A Heart Ablazed with Love

"O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal life,
Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love.
You are my refuge and my sanctuary.
O my adorable and loving Savior,
consume my heart with the burning fire with which Yours is aflamed.
Pour down on my soul those graces which flow from Your love.
Let my heart be united with Yours.
Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things.
May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions. Amen."
​- St. Gertrude the Great

About 400 years before devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus became widely popular through St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, two 13th century nuns living in a monastery in Germany had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart: St. Gertrude the Great and St. Mechtilde.

In St. Gertrude the Great's book, Herald of Divine Love, she speaks of her mystical experience with Jesus and St. John the Evangelist:

"Once on the feast of St. John, the beloved disciple, St. Gertrude exerted herself during the Matins to praise the disciple whom Jesus loved above the rest of His Apostles and lo! our Savior appeared to her, accompanied by this dear saint, whom He gave to her for a special protector. St. John spoke to St. Gertrude most kindly, instructed her regarding many mysteries and bestowed upon her  precious graces..."

​St. John invited St. Gertrude to rest with him on the chest of Jesus, just as he had done at the Last Supper.  After doing so, St. Gertrude and St. John entered into a dialogue about what they had just experienced in the intimacy they shared with Jesus' Heart:

St. Gertrude: "Well-beloved of the Lord, did these harmonious beatings which rejoice my soul also rejoice thine when thou didst repose during the Last Supper on the bosom of the Savior?"

St. John: "Yes, I heard them, and my soul was penetrated with their sweetness even to its very center." 

St. Gertrude: "Why, then, hast thou spoken so little in thy Gospel of the loving secrets of the Heart of Jesus?"

St. John: "My mission was to write of the Eternal Word . . . but the language of the blissful pulsations of the Sacred Heart is reserved for latter times, that the time-worn world, grown cold in the love of God, may be warmed up by the hearing of such mysteries".

Four centuries later, in 1673, on the very same day (the feast of St. John the Evangelist), Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and showed her His Sacred Heart displaying His Divine Love in the form of flames.  He said to her,
​
"My Heart is so full of love for men that It can no longer contain the flames of Its burning love. I must discover to men the treasures of My Heart and save them from perdition."

(Excerpt taken from Catholic Company)

In a world which has indeed grown cold an indifferent to the love of Jesus, let us plead that He may reignite our hearts with love for Him. The Sacred Heart - Who looks for one to grieve and comfort Him but finds none - yearns for our love. O Jesus, we beg of Thee, set our hearts aflame by the fire of Thy own Heart. Enkindle in us the most tender sentiments toward Thee. Melt all that is not of Thee, so that only love of Thee remains. 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee!