Love of the Sacred Heart as illustrated by Saint Mechtilde

[Stone]

The Dealings of the Sacred Heart with Men

Chapter 26 – The Sacred Heart and Its Union with Souls

“I to my Beloved and my Beloved to me.” These I words of the Spouse in the Canticles express the intimate union between Jesus and the faithful soul. This union is the greatest desire of Jesus. “My delights are,” He tells us, “to be with the children of men.” It is also the greatest desire of the loving soul. “Thou in me and I in Thee. Grant that we may eternally remain so united.” Who will give me, Lord, to be so united with you that I may be absorbed in you so as to forget myself?

It is therefore the happiest of all days when Love says to us, as to Saint Mechtilde: “Enter into the joy of Your Lord.” Hearing this, she was rapt in God, and as a drop of water mingled with wine is changed entirely into wine, so this blessed soul, entering into God, became one and the same spirit with Him. United thus she annihilated herself, but God raised her, saying: “I will pour into you all that a human heart can contain, and I will increase My graces in you as far as a creature can receive them.”

Love added: “Rest here, leaning on the Heart of Him who loves thee. Be not uneasy in prosperity, taste in peace the remembrance of all Your Beloved has done for thee, so as to be without fear in adversity.”

Every day, at the Altar, in the mystery of the Consecration and the Communion, the marvelous fact of our union with the Sacred Heart really takes place.

One day during Mass, Mechtilde saw numberless graces flowing from the Heart of Jesus on faithful souls. She was seized with a great longing to see her own heart plunged entirely into the divine Heart. At once, she felt that it was thrown into this adorable Heart, as a fish into the water.

In her ardent devotion she implored our Lord to teach her what dispositions she should have in her heart so as to remain in the happy union with which she was favoured. At once, the Sacred Heart appeared to her as a beautiful and spacious dwelling, and in this dwelling she saw a smaller one.

“It is in this way,” said our Lord, “that Your soul is always enclosed in My Heart, and I in the heart of Your soul; you possess Me within you and I am more intimately united to you than anything else can be, and yet My divine Heart is so great and so superior to Your soul that it seems unable to attain thereto.”

Mechtilde also saw in this dwelling of the divine Heart four beautiful Virgins. They were Humility, Patience, Meekness and Charity, this last more beautiful than the others. Our Lord said to her: “Strive to become intimate with these Virgins and to obtain their friendship if you wilt remain with Me in this dwelling of My Heart and enjoy My presence. When vanity shall endeavour to weaken Your heart, remember My charity, It was so strong that it drew Me from My rest in the bosom of the Father, made Me descend into the Virgin’s womb, wrapped Me in swaddling clothes and laid Me in a manger; it obliged Me to endure great labours and to preach and finally made Me die a bitter and shameful death. The remembrance of these things will drive out all vanity from Your heart.

“In the same way, when you shalt be tempted by pride, remember My humility. It always prevented Me from lifting Myself up, ever so little, in My thoughts, words or actions. Instead, I always showed in all My works an example of the most perfect humility.

“When inclined to impatience, remember My patience. I kept it always in poverty, hunger and thirst, in My wanderings and in the midst of injuries and insults, and, above all, in death.

“In temptations to anger, in the same way remember My meekness; with those who hated peace, I was peaceful and meek, to such a degree, that I obtained from My Father the forgiveness of My executioners.

“In this way you shalt triumph over vices by virtues.” In this way also we may dwell in the Heart of Jesus, live His Life, be animated with His Spirit and consumed with His love. But if the soul has entered into the divine Heart, it is in order to enjoy the treasures it contains. It opens: our Lord draws the soul and says to it: “The higher part of My Heart, that nearest to the Divinity, shall pour down on you the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. It shall distil ceaselessly on you the dew of its grace. In the eagerness of Your desires raise thine eyes to Him; open Your mouth and breathe in the sweetness of divine grace according as it is said in the Psalms: ‘I opened my mouth, and panted: because I longed for Your commandments’ (Psalm 118:131).

“In the lower part of My Heart, that which is nearest to My Humanity, you wilt find a treasure containing all good things in great abundance to satisfy all Your desires.”

