THE FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Prayers for the Sacred Heart of Jesus from the Twenty-Four Hours of the Passion

 Twentieth Hour

O my Jesus, I kiss your Most Sacred Heart, and I thank You for all You have Suffered, Desired
and Yearned for, for Love of all and for each one in particular. I ask Your Forgiveness for the many evil desires, and for the affections and tendencies which are not good – Forgiveness, O Jesus, for many who place Your Love after the love of creatures. And to give You all the Glory that these have denied You, I offer You everything that Your Most Adorable Heart has done and continues to do.

Twenty Second Hour

O Jesus, I kiss your Most Sacred Heart, and I intend to enclose in It, with my soul, all the souls
redeemed by You, so that all may be saved – no one excluded. O Jesus, lock me in Your Heart, and close the doors, that I may see nothing but You. I promise You that every time the thought comes to me of wanting to go out of this Heart, immediately I will cry out: “Jesus and Mary, to You I give my heart and my soul.”

Twenty Fourth Hour

One last word: as I leave You (Celestial Mama), I pray You to enclose me in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; and You, my sorrowful Mama, be my sentry, so that Jesus may not put me out of It; and I, even if I wanted, may not be able to leave. So I kiss your Maternal hand; and You, Bless me.

FROM THE LETTERS OF THE SERVANT OF GOD, LUISA PICCARRETA

Letter #20

“…Don’t you know that Redemption is preparation for the Kingdom of the Divine Will?  And the Sacred Heart of Jesus is nothing other than the immense Reign of His Will.  It is not the Heart that dominates; it is the Divine Will that dominates His Divine Heart.  Poor Heart, if it did not have a Will to dominate it, it would be good at nothing.  If the will is good, the heart is good; if the will is holy, the heart is holy.  If our will gives place to the Divine, letting It raise Its throne in our will, the heart acquires the divine qualities by grace.  Therefore, both in the Divine and in the human order, it is always the will that has the first place, the prime act, its rule.  The heart and all the rest are in the secondary order… Therefore, to say that the Heart reigns, if the Divine Will does not reign, is absurd.  They can be called devotions, pious practices…; if the Divine Will does not reign, the Kingdom does not exist.  It exists in Heaven, but has no place on earth.  However, the Holy Church, organ and messenger of the Supreme Fiat, through the Sacred Heart, through the Celestial Mama, beseeches the Kingdom of the Divine Will.  She does not say it with words, but says it with facts.  The Divine Volition is the King – His Heart, His wounds, His precious Blood, the sweet Queen, form the ministers that surround the King, and through them beseech the Kingdom of the Divine Will in souls.

Now, how can one know It?  All the necessary things, the different circumstances in which we may find ourselves, are Will of God for us.  If we are really determined to live in It, God is so pleased that, if miracles are needed, He will make them in order not to let us use our will.  It is up to us to truly decide, and be willing to give even our life in order to live in It; and dear Jesus and the Sovereign Queen will take on the commitment, will be our sentries, and will surround us with such graces as to not let us be betrayed by our own wills.  More so, since our Lord does not teach difficult things, nor does He impose them or want them, but He facilitates all that He wants from us in an admirable way; even more, He puts Himself in our place to make it easy for us, and does together with us all that He wants us to do.

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

V4 – ‘My most sweet Jesus, when will it be that You take this heart of mine to conform it completely to Yours, in such a way that I may live from the Life of Your Heart?’ While I was saying this, my highest and only Good took a lance and opened me at the place corresponding to my heart; then He pulled it out with His hands, and He looked at it thoroughly to see whether it was stripped and possessed those qualities to be able to be inside His Most Holy Heart. I too looked at it, and to my surprise I saw, impressed on one side of it, the cross, the sponge and the crown of thorns. But as I wanted to see the other side and the inside, for it seemed swollen as if it could be opened, my beloved Jesus prevented me, saying to me: “I want to mortify you (Luisa) by not letting you see all that I have poured into this heart. Ah, yes! Here inside this heart there are all the treasures of my graces that human nature can arrive at containing.” At that moment He enclosed it inside His Most Holy Heart, adding: “Your heart has taken possession within My Heart, and I will give You My Love as Heart,which will give you Life.” And drawing near that part, He sent three breaths containing light which took the place of my heart. Then He closed the wound, telling me: “Now more than ever is it appropriate for you to fix yourself in the center of My Will, having My Love alone as Heart. You must not go out of It even for one instant, for My love will find its true nourishment in you only if it finds My Will in you, entirely and completely. In It will My love find its contentment and true and faithful correspondence.”

