V+J  St Margaret Mary  Prayer Service May 13, 2020 on the Centenary of her Canonization

Opening Hymn: HEART OF CHRIST

Liturgy of the Word  Ephesians 3: 14-19

Gospel : Matthew 11: 25-30

An excerpt from the Autobiography of St. Margaret Mary:

““Being before the Blessed Sacrament one day of Its octave, I received from my God signal tokens of His love, and felt urged with the desire of making Him some return, and of rendering Him love for love. Thou canst not make Me a greater return of love, He said, than by doing what I have often asked of thee. Then, discovering to me His Divine Heart, He said: Behold this Heart, Which has loved men so much, that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself in order to testify to them Its love; and in return I receive from the greater number nothing but ingratitude by reason of their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel the most keenly is it is hearts which are consecrated to Me, that treat Me thus. Therefore, I ask of thee that the Friday after Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special Feast to honor My Heart, by communicating on that day and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in order to make amends for the indignities which It has received during the time It has been exposed on the altars. I promise thee that My Heart shall expand Itself to shed upon those who shall thus honor It, and cause It to be honored.”

And when I replied that I knew not how to accomplish what He had so long desired of me, He told me to address myself to His servant. Whom He had sent me for the accomplishment of this design.”

Litany in Praise of The Sacred Heart of Jesus

Leader:

Our response will be: Have Mercy on us

Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Let us pray.
Father, we rejoice in the gifts of love we have received from the heart of Jesus your Son. Open our hearts to share his life and continue to bless us with his love. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen

Live+Jesus ANTIPHON

Official prayer to St Margaret Mary for Jubilee Year

Saint Margaret -Mary,

Beloved and Confident Disciple of the Heart of Jesus, we greet you in joy and thanksgiving in this centenary year of your canonization.You who have been made “Heiress” of the treasures of Love which abound in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we have recourse to your intercession and your protection. May our hearts and our entire lives be kindled with the fire of his Divine Love.You whose heart was immersed [for a time] in His, obtain for us by your ardent prayer the conversion, the sanctification, the purification of our hearts still so wounded.
You, the messenger of the Heart of Jesus, “fiery furnace of charity”, make us feel the thirst to make Him known to our contemporaries, to quench his own thirst.You, the adorer of this Divine “Heart which loved men so much”, draw us into your adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, so that, like you, we allow ourselves to be consumed like a candle under the burning flame of his Eucharistic Love .
You, the comforter of her Heart wounded by so many ingratitudes, coldness and infidelity on the part of her disciples, obtain for us by your prayer a renewed, restorative ardor, so that we become living witnesses of this Heart so “passionate of Love ”for each of us and for all.
And when the time of our heaven approaches, let us enter this Heart as in our eternal abode, “exulting with joy”; this Heart “delight of all saints”, from which the “waters of Salvation” eternally flow.
Saint Margaret Mary, pray for us. Amen.

Veneration of Relics of St. Margaret Mary

HYMN To Jesus’ Heart all burning

1.
To Jesus’ Heart, all burning
With fervent love for men,
My heart with fondest yearning
Shall raise its joyful strain.

Refrain
While ages course along,
Blest be with the loudest song
The Sacred Heart of Jesus
By ev’ry heart and tongue!

Too true I have forsaken
Thy love by wilful sin;
Yet now let me be taken
Back by Thy grace again.

As Thou art meek and lowly,
And ever pure of heart,
So may my heart be wholly
Of Thine the counterpart,

O that to me were given
The pinions of a dove,
I’d speed aloft to heaven,
My Jesus’ love to prove.

LIVE+JESUS ANTIPHON

Excerpt from Letter of St Margaret Mary July 2:

From St Margaret Mary  letter to Mother de Saumaise, at Dijon, July 1688

. . . I must tell you that I had the good fortune of spending all day on the feast of the Visitation [July2] before the Blessed Sacrament. My Sovereign deigned to favor His wretched slave with several special graces form His loving Heart. He drew me into Himself and made me experience things I cannot express. He showed me a very high place, spacious and wonderfully beautiful, in the midst of which was set up a throne of flames and within it the adorable Heart of Jesus with Its wound. From this shot forth flames so luminous and glowing that the whole place was lighted up and warmed by them. The Blessed Virgin was on one side and Saint Francis de Sales and the saintly Father de la Colombiere on the other. The Daughters of the Visitation were there with their guardian angels beside them, each holding a heart in his hand. The Blessed Virgin invited us with these words: “Come, my well-beloved daughters, draw near, for I want to make you the trusted guardians of this precious treasure which the divine Sun of Justice formed within the virginal soil of my heart, where It lay hidden nine months. After that It was manifested to men. But they did not recognize Its value and contemned it because they saw It mixed and covered with the clay of their humanity. Onto It the eternal Father had cast all the filth and corruption of our sins. These He caused to be purified away for thirty-three years by the burning flames of Its charity. But seeing that men, far from enriching themselves and making use of so precious a treasure for the purpose for which It was given them but rather trying to set It at naught and exterminate It, if possible, from the face of the earth, the eternal Father, by an excess of mercy, made use of their malice only to render yet more useful this precious gold. By the blows they gave It in His Passion they have made of It priceless money, stamped with the image of the divinity, so that with It they might pay all their debts and carry on the great business of their salvation.”

This Queen of goodness continued to speak. She said to them, pointing to this Heart: “This is the precious treasure especially reserved to you because of the tender love my Son has for your Institute. He loves it and considers it His dear Benjamin, and for that reason wants you to have a greater share in this inheritance than all others. They must not only enrich themselves with this treasure but do all they can to put this precious money into circulation. They must distribute it lavishly, trying to enrich the whole world with it without fear of depleting it. For the more of it they take the more of it there will be left to take.”

Then turning to the good Father de la Colombiere, this Mother of goodness said: “As for you, faithful servant of My divine Son, you have a great share in this precious treasure. For if it is given the Daughters of the Visitation to know and distribute it to others, it is reserved to the Fathers of your Society to show and make known its utility and value so that people may profit from It by receiving It with the respect and gratitude due so great a benefit. In proportion as they give Him this pleasure, this Divine Heart, source of blessings and graces, will shower them so abundantly on the works of their ministry that they will produce fruits far beyond their labors and expectations. And this, too, for their own personal salvation and perfection.”

Our holy founder [St Francis de Sales], speaking to his daughters, said to them: “Esteemed daughters, come and draw from the source of all blessings the waters of salvation. From it a little rivulet, your constitutions, has already flowed forth into your souls. In this divine Heart you will find an easy way of acquitting yourselves perfectly of what is enjoined you in the first article of your Directory. This contains in substance the whole perfection of your Institute, and reads: ‘Let their whole life and endeavor tend to unite them with God.’ For that end let this Sacred Heart be the life that animates us and His love our continual exercise. This alone can unite us with God, help holy Church by prayer and good example, and further the salvation of our neighbor. With this in view, let us pray in the Heart and through the Heart of Jesus, Which wishes henceforth to make Itself the Mediator between God and man. Our good example shall consist in living in conformity with the holy maxims and virtues of this divine Heart and we shall further the salvation of our neighbor by spreading among them this holy devotion. Let us try to diffuse the good odor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus into the hearts of the faithful, so that we may become the joy and crown of this adorable Heart.”

Thereupon all the guardian angels drew near to present Him with what they held in their hands. As soon as these hearts touched the sacred wound they became beautiful and shone like stars. Some of them did not shine as brightly as others. The names of several remained written in letters of gold in the Sacred Heart, into Which some of those I speak of eagerly disappeared and were buried with mutual pleasure. These words were spoken: “In this abyss of love is your dwelling-place and repose forever.” These were the hearts of those who labored to make Him known and loved. . . .
(from The Letters of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, Tan Books and Publishers. Pages 125-127)

LIVE+JESUS ANTIPHON

Excerpt from Pastoral Letter of Bishop Benoit Riviere in Paray le Monial

This young woman of Verosvres who became a Visitandine of Paray-le-Monial,would have had reasons to abdicate in her search for God, so often was she subject to pressures and trials. Her perseverance in the faith, her manner of

always wanting to love and to be obedient to whatever was asked of her, came from the interior strength she received in the midst of interior and exterior trials.Strength was the prayer life of Margaret Mary_ It is the lifeblood which

irrigates her entire body and soul. It is the breath of her liberty of spirit. Margaret Mary, as we have said, allowed herself to be formed with simplicity in prayer, and she was told by the one responsible for her formation that we

should keep ourselves in prayer, particularly in Eucharistic adoration,somewhat like a canvas awaiting the hand of the painter.We ought to remember that this life of prayer was intense, prolonged, ardent -even from her early childhood – and that Margaret Mary did not enter the monastery until she was 24. Not having known any spiritual direction before

her entrance into the school of Saint Francis de Sales in the monastery .of the Visitation, she had first advanced upon the path of prayer truly alone. Later on,she was able to attest to the manner God himself made her enter into

contemplation of the mysteries of His Son: “He presented himself to me in the mystery that he desired me to consider; and He rendered my spirit so strongly attentive by keeping my soul and all my powers immersed in himself that I did

not feel any distractions, but my heartfelt itself consumed by the desire to love him.” Margaret Mary teaches us to leave our comfort zones and even our interior zones which are imbued with feelings of resentment. How attractive and encouraging is this active confidence of Margaret Mary, a confidence that is receptive and engaged, that she makes use of so admirably in the contemplation and adoration of the heart of Christ wounded and opened by love for the multitude. The more we advance, the more we suffer for not having loved enough. The less we love, explains Margaret Mary, the more we look at others with harshness, without mercy, suspecting of them even thoughts and actions that they never had or committed. The more we allow ourselves to be touched by the love of God, the more we will sigh for not knowing how to love, and the more we will become honest with ourselves, and then the more we will envisage our neighbor with joy and tenderness, always in mercy.

LIVE+JESUS  antiphon

Prayer of  Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, to Thee I consecrate and offer up my person and my life, my actions, trials, and sufferings, that my entire being may henceforth only be employed in loving, honoring and glorifying Thee. This is my irrevocable will, to belong entirely to Thee, and to do all for Thy love, renouncing with my whole heart all that can displease Thee.

I take Thee, O Sacred Heart, for the sole object of my love, the protection of my life, the pledge of my salvation, the remedy of my frailty and inconstancy, the reparation for all the defects of my life, and my secure refuge at the hour of my death. Be Thou, O Most Merciful Heart, my justification before God Thy Father, and screen me from His anger which I have so justly merited. I fear all from my own weakness and malice, but placing my entire confidence in Thee, O Heart of Love, I hope all from Thine infinite Goodness. Annihilate in me all that can displease or resist Thee. Imprint Thy pure love so deeply in my heart that I may never forget Thee or be separated from Thee.
I beseech Thee, through Thine infinite Goodness, grant that my name be engraved upon Thy Heart, for in this I place all my happiness and all my glory, to live and to die as one of Thy devoted servants. Amen.

LIVE+JESUS ANTIPHON

Closing Hymn