an E-Magazine by the Humble Holy Laity
| Great Crusade of the Sacred HeartAn e-magazine for the Humble Holy Laity Edition #1; Fall 2019  Who We Are…The Humble Holy Laity is a Legion of Prayer Warriors whose mission is to pray for the Church (the Mystical body of Christ) during these apocalyptic times of crisis. All members are required to pray Lauds (Morning Prayers) and Vespers (Evening Prayers) and to participate in community prayer campaigns as often as possible. All members are encouraged to take part in the Community Chats and Discussion Boards. The Humble Holy Laity makes use of Jesus’ Heart as a focal point for contemplative prayer. St. John the Evangelist rested his head on Jesus’ heart and listened to our Lord’s divine and sacred heart beat. A thousand years later, around the year 1260, St. Gertrude had a vision of St. John, who told her that the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus would spread during End Times. The Humble Holy Laity is spreading the contemplation of the Heart of Jesus and strives to teach the laity what John the Evangelist discovered when he lay upon Jesus’ most sacred heart. Though not a religious order, the HHL is involved in the mentoring and growth of its members to help them become the best prayer warriors possible. This is an online community of prayer, and we expect participation from our members. Thomas the Hermit, Legatus Legionis (Leader of the Legion)Please submit stories and photos for future editions of this e-magazine to our editorial staff at HumbleHolyLaity@gmail.com  |
| Prayer of the Heart Testimonial:I have been trying your Sacred Heart contemplative prayer experiment for the past few days. To give you some background about my prayer life: I try to say the Rosary daily but am not always successful at meeting this goal. Also, I haven’t been able to establish a regular habit of quiet meditative/contemplative prayer. I have tried Lectio Divina a few times, but it’s not something that I regularly practice. The first time I tried quietly meditating on the Sacred Heart, I found it difficult to keep my thoughts focused. But once I was able to gain a bit of focus, I started experiencing a lot of “warm and fuzzy” sentimental feelings, thinking about God’s love for me. I tried to ignore these feelings as you advised, but I am a very emotional and sensitive person and am easily moved to strong feelings. Nonetheless, I felt a lot of peace while meditating on the Sacred Heart. The second time I tried meditating on the Sacred Heart, something that entered my mind was a memory of an experience of rejection from the past that really hurt my feelings. I often recall this memory in my daily life and sometimes get stuck in a spiral of negative thoughts whenever I think about it. I felt sad recalling this memory, and I started becoming tearful but then redirected my thoughts to the Sacred Heart. As I spent more time quietly focused on the Sacred Heart, my feelings of rejection were eventually replaced by feelings of peace. Later in the day I suddenly remembered this same memory. I was surprised that I didn’t feel as much pain and bitterness as usual. Though I still felt a bit sorrowful, I felt like I had a bit more genuine forgiveness for the people involved in this incident. The third time I tried meditating on the Sacred Heart, I was lying in bed at night and unable to sleep because my thoughts were racing with the anxieties of the day. I tried to think about the Sacred Heart instead of all the things that were bothering me until I eventually became so tired that I was unable to maintain my focus and went to sleep for the night. I fell asleep feeling good instead of worried and anxious, and I awoke the next day in a good mood. I think this experiment was a great success for me and I will continue to meditate on the Sacred Heart. I feel like I am starting to have more of an idea of how to properly do Lectio Divina now. When I had tried it in the past, I would get so distracted and lost in my thoughts and feelings, but now I have a better idea of how to redirect my focus back to the actual scripture passage that I am meditating on. I enjoy meditating on the Sacred Heart because it is a great mood booster, and I feel like I now have a better understanding of what my mind needs to be doing when I’m trying to do Lectio Divina. I love your YouTube channel. Please pray for my family, as we are experiencing a lot of turmoil right now. I’m praying for you. God bless you Thomas.   St. Faustina and the Merciful Heart of Jesus Elizabeth Lluch Editor LegionisHow is it that a young Polish nun with only 3 years of formal education becomes the “Apostle and Secretary” of Jesus’ Mercy? Shortly before the outbreak of WW2, Jesus came to Sister Faustina in a vision and instructed her to record His words and message of mercy in a diary, telling her that she is to act as His secretary and write all that he tells her. Jesus tells her that He desires to heal mankind rather than punish it: “I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My merciful Heart” (Diary, 1588). Maria Faustina Kowalska was the 3rd of ten children born into a poor Polish family on August 25, 1905. From an early age she loved prayer and was pious and obedient, yet extremely sensitive to human misery and suffering. She felt called to religious life when she was only 7 years old. But when she kept ignoring this “call,” Jesus chastised her, asking her how long she would keep putting Him off.  