V4 – While I am outside of myself, my adorable Jesus continues to show me my heart inside of His – but so transformed, that I can no longer recognize which one is mine and which one is Jesus’s. He has conformed it perfectly to His own; He has impressed on it all the insignia of the Passion, making me understand that, from the moment of His conception His Heartwas conceived with these insignia of the Passion; so much so, that what He suffered at the end of His life was an outpouring of that which His Hearthad suffered continuously. I seemed to see one just like the other. I seemed to see my beloved Jesus occupied with preparing the place in which He was to put the heart, perfuming it and bejeweling it with many different flowers. And while He was doing this, He told me: “My beloved, since you (Luisa) must live from My Heart, it is appropriate for you to undertake a more perfect way of living. Therefore, from you I want:

1. Perfect conformity to My Will, because you will only be able to love Me perfectly if you love Me with my own Will. Even more, I tell you that by loving Me with my own Will, you will arrive at loving Me, and your neighbor, with my same way of loving.
2. Profound humility, placing yourself, in front of Me and of creatures, as the last among all.
3. Purity in everything, because any slightest fault against purity, both in loving and in operating, is reflected all in the heart, and it remains stained. Therefore I want purity to be like dew upon the flowers at the rising of the sun, which, its rays reflecting upon them, transmutes those little drops into as many precious pearls, such as to enchant the people. In the same way, if all your works, thoughts and words, heartbeats and affections, desires and inclinations, are adorned with the celestial dew of purity, you will weave a sweet enchantment, not only for the human eye, but for the whole of Heaven.
4. Obedience, which must be connected with my Will, because if this virtue regards the superiors I have given you on earth, my Will is obedience which regards Me directly; so much so, that it can be said that both one and the other are virtues of obedience – with this difference alone: one regards God, and the other regards men. However, both of them have the same value, and one cannot be without the other; therefore you must love both one and the other in the same way.”

Then He added: “Know that from now on you will live with My Heart, and you must see things the way My Heart does,that I may find my satisfactions in you. Therefore be careful, for this is no longer your heart, but Mine.”

V12 – The three mortal wounds of the Heart of Jesus.

As I was in my usual state, my always lovable Jesus, in coming, showed me His adorable Heart, all full of wounds, from which rivers of blood gushed. All sorrowful, He told me: “My daughter, among the many wounds that my Heart contains, there are three wounds which give Me mortal pains and such bitterness of sorrow as to surpass all the other wounds together. These are the pains of my loving souls. When I see a soul, all Mine, suffering because of Me, tortured, crushed, ready to suffer for Me even the most painful death, I feel her pains as if they were Mine – and maybe even more. Ah! love can open the deepest gashes, to the extent of making one feel no other pains.

My dear Mama enters first into this first wound. Oh, how Her Heart, pierced because of My pains, overflowed into Mine, and felt vividly all of Its piercings! In seeing her dying, without dying, because of My death, I felt the torment, the cruelness of her martyrdom in My Heart, and I felt the pains of My death which the Heart of My dear Mama felt, and My Heart died together with Hers. Therefore, all My pains, united with the pains of My Mama, surpassed everything. It was right that My Celestial Mama had the first place in My Heart,both in sorrow and in love, because each pain suffered for love of Me opened seas of graces and of love, which poured into her pierced Heart. All the souls who suffer because of Me, and only out of love, enter into this wound. You yourself enter into it; and even if all offended Me and nobody loved Me, I would find in you the love which can compensate Me for all. Therefore, when creatures drive Me away and force Me to run away from them, I very quickly come to take refuge in you as though in My hiding place; and finding My own Love, not their own, and a Love suffering only for Me, I say: ‘I do not regret having created Heaven and earth, and having suffered so much. A soul who loves Me and who suffers for Me is all My contentment, My happiness, My reward for everything I have done’. And as though putting all the rest aside, I delight and play with her.

However, while this wound of My Heart is the most painful, such as to surpass everything, it contains two effects at the same time: it gives Me intense pain and highest joy; unspeakable bitterness and indescribable sweetness; painful death and glorious life. These are the excesses of my Love – inconceivable to created mind. In fact, how many contentments did My Heart not find in the sorrows of My pierced Mama?

The second mortal wound of My Heart is ingratitude. With ingratitude, the creature closes my Heart; even more, she herself turns the key with double locks. My Heart swells, wanting to pour out graces and love, but It cannot, because the creature has closed It, and has sealed It with her ingratitude. And I become delirious – I agonize, without hope that this wound of Mine may be healed, because ingratitude keeps embittering it more and more, giving Me mortal pain.

The third one is obstinacy. What a mortal wound for My Heart! Obstinacy is the destruction of all the goods I have done for the creature; it is the signature that the creature puts on her declaration that she no longer recognizes Me – that she no longer belongs to Me. It is the key of hell into which the creature hurls herself. My Heart feels this tearing; It is torn to pieces – and I feel one of these pieces being taken away from Me. What a mortal wound obstinacy is!

My daughter, enter My Heartand take part in these wounds of Mine. Compassionate My tormented Heart. Let us suffer together, and let us pray.” I entered into His Heart. How painful but beautiful it was to suffer and pray with Jesus.

