The month of May has traditionally been devoted to the Blessed Mother in the Catholic world and the month of June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Though the secular world attributes these months to other causes and themes, our faith has blessed these months for over a century with the devotion to Mary and Jesus .
This year because of such secular promotion of these other themes, especially as we approach the month of the Sacred Heart in June, it might be helpful to honor Mother Mary while preparing to adore her Son’s Heart.
So Our Lady of the Sacred Heart devotion seemed appropriate especially as its promoter, Fr. Chevalier, had a connection with the Visitation Order.
This is how he explained that connection with Visitation as he pondered the development of his new congregation:
“During the winter,” writes Father Chevalier, “I felt the need of praying at the tomb of Blessed Margaret Mary, and asking her for the success of our little Congregation whose object was the spreading of Devotion to the Sacred Heart, and so must be dear to her heart. The good Sisters of the Visitation received me with great kindness, and showed me over the places hallowed by the Saint. The sight of these holy places, so intimately associated with the appearance of Our Lord, so redolent of the Devotion to His Divine Heart and His marvelous revelations, made an impression on me, which I find difficult to describe. My first Mass was said at the altar where Jesus had appeared to the Saint showing her His Sacred Heart and saying: ‘Behold this Heart which has loved men so much.’ The second Mass was celebrated in the chapel of the Garden, where the Adorable Heart of Jesus had revealed many of the secrets of His Love. As I knelt at the tomb of the saint, I made her the confidante of our sorrows our trials and our hopes. I begged her since Our Lord had constituted her the heiress of the treasures of His Heart for time and eternity, to obtain from Him all the graces we needed. I stayed there a long time conversing with her.”
“As an offering I placed a heart of gilded wood, which I had obtained at Moulins, on the tombstone, I had enclosed in it a list of all my intentions for the present and the future. I placed myself and all who are mine under the protection of this great lover of the Sacred Heart. Before I left, the Mother Superior gave me, at my request, some cuttings from the famous hazel-nut tree where Our Lord had appeared to the Saint. On my return I planted them in our garden, and today they form a large retreat where we have placed a tableau representing Our Lord appearing to Blessed Margaret Mary.”
Father Chevalier was quite prepared to do God’s will as long as he knew what it was. And so he made his pilgrimages to find out. He returned happy and convinced that God wanted him to found the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. At Ars he received the advice of a Saint that God willed his Congregation and that he must expect all manner of difficulties and opposition – even from Hell itself. In the end the Sacred Heart and Our Lady would see to it that he succeeded.
At Paray-le-Monial in the Visitation Monastery he received a deeper understanding of the Sacred Heart. He was given the grace of a clear concept of the nature and character of the Society he was endeavouring to found. Finally, he had received the comforting reassurance from the lips of the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ himself, that God wished him to go ahead with his original plan.
OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART- ORIGINS
“Father Chevalier likes to tell the story of the origin of the title and devotion: “It is December 8, 1854, forever memorable day of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception that must be remembered to find the origin of devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, as it exists today. ’
He then explains how the Société des Missionaries of the Sacred Heart was born, following the novena to Mary Immaculate, whose prayers were answered because of the sign received on ninth day, a donation of 20,000 Franks to found a good work in Berry.
Now it was in the spring of the year in 1859. when the work of the basilica for his congregation was going on: “So in this year 1859, we took our recess in the afternoon, sitting under the lime trees that give us a cool shade, for the sun was burning … Suddenly the Reverend Father Chevalier, who seemed dominated by a thought, we question … Under what name, he tells us, shall we place the chapel of the Virgin in our church ? So each one answered according to his attraction and his special devotion … No, no, resumed the Reverend Father, we will have Our Lady of Sacred Heart. This blessed word was then pronounced for the first time and it was not endured without some surprise. ” Father Chevalier who had surely matured for a long time this idea immediately gives the deep meaning: “This word‘ Our Lady . of the Sacred Heart contains deep meaning. It means that Mary, as a result of her divine motherhood, possesses a great power over the Heart of Jesus and that is through Her that we must go to this Divine Heart. ” .
He introduced his book on “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart” with a vibrant and touching tribute to “Our Lady of the Sacred Heart “: “O what, O Our Lady of the Sacred Heart! It is in the midst of these bitter sorrows that I live to talk about your incomparable prerogatives! … Within your humiliations You shine with more beautiful radiance!”.
In the Next post we will share a special prayer to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=-EBJx6lUnOsC&pg=PA36&dq=pere+jules+chevalier+et+paray+le+monial&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUmY2olrjwAhWGUt8KHX45Bc4Q6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=pere%20jules%20chevalier%20et%20paray%20le%20monial&f=false