THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS. SAINT JOHN EUDES

 

CHAPTER III

THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS

IT'S A FIREPLACE OF LOVE

TO HIS HOLY MOTHER

Nothing is as easy as proving this truth. The inconceivable graces with which our Savior has showered his holy Mother show that he has a love without measure for her and that after his heavenly Father he is the first and most worthy object of his love. Her Son loves her incomparably more than all her angels, her saints, and all creatures.

How many privileges has he filled her with?

- In the first place, this holy Virgin is the only one whom the Son of God has chosen from all eternity to elevate her above all created beings, to seat her on the most exalted throne of glory AND greatness and to give her the most admirable of dignities, that of the Mother of God.

- Let us descend from eternity to the fullness of time and we will see how this sacred Virgin is the only one among the children of Adam whom God, by special privilege, preserved from original sin. In witness to this, the Church celebrates the feast of her Immaculate Conception every year throughout the earth.

- The love of the Son of God not only preserved his Mother from original sin; He also filled her from the moment of conception with such eminent grace that, according to the great theologians, he surpassed the grace of the first of the seraphim and the greatest of the saints.

- For another privilege only she begins to know and love God, from the first moment and loves him with greater fervor than the most fiery seraphim.

- Only she has loved him continuously, without interruption, throughout her life. It is said for this reason that he only made an act of love from the first to the last moment of his life.

- Only she perfectly fulfilled the first of the commandments: You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength 1 (...).

- She is the only one who made the one who was born from all eternity in the womb of God, from the substance of his Father, to be born of his own substance. Yes, she gave part of her virginal substance and her most pure blood to form the holy humanity of the Son of God. And he collaborated with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the union of his substance with the person of the Son of God; Thus he cooperated to bring about the mystery of the incarnation, the greatest miracle that God has done and will ever be able to do.

- and that most pure blood and that virginal flesh that she contributed in that mystery will remain united forever. through the hypostatic union, to the person of the incarnate Word. Virginal blood and precious flesh that have become adorable in the humanity of the Word of God and that will forever be adored by the angels and the saints in him.

- This admirable Mother also provided the flesh and blood to form the heart of the Child Jesus; a heart that took its nourishment and growth from that same blood, during the nine months of its permanence in the blessed womb of the Virgin, and from her virginal milk in its first years.

- Only this incomparable Virgin acted as father and mother with respect to a God and was obeyed by the sovereign monarch of the universe, which means more honor to her than if she received the tributes of all that God could create.

- Only she is Mother and Virgin. She alone carried in her blessed womb, for nine months, the One whom the heavenly Father carries in her womb for all eternity.

- Only she fed with her womb and made live the one who is eternal life and gives life to all living beings.

- She alone, in the company of Saint Joseph, remained continuously with the adorable Savior for thirty-four years. It is admirable that the divine redeemer who came into the world to save all men only preached three years and three months of his life to them, while he remained more than thirty with his Mother to sanctify her more and more. How many streams of grace and blessings did he pour incessantly during that time on his blessed Mother, always ready to receive them? With what celestial ardors and flames the divine Heart of Jesus, bonfire of love, burned ever more and more the virginal Heart of his holy Mother, especially when those two hearts were close and closely united as when she carried it in her womb, when she gave it her bosom, when she measured it in her arms and leaned it on her chest,And during the time when she lived familiarly with him, as a mother with her child, when she ate and drank with him, she prayed to God, she heard the words that came out of her adorable mouth, like burning coals that lit up her Heart more and more with the fire of divine love.

- ¿After this, who could express in what way the Heart of the Mother of the Savior was burned with love for God? Certainly there is reason to believe that if her Son had not miraculously preserved her until the time that he had set for her to take her to heaven. she would have died of love not once but thousands of times.

- Only this marvelous Virgin, after her Son, has been transported body and soul to heaven, in accordance with the tradition and the feeling of the Church that celebrates this solemnity throughout the world.

- She alone has been elevated above the choirs of angels and saints. Only she placed at the right hand of her Son. She alone was crowned queen of heaven and earth, of angels and men, and sovereign of the universe. Only she has all power over the triumphant, militant and suffering Church. In Jerusalem "is my power. She alone has more value near her Jesus than all the citizens of heaven put together. All power in heaven has been given to you and in the - Saint Anselm points out another privilege with these words: If you. Mrs. callas nobody will pray, no one will lend assistance, but if you pray all (the saints pray all will help..