V14 – As I was in my usual state, my always lovable Jesus made Himself seen holding many little lambs in His arms – some leaning on His breast, some on His shoulders, some clinging to His neck, some on the right, some on the left in His arms, and some peeking out with their little heads from within His Heart. However, the feet of all these little lambs were all in the Heart of Our Lord,and His breath was the nourishment He gave to them. They were all turned with their mouths toward the mouth of my sweet Jesus, to receive the nourishment of His breath. It was really beautiful to see how Jesus took highest pleasure, all intent in nourishing them and delighting with them; they really seemed as many births delivered by His Most Holy Heart. Then, turning to Me, He said: “My daughter, these little lambs that you see in my arms are the children of my Will, legitimate births from my Supreme Volition. They will come out from within my Heart, but will keep their feet in the center of my Heart, so that they may take nothing from the earth, and may be concerned with nothing but Me alone. Look at them, how beautiful they are; how clean and nourished they grow, fed by my breath alone. They will be the glory, the crown of Creation.”

V16 – (Luisa says): “…my adorable Jesus came, all goodness, and showing me His opened Heart, told me: “My daughter, place your head upon My Heart and rest, for you are very tired. Then, we will wander around together in order to show you my “I love you’s”, spread over the whole of Creation for you.”

So I hugged Him, placing my head on His Heart to rest, as I felt extreme need of it. After a while, as I was still outside of myself, but always clinging to His Heart, He added: “My daughter (Luisa), I want you, who are the Firstborn Daughter of My Supreme Will, to know how the whole Creation, on the Wings of My Eternal Volition, brings my “I love you” to the creatures; and the creatures, on the same Wings of My Will, making It their own, should give Me their “I love You” in return.

V16 – “My daughter, you gave Me a dwelling in you on earth, and I keep you in Heaven inside My Heart; so, while being on earth, you are with Me in Heaven. The Divinity delights with the Little Daughter of the Supreme Volition, having her in Heaven with Itself. And since We have Our Little Daughter in Heaven and on earth, it is not worthwhile for Us to destroy the earth, as Justice would want to do, since creatures deserve it. At the most, many cities will disappear; the earth will open abysses in several places making lands and people disappear, and wars will decimate it, but out of regard for Our Little Daughter, We will not destroy it, having given her the task to make our Will live on earth.

V16 – I was thinking of the sorrows of the Most Holy Heart of Jesus. Oh, how my pains disappeared when compared to His! And my always adorable Jesus told me: “My daughter, the sorrows of My Heart are indescribable and incomprehensible to human creature. You must know that every beat of My Heart was a distinct pain. Every heartbeat brought Me a new pain, one different from the other. Human life is a continuous palpitating; if the heartbeat ceases, life ceases. And so now imagine what torrents of pain each beat of My Heart brought Me. Up to the last moment of My dying, from My Conception to My last heartbeat, it did not spare Me from bringing Me new pains and bitter sorrows.

However, you must also know that My Divinity, which was inseparable from Me, watching over My Heart, while letting a new sorrow enter at each heartbeat, in the same way, at each heartbeat, It let enter new joys, new contentments, new harmonies and celestial secrets. If I was rich in sorrow and My Heart enclosed immense seas of pain, I was also rich of happiness, of infinite joys and of unreachable sweetness. I would have died at the first heartbeat of pain, if the Divinity, loving this Heart with infinite Love, had not let each heartbeat resound in two within My Heart: sorrow and joy, bitterness and sweetness, pains and contentments, death and life, humiliation and glory, human abandonments and divine comforts. Oh, if you could see My Heart, you would see all possible imaginable sorrows centralized in Me, from which creatures rise again to new life, and all contentments and divine riches, flowing in My Heart like many seas, as I diffuse them for the good of the whole human family.

But who shares more in these immense treasures of My Heart? For those who suffer more, for each pain, for each sorrow, there a special joy in My Heart, which follows that pain or sorrow suffered by the creature. Pain renders her more dignified, more lovable, more dear, more worthy of sympathy. And since My Heart drew upon Itself all divine sympathies by virtue of the pains suffered, in seeing pain in the creature, which is a special characteristic of My Heart, watching over this pain, with all My Love I pour upon her the joys and contentments which My Heart contains. But to My highest sorrow, while My Heart would want to let My joys follow the pain I send to the creatures, not finding in them the love of suffering and the true resignation which My Heart possessed, My joys still follow pain, but in seeing that the pain has not been received with love and honor and with highest submission, My joys do not find the way to enter that sorrowful heart and, grieving, they return to My Heart.

Therefore, when I find a soul who is resigned, who loves suffering, I feel her as though regenerated within My Heart, and – oh, how sorrows and joys, bitterness and sweetness, alternate. I hold nothing back of all the goods which I can pour upon her.”

‘The best perfection is to do ordinary things in a perfect manner. Constant fidelity in little things is a great and heroic virtue.’

St. Bonaventure

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

This morning, after I struggled very much, blessed Jesus came and told me: “My daughter, see how many things are said about virtue, about perfection, but they all end up in one single point – that is, the consummation of the human will in the Divine. So, the more one is consumed in It, the more it can be said that he contains everything and is more perfect than everyone. In fact, all virtues and good works are many keys that open the divine treasures and make one acquire more friendship, more intimacy, more commerce with God; but consummation alone is what renders the soul one with Him and places the divine power in her hands. And this, because life must have a will in order to live, and by living of the Divine Will, one naturally takes ownership.”

