Cluny Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The deepest longing of Christ's Heart is that we discover how much he loves us, the extent of his tender love for creatures who, cooled by their selfishness, look only inwards at themselves, as if they were afraid to let themselves be loved unconditionally by their Creator, who asks nothing and gives all.
Cluny Devotion
Our Founder, Anne Marie Javouhey had a devotion to the Heart of Jesus that enflamed by doing God’s Will in all things. Her devotion began with her mother, Claudine Parisot, who was a very devout Catholic wife and mother who instilled this devotion in her children at a very early age. Anne Marie and those who banded together with her to form the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny were women of their time.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart was well known in Burgundy France, because of the revelations received in 1673 by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the convent at Paray-le-Monial. None of the attempts of the French Revolution to stamp out the Catholic faith managed to destroy the popular devotion to the Sacred Heart. So it was natural for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny to express their gratitude to God for the grace of their newborn institute by making a formal consecration of themselves and all they served to the Heart of Christ. They did this on the feast of the Sacred Heart, June 6, 1807. Barely a month after their religious profession, the original nine Sisters placed themselves and the congregation under the protection of the Heart of Jesus. This consecration has been renewed annually ever since.
The vitality of Cluny devotion to the Sacred Heart in the present day remains strong. Many Cluny communities spread around the world, including the Motherhouse, are named for the Sacred Heart. Hundreds of Cluny Sisters have chosen the Sacred Heart as part of their religious name in a variety of forms: Heart of Jesus, the Divine Heart, the Eucharistic Heart etc.
In both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures the heart is the essence of being, the seat of all loving. The Heart of Jesus is the Source of our learning to love. From that Heart, we discover how to live the two great commandments to love God and our neighbor by which Jesus sums up all his teaching. In order to live this teaching fully we must discover that Sacred Heart, we must enter deeply into this Divine Fount of Love. There is no better way to do this than to fix our gaze on Jesus as he is revealed to us in the Gospels.
As you reflect on the words and actions of Jesus in the Gospels, ask Jesus to reveal to you:
How your heart – the essence of your being – reflects his
How my heart needs to change in order to better resemble his
On this annual feast in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus let us pray with the Church the traditional Litany to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
THE LITANY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us
God the Holy Spirit,
Holy Trinity, one God,
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father,
Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mother's womb,
Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God,
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, King and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father was well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, of whose fullness we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy, have mercy on us.
Hymn: O Sacred Heart, O Love Divine
Let Us Pray
Sacred Heart of Jesus,
I place all my trust in you.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted,
have pity on us sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of you,
through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary,
your tender mother and ours.
—Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
No comments:
Post a Comment