Our Lord then developed this thought, giving to His Sacred Heart, as to the world, four cardinal points. He added: “In the east of My Heart you wilt find the light of true wisdom; it will make you know and accomplish entirely My will. In the western part, you shalt behold a delightful paradise; there you shalt always be with Me, seated at my table.”

What a magnificent similitude and what sublime possibilities this makes us see! The Sacred Heart of Jesus is associated in the divine act which sends the Holy Spirit,in to our souls, spreading in it the sweetness of His grace. The Sacred Heart, source of that blood which redeemed the world, and centre of the sorrows of the Passion, contains all the treasures that any soul might crave. It is the sun which gives light; it is the place of rest for souls in heaven. And so our Lord speaks to our soul and says: “Let it seek in My Heart all that it desires and needs, and let it ask it of Me as a child who asks its father for all it wants. Does it need purity? Let it have recourse to My innocence. Humility? Let it take it from Me. Let it find there also the spirit of holy desires and take with confidence My love and the holy and divine manner in which I acted during My life on earth.”

A Last Prayer: “O My God! I beg of you to be merciful to My soul at its last hour, giving it the assurance that it will rest on Thee.” And our Lord replied at once: “What wise man would throw away and destroy a loved treasure gained with great labour? In My Humanity I sanctified the whole man. In Baptism I vivified by My Spirit all that is spiritual in him. Let him therefore keep himself always united to Me on two points: let him trust to Me all that is in man as temptations and trials, offering and uniting them to My Humanity; then let him direct to Me all his spiritual affections, such as his hope, love and joy, and in this way I will never abandon him.”

O Sacred Heart, we will trust in you during our whole life and especially at the hour of our death. Fiat.


Chapter 27 – Consecrated Souls: Their Vocation

In heaven those who are virgins are specially loved by the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From this Heart flow endless joys which first rest in the loving heart of its Virgin Mother and from her flow into the hearts of all virgins.

Feeling and seeing all the love and tenderness of the Sacred Heart for virgins, Mechtilde was filled with admiration and gratitude for the marvelous goodness of God, and our Lord said to her: “I have honoured virgins above all the other Saints, granting them three privileges.

“The first is My love which surpasses that of all other creatures. Therefore as soon as the first virgin had taken her vow of chastity I was so filled with love that not being able to restrain Myself, I came down from heaven to enter entirely into her.

“The second is the wealth which I shower on them. All that I possess, all that I have suffered, I give them for their own.

“The third is the glory which surpasses all other glory. At their approach I rise, I speak to them in sweet mysterious words, and they only can enjoy when they will My holy embrace.”

Then Mechtilde said: “Most loving Lord, what must those fortunate virgins, chosen by Thee, be to enjoy such privileges?” Jesus answered: “Noble, beautiful, and rich. The virgin worthy of the name, chosen for My spouse, must be noble in humility, she must believe her self of no account, thinking of herself as beneath every other creature and deserving merely contempt and abjection. The more humble she is the more noble she shall be in the glory of heaven. As for Me, I will add My humility to hers, and this will be for her the highest nobility. I wish her also to be beautiful that is, patient; the more patient she is the more beautiful she shall be, for to her sufferings I will add those of My Passion. To complete her beauty I will clothe her with reflections of the divine beauty, which I received from My Father before the creation of the world.

“She must also be rich in virtue. She must heap up riches of all the virtues, and she will then receive from Me the incomparable treasure of My virtues, and so she will have an abundance to overflowing of eternal joys.”

Humility as title-deed to nobility; Patience for ornament; Virtues for riches. These are the three conditions exacted by the Sacred Heart from a soul that is to be His spouse.


Chapter 28 – The Time of Trial

The soul that would consecrate itself to the Lord Jesus in the religious state must during the novitiate submit to a severe training. It must break its will, subdue its character, overcome its nature, accustom itself to the requirements of the Rule and of the common life. Jesus is with such souls, and His Sacred Heart longs to unite them more and more with Him by the bonds of love. Per amoris unionem.

“I will walk in their midst,” He said to Saint Mechtilde, who was praying for the young recruits in the Monastery of Helfta, “and I will dwell in them and they shall be My people” (2 Corinthians 6:16). I will walk in their midst by their holy desires and good will, and I will dwell in them by love; they shall be My people by this life, holy and worthy of praise, and by the good and increase they bring to the Church. All whom they shall attract by their good example, their virtues or their instructions, whom they shall win by their prayers, when they pray for the spread of the Faith, for the conversion of sinners, for the deliverance of souls from their pains, all these shall be considered as My people.

“They should apply themselves carefully to the following practices: frequent and fervent prayer, reading the Holy Scriptures and listening to them with pleasure, working assiduously, obeying the Rule, observing with love all the regulations appointed for them, perfect humility in everything, never thinking themselves equal to others and despising no one. While they pray in these dispositions I will teach them My will and all that shall be necessary for them; in reading I will teach them My sweetness. I will sanctify them in their labours, in obeying and in the observance of the Rule I will have pity on them, I will strengthen them and help them, and in their humility; I will rest in them.”

But let the young betrothed of Christ be attentive to see this God, so full of tenderness, everywhere, as He is always with them in the labours of the Novitiate. And what will He do for them on the day of their Virginal Espousals with Him? He will, on that day, transform them and make them less unworthy of Him. “In order to prepare for this great day, they must,” He says, “beg Me to give them intelligent eyes to see Me and to know what is for their good; obedient ears, ready for every command and will of their Superiors, a wise mouth in order to celebrate My praise, to teach and say what is profitable for others. Let them plead with Me to give them a loving heart which will love Me and love all purely in Me and for Me, and to have also a share in good works; then what they do shall be done carefully and attentively.”

When the Litany was said for the newly Professed, Saint Mechtilde saw our Blessed Lady, and then each Saint, as he was named, rise and kneel reverently before our Lord, praying for them. And while they made their holy Profession our Lord Jesus Christ received them lovingly into His arms, giving them His right hand to strengthen them in keeping their vows, and to protect them from all evil. When they approached to receive Holy Communion, each found herself closely united to Him in a sweet embrace.


Chapter 29 – Tepidity

Sometimes souls who are bound by religious profession to the service of God forget the gravity of their engagements. Without entirely breaking the bonds which unite them to the divine Heart they allow them little by little to get slack and so fall into numerous acts of negligence. In the Life of Saint Margaret Mary, we see the divine Spouse irritated by the tepidity of His unfaithful spouses, asking for public reparation. Something of the same kind is narrated for us in the Book of Special Grace.

One Friday Mechtilde saw our Lord standing on the altar, His hands outstretched, blood pouring abundantly from His wounds as during His Passion. He said to her: “See, all My wounds are reopened in order to appease the anger of the Father against you.”

The glorious Virgin Mary stood at her Son’s right hand. On her head was placed a beautiful crown in which, like precious pearls, shone her virtues, merits and all the great things that God had deigned to work in her. Mechtilde, drawing near, begged her to pray for herself and the Order. The Queen of Heaven, at once, bending her knees before her Son, honoured devoutly His wounds with great respect. She commanded Mechtilde to do the same. “Come, also,” she said to her, “honour the wounds in the beloved Heart of My Son which caused Him to bear all the sufferings of His body.”

When Mechtilde had gladly done this, she begged our Lord to reveal to her what He most wished her to do for the increase of religion. He replied: “He who really wishes to become religious must keep his eyes from all forbidden or even useless looks. He must abstain from hearing anything that might sully his heart; he must prevent his mouth from ever uttering a useless word, and if he has seen or heard anything evil he must never permit his mouth to speak of it. Above all, he must guard his heart and watch that it never takes pleasure in bad thoughts and that it never dwells on them willingly. Man cannot prevent such thoughts from presenting themselves, but he can easily drive them away, so as not to consent to them, nor dwell on them willingly. He must also carefully watch his actions, and whenever he finds he has done wrong on some point, his heart must have no rest until he has asked God’s pardon and purposed going to Confession as soon as possible.”

