By Fr. Peter Scott, FSSPX
Table of contents
Symbol of Three-fold Love
A Consecration
A Reparation
The Blessed Sacrament
A Human Sacrificial Love
Enemies of Devotion to the Sacred Heart
The Great Promise
All Catholics who are familiar with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus have heard of the devotion of the Nine First Fridays. However, we must ask ourselves why it is no longer observed with the same fervour and regularity as in the past. Allow, then, a little reminder of the basis of this devotion and why it is so fruitful for souls and for the Church.
We find in letter 82 of St Margaret Mary Alacoque the text of the Great Promise that Our Divine Saviour made to her. “I promise thee, in the excessive mercy of my Heart, that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who go to Communion on nine first Fridays of the month the final grace of perseverance; they shall not die in its disfavour nor without receiving the sacraments, my divine Heart becoming their assured refuge at that last moment”. Now this is a very extraordinary affirmation. How can there be such an absolute and unconditional promise? Is it any Holy Communion which is sufficient? Is this an assurance that we will always do good and not sin? And if it is not, then how can the sinner who does not repent be assured of his eternal salvation? How can this not be seen as an encouragement to lead a bad life, since it is does not matter any more. Moreover is this not opposed to the decree of the Council of Trent teaching us that none of us knows for sure that he is going to be saved, and that we must all work out our salvation with fear and trembling: “If anyone shall say that he will for certain with an absolute and infallible certitude have that great gift of perseverance up to the end, unless he shall have learned this by a special revelation: let him be anathema” (Session vi, Can 16).
The answer to these objections and the literal understanding of this promise will become clear as we investigate more profoundly the nature of this devotion to the Sacred Heart and of the Holy Communions that Our Divine Saviour requested.
SYMBOL OF THREE-FOLD LOVE
It escapes no-one that the Sacred Heart is a symbol of the human love that Our Lord has for us, as well as His divine love as the Son of God. This is all the more the case when surmounted by the cross, crowned with thorns, pierced with a lance, dripping blood, all symbols of the greatness of the love for our souls which motivated Our Divine Saviour to die for our sins. This is how Pope Pius XII describes it: “The Heart of the Incarnate Word is deservedly and rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that threefold love with which the divine Redeemer unceasingly loves His eternal Father and all mankind . . . that divine love which He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit . . . that burning love infused into His soul . . . and the sensible love” (Haurietis aquas§54-56). The heart being the natural symbol of human love, Christ’s Heart is a symbol of the two kinds of human love that He has towards us – that is human feelings and his willing determination to show us His goodness. Since He is also God, it is likewise a symbol of the divine Love which all three Persons share. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is consequently a devotion of love, namely to honour and respond to Christ’s human and divine love by rendering him love for love. This is how St. Margaret Mary describes it: “He made me see that the ardent desire which he had of being loved by men had made him form this design of manifesting his Heart to men with all the treasures of love, of mercy, grace, sanctification and salvation that it contained, in order that all those who would render to him and procure for him all the honour, the love and the glory in their power, he would enrich abundantly and in profusion with those divine treasure of the Heart which was their source . . .”
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is consequently nothing more or less than the Gospel. For what is the Gospel but God’s love for man in the Incarnation and Redemption, and man’s return of that love? Did Our Lord not teach: “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:21). Devotion to the Sacred Heart is the blending of two loves, God’s and man’s. Is it any wonder that Pope Pius XI affirmed that it is the “synthesis of religion and a rule of life all the more perfect as it enables souls to know Christ Our Lord more profoundly and rapidly and to love Him more perfectly and to imitate Him more effectively” (Miserentissimus, 1928). It is because this devotion is the perfection expression of our holy religion, especially in our materialist times, that Pope Pius XII asks himself this rhetorical question: “Can a form of devotion surpassing that to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus be found, which corresponds better to the essential character of the Catholic Faith, which is more capable of assisting the present day needs of the Church and the human race?” (Ib. §120).
A CONSECRATION
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is, then, a reciprocal love. Christ Our Lord assures his side of that love by his Incarnation and Redemption, by His Passion and suffering, by His institution of the Holy Eucharist, by His offering of Himself at every Mass, by dwelling with us and sanctifying us from within, so that we can constantly repeat “I live, now not I, but Christ who liveth in me” (Gal 2:20). What, then, must be our response? Pope Pius XI in the above-mentioned encyclical indicates that two profound attitudes of soul which must be our response. The first is that of consecration to the Sacred Heart, to which we offer all that we are and have, in recognition of the right that He has over us in virtue of His immense love for us.