In 1925, at age 20, Maria joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw and received the name “Sister Maria Faustina.” From that point on, Sr. Faustina dedicated herself to saving souls through union with God and self-sacrificial cooperation with Jesus. “The Lord endowed her with great graces – with the gift of contemplation, with a deep knowledge of the mystery of the mercy of God, with visions, revelations, the hidden stigmata, with the gift of prophecy and of reading into human souls, and also the rare gift of mystical espousals.” (Diary xvii). But in her own words, nothing was as important as intimate union with God: “My sanctity and perfection is based upon the close union of my will with the will of God” (Diary, 1107). Saint Faustina had a very big mission, namely to remind us of God’s merciful love for humankind. She did this by conveying new forms of devotion to the Divine Mercy, the goal of which is to lead to a renewal of the spiritual life in the spirit of Christian trust and mercy. The forms of devotion she gave us are as follows: (1) the Image of the Merciful Jesus; (2) the Feast of The Divine Mercy; (3) the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy; (4) the Hour of Mercy; (5) the spreading of the Honor of the Divine Mercy; and (6) the renewal of religious life as a result of Devotion to the Divine Mercy.But what about the connection between the Divine Mercy and the Sacred Heart of Jesus? Is there a link between these two devotions? What does St. Faustina say about Jesus’ most sacred and precious heart? Let’s take a look at some of the passages from St. Faustina’s Diary and see for ourselves! The words in bold are the words Jesus spoke directly to St. Faustina as recorded in her Diary: “A great mystery has been accomplished between God and me. Courage and strength have remained in my soul. I accepted it with submission to a higher will and snuggled closely to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, letting Him know that I was ready for that for which I had offered myself.” (Diary, 138)  “After the renewal of vows and Holy Communion, I suddenly saw the Lord Jesus, who said to me with great kindness, ‘My daughter, look at My merciful Heart’. As I fixed my gaze on the Most Sacred Heart, the same rays of light, as are represented in the image as blood and water, came forth from it, and I understood how great is the Lord’s mercy. And again Jesus said to me with kindness, ‘My daughter, speak to priests about this inconceivable mercy of Mine. The flames of mercy are burning Me — clamoring to be spent; I want to keep pouring them out upon souls; souls just don’t want to believe in My goodness’. Suddenly Jesus disappeared. But throughout that whole day my spirit remained immersed in God’s tangible presence, despite the buzz and chatter that usually follow a retreat.” (Diary, 177)“O living Host, my one and only strength, fountain of love and mercy, embrace the whole world, fortify faint souls. Oh, blessed be the instant and the moment when Jesus left us His most merciful Heart!” (Diary, 223)  “I know you are unworthy, but rejoice all the more and take as many treasures from My Heart as you can carry, for then you will please Me more. And I will tell you one more thing — take these graces not only for yourself, but also for others; that is, encourage the souls with whom you come in contact to trust in My infinite mercy. Oh, how I love those souls who have complete confidence in Me — I will do everything for them.”(Diary, 294) “O Jesus, how few souls understand You in Your martyrdom of love! Oh, how great is the fire of purest love which burns in Your Most Sacred Heart! Happy the soul that has come to understand the love of the Heart of Jesus!”(Diary, 304) “When we went to the Jesuits’ place for the procession of the Sacred Heart, during Vespers I saw the same rays coming forth from the Sacred Host, just as they are painted in the image. My soul was filled with great longing for God.” (Diary, 657)  June 4. “Today is the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. During Holy Mass, I was given the knowledge of the Heart of Jesus and of the nature of the fire of love with which He burns for us and of how He is an Ocean of Mercy. Then I heard a voice: ‘Apostle of My mercy, proclaim to the whole world My unfathomable mercy. Do not be discouraged by the difficulties you encounter in proclaiming My mercy. These difficulties that affect you so painfully are needed for your sanctification and as evidence that this work is Mine. My daughter, be diligent in writing down every sentence I tell you concerning My mercy, because this is meant for a great number of souls who will profit from it.” (Diary, 1142)“Despite the peace in my soul, I fight a continuous battle with the enemy of my soul. More and more, I am discovering his traps, and the battle flares up anew. During interludes of calm, I exercise myself and keep watch, lest the enemy find me unprepared. And when I see his great fury, I stay inside the stronghold; that is, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.” (Diary, 1287) Jesus: “My mercy is greater than your sins and those of the entire world. Who can measure the extent of my goodness? For you I descended from heaven to earth; for you I allowed myself to be nailed to the cross; for you I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come, then, with trust to draw graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart. Your misery has disappeared in the depths of My mercy. Do