To understand well the signification of this lesson of Jesus to His humble servant we must remember that He appeared to her in the state of a Victim. He therefore does not speak of religious virtues which console His Heart, but of faults and negligences which sadden it. The perfection He exacts from His spouses does not, of course, admit of any wilful sin, but furthermore, as we shall see later, it expects the practice of all religious virtues. This lesson of the Sacred Heart addressed to Religious is given here as a reproach. In another place He repeats it as a counsel to a soul whom He wishes to draw to His love.

“How I should love to be Your slave!” Saint Mechtilde said to Him one day. Our Lord replied: “He who would be a slave on earth must deny to his eyes all that is for bidden and useless and restrain them in all things; and I in the glory of heaven will open the eyes of that person, revealing to him the brightness of My face, and I will manifest My glory to him. I will show Myself to him in such a delightful way that all the heavenly court shall be in joy and admiration.”

“And also to him who keeps his ears captive and prevents them hearing anything that is useless or hurtful I will sing sweetly a melody of special glory in eternity.”

“He who puts a check on his lips, to prevent idle or hurtful words, shall receive from Me the great gift to open them to My praise and to celebrate My glory more worthily than others.”

“He who keeps his heart from all vain or evil thoughts, from all improper desires, shall be liberally rewarded by Me; he shall obtain from Me all he desires and his heart shall taste great liberty and happiness without end in My divine Heart. He who binds his hands that they may commit no sin will be delivered from all toil. I will give him a glorious and eternal rest, I will bestow on his good actions united to Mine so much honour that all the celestial Court will receive an increase of joy.”


Chapter 30 – The Practice of Virtue

For a soul consecrated to God it is not sufficient to hate evil, be it ever so heartily; it must also have a great love for all the virtues of its holy state. Hoc sentite in vobis quod et in Christo Jesu. Its thoughts, affections, desires and all its works must be in harmony with those of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Blessed John Eudes tells us: “The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are only One Heart, for they are animated with the same desires and burn with the same love.” In the same way, one ought to be able to say that the Heart of Jesus and the heart of a Religious make only one heart.

Saint Mechtilde was praying for her sisters, asking God to increase His grace in them, making them abound in virtue and good works of every kind. She received this answer from our Lord: “As long as I find in them humble sub mission, love of virginal purity, loving gratitude and tender love, I will never turn away from them the protecting eyes of a Father, and I will never forsake them in their needs.”

A humble submission that is, obedience to their Superiors and a gentle, simple deference among themselves.

Love of virginal purity, which does not merely consist in preserving virginity, but also in the love they must have for chastity, in the care with which they must guard their hearts and senses in order to avoid all that could stain them. A present lovingly received is so treated, it is considered very valuable, and great care is taken that it should be neither lost nor spoilt.

A loving gratitude, which causes them to accept from God with thanksgiving not only spiritual gifts, but also what is necessary for the body, as clothing and food, they will receive all with a loving, contented heart, always thinking that more is given than they have deserved. A tender love with which they will love God sincerely and each other for God, striving to outdo each other in kind deeds.

But of all the virtues suitable to Religious, the Heart of Jesus prefers Obedience. The gift of Perseverance is its fruit. “From the day that a Religious gives up to Me her own will and leaves it in the hands of her Superiors, I have received her into My arms; I shall not allow her to go far from Me, unless she herself turns back and avoids Me. If she does this, she cannot return to her former place without humbling herself.”

By these words Mechtilde understood that Jesus on the day of Profession takes each Religious into His fatherly arms, and does not in future leave him unless (which God forbid) he wilfully refuses to obey. This is, in a sense, to escape out of our Lord’s hands. These hands will not receive him again unless, by true repentance and fitting satisfaction, he prostrates himself humbly before God, promising solemnly to obey in future.

Our Lord confirmed this doctrine by a vision. Mechtilde saw the soul of a deceased Religious, and, as she asked why it was not in heaven, our Lord replied: “He thought himself wiser than his Superior, of whose actions he disapproved, thinking he knew better. This caused him to be separated from Me after his death, for a Religious is never so wise but that he should submit himself humbly to his Superior, and bow to his authority in all that is good.”