St. Margaret Mary spoke repeatedly of the consecration to the Sacred Heart, indicating that Our Lord had asked this of her, and she likewise requested all her novices to compose their own consecration. This is what she wrote to one of her superiors in 1684, indicating that the First Friday would be a very appropriate time to make the consecration: “If you desire to live for Him alone and to attain to the perfection that He desires from you, you must offer to His Sacred Heart the entire sacrifice of yourself and all that belongs to you, without any reserve, so that you may no longer will or wish anything but the will of this lovable Heart . . . if you desire to be amongst the number of His friends, you will offer him this sacrifice of yourself on the first Friday of the month, after Holy Communion, which you will receive for this intention, consecrating yourself wholly to Him . . .”. Consequently, the first Friday devotion presumes consecration to the Sacred Heart, without which it makes no sense. Amongst the many consecrations is the Consecration of Mankind to the Sacred Heart, first made by Pope Leo XIII in 1900 and then ordered to be renewed every year on the feast of Christ the King by Pope Pius XI.
A REPARATION
The second attitude is one of reparation. This is a duty of amendment towards the love which Christ Our Saviour has shown towards us, since we, and mankind, have not returned love for love as we ought to have done. If Our Lord spoke many times to St. Margaret Mary of this duty of reparation, we find it most clearly expressed at the time of the Great Apparition, during the Octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, at the same time as He requested the institution of the feast of the Sacred Heart:“Behold this Heart which has so loved men, which has spared nothing, even to being exhausted and consumed, in order to testify to them its love. And the greater number of them make me no other return than ingratitude, by their coldness and their forgetfulness of me in this sacrament of love.” Explaining this duty of expiation for sin, Pope Pius XI clarified the two motives that require this expiation. First of all justice demands expiation for the offenses made to God, by means of penance which restores the order violated by sin. Secondly love requires that we must compassionate Christ overwhelmed by sufferings and insults, and offer Him thereby some little consolation. Hence the devotion of the first Fridays must be not only a consecration to divine Love, but also an amendment in reparation for the offenses against His love. It is for this reason that the same Pope prescribed that the Litany of the Sacred Heart and an Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart be recited on all first Fridays.
THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
However, there is another aspect of devotion to the Sacred Heart that we must understand if we are going to grasp the meaning of the nine first Friday devotions. It is the place of the Blessed Sacrament in this devotion. It is no accident that it was before the Blessed Sacrament that the Sacred Heart gave His revelations to St. Margaret Mary. It is not by chance that she spent hours motionless, in ecstasy, in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. It is, to the contrary, of the greatest importance, that it was at the altar that she saw Our Lord insulted and outraged and that she longed to make reparation, to be consumed with love as one of the candles that burn in the sanctuary, and that she begged to keep vigil, especially on Thursday nights, before the Blessed Sacrament. The reason is clear. The Blessed Sacrament is the gift of divine love, in which Christ remains with us to give us of Himself whole and entire, as St. John says of the Last Supper: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them until the end” (Jn 13:1). Holy Communion is indeed an invitation to love, to return the love of Him who loved us so much as to give us Himself in order to transform us into His own likeness. What better consolation, what more efficacious reparation for the coldness and indifference of men, than the loving, fervent reception of Holy Communion. Is it any wonder that Our Lord repeatedly asked St. Margaret Mary to receive Holy Communion as often as she could.
Now we can begin to understand why it is that the Sacred Heart requested for the devotion of the nine first Fridays, the reception of Holy Communion, and not just the assistance of Mass, or the praying of some prayers or a consecration. It is the sacramental union with Himself which most honours Him and brings graces upon souls. The love by which we give ourselves to Him, as He gives Himself to us, is the best reparation.
