Source: Livret-vingtaine-sc.pdf
Let us set out with the Heart of Jesus, driven by the Holy Spirit!
Week One
Sunday, June 8, Feast of Pentecost
Gospel of St. John 7:37-39 On the solemn day when the Feast of Tabernacles was ending, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him who believes in me come to me and drink!
As the Scripture says: ‘From his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” In saying this, he was speaking of the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him would receive. Indeed, there could be no Spirit since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
“We come here to encounter the Heart pierced for us, from which water and blood flow. It is redeeming love, which is the origin of Salvation, of our salvation, which is the origin of the Church. We come here to contemplate the love of the Lord Jesus: his compassionate kindness for all during his earthly life; his special love for the little ones, the sick, the afflicted. Let us contemplate his Heart burning with love for his Father, in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Let us contemplate his infinite love, that of the eternal Son who leads us to the very mystery of God. »St. John Paul II
Action: I remember all the times when the Lord showed me his love and raised me up, when I was weak, sick, fragile…
Monday, June 9, Feast of Mary Mother of the Church
Gospel of St. John 19, 25-34 “At that time, there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour onward, the disciple took her into his own home. After this, knowing that everything was now finished, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a container of vinegar there. So a sponge of vinegar was put on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When he had received the vinegar, Jesus said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation (that is, Friday), the bodies were not to be left on the cross during the Sabbath, especially since that Sabbath was the high day of Passover. Therefore, the Jews asked Pilate to have the bodies removed after breaking their legs. So the soldiers went and broke the legs of the first man, then of the other man crucified with Jesus. When they came to Jesus, seeing that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear; and immediately blood and water flowed out.
“Within the Church, the mediation of Mary, the interceding mother, can only be understood as a participation in the unique source which is the mediation of Christ himself, the one Redeemer. The Church professes this subordinate role of Mary without hesitation. Devotion to the Heart of Mary is not intended to weaken the unique adoration owed to the Heart of Christ, but to stimulate it: Mary’s maternal role toward humanity in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ: on the contrary, it manifests its virtue. Thanks to the immense source that springs from the open side of Christ, the Church, Mary, and all believers become, in various ways, channels of living water. In this way, Christ displays his glory in our lowliness. Dilexit Nos. 176
Action: I give thanks for Mary, for the Church, given to me by Jesus on the Cross. I pray for the Pope and for the unity of the Church. Virgin Mary, we entrust to you these coming weeks to prepare us for the feast of the Sacred Heart. Come guide us on this path to better know the Trinity and better experience the Blessed Sacrament, to fully enter into the mystery of the burning Heart of Jesus. Hail Mary
Tuesday, June 10 Towards the Feast of the Holy Trinity Prov. 8:22-31
Listen to what the Wisdom of God declares: “The Lord made me for himself, the beginning of his work, the first of his works, from the beginning. I was formed before the ages, from the beginning, before the earth was formed. Before the depths were, I was brought forth, before the springs of water were flowing. Before the mountains were established, before the hills, I was brought forth, before the Lord made the earth and the universe, the primeval elements of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there, when he traced the horizon on the surface of the deep, when he gathered the clouds on high and controlled the sources of the abyss, when he imposed its limits on the sea, so that the waters could not violate his order, when he established the foundations of the earth. And I grew up at his side. I delighted him day after day, playing before him at every moment, playing in the universe, on his earth, and finding my delights with the sons of men.
Saint Augustine opened the way to devotion to the Sacred Heart as a place of personal encounter with the Lord. For him, the breast of Christ is not only the source of grace and the sacraments, but he personalizes it by presenting it as a symbol of intimate union with Him, as the place of the loving encounter. Herein lies the origin of the most precious wisdom, which consists in knowing Him. Augustine writes that John, the beloved, when he leaned his head on Jesus’ breast, approached the secret place of wisdom. This is not simply the intellectual contemplation of a theological truth. Saint Jerome explains that a person capable of contemplation “does not enjoy the beauty of streams, but drinks the living water from the Lord’s side.” Dilexit Nos. 103
Action: I am making an effort to take some time for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament today. If I cannot worship, I simply enter a church and pray before the tabernacle. Heart of Jesus, come reveal yourself to me, come show me who you are so that I may discover the wisdom that is within you. I want to encounter you deeply, Lord. Come show me how your Heart allows me to know you better.