“…My daughter, only when an act encloses within itself all other acts together—then can it be called perfect. And My Will alone encloses this perfect Act—that while It does one act alone, all possible and imaginable acts that exist in Heaven and on earth gush forth from this single act. This single act of My Will is symbolized by a fount: while the fount is one, from it gush seas, rivers, fire, light, heaven, stars, flowers, mountains and earth. Everything comes out of this one fount. “Now, Adam in the state of innocence and the Height of the Sovereign Queen, by possessing My Will, if they loved, in that love they enclosed adoration, glory, praise, blessing, prayer. Nothing was missing in their littlest act; in it flowed the multiplicity of the qualities of the single Act of My Supreme Volition, that made them embrace everything, and so, in one act, they gave to their Creator whatever befitted Him. So, if they loved, they adored; if they adored, they loved. Isolated acts, that do not embrace all acts together, cannot be called perfect—they are meager acts, that give of human will. And therefore only in the Fiat can the soul find true perfection in her acts, and offer a Divine Act to her Creator.”

“…My dear Mama also did nothing extraordinary in Her exterior life; even more, apparently She did less than others. She lowered Herself to the most ordinary actions of life: She used to spin, sew, sweep, light the fire… Who would ever have thought that She was the Mother of a God? Her external actions indicated nothing of this. And when She carried Me in Her womb, containing the Eternal Word within Herself, every motion of Hers, every human actions, won the adoration of the whole of Creation. From Her came the life and the preservation of all creatures: the Sun hung upon Her, expecting the preservation of its light and heat; the earth, the development of the life of the plants… Everything hovered round Her – Heaven and earth hung upon Her every motion. Yet, who saw anything? No one. All Her greatness, power and sanctity, and the immense seas of goods which came out of Her, were in Her interior. Each one of Her heartbeats, breaths, thoughts, words, were an outpouring into Her Creator; there were continuous currents between Her and God, which She would receive and give. Nothing would come out which would not wound Her Creator, and by which She would not be wounded. These currents expanded Her, raised Her, and made Her surpass everything – but no one saw anything. I alone, Her God and Son, was aware of everything. Such current ran between Me and my Mama, that Her heartbeat would run within Mine, and Mine within Hers. So, She lived from my eternal heartbeat, and I from Her maternal heartbeat; therefore our lives were blended together. And this was exactly what, in my eyes, distinguished Her as my Mama. External actions do not satisfy Me, nor do they please Me, if they do not start from an interior whose life is formed by Me.

Now, what is your wonder if your external life is completely ordinary? I am used to covering my greatest works with the most ordinary things, so that no one may point to them, and I may be more free to operate. And when I have completed everything, I make surprises and I manifest them to everyone, making all remain astounded. And it is certain that the work I am doing in you is great. Do you think it is trivial that I make all your acts run in the current of my Will, and that the current of my Will runs in your acts? And that, as these currents run, they form one single act with all the acts of creatures, making a Divine Volition flow over all of them, becoming the actor of the act of each one, substituting for all with a divine act, a divine and eternal love, reparation and glory? And that the current of a human will is in continuous relations with a Divine Will; and that one pours into the other? My daughter, what I recommend to you is that you be attentive and that you follow Me faithfully.”

“…Now, if you call My Divine Will as Life of your mind, as Heartbeat of your heart, as Action of your hands, and so forth, you will form the Life of the Intelligence of My Will in your mind, the Life of Its Actions in your hands, Its Divine Step in your feet, in a way that everything that you do will serve as veil for the Divine Life that you have formed in the interior of your acts with your intention. But what is this intention? It is your will that, appealing to Mine, empties itself and forms the void in one’s act in order to give the place of action to My Will. And acting as veil, it hides even in the most ordinary and natural actions, the Extraordinary Action of a God, such that from the outside common actions are seen, but if one removes the veil of the human volition, one finds the Operating Virtue of the Divine Action enclosed. And this forms the Sanctity of the creature, not the diversity of actions, not the works that make noise, no, but common life, the necessary actions of life, of which the creature cannot do without. They are all veils that can hide Our Will, and make itself field where God abases Himself in order to act as hidden Actor of His Divine Actions. And as the body veils the soul, so the will veils God; it hides Him and by means of her ordinary actions forms the chain of the Extraordinary Actions of God in her soul. Therefore be attentive, call My Will in everything you do, and It will never deny you Its Act, in order to form in you, for as much as it is possible for a creature, the Fullness of Its Sanctity.”