It follows from this that it is not just any Holy Communion which satisfies the requests of the Sacred Heart. The Holy Communion must first of all be worthy, that is received in the state of grace, without any mortal sin on the soul. However, this is not sufficient, as St. Pius X explained when he promoted frequent Holy Communion. To receive Holy Communion we must also approach “with a right and pious mind”, and the Pope explains what this means, namely “not through habit, vanity or human reasonings, but to satisfy the pleasure of God, to be joined with Him more closely in charity and to oppose his infirmities and defects with that divine remedy”. (Decree Dec 20, 1905). Many Catholics are unaware of this, and their Holy Communions are consequently unfruitful and displeasing to God, for they receive out of routine or human respect and without any supernatural intention. Clearly, such Holy Communions do not satisfy the requirement of the nine first Fridays. If every Holy Communion requires an intention that is supernatural and explicit, such as to grow in the love of God, or to overcome one’s faults, there is an additional requirement for the First Friday communions. They must be motivated by devotion to the Sacred Heart. They must, therefore, be propitiatory, that is with the desire to make up for the offenses, indifference, coldness and neglect with which Our Divine Saviour is so often treated. Without such an intention the Communions are not acts of love of the Sacred Heart, nor can they be the consolation that Our Divine Lord requested. If we forget this, we cannot expect the promise of the nine first Fridays to apply to us.
A HUMAN SACRIFICIAL LOVE
Furthermore, we must take a look at the spirit that underlies this devotion to the Sacred Heart. It is not a mechanical practice, a purely exterior devotion, some kind of magical charm that a superstitious person might think could give him something for nothing. Absolutely to the contrary. It is the most sublime practice of our holy religion, and consequently, it must be the expression of “the charity of Christ presseth us . . . Christ died for all; that they also who live may not now live for themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again” (2 Cor 5:14,15). It is the returning of love for love to our divine Friend, who has made all the advances towards us and has proven His love: “By this has the charity of God appeared towards us, because God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live by Him” (I Jn 4:9).
Devotion to the Sacred Heart expresses a familiar and human love for Our Divine Saviour. For God took upon Himself a Heart like ours, and deigned to show His love for us in a very human way by His passion and death. Since this is the greatest possible proof of love (Jn 15:13), it asks of us a human response, that is to return His love in a human way. Compassion for one who suffers is such a human expression of love. It follows from this that devotion to the sacred Passion of Our Lord is inseparable from the devotion to His Sacred Heart. We cannot possibly match the perfection of divine love manifested in the Passion, but devotion to His Heart at least motivates us to strive at a similar disinterested devotedness, a like sacrifice, a profound gift of self. There is no other way to return love for such divine Love.
But since neither we nor the Church nor mankind has corresponded with this love as we ought, then a consequence flows from this. It is that reparation for the insults and negligence and rejection of divine love are inseparable from the love of the Sacred Heart. Inasmuch as we long to consecrate ourselves to His human and divine love, then we necessarily long to make up to our divine Lover for all our failings and to compassionate Him for all the sufferings he receives from men now, as he did from his own people during His Passion.
Thus it is in a truly human way that we correspond with divine Love. Our devotion to the Sacred Heart cannot, therefore, simply be some prayers and adoration. It must include our whole human life, consecrated to divine Love and motivated by the intense desire to correspond with It. This charity must, then, manifest itself by our human actions, notably by our corporal and spiritual works of mercy, by our forgiveness of others, following the Saviour’s example on the Cross, by our patience, kindness, selflessness and attention to the needs of the other real or potential members of His mystical body. It is what St. Paul expressed so simply when he wrote:“Charity is patient, is kind; charity envieth not . . . is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil . . . ; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (I 13:5-7).
ENEMIES OF DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART
Now we can begin to understand why this devotion, so often promoted by the Popes, has lost favour in recent decades and is frequently not faithfully accomplished. First of all, because it necessarily requires of us a total gift of ourselves to divine Love, a consecration. For this is entirely opposed to modern day humanism, which makes man’s thoughts, feelings and rights the centre of his attention, as if God had created all things for man, and not man for God. Religion is considered as self-fulfillment, as the expression of one’s own longing for peace, and no longer as an act of justice, by which we give ourselves to God whole and entire out of love, as is our duty. This new humanism was clearly defined by Pope Paul VI in his discourse at the end of Vatican II, when he declared: “Recognize our new humanism, we also, more than anybody, practice the worship of man . . . all our doctrinal richness aims at only one thing: to serve man” (Dec 7, 1965). It is this revolutionary attitude which destroys all consecration and true devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Secondly love’s work of reparation has been emptied out of Catholic spirituality and worship. It has been replaced by the Paschal Mystery theology, which considers the Redemption as the revelation of God’s love for us, but no longer as a satisfaction for the sins of the world, in direct contradiction with Sacred Scripture (Cf Jn 2:2). If Christ’s death is not an expiation for sin, then neither can we make up for offenses against God by our compassion and our reparation to His Heart of love, and we are no longer able to“fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ . . . for His body, which is the Church” (Col 1:24). This new conception has, alas, entered into Catholics’ ways of thinking through the New Mass, which deliberately omits any reference to the Mass being a true and proper propitiatory sacrifice, but considers it rather as a celebration of the community, and of the love of God – but without sacrifice. Without sacrifice, there is no reparation, and without reparation the return of love to the Sacred Heart is meaningless, and so the devotion to the Sacred Heart becomes empty.