If Religious only understood their happiness! On their Profession day Jesus receives them into His arms, clasping them to His Sacred Heart; He will never let them go as long as their will submits to their Superiors. Happy the Community composed of such subjects! Mechtilde once saw hers gathered round our Lord. From His Sacred Heart rays penetrated each soul, and our Lord extended His hand to fill each with His glory, saying: “Behold, I shower on you the gifts of My glorified humanity; preserve them by purity of heart, by loving union one with the other, and by true patience, and on the day of Judgment you will offer them joyfully to Me, in yourselves.”


Chapter 31 – The Renewal of Our First Fervour

“Neglect not the grace that is in thee.” This recommendation of the Apostle to his disciple may be made to all Christians. They are invited to renew on the anniversary of their Baptism the grace they then received; but it may be made specially to souls consecrated to God. These ought to renew the grace of their vocation to the Religious Life at particular epochs.

Our sleeping evil nature wakes up as the serpent after the winter cold. We are disgusted with the fatigues and monotony of practising virtue. We may even get so absorbed in the exercise of charitable works, as to forget the principal end to be aimed at and the programme of perfection from which we must never deviate. In this way, a Religious, after having begun well, soon shows sad signs of tepidity, if he has no zeal for the exercise of spiritual renovation, which in our time bears the name of the Monthly Retreat.

Our vocation has its source in the Sacred Heart, and it is also in that Sacred Heart that it must be renewed. The Religious of Helfta were faithful in making this renovation. Saint Gertrude, as we shall see later on, had composed a series of exercises in order to help them. There was an exercise to renew the grace of Baptism, for that of the Clothing and Profession, for that of renewal in the love of God and zeal for His praise, and an exercise of Preparation for Death. In all these compositions the Sacred Heart is constantly studied.

When Saint Mechtilde was one day reviewing her past years in bitterness of soul, thinking how carelessly she had lived, how many gratuitous graces she had received from God, how her consecration to God as His spouse had been stained by her sins, our Lord said to her: “If you had the choice, which would you prefer, to have acquired by Your own labour and virtues the gifts I have given thee, or to have received them gratuitously from Me?” She replied: “My Lord, I value the smallest gift you give me more than all the merits of the Saints, even if I could obtain them by the greatest labours and the practice of all the virtues.” Our Lord answered:

“May you be eternally blessed for saying that.” He added: “If you wilt renew Your promises, draw near to My feet and give thanks for the garment of innocence with which I have gratuitously clothed thee, for you had in no way merited it; beg that My immaculate purity may supply for all that is vitiated in thee. Give thanks for all the good works wrought by My hands, which are a source of merit for thee, and also for the works, operated in thee, by Me. Then plunge the divine ring of Your faith and love in the furnace of My Heart, as gold tried in the fire, wash the stone in the water and blood of My Heart, so that it may regain its value and brilliancy.”

In these words Jesus conveys a lesson, but He also lets us get a glimpse of a delightful secret of His Heart. The lesson consists in teaching us again to steep our soul and all its powers in His sacred wounds, especially in the wound of His Sacred Heart, but the secret He lets us see ought to inspire us with a boundless confidence. This Sacred Heart will be ready to supply for all our infidelities to the graces we have received. If the capital He had confided to us has not yielded all the hoped-for interest, He will still give the reward promised to the faithful servant.

O Lord Jesus! we have so often spoilt Your plans and frustrated Your graces, how happy would we be if, like Your humble servant, we could say: “I value the smallest gift you give me more than all the merits of the Saints, if I could obtain them by the greatest labours and the practice of all the virtues.”

At the same time the soul must examine herself and scrutinize the most intimate dispositions of her heart. Our Lord would Himself one day make this examination when Mechtilde heard these words read in the Gospel: “Simon, son of John, loves you Me more than these?” He said to her: “I am going also to question thee: you wilt reply with all sincerity. Is there anything in the world so dear to you that you would not give it up, if possible, for My love?” She replied: “You know, Lord, that if all the world and all it contains belonged to me, I would give it all up for Your love.” Our Lord recorded this reply as though in reality she possessed all this and had given it up.

He then questioned her a second time: “Is there any labour, any burden that obedience could lay on you that would seem to you too heavy to be borne for My love?”

She answered: “Lord, I am ready to suffer everything for Your Name.”

Our Lord said a third time: “Is there any crushing pain that you would refuse to bear for My love?”

She answered: “My Lord, with Thee, and with Your help, I am ready to endure every kind of pain.”

The Lord judged the test sufficient and accepted the assurances as if they had been verified in fact. As to the dispositions of her heart, in her intercourse with God and men, our Lord condescended to tell Mechtilde what they should be, if they were to be pleasing to Him. A consecrated soul will do its utmost to obtain or to renew them in itself.

“The soul of a Religious,” He said, “should conduct itself towards Me as a child who tenderly loves its Father and turns to him for all its wants. It must be like a betrothed virgin, who has not been sought for her wealth or beauty or nobility, but who is cherished by pure love and chosen for the honour of occupying a throne. This virgin would naturally be more grateful, more faithful and more loving. If her spouse causes her pain, or she has something to bear through him, she will show more patience. In the same way My spouse must gratefully remember the choice I made of her before the foundation of the world, her ransom for which I paid the price of My Precious Blood, and her special vocation to My love and intimacy.

“She must also be to Me what one friend is to another, who can look upon what belongs to his friend as his own. She must seek the glory of God in all things and augment it as much as possible. She must never view with in difference anything that is done against God.

“When she communicates, she should be like a queen who goes to her king. A queen at the king’s table is liberal; she distributes gifts and alms. My spouse should in the same way distribute liberally to all the gifts of her King and the help of her prayers.

“In the choir and during prayer she should be with Me as a young bride with her spouse, treating Me with love and sweet familiarity.

“Among men she should act towards Me as a little dog acts towards its master. No matter how often he is sent away, he continues to follow his master. In the same way, if My spouse hears among others some sinful words, she must return by contrition, confiding in My mercy, for I can forgive all for a single sigh.”


Chapter 32 – The Sacred Heart Should be the Only Treasure of a Religious

Faithful soul, who loves God, consider carefully and lovingly the commandment which Jesus has laid upon thee.

He has chosen you as His spouse, and you have in Him a Spouse eternally young and full of beauty. Your union, solicited by Him, has been consummated, thanks to His grace, on the day of Your solemn espousals, so full of joy to His Heart.

He arrayed Himself, for love of thee, in a purple robe which love had dyed with the blood of His Heart. He placed on His head a crown of lilies and roses, and the costly pearls of this crown were the drops of His Precious Blood. In place of gloves His Hands were stained with His blood; the nails had so pierced them that He could hold nothing, but allowed you to have all that He had so long hidden, for the salvation of the world. His noble mystical couch was the hard Cross, which He ardently desired; no spouse ever found, on ivory couch covered with silks, such great happiness or joy. On this couch of His love, He still awaits thee, longing to enjoy Your embrace. And now, if you wilt be His spouse, you must renounce all pleasure, draw near to this couch of suffering and ignominy, and rest closely united with His wounded Heart.

Consider in silence what a precious pledge He has given you in opening to you this loving Heart; what sweet drink of love He has poured out to cure all the ills of Your soul. This noble pledge is indeed inestimable, for all grace, all virtue and all goodness are contained therein, and the Spouse who makes it the pledge of His fidelity will never deprive you of it. He acts as a king who has not yet brought his young bride to his palace; he places, as a pledge of his honour, a rich city in the hands of her friends. So the Spouse who loves you has placed in the hands of the eternal Father this precious gift of His divine Heart. It is the token that He will never abandon you His spouse; and each day He offers it again for you on the altar in testimony of the love He has had for you from all eternity.

Do thou, then, daughter of the eternal Father, chosen spouse of His only Son, friend of the Holy Spirit, who seeks in this Son His rest, love Your Beloved who has so loved you and is all love. Be faithful to Him who is fidelity itself. When some pain comes to thee, accept it as a golden chain thrown to you by God, to draw you to the love of His Son. Allow thyself to follow this sweet attraction; raise thyself; rouse Your heart so that the attraction may be more powerful; make it easier by gratitude and patience, and never forget that God means to accomplish Your salvation by these means.