not argue with Me about your wretchedness. You will give me pleasure if you hand over to me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of My grace.” (Diary, 1485) Jesus: “Child, speak no more of your misery; it is already forgotten. Listen, My child, to what I desire to tell you. Come close to My wounds and draw from the Fountain of Life whatever your heart desires. Drink copiously from the Fountain of Life and you will not weary on your journey. Look at the splendors of My mercy and do not fear the enemies of your salvation. Glorify My mercy.” (Diary, 1485)  Jesus: “Here, soul, are all the treasures of My Heart. Take everything you need from it.” (Diary, 1486) Jesus: “Tell me all, My child, hide nothing from Me, because My loving Heart, the Heart of your Best Friend, is listening to you.” (Diary, 1486) Jesus: “Do not be absorbed in your misery — you are still too weak to speak of it — but, rather, gaze on My Heart filled with goodness, and be imbued with My sentiments. Strive for meekness and humility; be merciful to others, as I am to you; and, when you feel your strength failing, if you come to the fountain of mercy to fortify your soul, you will not grow weary on your journey.” (Diary, 1486)  “Accept, most merciful Jesus, this, my inadequate sacrifice, which I offer to You today before heaven and earth. May Your Most Sacred Heart, so full of mercy, complete what is lacking in my offering, and offer it to Your Father for the conversion of sinners. I thirst after souls, O Christ.” (Diary, 1680) “Today, I saw the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the sky, in the midst of a great brilliance. The rays were issuing from the Wound [in His side] and spreading out over the entire world.” (Diary, 1796) As you can see, there are many passages where Jesus tells St. Faustina that His heart is a fountain of mercy. He tells her to paint an image of this vision, with rays of mercy streaming from His heart, and signed “Jesus, I trust in You!” This image is a portrait of Jesus as Merciful Savior. The red and pale rays represent the blood and water that flowed from His pierced Heart as a fountain of mercy for us. It is a reminder for us to come to Jesus with trust and to be merciful to others. In this way, St. Faustina fulfills the words that St. John the Evangelist spoke to St. Gertrude about how Jesus’ Heart would play a pivotal role in the End Times. Hail, most merciful Heart of Jesus,Living Fountain of all graces,Our sole shelter, our only refuge;In You I have the light of hope.Hail, most compassionate Heart of my God,Unfathomable living Fount of LoveFrom which gushes life for sinful manAnd the Spring of all sweetness. Hail, open Wound of the Most Sacred Heart,From which the rays of mercy issued forthAnd from which it was given us to draw lifeWith the vessel of trust alone.Hail, God’s goodness, incomprehensible,Never to be measured or fathomed,Full of love and mercy, though always holy,Yet, like a good mother, ever bent o’er us. Hail, Throne of Mercy, Lamb of God,Who gave Your life in sacrifice for me,Before whom my soul humbles itself daily,Living in faith profound. (Diary, 1321)Prayer of the Heart Testimonial:Hello Thomas: I have so much to share. I have had a huge inner healing. It was not a big bang thing, but was rather more like all of a sudden it was just there. The best way to explain it was like a huge weight lifted off of me. I have had this struggle in my soul about what I should be doing, worried all the time about doing everything right. What if I make a mistake? To put it in a good analogy, not too long ago Jesus told me that I was a sheepdog. Now I know that sounds like an insult. But for me it’s not. Herding dogs is my favorite thing on the planet. I have a Collie and a Shetland sheepdog, and they are my best friends. Anyway When Jesus told me that I was like a Sheepdog, it made perfect sense to me. I am always desperately trying to fix everything, worried about making a mistake. Both my parents are addicts and I guess I am the classic alcoholics kid. I blame myself for everything. I apologize all the time. Basically I beat myself up all the time and constantly second guess myself. About a year and a half ago I went to a healing retreat at church and was healed of all kinds of wounds: being abandoned by my father and other nasty memories. I was healed, yet I still carried the behaviors or mindset of a wounded person. My point in telling you all this is because I was able to identify what was spiritually wrong but I could not shake it. And that is where the Sacred Heart came in. Last week you taught me contemplation and so I used it this week. And all those burdens were lifted. I feel light and all my worry is gone. It’s like I now understand who I am in Christ, and what He wants from me. I am finally able to rest in the Lord for the first time in my life. Another thing is that during one of my contemplation times, the heart turned pure white. But not just white. It was like a white fire. Way more deeper things have happened, but this is the closest I can get to putting it into words. I hope some of this makes sense. If it doesn’t, I am very sorry. I can try to make it more clear if needed. I probably sound like a crazy person. LOL Thank you again for your time and effort. I have been looking forward to the class all week.  St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Manuela Green, HHLTriaria Legionis of St. JPIISt. Margaret Mary Alacoque was a French contemplative nun of the Order of the Visitation Sisters. She was also a mystic who promoted Contemplation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as well as the official Consecration to this devotion in its modern form. Although St. Margaret Mary had many visions of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary throughout her life, there are three significant revelations to note, which make St. Margaret Mary one of the greatest disciples of the Sacred Heart Contemplation.  The first vision regarding Christ’s Sacred Heart took place on December 27, 1673. Providentially, this was the feast day of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, who leaned on Christ’s chest at the Last Supper. Jesus invited St. Margaret Mary to rest on his chest in the same way and showed her His Sacred Heart as a symbol of His love for mankind, saying “My divine Heart is so inflamed with love for mankind … that it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its burning charity and must spread them abroad by your means.” Jesus’ heart was in flames and adorned with the crown of thorns. Our Lord told her that the flames represented His love for humanity, and the thorns represented man’s sinfulness and ingratitude. This is the same vision in which Jesus gave St. Margaret Mary twelve promises to encourage all Catholics to know and understand the benefit of practicing Contemplation of His Sacred Heart. Over the course of the next 18 months, Christ appeared to St. Margaret Mary at various intervals. The next important revelation was when Jesus asked St. Margaret Mary to establish a feast day of His Sacred Heart, in reparation for the coldness, indignities and ingratitude of the world. It was to take place on the first Friday after the feast of Corpus Christi. Today, the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is a solemnity in the liturgical Catholic calendar. It falls 19 days after Pentecost, on a Friday.The spread of this feast day and the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is mainly attributed to her confessor and spiritual director, Fr. Claude de la Colombière, S.J., himself a canonized saint. When no one believed St. Margaret Mary about her visions and called her delusional, she suffered greatly to the point of grave illness. It was Fr. De la Colombière who was convinced of the validity of her visions and became both her supporter and a zealous apostle of the devotion.  This brings us to the last great revelation. When Fr. De la Colombière was assigned pastor of the Visitation community and still a newcomer, he was addressing the community during holy Mass one day when St. Margaret Mary heard an inner voice telling her, “This is he whom I am sending you.” Fr. De la Colombière approached her to give her Communion, and the Lord granted St. Margaret Mary the vision of His Sacred Heart as a burning furnace and two other smaller hearts near it. Jesus said, “It is my pure love that unites these three hearts forever.” With renewed confidence, she opened up to Fr. De la Colombière and, as they say, the rest is history. Worldwide devotion to the Sacred Heart has helped to combat the heresy of Jansenism, which claimed that God did not desire the salvation of some people. St. Margaret Mary’s feast day is October 16. Her incorrupt body rests under the altar of the chapel of her convent at Paray-le-Monial, and has been the cause of instantaneously miraculous cures. St. Margaret Mary, beloved disciple of the Sacred Heart. Pray for us! Below are the twelve promises that Jesus Christ made to those who honor his Sacred Heart: 1) I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life. 2) I will give peace in their families and will unite families that are divided. 3) I will console them in all their troubles. 4) I will be their refuge during life and above all in death. 5) I will bestow the blessings of Heaven on all their enterprises. 6) Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy. 7) Tepid souls shall become fervent. 8) Fervent souls shall rise quickly to great perfection. 9) I will bless those places wherein the image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored and will imprint My love on the hearts of those who would wear this image on their person. I will also destroy in them all disordered movements. 10) I will give to priests who are animated by a tender devotion to my Divine Heart the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.11) Those who promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart, never to be effaced. 12) I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence: they will not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their Sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment. Prayer of the Heart Testimonial: Battling lust, pornography and perversions is common among men; and yes, many women too. We are all only human, and our awesome God-given desires for intimacy and procreation can easily be abused and twisted to enslave souls and to rob us of our heavenly destiny. The bottom line is don’t give up on the cause for holiness because God desires to deliver us from the bondage of lust and addiction. But it will take perseverance and dedication to live a life devoted to prayer and service to others. Since beginning devotion to the Sacred Heart and in continuation of daily prayers – both vocal and mental – including both the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, I have experienced victory over lust and pornography. I