Thirdly, the devotion to the Sacred Heart is intimately bound up with devotion to the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. It is no secret that devotion to the Blessed Sacrament has greatly diminished in recent decades. For in the minds of many Christ’s presence in His word and in His people has overtaken His real presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Faith in the mystery of trans-substantiation is at a low ebb, for it is no longer mentioned in the New Mass, and because the faithful no longer kneel to adore and to receive their God on their tongues but dare to touch him with their unconsecrated hands. Moreover, how many receive Holy Communion out of routine, without any supernatural intention, and even without regular Confession, not daring to purify their soul from mortal sins. In such circumstances, devotion to the Sacred Heart cannot survive, and such Communions cannot fulfill the requirements requested by the Sacred Heart. The mystery of love which is the Holy Eucharist, is inseparable from the Sacred Heart Who gave it to us as His last Will and Testament. Consequently, without the burning love to give ourselves to the Sacred Heart and to make up for the coldness and indifference of so many towards the Holy Eucharist, there can not be true first Friday devotions.
Fourthly devotion to the sacred Passion of Our Lord has also greatly diminished. Corresponding ignored is the necessity of imitating of Our Lord’s sufferings, sacrifices, pains in our own lives by a spirit of mortification and self-sacrifice. But this is inseparable from loving reparation. Nowadays modernists regard the Redemption as principally consisting in the resurrection. The Passion of Our Divine Saviour is no longer thought to be necessary to make up for our sins (this is an outdated medieval concept, they affirm). Why then should we have to imitate Christ in bearing our own crosses, pains, sufferings and sacrifices? What value could they then have? If Christ’s Passion is not longer necessary, then neither is its extension in us. This is another reason why it is that devotion to the Sacred Heart has greatly diminished, for to be friends of the Sacred Heart we must also be at the same times friends of the Cross, as the Imitation of Christ teaches us: “Behold the cross is all, and in dying to thyself all consists, and there is no other way to life and to true internal peace but the holy way of the cross and of daily mortification” (II,12,3). Moreover, without this love of the Cross, there is not the mortification and self sacrifice in daily life that enable us to live a life of charity, patience, forgiveness and humility. Without being “meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29), how can we possible practice a true devotion to the Sacred Heart?
THE GREAT PROMISE
Now we can understand a little more clearly the nature of the Great Promise attached to the nine first Fridays, and that it is false to affirm that it is unconditional. These nine communions must all be received in the state of sanctifying grace and with a supernatural intention. This supernatural intention must be that of devotion to the Sacred Heart. This means first of all that they be the expression of our consecration to the love of the Sacred Heart, to whom we belong totally and without any reserve. Secondly, they must also be communions of reparation to the Heart which has so loved us as to suffer and die for us. With this reparation for our own sins and the sins of mankind must likewise go the offering up of our own crosses in union with Jesus’ sufferings. The fact that nine consecutive months are requested implies that a stable state of soul, in union with the Sacred Heart has been achieved. This is not a small feat, but a spiritual work which requires much love and devotion.
Now we can understand the extraordinary promise. It is not that a person will never fall into sin. It is not, either, to say that it does not matter if he falls into sin. To the contrary, it means that those who have done the nine first Fridays, in virtue of the sacrifice and love behind these Communions, will either be preserved from sin, or will receive the grace of conversion if they do fall into sin, and the last sacraments if they are in need of them. Consequently, it is a promise of grace, in return for love. Such a promise of grace does not take away free will or personal responsibility, nor give the absolute certitude of eternal salvation. For no one of us is absolutely certain that our dispositions are those required by the Sacred Heart. The reason is that we are greatly inclined to deceive ourselves as to the state of grace, or to the reality of our consecration or to the sincerity of our spirit of self-sacrifice. If we have very good reasons to believe that we have fulfilled all the conditions, it still does not amount to an absolute certitude. Consequently, this promise is not a magical formula, but simply the assurance of the miracle of grace that will transform the souls of those who hope and trust in the Sacred Heart. This assurance consequently fills us with great confidence and total abandonment into God’s hands, but does not take away our fear of our own wretchedness and of God’s judgment.