Holy Eucharist

“Holy Communion is the shortest and the safest way to Heaven.” (St. Pius X)

“If the Angels could be jealous of men, they would be for one reason: Holy Communion.” (St. Maximillian Kolbe)

“In one day the Eucharist will make you produce more for the Glory of God than a whole lifetime without it.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard)

“How I love the feasts!…I especially loved the processions in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. What a joy it was for me to throw flowers beneath the feet of God!… I was never so happy as when I saw my roses touch the sacred Monstrance.” (St. Therese the Little Flower)

“When you look at the Crucifix, you understand how much Jesus Loved you then. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus Loves you now.” (Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta)

“From the Eucharist comes strength to live the Christian Life and zeal to share that life with others.” (St. John Paul II)

“This is the bread of Everlasting Life which supports the substance of your soul.” (St. Ambrose)

“The longer you stay away from Communion, the more your soul will be weak, and in the end you will become dangerously indifferent.” (St. John Bosco)

“The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole Spiritual Life.” (St. Thomas Aquinas)

FEAST OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

PRECURSOR OF THE LORD

JUNE 24

click image for more information about this Feast Day

FROM THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE KINGDOM OF THE DIVINE WILL

Meditation 1

After many days of travel, finally I arrived in Judea, and I hastened to the house of Elisabeth. She came toward Me in feast. At the greeting I gave her, marvelous phenomena occurred. My little Jesus exulted in My womb, and fixing little John in the womb of his mother with the Rays of His Divinity, He Sanctified him, gave him the use of Reason, and made known to him that He was the Son of God. And John leaped so vigorously with love and with joy that Elisabeth was shaken. Touched by the Light of the Divinity of My Son, she too recognized that I had become the Mother of God; and in the emphasis of her love, trembling with gratitude, she exclaimed: “Whence comes to me so much honor, that the Mother of my Lord would come to me?”

I did not deny the highest mystery; rather, I humbly confirmed it. Praising God with the song of the Magnificat – sublime canticle, through which the Church continuously honors Me – I announced that the Lord had done great things in Me, His servant, and that because of this, all peoples would call Me Blessed.

My child, I felt devoured with the desire to pour out the flames of love that consumed Me, and to reveal My Secret to Elisabeth, who also longed for the Messiah to come upon earth. A secret is a need of the heart which is revealed, irresistibly, to persons who are capable of understanding each other.

Who can ever tell you how much good My visit brought to Elisabeth, to John, and to their whole household? Everyone was Sanctified, filled with Gladness, felt unusual Joys, and comprehended things unheard-of. John, in particular, received all the Graces which were necessary for him, to prepare himself to be the Precursor of My Son.

http://bookofheaven.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Feast-Day-of-Aloysius-Gonzaga.pdf

CORPUS DOMINI: LIVING THE EXPERIENCE OF FAITH MEANS BEING NOURISHED BY THE LORD

Vatican City, 20 June 2014 (VIS) – Yesterday afternoon, on the Solemnity of Corpus Domini, Pope Francis celebrated Holy Mass in the square of St. John Lateran, the cathedral basilica of Rome. He commented in his homily that human beings not only suffer from physical hunger, but hunger also for life, love and eternity, for the manna that God gave to the people of Israel in the desert and which the Eucharist symbolises.

Referring to Moses’ phrase: “The Lord your God … fed you with manna which you did not know”, Francis spoke about the history of the chosen people, whom God led out of Egypt and their condition of slaves to guide them to the promised land. However, once established there, the Israelites enjoyed prosperity and were in danger of forgetting their past of famine and despair. Moses urged them to return to the essentials, to the experience of total reliance on God, when their survival was entirely entrusted to His hands”.

“As well as physical hunger, man also suffers from another form of hunger that cannot be sated with ordinary food. It is a hunger for life, a hunger for love, a hunger for eternity. Manna is the sign … that prefigured the food that satisfies this profound hunger present in man. Jesus gives us this nourishment – or rather, He Himself is the living bread that gives life to the world. His Body is the true food in the form of bread; His Blood is the true sustenance in the form of wine. It is not a simple form of nourishment to sate our bodies, like manna; the Body of Christ is the bread of the last times, able to give life, eternal life, because the substance of this bread is Love”.

The Eucharist communicates “God’s love for us: a love so great that it nourishes itself; it is a gratuitous love, always available to every person who hungers or who is in need of regeneration. To live the experience of faith means allowing oneself to be nourished by the Lord and to build our existence not on material goods, but on a reality that does not perish: the gifts of God, His Word and His Body”.

“If we look around ourselves”, continued the bishop of Rome, “we realise that many forms of sustenance are offered to us, that do not come from the Lord and seemingly offer more satisfaction. Some sate themselves with money, others with success and vanity, others with power and pride. But the food that truly nourishes and sates us is only that which comes from the Lord! The food that the Lord offers us is different from the others, and it may perhaps be less appetising than other delicacies the world offers us. We dream of other meals, like the Hebrews in the desert, who missed the meat and onions they ate in Egypt, but forgot that they ate those meals at the table of their slavery. In that moment of temptation, they retained the memories of that food, but it was a diseased memory, a selective memory”.

“The Father says to us: ‘I have fed you with manna which you did not know’. Let us restore our memory and learn to recognise the false victuals that delude and corrupt, because they are the fruit of selfishness, self-sufficiency and sin: poisoned foods. Soon, in the procession, we will follow Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist. The Host is our manna, through which the Lord gives Himself to us. And we turn to Him with trust: Jesus, defend us from the temptations of the worldly food that enslaves us; purify our memory, so that we may not be imprisoned by selfish and worldly selectivity, but become instead the living memory of Your presence throughout the history of Your people, a memory that becomes a ‘memorial’ of your gesture of redeeming love”.