go days and even some weeks without serious temptation now, and when I do get flooded with lustful thoughts, I make the enemy pay for it by immediately crying out for my mother, Mary the Queen of Heaven! Every disordered thought that comes, I turn to prayer- mostly Hail Mary’s, but St Joseph and St Michael prayers help. Also I pray for the women I was tempted to objectify asking Our Mother to guide and bless their lives through her son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Also regular confession really helps,even preemptively. If you want to overcome this addiction, start in the confessional. Go weekly, every other week, or at least monthly. But if struggling I suggest weekly. Find some time to meditate on Jesus’ Sacred Heart and devote yourself to intercessory prayer through Our Lady of Fatima. If you need an accountability brother, reach out to Thomas and he will put you in touch with me. (Men only, I do not and cannot counsel women on this.) Don’t give up guys! Through Christ all things are possible!  St. Gertrude and the Depths of the Sacred HeartBy Chris Poulos, PraefectusWho is God? This is an ancient question that mystics, prophets, doctors of the Church, and countless believers have wrestled with, from the ancient Hebrews following Moses, all the way to the anxiety-stricken apostles on the night of Our Lord’s passion. Glimpses into the Lord’s great justice and mercy can be seen with Abraham, Moses, and now in the latter days, Mary and other victim souls pleading for the salvation of sinners. The depths of God’s unfathomable majesty, wisdom, and Light are explored by mystics such as St. John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila using contemplative focus to stare into the depths of God’s presence and self. Often these great theologians and mystics, like the great prophets of old, return with moral lessons and warnings of man’s sinfulness, balanced with a call for prayer, fasting, and greater intimacy with God. Particular saints like Saint Dominic, Saint Louis de Montfort, Saint Margaret Mary and Saint Faustina Kowalska receive prayers and devotions like the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and consecration to the Blessed Mother to transform us and help us Laity to plead God’s grace and mercy for the world. Although many of these saints and authorities repeat in their writings the importance of a personal, mystical, daily walk with God, much of the Catholic laity and clergy presume that mysticism is just for handpicked religious and souls, often missing the fact that the Mass in and of itself is an extremely intimate, transformative connection between the soul and its Savior. This assumption has had consequences.  With a mixture of poor catechesis and a void of both mystical and theological understanding of the nature and depths of God, 70% of Catholics do not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Others leave the Church to try and fill that void in Protestant churches, or with New Age philosophies. Charity is running cold; many treat Mass and God like a family tradition, and there is very little fervor. If there is no mystical experience or spiritual appreciation of God in our hearts, then the premise of how to walk in faith, hope, and charity as a Christian goes completely over our heads.The question is how does one go about experiencing the depths of God in prayer, like these mystics describe? How do we build that deep relationship with God for that transformation, so that we may love, serve, and adore Him in the Eucharist and in creation around us? St. Gertrude the Great, Benedictine, a medieval mystic of Saxony, stumbled upon a solution in locutions and visions that led her to the contemplation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Contemplation is considered the highest form of prayer reached by quiet, focused, and still meditation, allowing God to penetrate the mind, soul, and heart and lift the soul up to Him beyond what we can do on our own. It can lead to great consolation (the warm loving feeling often found in the presence of God) and even ecstasies, but it often can lead to distraction and darkness, which is why St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa warned to seek the God of consolation and not consolation itself.St. Gertrude, however, was shown by the Lord that the simple image of the Sacred Heart contains the essence of his Divinity and Humanity, just like what she would find in the Eucharist when she went to Adoration. St. Gertrude wrote of her holy desires to pray for the salvation of the entire world and for the emptying of Purgatory. She even composed a prayer for the souls of Purgatory, so very similar to the prayer found in the Divine Mercy Chaplet, seven hundred years later:“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.”  Through her locutions and visions, the Lord revealed more and more His ardent appreciation for her prayer of desire, and that these intentions were that of His Sacred Heart. In one of these visions the Lord explained the significance of His Heart, as the center of His Love for humanity:“ ‘One of these beatings,’ said Jesus, ‘works the salvation of sinners, the other the sanctification of the just. The first speaks without intermission to My Father, in order to appease His justice and draw down His mercy. By this same beating I speak to all the Saints, making excuse to them for sinners, with the zeal and indulgence of a good brother, and urging them to make intercession for them. This same beating is the incessant appeal I mercifully address to the sinner himself, with so unspeakable a desire to see him come back to Me, that I never weary of awaiting his return.  