(Ch 19, V, 31-37)
"Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.
An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may [come to] believe. for this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled: "Not a bone of it will be broken". And again another passage says: "They will look upon him whom they have pierced".
· He shall give us all the help necessary in our state
· He shall put peace into our homes
· He shall relieve us in our works and console us in sorrows
· He shall be our assured refuge during life, but especially at the time of death
· He shall pour his abundant blessings upon all our enterprises
· He shall make the tepid become fervent souls
· He shall make fervent souls do rapid progress toward perfection
· He shall bless the houses where his image will be exposed and honored
· He shall give those who work for the salvation of souls the grace to touch the most hardened hearts
· He shall engrave within himself for ever the names of those who will propagate this devotion
· He shall give those who will communicate without interruption on nine first Fridays, the grace of final penance and reception of the sacraments.
· He shall be their assured refuge in their last moment
· He shall rule despite Satan and the efforts of his enemies.
The sight of Jesus showing us his Sacred heart; the sight of Jesus all radiant with Mercy must be for the Friars and Nuns, Servants and Handmaids of Our Lady, an opportunity to rejoice, seeing through this picture the Merciful Love which proceeds from his Sacred Heart.
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light".
(St Matt. Ch XI, V 28-30)
This invites us also to do reparation for the offenses the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus receives. The Sacred Heart expressed so much to Saint Marguerite Marie his ardent desire to be loved from men and to remove them from the way to perdition. He appeared to her to manifest his Heart to the world, with all the treasures of love, mercy, graces, sanctification and salvation it contains.
Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque is a Visitandine Nun from Paray-le-Monial (France) who died on Oct. 17, 1690, at age 43 after twenty years of religious life, spent in suffering and filled with the most signaled divine favors.
Our Lord unveiled his divine Heart to her and revealed all its secrets to her. He himself gave her the most privileged name of "beloved disciple of his Sacred Heart". Much more even, he established her as the heir to his divine Heart.
Our Lord expressed to her, in particular, how he wanted the souls consecrated to his Heart to unite to the ineffable actions of his inner life, and that they make but one heart with him, and one action alone must dominate their whole lives: the love of the Heart of Jesus and immolation to this divine Heart out of love.
He also revealed to her how, through the excess of his love for all men, he forgets the past as long as his divine Heart receives a little love.
To this humble Nun, he specified that we have to venerate the divine Heart under the form of a heart of flesh, the wound from the lance must be visible, and flames shall surround it; circled with a crown of thorns, it must be topped with a cross.
"Behold this Heart which so much loved men, that it spared nothing,
to the point of exhausting and consuming itself to show them its love.
And as a reward, I receive from most but ingratitude
through their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness
and scorn they show me in this Sacrament of Love."
(Our Lord to Saint Marguerite Marie, 1675)
We must also consider how this Sacred and Merciful Heart is united to the Heart of his Most Blessed Mother. These two Hearts form but only one, so intimate is their union.
Indeed, the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary has beaten but for the One of her Divine Son. This admirable Virgin knows of it all the secret corners; did not she give Christ his human life?
And the latter made his delights with his Creature, conceived without sin, filled with love, blessed among women.
Therefore, the one cannot be conceived without the other. They are melted as it were, the one into the other, without however losing their own essence, as two candle flames one would put close to each other, until they form but one.
Every year, the Friars and Nuns, Servants of Our Lady solemnize the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus (usually in June).
Each first Friday of the month, we also honor in a special way the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we communicate in a spirit of reparation and recite the Honorable Amends. On the occasion, we have the exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament (see entry on The Holy Eucharist).
The same is done on the first Saturday of each month in honor of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary (see entry on the Most Blessed Virgin Mary).