Following the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy Father led the procession along Via Merulana up to the basilica of St. Mary Major, where he imparted his solemn blessing with the Most Holy Sacrament.

FROM THE BOOK OF HEAVEN

My daughter, the “I love you” is everything! The “I love you” is Love, it is Veneration, it is Esteem, it is Heroism, it is Sacrifice, it is Trust toward the one to whom it is directed. The “I love you” is to Possess the One who encloses the “I love you”. The “I love you” is a little word, but it weighs as much as Eternity! The “I love you” encloses everything, involves everyone; it diffuses itself, it restricts itself, it rises up high, it descend down to the bottom, it impresses itself everywhere, and it never stops.

…Its Origin is Eternal. In the “I love you” the Celestial Father Generated Me (Jesus), and in the “I love you” the Holy Spirit Proceeded. In the “I love you” the Eternal FIAT made the whole creation, and in the “I love you” It forgave guilty man and redeemed him.

Pope Benedict: Love within the Trinity Overflows into Forgiveness for Man

…“So, in the mystery of the cross, there are three Divine Persons,” …

“The Father, who gave his only begotten Son for the salvation of the world, the Son, who carries out the Will of the Father to the very end and the Holy Spirit – poured out by Jesus at the moment of his death – who comes to render us participants in Divine Life, to transform our lives, so that our lives are animated by Divine Love.”

“The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, because God is Love: the Father gives everything to the Son, the Son receives everything from the Father with gratitude, and the Holy Spirit is like the fruit of this mutual Love between the Father and Son,” said the Pope describing the Holy Trinity – the Christian proposition that God is three persons but one divine nature – as the “first and greatest mystery of our faith.”

To illustrate the Holy Trinity’s Mercy for man, the Pope drew upon the first Bible passage read at today’s Mass. It recounted the disobedience of the Jewish people who, after being led out of slavery in Egypt by Moses, wanted a golden idol instead of God.

“All seems lost, all friendship broken,” said the Pope.

“Yet, despite having committed the gravest of sins, God, through the intercession of Moses, decides to forgive His people and calls Moses to ascend the mountain once more to receive His law, the Ten Commandments.”

God then describes himself to Moses as “a Merciful and Gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” In these words, said the Pope, “there can be no clearer revelation” of the Trinity’s Benevolence towards man.

“We have a God who renounces the destruction of the sinner and wants to show His Love in an even more profound and surprising way right in front of the sinner in order to always offer the possibility of conversion and forgiveness.”

The culmination of this Divine Offer said the Pope, drawing upon today’s Gospel reading, is the Incarnation of God-made-man in the person of Jesus Christ.

“The evangelist John refers to this statement of Jesus: ‘God so Loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have Eternal Life’.”

So while some may presume a God who would “come to judge the world, to destroy evil, to punish those who work in darkness” instead, said the Pope, “He shows He Loves the world, He Loves man, despite his sinfulness, and sends what is His most precious possession: His only begotten Son.”

Feast of Corpus Christi

Thursday after Trinity Sunday

click here for more information on the Mass of Corpus Christi and Indulgences

FROM THE HOURS OF THE PASSION

Fourth Hour

From 8 to 9 PM

The Eucharistic Supper

My sweet Love, always insatiable in your love, I see that as You finish the legal supper together with your dear disciples, You stand up, and united with them, You raise the hymn of thanksgiving to the Father for having given you food, wanting to repair for all the lack of thanksgiving of the creatures, and for all the means He gives us for the preservation of corporal life. This is why, O Jesus, in anything You do, touch or see, You always have on your lips the words, “Thanks be to You, O Father”.

I too, Jesus, united with You, take the words from your very lips, and I will say, always and in everything: “Thank You for myself and for all”, in order to continue the reparations for the lack of thanksgiving.

Institution of the Eucharist

My Jesus, my joy and delight, I see that your Love runs, and runs rapidly. You stand up, sorrowful as You are, and You almost run to the altar where there is bread and wine ready for the consecration. I see You, my heart, assuming a look wholly new and never seen before: your Divine Person acquires a tender, loving, affectionate appearance; your eyes blaze with light, more than if they were suns; your rosy face is radiant; your lips are smiling and burning with love; your creative hands assume the attitude of creating. I see You, my Love, all transformed: your Divinity seems to overflow from your Humanity.

My Heart and my Life, Jesus, this appearance of yours, never before seen, draws the attention of all the apostles. They are caught by a sweet enchantment and do not dare even to breathe. Your sweet Mama runs in spirit to the foot of the altar, to admire the portents of your Love. The Angels descend from Heaven, asking themselves: “What is this? What is this? These are true follies, true excesses! A God who creates, not heaven or earth, but Himself. And where? In the most wretched matter of a little bread and a little wine.”

But while they are all around You, oh insatiable Love, I see that You take the bread in your hands; You offer it to the Father, and I hear your most sweet voice say: “Holy Father, thanks be to You, for always answering your Son. Holy Father, concur with Me. One day, You sent Me from Heaven to earth to be incarnated in the womb of my Mama, to come and save Our children. Now, allow Me to be incarnated in each Host, to continue their salvation and be life of each one of my children. Do You see, O Father? Few hours of my life are left: who would have the heart to leave my children orphaned and alone? Many are their enemies – the obscurities, the passions, the weaknesses to which they are subject. Who will help them? O please, I supplicate You to let Me stay in each Host, to be life of each one, and therefore put to flight their enemies; to be their light, strength and help in everything. Otherwise, where shall they go? Who will help them? Our works are eternal, my Love is irresistible – I cannot leave my children, nor do I want to.”

The Father is moved at the tender and affectionate voice of the Son. He descends from Heaven; He is already on the altar, and united with the Holy Spirit, concurs with the Son. And Jesus, with sonorous and moving voice, pronounces the words of the Consecration, and without leaving Himself, creates Himself in that bread and wine.

THE CHURCH IS REJUVENATED BY MOTHERHOOD

Vatican City, 17 June 2014 (VIS) – At 7 p.m. yesterday in the Paul VI Hall the Holy Father met with the representatives of the diocese of Rome, gathered to participate in the Diocesan Pastoral Congress on the theme “A people who raise children. Community and family in the major stages of Christian initiation”. During his address, Pope Francis spoke on the issue of the “society of orphans”: of parents who do not spend enough time playing with their children because of their long working hours, and because of their fatigue when they arrive home that leads the young to be deprived of time spent freely with their parents. He emphasised that nowadays we need this sense of gratuity within the family, in parishes, in society as a whole, and that the Lord is revealed to us in gratuity, or rather as Grace: “But if we do not have a sense of gratuity within the family, at school, in the parish, it will be very difficult to understand what the grace of God is: that grace that cannot be bought or sold, that is a gift from God, and is indeed God Himself”. He also commented on other social aspects that contribute to the “orphanhood” of the young: “a technological society that multiplies to infinity the opportunities for pleasure, distraction and curiosity, but is not able to lead man to true joy”, and added that only by encountering Jesus can be encounter true joy and understand that we do not lead our lives in vain, as a task has been conferred to each one of us”.

The Holy Father went on to describe the Church as a mother who knows how to raise her children. “The great challenge faced by the Church is that of being a mother”, he said, “not a well-organised NGO full of pastoral plans. … The Church needs to rediscover her maternity. She must be a mother; maternity is the grace that we must now ask of the Holy Spirit in order to go ahead in our pastoral and missionary conversion. However, the Church grows not by proselytism but by maternal attraction, through tenderness, through the testimony of her many children”. The Pope remarked that the Mother Church has aged somewhat, to the risk of becoming “Grandmother Church”, and that she must therefore be rejuvenated, “but not by taking her to a cosmetic surgeon, no! The Church becomes younger when she is able to generate more sons; the more children she has, the younger she becomes”.

The Pontiff added that this means recovering the memory of the Church. In a world in which there exists little sense of history and fear of time, a world in which the present reigns supreme, in which language is increasingly abbreviated and everything becomes rapid, making us slaves to our situation, we must recover the memory of God’s patience. “God is not hasty during our history of salvation, and has accompanied us throughout history”. The Pope therefore urged the priests and clergy present not to close the doors of their churches, but rather to welcome all with an open heart, as a family, asking the Lord to make them able to participate in their difficulties and in the problems that children and the young frequently encounter in their lives.

“People hope to find Jesus’ gaze in us, often without realising it; they seek a serene and joyful gaze that enters the heart. But the whole parish must transform into a welcoming place, not only the priests and catechists”. The Pope encouraged those present to ask themselves whether their parishes were truly welcoming, whether their celebrations were scheduled to favour the participation of the young, if they spoke the language of youth and if their communities kept their doors open.

Before concluding, the Pope acknowledged that the work carried out by priests is not easy. “It is easier to be a bishop”, he affirmed, “because we can always maintain a distance and hide ourselves behind the title of ‘Your excellency’, and defend ourselves in this way. But being a priest, when the parishioners knock on the door, when they talk to you about their problems … it is not easy”. He commented that the Church in Italy is strong because of her priests, and urged them not to forget the memory of evangelisation and always to stay close to the faithful. “We want a Church of faith, who believes that the Lord is able to make her a mother, to give her many children; our Holy Mother Church”.

TRINITY SUNDAY

ATHANASIAN CREED

Trinity Sunday falls one week after Pentecost Sunday, and it is the day that the Catholic Church has set aside to

honor the most fundamental of Christian beliefs—the Holy Trinity.

Traditionally, the Athanasian Creed was recited in Masses on Trinity Sunday

We have thus far lived out the drama of Christ’s earthly life — His Nativity at Christmas, His revealing Himself as God at

the Epiphany, His time in the desert at Lent, His Passion and Resurrection at Good Friday and Easter. We recalled His

glorious Ascension, and at last week’s Pentecost, the Holy Ghost has descended upon the Church, sent by the Father and

the Son.

God’s Triune Nature has been fully revealed, and now we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity on this day, hearing in today’s

Gospel, “All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the

Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all the things whatsoever I have

commanded you; and behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world” (this is known as the “Great

Commission”). And with this Mass, the Time After Pentecost, the season that represents the Church Age, begins.