Think also of all the virtues you have yet to acquire. If you need humility or any other virtue, open with the key of love this precious treasury of all virtues, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Beg of Him, King of all virtues, to give you those with which He was Himself adorned, and you will triumph over all the assaults of vice. If the devil, sower of evil thoughts, surprises you, have recourse to the same treasury and take from it the choicest weapons. These weapons are the Passion and Death of our Lord; make the thought of them dwell in the inmost recesses of your heart; it will disperse and put to flight all evil thoughts. When sadness or despair assails you, have recourse to the treasure of His inexhaustible tenderness. It is the wish of the divine Heart that none should perish, but that all should know and love the truth, excepting those who wilfully choose damnation. Remember that God is more eager to seek man than man is to find God. He desires above all things that man should always be disposed to receive His grace and to grow more and more in all virtues.

The Sacred Heart is entirely made known to us in these lines of Saint Mechtilde. She shows it to us as the treasury of the divinity, containing all grace, all virtues, and every kind of good. We can open this Heart with the key of love, and we shall find therein every virtue we need, weapons against our foe, the certainty and pledge of its Love. Of itself, this Heart longs to bestow its gifts, and it is only anxious to prepare men to receive them. It has given itself as a pledge for us to the eternal Father, and it is always ready to pay our debts, to supply for our failings, and to turn away the punishment we deserve. If in the thirteenth century this Heart seemed a treasury reserved for holy souls, let us remember that since the seventeenth it has become the possession of all, especially of the most miserable. May all our efforts tend to make our souls capable of possessing it. Et Cor Tuum, ut magis trabatur, habilita.


Chapter 33 – A Religious Beloved by the Sacred Heart is a Treasure in a Community

One Sunday illness prevented Mechtilde from communicating. She was much grieved and said to our Lord: “My Lord, what wilt you now that I do?” He said: “Come” three times. She did not understand. “Come,” He explained, “from heart to heart by love, from mouth to mouth by a kiss, from spirit to spirit by union.”

She understood what was meant by “from heart to heart by love,” and also the second expression “from mouth to mouth by a kiss” that is, showing by exterior actions her love for the Man-God, but she asked herself what it meant to go to Him from spirit to spirit. Our Lord said to her: “He who renounces his own will in all that happens, whether it be pleasant or otherwise, and prefers My will to his own, comes to Me from spirit to spirit by union, and that which is written shall be fulfilled in Him: “He who loves God becomes one with Him!”

She then began to pray that a misfortune then threatening the monastery might be averted by God’s mercy, Our Lord said to her: “Thou art My joy and I am thine; as long as you livest and art the joy of My Heart, no such misfortune shall happen to the monastery.”

She replied: “Oh, my Beloved! why do you speak thus, since there is nothing of good in me?”

He replied: “If vinegar and honey are mixed together the latter loses its sweetness, but Mine will never be so mixed as to disappear.”

The following was added by Saint Gertrude after Saint Mechtilde’s death. “See, My Beloved, how powerful is the prayer of the just man, and what grace God bestows on man because of His friends; truly are Your friends honoured, O my God; they can never be sufficiently loved and revered, who so often appease Your wrath kindled against us and draw down on us Your blessing. ‘Who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes’ (Jeremiah 9:1) worthily to weep for one who interceded for us through love, and whom we have lost? Because of her the Lord Almighty has often spared us; many times have we experienced the efficacy of her prayers! Inflamed by divine love as a glowing coal, she urged us to love God. Alas, where shall we find her equal, now that she has entered into the joy of her Lord? She has entered into the nuptial chamber of the Lord of all, to rest in the shadow of her Beloved.”


Chapter 34 – The Sacred Heart and the Preachers of the Gospel

Our Lord, through Saint Margaret Mary, promised that priests devout to the Sacred Heart should have the gift of converting souls. Such a promise is not found in the Book of Special Grace, but the part taken by the Sacred Heart in the preaching of the Gospel is to be found therein.

Mechtilde prayed for a Friar Preacher. Our Lord said to her: “I have chosen him for Myself, and he shall be Mine for all eternity. I will be his Guide and co-operate in all his labours. I will be his Protector, Consoler, and Procurator of the house in which he dwells. When he preaches may My Heart be in his mouth a sounding trumpet; when he teaches may My Heart be his book.”

