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Topic: On the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, St. John the Baptist and Supernatural Grace

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On the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, St. John the Baptist and Supernatural Grace
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Father, in light of your last two sermons, what daily guidance do you recommend? I have read about the life of St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, in the  Devotion book by Father Croiset, and want to attract grace. It seems that her life was so spectacularly holy, and so full of self denial, I wonder how we can even hope to imitate such holiness. I know that we must try, and it begins with pray and self denial, but wondered if you had any other comments.



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Well, if you have not read the rest of Fr. Croiset's book, I would advise you to do so. Secondly, there is the encyclical letter of Pope Pius XII, "haurietis aquas" that explains more, as well as an encyclical by Pius XI on reperation to the Sacred Heart.

Regarding increase of grace, there is a two-fold necessity- reliance on frequent reception of the sacraments since they are the primary means of receiving grace, and also increase of self-denial. St. Margaret Mary was not a superhero out of a Marvel Comic book. She had the same human nature as we do. However, she gave her will to Christ completely and thus was not timid about doing what needed to be done. Great Charity provokes great actions. For us, it means that we must start by putting first things first in our affections, and that means sacrifice. We must also practice mortification really, not just in the mind.



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I know that the examples of Saints are supposed to help us, but that feeling of "how can we even hope to imitate such holiness" can be discouraging. It is so far away from where I am that I cannot even imagine getting there. I find I need to have some small simple area of self-denial to work on. Lately, I've been working on going to bed on time, with very little success. Even that much self-denial is a struggle for me. But it is something I think I can do with God's help.

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I found a book by Fr. Croiset online: http://www.catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/devotion.htm

Is this what you are talking about?



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Jaynek wrote:

I found a book by Fr. Croiset online: http://www.catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/devotion.htm

Is this what you are talking about?


 Yes, that is the book. It was written as a result of his office as confessor of St. Margaret Mary, and she says that Our Lord was pleased with it. It tells you the meaning of the devotion and how to attain it.



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The book I am reading is Devotion to the Sacred Heart, by Fr. Croiset, which includes a long essay on the life of St. Margaret Mary. It is a wonderful book and fascinating that it was actually on the Index for two centuries. St. Margaret Mary told Fr. Croiset that Our Lord told her that the book was perfectly written and would not need any changes, but that Fr. Croiset would also suffer much. Apparently, due to a technical defect in obtaining permission to write a book on such an important topic, the book was removed from approved reading. The book has a forward written in the late 1940s, which talks about the strength of the Church of "today" (1940s), the approval of the book by the Vatican during that time. It struck me as somewhat ironic, considering what would happen in a few short years with the catastrophe of Vatican II.

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I've been told that St. Margaret Mary's spreading of the devotion to the Sacred Heart was an antidote to a widespread heresy of her time. It makes sense that we all should be turning to prayer and devotion to cope with the heresies that are so widespread in our own time.

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While the devotion to The Sacred Heart was indeed a remedy for the heresies of the time,it is devotion to the Imaculate Heart of Mary that God has ordained for the herieses of our time;and too few practise it.



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Joseph, could you please explain more about how devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary combats the heresies of our time?

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Well I'll try,Modernism is the primary heresy of our time,one of the primary targets of modernism is the Mother of God;She who has been called the terror of heretics.If you are old enough to remember the early days right after VCII there were many priest who destroyed there rosaries saying it was supperstion.The rosary is central to devotion to the Immaculate heart of Mary; as is first saturday reparation,by acknowledgeing the suppremcy of Mary over our lives we are refuting the protestants who say She is no different from any other woman ,by humbling ourselves and submiting to her Queenship over our lives we are refuting the idea that we are incharge of our own individual destiny witch I believe is part of the heresy called Americanism. Our lady of Fatima explained to Sr. Lucy that Our Lord wanted devotion to Her Heart placed alongside devotion to His Sacred Heart;and briefly that is all I have right now,hower try going to Fatima.Org you can probably get more info there.



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Thank you, Joseph. This was a very helpful and clear explanation.

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Thank you for your kind remarks,there is much more to the devotion than what I wrote,might I suggest true devotion to Mary by St.Louis de Montfort. You can order it from any Catholic book seller or it is also on the church website. Ifa person is devoted to Mary, eternal salvation is ALMOST assured.



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Jaynek,

Regarding your post on getting to bed on time, I find this tremendously difficult too and also getting up at the proper time in the morning. I fail every time and it will take a lot of grace to do it. There is a quote from Cardinal Newman (from memory): "Go to bed early and get up early, and you are a saint already." Obviously hyperbole, but I'm starting to see what he means. The small things, that we don't have to do, like not eating an extra cookie, are often the hardest, and to succeed in them doesn't lead to pride, just shows how little we are good for!

I read the life of Fr. William Doyle some time ago, the Irish Jesuit who was killed as a chaplain in World War One (there's now a movement for his canonization), and he did tremendous penances, like standing up to his neck in cold water at night and beating himself with stinging nettles until his eyeballs were enflamed, but the thing he couldn't do was give up butter. He got it down to butter on just a quarter of a slice of bread at breakfast, but couldn't give that up. God's way of keeping him humble perhaps!

And from the Life of Mother Janet Stuart Digby of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart (also a candidate for canonization, I think), in her spiritual correspondence a priest writes, "Thank God for blessed discomfort!" Offering up little things and doing them as well as possible, which is the Little Way of St. Therese of course, is a splendid penance and everyone can do it, as it can extend from one thing a day to everything in the day (for saints!).



-- Edited by Gabriel on Thursday 28th of June 2012 02:44:14 PM

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Immaculate Heart of Mary be my refuge and my strength.

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Ladies: I can get to bed on time and get up on time, I quit smoking years ago ;but give up cookies and cake forget it.



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