contempt, irreverence, sacrilege, even in the Sacrament of my Love. But what is still more sensible to me is, that I suffer this from persons specially consecrated to my service. I desire, then, that the first Friday after the octave of the Holy Sacrament be devoted to honour my Heart, by an act of reparation, and that the Holy Communion be received, in order to repair the indignities it has suffered while exposed on the altars; and I promise that this Heart will dilate itself, to diffuse abundantly the influence of its divine love on those who will render to it this honour.” “ But, my Saviour,” said the religious, “ to whom do you address yourself? To a vile creature; to a poor sinner whose unworthiness would even be capable of preventing the accomplishment of your design? Have you not many fervent, generous souls to execute it?” “ What!” said our Lord, “ do you not know that I employ the weak to confound the strong, and that it is ordinarily the poor and the humble I render the instruments of my greatest works, that they may not attribute the glory of them to themselves?”
The “Devotion to the Sacred Heart,” now sanctioned by the Church, is indeed a treasure hidden in a field, which he who finds shall obtain life, and draw down salvation from the Lord. If you wish to esteem it as it ought to be esteemed, listen to yet other words addressed by Jesus Christ to the same Venerable Margaret Mary Alacoque: "Recommend this devotion to seculars, as a sure and easy means of obtaining from me a true love of God; to ecclesiastics and religious persons, as an efficacious means of arriving at the perfection of their state; to those who labour in the conversion of souls, as a powerful help in touching hearts the most obdurate; in fine,
