpose it is by earnest service, both by day and by night, in some manner to fulfill the office of the Angel consoling Jesus in the garden; hence come certain associations of pious men, approved by the Apostolic See and enriched with indulgences, who take upon themselves this same duty of making expiation, a duty which is to be fulfilled by fitting exercises of devotion and of the virtues; hence lastly, to omit other things, come the devotions and solemn demonstrations for the purpose of making reparation to the offended Divine honor, which are inaugurated everywhere, not only by pious members of the faithful, but by parishes, dioceses and cities.
20.
These things being so, Venerable Brethren, just as the rite of consecration, starting from humble beginnings, and afterwards more widely propagated, was at length crowned with success by Our confirmation; so in like manner, we earnestly desire that this custom of expiation or pious reparation, long since devoutly introduced and devoutly propagated, may also be more firmly sanctioned by Our Apostolic authority and more solemnly celebrated by the whole Catholic name. Wherefore, we decree and command that every year on the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, -- which feast indeed on this occasion we have ordered to be raised to the degree of a double of the first class with an octave -- in all churches throughout the whole world, the same expiatory prayer or protestation as it is called, to Our most loving Savior, set forth in the same words according to the copy subjoined to this letter shall be solemnly recited, so that all our faults may be washed away with tears, and reparation may be made for the violated rights of Christ the supreme King and Our most loving Lord.
21.
There is surely no reason for doubting, Venerable Brethren, that from this devotion piously established and commanded to the whole Church, many excellent benefits will flow forth not only to individual men but also to society, sacred, civil, and domestic, seeing that our Redeemer Himself promised to Margaret Mary that "all those who rendered this honor to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of heavenly graces." Sinners indeed, looking on Him whom they pierced (John xix, 37), moved by the sighs and tears of the whole Church, by grieving for the injuries offered to the supreme King, will return to the heart (Isaias xlvi, 8), lest perchance being hardened in their faults, when they see Him whom they pierced "coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matth. xxvi, 64), too late and in vain they shall bewail themselves because of Him (Cf. Apoc. i, 7). But the just shall be justified and shall be sanctified still (Cf. Apoc. xxii. 11) and they will devote themselves wholly and with new ardor to the service of their King, when they see Him contemned and attacked and assailed with so many and such great insults, but more than all will they burn with zeal for the eternal salvation of souls when they have pondered on the complaint of the Divine Victim: "What profit is there in my blood?" (Psalm xxix, 10), and likewise on the joy that will be felt by the same Most Sacred Heart of Jesus "upon one sinner doing penance" (Luke xv, 10). And this indeed we more especially and vehemently desire and confidently expect, that the just and merciful God who would have spared Sodom for the sake of ten just men, will much more be ready to spare the whole race of men, when He is moved by the humble petitions and happily appeased by the prayers of the community of the faithful praying together in union with Christ their Mediator and Head, in the name of all. And now lastly may the most benign Virgin Mother of God smile on this purpose and on these desires of ours; for since she brought forth for us Jesus our Redeemer, and nourished Him, and offered Him as a victim by the Cross, by her mystic union with Christ and His very special grace she likewise became and is piously called a reparatress. Trusting in her intercession with Christ, who whereas He is the "one mediator of God and men" (1 Timothy ii, 5), chose to make His Mother the advocate of sinners, and the minister and mediatress of grace, as an earnest of heavenly gifts and as a token of Our paternal affection we most lovingly impart the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable Brethren, and to all the flock committed to your care.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, on the eighth day of May, 1928, in the seventh year of Our Pontificate.