Still celebrating the month of the Sacred Hearts, we bring you a reflection by Blessed Father Eustace on a new era of graces brought by the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The text is authored by the Blessed and is found among other materials from the Dutch priest that are being recovered as part of the work of cleaning and cataloging objects related to Father Eustace.

Although the text is long, it is very important for today, and it contains teachings from the Blessed One that will help build your life.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus: A New Era of Grace

“"On June 16, 1675, a new era of grace began for the Christian world. More than two and a half centuries have passed since this imperishable day of divine mercy. The infinite love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, breaking through the barriers of centuries, manifests itself in its very source, in His loving Heart. His divine patience determined that moment, when men, indifferent or forgetful of God's love, only longed for the corruptible goods of the earth.".

This memorable revelation comes to modulate the painful groans of Calvary in the ears of generations, to illuminate eyes with the loving radiance of the Cenacle; it comes to answer the most powerful inclination of human nature: love! For the revelation of the Divine Heart of Jesus is necessary for humanity because in it it discovers the complete treasure of His inexhaustible Love.

Undoubtedly, his divine feet speak to our faith, bathed in the tears of Mary Magdalene and weary from following in the footsteps of the stray sheep of Israel. Undoubtedly, his hands attract, whose touch healed the sick and whose caresses soothed the tender faces of little children. Undoubtedly, his lips deserve admiration, whose smile expressed so much tenderness and whose words consoled so many unfortunate people. Undoubtedly, his eyes awaken veneration, which wept over the tomb of Lazarus and whose single glance opened in the eyes of Saint Peter a torrent of tears. Undoubtedly, his forehead, from which so many sublime thoughts sprang, enraptures and enraptures, as does his divine countenance, in which shone the majesty of the most beautiful of the sons of men.

But, after having adored everything in the holy humanity of the Savior, we discover in Him a treasure even more worthy of our love, a treasure that is revealed in His most sweet heart, which gave movement to His feet, beneficence to His hands, the noblest charm to His eyes, mercy to His face, and which was the urn of His blood, as well as the chalice of our redemption.

If, by chance, this most gentle Heart had remained to us as cold relics, would it not still constitute the most precious treasure of Catholicism? We who venerate on our knees a thorn from Jesus' crown, a fragment of the cross, a stain of his blood on the holy stairs of Rome, with what emotion should we not revere his Heart! What seas, what deserts could stop us on the way to these loving relics? And what miraculous inspiration would not move the Gentile of the arts who raised such a splendid dome over the bodies of the apostles and martyrs to shelter the purest portion of matter that the hands of the Creator have fixed?

Well, we possess something infinitely better than the cold remains of the Sacred Heart. We possess the living, pulsating reality of His love. That living Heart which was the first continent and engine of Jesus' organic life, we possess it.

This Heart, whose single beat is said to have redeemed the world; this Heart that translated into ineffable pulsations all the acts of love of the Divine Word; that ceased to beat on the Cross only to be revived in the tomb and now constitutes the most beautiful spectacle that its humanity can offer to the ecstasy of heaven; this Heart, as the seraphim contemplate it, lives, beats, and shoots arrows of love in the tabernacle of our altars. This eternal and fruitful love, ardent and beneficial, luminous and consoling, was not sufficiently known and loved.

Jesus longs to be known and loved; descending from the splendor of his glory, he approaches his creature and unveils the mystery of such great love. So that such a dazzling vision would not weaken human frailty, Jesus, in his wisdom and benevolence, tempered the impulses of his desires and prepared his spirit to gradually receive the great and ineffable revelation.

On the morning of December 27, 1673, life on earth was the same everywhere; the same occupations, the same pleasures, the same pains, the same hatreds and the same tenderness, the same labors and the same wars. No one suspects that Jesus Christ, at this hour, deigns to reveal the treasures of his Divine Heart. Let us listen and admire with all the emotion of love and gratitude the wondrous marvels of this first great revelation.

Prostrate before the Blessed Sacrament, Saint Margaret Mary suddenly felt herself invested with the majesty of this Divine presence, in such a way that she no longer believed in herself or the place, and bound by ties of love, she abandoned herself to the attractions of this Divine force, resting on the Divine breast which, at the same time, revealed to her the wonders of His Love and the secrets of His Heart, hitherto unknown to her. This revelation was so perceptible and so effective that, though still timid, she never again had any doubt, due to the effects of grace with which Jesus flooded her soul.

“My Heart,” He told her, “is so filled with Love for mankind that it can no longer contain the flames of its ardent charity. It is necessary that it be poured out and that My Heart be revealed to all, so that I may discover in you, now rich in sanctifying and saving graces, necessary to snatch you from the abyss of perdition. Therefore, I choose you, so unworthy and ignorant, to be the instrument for the fulfillment of My designs.”.

The second revelation: This prelude to divine desires is followed by the tangible manifestation of the Heart's love, which will attract the adoration and love of humanity.

“On this throne of fire,” recounts Margaret Mary, “more radiant than the sun and as clear as crystal, she saw this divine Heart, with its adorable wound, encircled by a crown of thorns and surmounted by a cross. Its ardent desire to be loved by men and to free them from the captivity of Satan had suggested to it this ineffable design of revealing to us its Heart, with all the treasures of grace, sanctification, love, mercy, and eternal salvation.”.

Later, the divine Beggar of mankind's love specifies to him the twofold nature of devotion to his Sacred Heart: to recognize and respond to infinite tenderness and to atone for the sins of the world.

Behold Him, on a day of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, my Jesus appeared resplendent with glory, His wounds shining like five suns, and sparks darting forth from all His divine humanity: but in a particular way, from His divine breast, like a furnace of fire, in which He revealed to me His loving Heart, which was the living source of all flames.”.

The third revelation: Jesus, hurt and sad, laments the ingratitude and coldness of men for not reciprocating his love. He insists on his requests for love and reparation. He inflames the heart of Margaret Mary with the chaste and ardent bushes of his infinite charity, invests the weakness of this young virgin with his divine strength, and having encouraged her not to fear, he said to her: “Hear my voice, you will receive me in Holy Communion every first Friday of the month. To keep me company in the mortal sorrow and agonizing solitude of the Garden of Olives, for one hour, from 11 pm until midnight, from Thursday to Friday, prostrate on the ground you will offer me your supplications to appease divine wrath, to implore mercy for sinners, to mitigate my bitterness for the abandonment of my apostles; during this hour you will do what I teach you.”.

The last great revelation: At the radiant dawn of June 16, 1675, the memorable day dawned that would crown the great revelations. Before the exposed majesty of the Blessed Sacrament, Margaret Mary, grateful for so many favors, poured out the impulses of her love. Suddenly, Jesus revealed his divine Heart to her again, speaking in this way:

“Behold the heart that has so loved mankind; that has spared nothing, even to weariness and decay, to bear witness to its love. But, in return, it receives only ingratitude, irreverence, sacrilege, coldness, and contempt, with which they treat me in the Sacrament of my Love. Those who are consecrated to me. Therefore, I ask you that on the first Friday of the octave of the Blessed Sacrament, a special feast be dedicated to me in honor of my Heart, with all receiving Communion on this day, offering me a loving token of reparation and honor, which will serve to make amends.”.