“The Sacred Heart of Jesus Appear Burning, so as to Inflame Our Hearts Anew,
with Love for the Holy Eucharist and His Passion."
By Rev. J. Fuhlrott
"I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?" Luke xii. 49
In the Old Testament God often appeared to men in fire. When He gave the Ten Commandments He appeared upon Mount Sinai in the midst of thunder and lightning. "And all Mount Sinai was on a smoke, because the Lord was come down upon it in fire" (Exod xix. 18). The Lord appeared to Daniel upon a fiery throne: "I beheld till thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days sat; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His Head like clean wool; His throne like flames of fire" (Dan. vii. 9).
The three Babylonian youths, Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago, saw the Lord appear to them in the midst of the fiery furnace: "Behold, I see four men loose, and walking in the midst of the fire; and there is no hurt in them, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Dan. iii. 92).
when Moses and the children of Israel came out of Egypt there appeared to them a cloud and pillar of fire, in which the Lord had set up His fiery throne, and whence He sent forth the lightning which killed Pharaoh; but the children of Israel He conducted safely through the Red Sea to Palestine: "Behold, the Lord, looking upon the Egyptian army, through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host" (Exod. xiv 24). The Lord even vouchsafed to erect His throne in the midst of a bush, for He appeared to Moses in the burning bush and called him to Him, and consoled him and all the children of Israel, who were so sorely oppressed by the cruel tyranny of Pharaoh. Why did the Lord of infinite majesty appear in the old law upon a fiery throne, and why did He so often set up His throne in the midst of burning fire? "The fiery throne," says Philip Diez, "is love, for God is seated in the midst of love; for this reason He desired to be called God, fire" - "The Lord thy God is a consuming fire" (Deut. iv. 24) - to prove to us by this fiery throne the tense love with which He loved us from the beginning. With everlasting kindness have I had mercy on thee, said the Lord, thy Redeemer" (Isaias liv. 8).
And now behold a new wonder of this immeasurable love. The same good God, "having spoken on dives occasions, and in many ways, in times past, to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days, hath spoken to us by His son" (Heb i. I); for He, the Redeemer of the world, to prove to us His infinite love, vouchsafed to show His most Sacred Heart to Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, of the Order of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, resting upon a throne of fire, surmounted with a cross, pierced by the lance and crowned with thorns. So that, through this most amiable object, to draw the tepid hearts of men to His love, and at the same time to inflame them with a pure-fire love. "I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I but that it be kindled?" (Luke xii 49) The aim of this devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus is that, by this veneration, and love, all the ingratitude and the grievous wrongs committed against Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, by the heathens, the Jews, the heretics, bad Christians, and even the faithful, especially those who receive Holy Communion unworthily, may be made reparation for by the devout faithful in their zeal for the honor of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist and on Calvary; and for this purpose the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi has been set apart to this devotion, so that on this day the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus may be venerated by the devout faithful with a special honor and worship. There is no doubt that this devotion is very pleasing to Jesus Christ, and that a soul who loves and practices this devotion will be the recipient of numerous graces from Him.
This devotion was declared by the Rev. Father de la Colombiere, S.J., a man renowned for his apostolic zeal and sanctity, after he had tried the spirit of the servant of God, the Blessed Margaret, to be right, pious, holy and very profitable for the entire Church of God. Since then, this devotion has been approved of by the Church, and at present it is spread all over the Catholic world.
The late Holy Father, Pius IX., is the Pope of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, for it was reserved for him to inaugurate the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and it was during his pontificate that Margaret Mary Alacoque was beatified. During his pontificate, in 1875, was also celebrated the 200th anniversary jubilee of the Sacred Heart being revealed to Blessed Margaret Mary. This great festival was accompanied by innumerable blessings. In this way the words of our Lord: "I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?" already began to be fulfilled.
We are reminded by this consideration of that sacred fire which God sent down from heaven upon the high priest, Aaron, when he was offering the first sacrifice on the altar erected by Moses. From that time on, this fire was always kept burning by having new wood laid upon it, until finally the city of Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans, and the Temple and altars destroyed, then the priests took this fire and hid it in a well in the valley. When, after many years, the Jews sought this sacred fire, they did not find that fire, but in its place, they found in the well a thick liquid; Nehemas had this drawn off, and it was sprinkled on the sacrifice of the new altar. And, behold, a miracle took place, when the sun, which, till then, was covered with clouds, sent forth its rays upon the altar and upon this liquid. An enormous fire was kindled, which not only turned the water into fire, but consumed in an instant the sacrifice on the altar, (II Mach i. 22). This fire, which descended from heaven, is, according to the explanation of St. Gregory the Great, the love of God. By the altar our heart is represented, on which this divine love should burn always. But this fire of love has been changed in the hearts of most Christians into a thick liquid. And, behold, through the Most Tender Heart of Jesus, as soon as it shines as the mystical sun, which, until then, was hidden behind the clouds, for there were few who thought of this Sacred Heart, a great fire of devotion was kindled. And as in the time of the seraphic St. Frances, on whom the Divine Redeemer imprinted the marks of His five sacred wounds, so that the remembrance of His most bitter Passion, which at that time, on account of the unfortunate conditions which prevailed in the Church of God, was almost entirely obliterated, was to be in a wonderful manner renewed in the hearts of the faithful, it happened in our own times that His divine goodness gave new life through His Sacred Heart burning with love to the cold and changed world, and kindled in our hearts the fire of His love, so that we might love our Divine Redeemer, who gave us His Most Sacred Heart out of an excess of love, with the love of our whole hearts. This is the aim of this devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The sight and the contemplation of the divine and renewed Heart of Jesus should be a means for us to life up our minds to God and our Redeemer, and to love Him with the whole strength of our hearts.
