Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Friday, June 24, 2022

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - Ravisher of hearts

St John Eudes was known as the “Apostle of the Sacred Heart” due to his spreading the devotion. He composed many prayers, an Office and a Litany for the Sacred Heart before it was officially a Feast if the Church. In his litany he has a beautiful expression he uses “raptor cordium” - ravisher of hearts.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the best known Catholic symbols in the world. It symbolises the humanity of Our Lord enflamed with his Divinity for love of us. As God, only he can satisfy the desires of our heart. This is why I love the expression “ravisher of hearts” by St John Eudes.

Another beautiful expression for the Sacred Heart used by many saints is the “furnace of charity”. A furnace generates heart, and so the Sacred Heart fills us with charity, His own Divine Love. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus always soften our hardened hearts, and enflame us with His love. As the collect for today says, may we always glory in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - have mercy on us!

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who glory in the Heart of your beloved Son and recall the wonders of his love for us, may be made worthy to receive an overflowing measure of grace from that fount of heavenly gifts.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.