Here are a great number of privileges with which our Savior has honored his holy Mother. Who made him do it? The burning love of his filial Heart for her. And why does he love her so much?

1. Because she is his Mother from whom he received a new being and a new life.

2. He loves her more than all creatures put together because she has

for him more love than all created beings.

3. He loves her ardently because she has collaborated with him in his greatest work for the redemption of the world. He cooperated by giving him a mortal body capable of suffering to bear the sufferings of his passion; proposing to him the precious blood that he shed for us; giving her the life that she sacrificed for our salvation and offering herself in sacrifice, at the foot of the cross, that body, that blood and that life and if this beloved Savior has loved his divine Mother in such a way, how are we not obliged to love, serve and honor her in every possible way? Let us therefore love her at the same time as her Son Jesus. And if we love them, let's hate what they hate, let's love what they love. Let us have but one heart with them. A heart that detests what they detest, that is to say sin, especially sins contrary to charity, humility and purity; and a heart that loves what they love, in particular the poor, the crosses and all the Christian virtues. Reach us, Mother of goodness, this grace of your Son.

CHAPTER IV

ANOTHER PRIVILEGE WITH WHICH

OUR SAVIOR

HONOR HIS HOLY MOTHER

There is another privilege with which the Son of God glorifies his saint

Mother and that surpasses the previous ones. It is that not only will she be eternally associated in heaven with the highest dignity of the eternal Father who is her adorable fatherhood, but she also possesses and will always possess, alone, the same authority as a Mother that she possessed on earth and that those indicate. words: " And he remained under his authority."

Which is more glorious to her than if she had the empire of a hundred million worlds. For, although her Son infinitely surpasses her in glory, in power and in majesty, he will nevertheless look upon her and honor her eternally as his true Mother.

The condition of Son of God, says Saint Ambrose, did not dispense him, when he was on earth, from the divine and natural obligation that he had, like other children, to obey him as his Mother. Such submission was not humiliating but honorable because it was voluntary; It was not the fruit of incapacity but of piety.

In short, many holy doctors agree that the Mother of the Savior had true authority over her Son, both by nature's right and as an effect of the goodness and humility of that same Son. The most excellent of the titles of this divine Virgin, says the pious Gerson, is that of Mother of God because it gives her authority and natural descent over the Lord of the whole world. It cannot be thought that her Son gave her that power while she was on earth and withdrew it from her since she reigned in heaven; In fact, he has no less respect and love for her in heaven than he had for her on earth.

It is therefore fair to think that she is no less powerful in heaven than she was on earth and that she still retains some authority over her Son in heaven. Oneself is the power of the Mother and the Son, says Amoldo de Chartres; and Richard de Saint-Laurent: she was made omnipotent by the omnipotent Son. The Son and the Mother have the same flesh, the same Heart and the same will, therefore, in a certain way, they have the same power.

Let us listen to the magnificent words with which Jorge, Archbishop of Nicomedia, addresses Mary: Nothing can resist your power; everything yields to your strength and your commands; everything obeys your empire; ¡the one that was born from you YES! elevated above all; your Creator draws glory from your glory and is honored by those who honor you; your Son rejoices as he beholds the honor we pay you. As if fulfilling obligations with you, he gladly grants you everything you ask of him; nothing, O Virgin, resists your power: your Son considers your glory as his own and, as if paying a debt, hears your prayers.

We know with certainty, says Saint Anselm, that the Holy Virgin overflows with grace AND merit in such a way that she always achieves her wishes.  It is impossible, says Saint German of Constantinople, that she is not heard in everything and everywhere since her Son is always subject to all her wills. Everywhere wonder. everywhere the miracle - says Saint Bernard - May God obey a woman. it is humility without antecedents and that a woman gives orders to God is sublimity without anything similar. Hence, Saint Peter Damiano dares to say that the kind Virgin appears in heaven before the sacred altar of our reconciliation, not only pleading but prevailing.

Pray to the Father. gives orders to the Son with the right of Mother. Sing the Church of Paris in sequence.