Our Divine Savior did nothing on this earth which He had not before prefigured in the Old Testament. This Most Sacred Heart burning with love was also typified by that costly altar of incense which was made of setim wood, overlaid with gold, upon which the Lord ordered the priests to burn sweet-smelling incense (Exod xxx. I). Can the Most Holy Trinity be offered a sweeter or more pleasing incense than the Most Sacred and Divine Heart of Jesus, which is hidden in the Most Blessed Sacrament? This most holy, glowing and burning Heart of Jesus is further typified by that golden censer which St. John speaks of in the Apocalypse: "And the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth" (Apoc. viii 5). This angel is the Angel of Great Counsel, namely, Christ Jesus, whose Heart, as St. Bernadine says, was compared to a censer filled with glowing coals, on account of His ardent, glowing love for us. This, His love, He has poured out entirely before His Sacred Altar to the four ends (sides) that is to say of His Cross, through His open side. "He filled it with glowing coals and cast it upon the earth."
This Sacred Heart was prefigured by that propitiatory that was placed over the Ark between the two Cherubim. This propitiatory was the Place of Atonement, where God once vouchsafed to show mercy to His people; for this reason it was called God's throne, or seat, upon which God, the Lord of the high priests, when He entered the Holy of Holies, gave answer and prophecy: "When Moses entered into the tabernacle of the covenant to consult the oracle, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from the propitiatory" (Num. vii 89).
Let us now pass from the types to the reality: namely, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: What was this Sacred Heart upon earth, and what is it still in heaven, and in the Most Blessed Sacrament but a propitiatory where all sinful souls find a safe refuge from the wrathful countenance of God? O, sinners! O, blind mortals! what are you doing? Why do you remain in your sins? Why do you hasten on toward the abyss of hell? Tell me!
Dear Christian souls, delay not; arise and hasten to the most amiable Heart of Jesus, t the kind Savior, Mediator. There you will find a sure harbor of refuge, forgiveness of sins, and perfect peace. "Let us enter," says Simon of Cassia, "into the Heart of Jesus, that august Heart, that hidden Heart; to the Heart which thinks of all, to the Heart which knows all, to the Heart which loves; and through the open door let us enter and at least, by the strength of our love, become like unto this Heart. It shows a great indifference on the part of those who do not enter, though they know hat the entrance is open.
Now, O Christian soul, there remains only one thing for us to do, and that is to turn with our whole heart toward this Sacred Heart, inflamed and wounded with love of us. Let us imitate St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who loved the Sacred Heart and the Holy Name of Jesus with the whole strength of his soul; which is evident, as he called Jesus by no other name than, "his Love." The ardent longing of his heart and his love for Jesus were revealed when he was thrown as prey to the lions, in the amphitheatre at Rome, he was devoured by them, but his heart remained untouched, and on it was found written, in letters of gold, the Most Holy Name of Jesus. "In his heart," says Nadasus, "which they cut up into pieces, there was found, written letters of gold upon each separate piece, the name of Jesus."
O that our heart might be animated and inflamed with a like love for the Heart and the Name of Jesus. O good Jesus! do now that which Thou didst once announce to the prophet Ezekiel: "And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel xxxvi 26). Behold, our heart is hard and hardened in sin: O, soften it with the Blood of Thy Most Sacred Heart, that it may know Thee, and love and seek none but Thee in the future. Our heart, O Jesus, is stony and our will is stubborn and accustomed to follow its passions, O, give us a heart of flesh, a docile heart, a pliant heart, which observes Thy commandments in the smallest particular and finds its love in Thee alone. Our heart is cold and tepid, O inflame it with the fire of Thy love, that it may burn only with love of Thee, until it is reduced to ashes. Our heart, finally, is inconstant, and, like a windmill, always in motion; O my Jesus! strengthen it and fortify it with Thy grace, until at last, having overcome all dangers, it rests in Thee for all eternity! Amen.