Vestments today will be white.

Symbols for the day are the natural symbols of the Trinity — the shamrock used by St. Patrick to explain the Trinity to the

ancient Irish, the pansy — viola tricolor — called the “Trinity Flower,” a candle with 3 flames, the triangle, the trefoil, 3

interlocking circles, etc.

The Athanasian Creed

This is the Athanasian Creed, as used in the Roman Catholic Church. It’s used in the liturgy only rarely (sometimes on

Trinity Sunday), but like all of the Church’s creeds, it is still valid and respected. Although no longer officially attributed

to St. Athanasius (died in 373 A.D.), it still bears his name. This beautiful creed contains a detailed meditation on the

nature of the Trinity. The Athanasian Creed is also called the Quicumque vult, after its first words in Latin. This creed can

also be found in the Handbook of Prayers, edited by James Socias.

Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all, keep the Catholic faith.

For unless a person keeps this faith whole and entire, he will undoubtedly be lost forever.

This is what the Catholic faith teaches: we worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity.

Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance.

For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit.

But the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have one divinity, equal glory, and coeternal majesty.

What the Father is, the Son is, and the Holy Spirit is.

The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated.

The Father is boundless, the Son is boundless, and the Holy Spirit is boundless.

The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal.

Nevertheless, there are not three eternal beings, but one eternal being.

So there are not three uncreated beings, nor three boundless beings, but one uncreated being and one boundless being.

Likewise, the Father is omnipotent, the Son is omnipotent, the Holy Spirit is omnipotent.

Yet there are not three omnipotent beings, but one omnipotent being.

Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.

However, there are not three gods, but one God.

The Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord.

However, there are not three lords, but one Lord.

For as we are obliged by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person singly to be God and Lord, so too are we forbidden by

the Catholic religion to say that there are three Gods or Lords.

The Father was not made, nor created, nor generated by anyone.

The Son is not made, nor created, but begotten by the Father alone.

The Holy Spirit is not made, nor created, nor generated, but proceeds from the Father and the Son.

There is, then, one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.

In this Trinity, there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less. The entire three Persons are coeternal and coequal

with one another.

So that in all things, as is has been said above, the Unity is to be worshipped in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity.

He, therefore, who wishes to be saved, must believe thus about the Trinity.

It is also necessary for eternal salvation that he believes steadfastly in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both God and man.

As God, He was begotten of the substance of the Father before time; as man, He was born in time of the substance of His

He is perfect God; and He is perfect man, with a rational soul and human flesh.

He is equal to the Father in His Divinity, but inferior to the Father in His humanity.

Although He is God and man, He is not two, but one Christ.

And He is one, not because His Divinity was changed into flesh, but because His humanity was assumed unto God.

He is one, not by a mingling of substances, but by unity of person.

As a rational soul and flesh are one man: so God and man are one Christ.

He died for our salvation, descended into hell, and rose from the dead on the third day.

He ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there He shall come to judge the living and

the dead.

At His coming, all men are to arise with their own bodies; and they are to give an account of their own deeds.

Those who have done good deeds will go into eternal life; those who have done evil will go into the everlasting fire.

This is the Catholic faith. Everyone must believe it, firmly and steadfastly; otherwise He cannot be saved.

Amen.

The Athanasian Creed is one of the treasures from the early Catholic Church. (Note that the Catechism refers to

the Athanasian Creed in item #192, among other sections.) Be sure to see the Apostles Creed and the Catholic Nicene

Creed, too. They’re the most common creeds used in the daily life of the Roman Catholic Church. But the Athanasian

Creed stands alone in its detailed and beautiful description of the Holy Trinity

Book of Heaven

Volume 1 – Other times, in this hiding of Jesus and my going around in search for Him, when He would make Himself felt inside of me and then come out from within me, I would find not Jesus alone, but all Three Divine Persons – now in the form of three children, gracious and immensely beautiful, now with one single body and three distinct heads, but resembling each other, all three of them attractive. Who can tell my contentment?  Especially when I would see the three children, whom I would hold, all three of them, in my arms.  I would kiss now one, now another, and receive their kisses; now one would lean on my shoulder, another on the other shoulder, and another would remain in front of me.  And while delighting in them, I would go about looking at them and, to my amazement, from three I would find one.  Another amazement for me when I would be with these three children, was that each one would weigh as much as the three of them together.  I would feel as much love for one of these children, as for all three of them together; each one of them attracted me in the same way.

February 28 A.D. 1899 – How she sees the Divinity of Jesus –   The sun is fire, but it is also light and heat.  Here is the Most Holy Trinity veiled in the sun:  the fire is the Father, the light is the Son, the heat is the Holy Spirit.  However, the sun is one, and just as one cannot separate fire from light and heat, so one is the power of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who in reality cannot be separated from one another.  And just as fire produces light and heat at the same time, in such a way that fire cannot be conceived without light and heat; in the same way, the Father cannot be conceived before the Son and the Holy Spirit, and vice versa, but all Three of the Them have the same eternal beginning.