Wednesday, June 11 Ps. 8:4-9
I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have established, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you are concerned for him? You have made him a little lower than gods, crowning him with glory and honor; you have set him over the works of your hands, you have placed everything at his feet: herds of cattle and sheep, and even wild animals, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, everything that moves in the waters.
Contemplating the Heart of Christ, we recognize that in his sound and noble sentiments, in his tenderness, in the thrill of his human affection, the whole truth of his divine and infinite love is revealed. Benedict XVI expressed it this way: “From the infinite horizon of his love, God wished to enter the limits of history and the human condition, taking a body and a heart; so that we can contemplate and encounter the infinite in the finite, the invisible and ineffable Mystery in the human Heart of Jesus, the Nazarene.” Dilexit Nos. 64
Action: I make the effort to contemplate Creation. The sky, the landscape, nature, humankind. I find three acts of thanksgiving, fruits of my contemplation today.
Thursday, June 12 Rom. 5:1-5
Brothers and sisters, we who have been justified by faith have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has granted us access through faith into this grace in which we stand. We boast in the hope of sharing in the glory of God. Moreover, we boast in our affliction itself, since we know that affliction produces perseverance; perseverance produces proven virtue; proven virtue produces hope; and hope does not disappoint, since God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
What pleases him is that I love my lowliness and my poverty, this blind hope I have in his mercy… This is my only treasure. St. Therese of Lisieux
Action: I present to the Lord all the matters over which I despair. I ask his forgiveness for this. I make an act of hope and I say in confidence, with Jesus in Gethsemane “not my will, but yours” I take the time to visit or call a person in distress
Friday, June 13 Jn. 16:12-15
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For what he says will not come on his own, but what he hears, he will speak; and he will make known to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will receive what comes from me to make it known to you. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I told you: the Spirit receives what comes from me to make it known to you. »
In the first great apparition to Saint Margaret Mary, Jesus said to her: “My divine Heart is so passionate with love for men, and for you in particular, that, no longer able to contain within itself the flames of its ardent charity, it must spread them through you, and manifest itself to them to enrich them with the precious treasures that I reveal to you.” And Margaret Mary testifies: “He revealed to me the wonders of his love, and the inexplicable secrets of his sacred Heart, which he had always kept hidden from me, until he opened it to me for the first time, but in such an effective and perceptible way that he left me no reason to doubt it.” Autobiography, § 53
Action: I share with a colleague, a neighbor, a passerby in the street my joy of loving Jesus and being loved by him. Simply, without expecting anything from the person to whom I speak.
Saturday, June 14 Introit of the Holy Trinity
Blessed be the Holy Trinity and its indivisible Unity; let us glorify it for it has shown us its mercy.
Let us now turn our gaze to the Holy Spirit who fills the Heart of Christ and burns within it. As Saint John Paul II said, the Heart of Christ is “the masterpiece of the Holy Spirit.” This is not just about the past, for “in the Heart of Christ, the action of the Holy Spirit, to whom Jesus attributed the inspiration for his mission (cf. Lk 4:18; Is 61:1) and whose sending he promised at the Last Supper, is alive. It is the Spirit who helps us grasp the richness of the sign of Christ’s pierced side, from which the Church came.” Ultimately, only the Holy Spirit can open before us this fullness of the “inner man” which is found in the Heart of Christ. Only He can gradually introduce the power of this fullness into our human hearts.” Dilexit Nos. 75
Action: I pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show me to whom He is sending me. I strive to look at this person with the eyes of Jesus, to love them with the heart of Jesus. If possible, I smile at them, offer my help, and say words of blessing.