By the second beating I continually say to My Father how deeply I rejoice in having given My blood for the ransom of so many just souls, in whose love I take such manifold delight. I invite the celestial court to admire with Me the lives of these perfect souls, and to thank God for all the blessings He has already bestowed on them, or prepares to give them. In fine, this beating of My Heart is the habitual and familiar intercourse which I hold with the just, either to give them tender proofs of My love or to rebuke them for their faults, and cause them to progress from day to day and from hour to hour. No exterior occupation, no distraction of sight or hearing, interrupts the pulsations of the human heart. In like manner, the Providential government of the universe will never till the end of time arrest, interrupt, or delay, even for a moment, these two beatings of My Heart.’” (Love, Peace and Joy: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus according to Saint Gertrude, by Fr. Andre Prevot) We can see the simplicity and humanity of Christ explained through this image. Christ was fully man, so he too has a heart, which beats grace for souls like blood through the body to keep it alive. Through this mystical parallel, many in the Humble Holy Laity prayer group are now finding the image as a quick path to enter into contemplation. King David begged God to create in him a clean heart, and the Sacred Heart reminds us and invites us to be transformed into greater holiness through Christ’s humanity. Through meditating on this image in her room or in Eucharistic Adoration, St. Gertrude would enter into this reparational conquest, begging mercy and conversion for the sins of the world and for her own sins and shortcomings, often bemoaning her own weaknesses and struggling with her own fallen nature. She would abandon herself to Him as she fell in love, offering up interior dryness, darkness, and physical sickness. Jesus wanted abandonment from her to “choose nothing for herself, consolation or trial”, because Gertrude gained the wisdom that she would always fall short for such a task. The abandonment and trust in the merits of the Sacred Heart, the Lord imparted to her would suffice for her imperfections and shortcomings. St. Gertrude was enlightened like St. Terese of Lisieux to Our Lord’s generosity in accepting our daily, small sufferings and immensely multiplying their merit with His own if they come from a selfless, pure intention, such as for the salvation of sinners. She would adore Christ in a spirit of praise and thanksgiving through the Sacred Heart for those who did not, trusting in the merits of the two Sacred beatings of His Heart.In St. Gertrude, we see such humility and self-honesty that convicts us of our excuses. We fall; we forget; we are often weak. St. Gertrude saw herself as the weakest and lowliest of sinners, not as “St. Gertrude the Great”. And yet through the Sacred Heart, Our Lord shows that He thirsts for anyone of goodwill to approach Him and join Him in the greatest task of all, praying for others and experiencing and adoring God so that we may inwardly transform. He wants us all to be saints and to grow in prayer. St. Gertrude in her book “The Herald of Divine Love” often, with great exasperation, would be beside herself on how the Lord could be so generous to her and lavish her with graces through the Sacred Heart, despite her losing her temper, falling into grave sin, and needing to go to confession like the rest of us. And yet, He still took her from where she was at and used her as a great instrument of His salvation. He is waiting for us to respond, with the sacraments and image of His Heart at our disposal!  Finally, as St. Gertrude advanced in her intimacy with God, she quickly found her attachments to temporal creatures and things stripped away like all mystics experience. Her thirst for the infinite Love of God increased in tandem with Her longings to draw all to union with Christ. She experienced the two great commandments of God play out in her soul, to love Him beyond all things with every fiber of our being and to love our neighbor, no matter how sinful, as we would love ourselves.In this age of technology, pleasure, and lack of spiritual formation, I see this thirst and these commandments being completely unrealized and ignored even in Catholics. So many are quick to leave Mass, or to casually and indifferently receive Christ in the Eucharist, but are anxious to leave Church to go shopping, watch television, or engage in sinful activity. Few and far between are those who realize our hearts are restless until they rest in God and that all else is futile. And fewer are those who express this from the pulpit! It’s time for a great awakening, a reclamation of Catholic mysticism! It’s time for us to focus on His Beating Heart and open our spiritual eyes to what He does for us every second of our lives despite our ingratitude, before it is completely lost on us! I will end with this excerpt:“One day when St. John, the well-beloved Apostle of the Heart of Jesus, appeared to St. Gertrude in the splendor of an incomparable glory, ‘My most amiable Lord,’ said she to Jesus Christ, ‘whence cometh it that Thou dost present Thy most dear disciple to me-me, an unworthy creature?’ ‘I wish,’ replied Jesus, ‘to establish between him and thee an intimate friendship; he shall be thy Apostle, to instruct and to correct thee.’  Then St. John, addressing himself to Gertrude, said: ‘Come, Spouse of my Master, together let us lay our heads on the most tender bosom of the Lord, in which all the treasures of Heaven and earth are enclosed.’ As the head of Gertrude inclined to the right, and the head of John to the left of the breast of Jesus, the well-beloved disciple continued: ‘Here is the Saint of Saints; all good things of earth and Heaven are drawn hither as to their center.’ Meanwhile the beatings of the Heart of Jesus ravished the soul of Gertrude:”‘Well beloved of the Lord,’ she asked of St. John, ‘did these harmonious beatings, which rejoice my soul, also rejoice yours when you reposed during the Last Supper on the bosom of the Saviour?’ ‘Yes, I heard them, and my soul was penetrated with their sweetness even to its very center.’ ‘How comes it, then, that in your gospel you have spoken so little of the loving secrets of the Heart of Jesus Christ?’ ‘My ministry,’ answered the beloved Apostle, ‘in those early times of the Church was confined to speaking of the Divine Word, the eternal Son of the Father, some words of deep meaning upon which human intelligence might meditate forever, without ever exhausting their riches…But to these latter times was reserved the grace of hearing the eloquent voice of the Heart of Jesus. At this voice the time-worn world will renew its youth, be roused from its lethargy, and again be inflamed with the warmth of Divine love.’” The harmonious beatings of Jesus’ Heart rejoiced in the soul of John, the beloved disciple, when he reposed during the Last Supper on the bosom of the Savior.“Unless we place our head on the heart of Christ, like Saint John, we will not have the strength to follow Him to the Cross.”Cardinal Sarah, The Day is Now Far Spent  The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved Thomas the Hermit Legatus LegionisMore than any of the other apostles, John is the apostle of Depth Prayer, Contemplation and Mysticism. He contemplated with his own eyes the Death and Resurrection of our Lord. His central interior focus was that of love: love of God and love of neighbor. This is a sign of the life of the true contemplative. Because John was the first to make Mary a central part of his life, he surely had a deep and well-founded prayer life. John was the Disciple who rested on Jesus’ Sacred Heart during the Last Supper, and as the writer of Revelation, John reveals himself as a mystic of the highest degree. JOHN: THE FIRST DISCIPLE TO BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION My interest in John the Evangelist begins with the story of the Resurrection. In John 20:1-8, we see the youngest of the apostles, John, take a leap of faith that the older apostle, Peter, is unwilling to make. 1: “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2: So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, (‘The disciple whom Jesus loved’ refers to John, and it is how he refers to himself in the Gospels) and said, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!’ 3: So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4: Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5: He bent over and looked inside at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Why didn’t John go into the Tomb? I believe it was because John was respectful of his elders, and he was especially obedient to Peter. 6: Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7: as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8: Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. Peter, the head of the disciples, was confounded; but John, the younger man, believed! I am struck by John’s reaction to the empty tomb. What did he sense, or perceive? Was John more intuitive than Peter? Did he remember something that Jesus had said? Why is it that John believed? Again, after Peter denied Jesus and then fled with the other apostles, it was John who stood with Mary at the foot of the Cross. John was the only disciple to stay and watch what happened to Jesus. All the other disciples left the scene out of fear. Only John remained to see what would happen to Jesus. “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom He loved, He said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold your Mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home” (John 19:26-27). John is not the leader, like Peter. He isn’t outspoken, like “Doubting Thomas” or Bartholemew. He isn’t in the middle of things. Rather, John is quietly following Jesus or Peter, and he almost seems rather insignificant. So when we read the Bible it’s easy to diminish the importance of John. But John is actually key to us in these times! Therefore, I think we need to take a closer look at “little” John, otherwise known as John the Evangelist, the writer of the fourth gospel, the letters of John, and the author of Revelation. JOHN: THE APOSTLE OF LOVE Paul wrote the well-known Corinthians Chapter 13:4 “Love is patient love is kind.” But it was John who wrote, “God is love.” John wrote that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. John discusses the importance of love in 1 John 4:7-11: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is [a] born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this, the love of God was manifested [b] in us, that God has sent His [c] only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Love is absolutely central to John’s Theology. In 1 John 4:20-21, he states, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot * love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” John does not play around and his words are a challenge to everyone who says they love God, because we always believe we love God but not so much our neighbor. John’s statements shed light on the centrality of Love in the Christian and in Christian Theology. JOHN: THE APOSTLE OF DEVOTION TO MARY In Revelation, John is the one who shares his vision of Mary as Queen of Heaven. In Revelation Ch 12:1-2 “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.” John is the first to make Mary central to his life, so that future Catholics would also come to know Mother Mary as “Theotokos, Mother of God” a figure most important to our prayer lives. Although we do not know the extent of John and Mary’s relationship, John’s closeness to Mary means that he would have asked her for help. It also means that he would have been the first to make Mary a vital part of his own spirituality. John listened to Jesus when Jesus said, “Behold your Mother.” We know this because whatever Jesus told John to do, he did. And when Jesus formed Mary to be John’s Mother, John would have listened to his new mother, Mary, the Mother of God: Theotokos. JOHN: THE ONLY APOSTLE TO WITNESS THE CRUCIFIXION Standing by the Cross of Jesus was John and the three Mary’s: (1) Mother Mary; (2) Mary, His mother’s sister and wife of Clopas; and (3) Mary, the Magdalene. Jesus, therefore, seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved (John) standing by, said to His mother: “Woman, behold thy son.” Then, He said to the disciple, “Behold thy Mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own. John didn’t have to see the movie The Passion to visualize the Crucifixion since he saw it with his own eyes and felt it with his own heart! He saw his Master killed by the Romans with his own two eyes! How much of a mark that must have left on that young man’s heart. And he saw the sword pierce Mother Mary’s Heart, just as Simeon had predicted, “…and a sword shall pierce your heart.” We can only imagine the level of reflection and depth within this young apostle’s heart. He was the only apostle to witness the Crucifixion, to contemplate it, along with Mother Mary and the other 2 Mary’s. These people actually saw, felt, and experienced the son of God being Crucified, or put to death. JOHN: THE MYSTIC OF THE APOCALYPSE John is the author of Revelation and prophet of the end times. We know that John was exiled to the desert Island of Patmos (Rev Ch 1:9). Legend has it that John was the last of the apostles to die. Emperor Domitian ordered John to be boiled in hot oil, but this didn’t kill him. So Domitian exiled John to the island of Patmos. It was at Patmos that John wrote the book of Revelation. This great apocryphal work sheds light on the end times and is the work of a mystic of the highest degree. Yes, John was the great contemplative mystic of all the apostles! Legend states that John, at the age of 105, asked to be buried alive. When his tomb was later exhumed, the body was not there! The belief is that John’s body was taken up to heaven, based on the words of Jesus when he asked Peter if he loved Him, to which Peter answered, “What about him?” pointing to John. Jesus gave the answer about his intentions for John when he stated that he wanted John to remain “until I return.” And that Jesus’ intentions for Peter were different, as he stated, “What is that to you? Feed my sheep.” Some have interpreted this quote to mean that John will return to earth to be a prophet during the end times. JOHN: CONTEMPLATIVE OF THE SACRED HEART So how is John the “Contemplative of the Sacred Heart”? During the Last Supper, we know that John rested his head on the chest of Jesus. We read about this in John 13:21-24. 21 “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will [c] betray Me.” 22 The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. 23 There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 So Simon Peter *gestured to him, and *said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” At the Last Supper, the institution of the Mass, when Jesus took the bread and stated, “This is my body,” John lay his head upon the heart of Jesus. When John did this, surely he heard the sound of Jesus’ beating heart: Jesus’ Sacred Heart! Now you might think I am making a stretch out of this minor little scripture, but the fact remains that at the Last Supper, John rested his head upon the Sacred Heart of Jesus! This is significant! The fact that John rested his head upon Jesus’ heart has profound ramifications for all of us during these critical times. Knowing that St. John visited St. Gertrude in a vision and invited her to rest upon Jesus’ beating heart, and that Jesus invited St. Margaret Mary Alacoque to rest on His chest in the same way, we can surmise that the contemplation of Jesus’ actual beating heart holds special significance. Jesus later explains to St. Faustina how He wants all of mankind to be healed through the rays of mercy flowing out of His heart as a fountain of mercy to fortify our souls! Why then would we not spend time contemplating this most Sacred Heart? I believe Sacred Heart Contemplation is the key, and I urge everyone to learn this most valuable form of prayer.  |
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