Preaching and teaching coming from the Sacred Heart must enlighten and transform souls. “I have left Myself to his will,” said our Lord of another Friar Preacher. “I will never strike a sinner against his will, and to all those for whom he prays I will give the grace he begs. As a light feather carried away by the wind gets caught in the liquid balm, so his soul will be bound fast to My divine Heart.”

How happy must be a priest who has such power, even over our Lord; a power to convert sinners and enrich the just with treasures of grace! And yet this extraordinary privilege is offered to every priest who is earnest in the worship and love of the Sacred Heart. “I will give priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.” May, therefore, the Sacred Heart be our Book! May the Sacred Heart be our speaking trumpet!


Chapter 35 – The Sacred Heart and Those Who Suffer

Since original sin appeared in the world sorrow has become man’s daily bread, but he has never been able to get used to such a hard fate. God has therefore treated him as mothers treat their little children. The Incarnate Word came to taste the bitterness of our sorrows, and He then offers them to us, sweetened by His grace and enriched by His merits. Then, also, the Sacred Heart is come to add by the charm of its tenderness to all the other motives for accepting suffering in a Christian spirit. Its condescension for those who weep is a mystery of love.

Adam’s sin is the source of all our sorrows, and from the root of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil a river of tears sprang up which constantly inundates the earth. But as all possible sufferings met in Jesus at the time of the Passion, dolores nostros ipse portavit, so it is from His Sacred Heart that now they are distributed to His faithful disciples. Let us refer them to this divine Heart with the homage of our submission and gratitude. “O Love! I offer them to you for the same intentions as you brought them to me from the Sacred Heart of God, and when they have been perfected, I pray you to return them there.”

Such is the lesson our Lord deigned to give to His well-beloved spouse. She saw herself one day in a most beautiful mansion, and recognized that she was in the Heart of Christ. She prostrated herself on a large cross that lay on the ground. And from the cross sprang a sharp golden arrow which pierced her heart. She then heard our Lord say: “All the goods of earth could not fill one soul with joy, but it is in suffering and sorrow that it will find salvation and glory.” And our Lord added: “A silken garment is soft and pleasant, so every suffering is sweet to a soul that really loves God.”

Mechtilde replied: “That is true in the beginning of pain when a soul is inflamed with love, but if the pain increases it becomes hard to bear.” Our Lord answered: “No doubt; but if a silken garment is adorned with gold and precious stones it is not thrown away nor despised because of its weight; rather, on account of its adornment, is it considered more valuable and distinguished. And so a faithful soul will not refuse suffering because it is too painful; for by it the soul’s virtues will become more perfect and its merits infinitely increased.”

Who would not submit to pain offered in this way by the Sacred Heart? Mechtilde accepted the trial of sickness, signified by the cross and sharp golden arrow. And why did our Lord once clasp Mechtilde with His left arm, so that she rested on the wound of His Sacred Heart? He tells us Himself: “When you art ill I hold you with My left arm, and when you art well with My right arm; but remember that when you art held by My left arm you art much nearer My Heart.”


Chapter 36 – The Sacred Heart Wishes to Console Those Who Suffer

The first act of a soul that is in pain ought to be to throw itself into the Sacred Heart and offer to that Heart all its sorrow, Jesus will shower on the soul wonderful graces; He will receive its tears, uniting them with His own, thus giving them an infinite value. He will also confide such a soul to the love by which He was guided during the days of His mortal life, and this love will be more its servant than its master. He confided Mechtilde to this love one day, so that it might care for her and serve her during her illness.

Love serves the souls confided to its care in three ways: First it undertakes with great fidelity the matters confided to it. It also guards carefully in the casket of the divine Heart all committed to its care, and remits it faithfully increased and ennobled to the soul when it leaves this world. It also helps man in labours and troubles, assists in good and defends him in evil.

But our Lord, though He had given Mechtilde into the care of love, would console her Himself. One night when she could not sleep, on account of a violent pain in her head, she begged our Lord to tell her where she could find a little rest. Our Lord showed her the wounds in His hands and feet, and told her to choose in which she would rest. As she refused to make this choice herself, Jesus showed her the wound in His side and said to her: “You must enter here to rest.” And at once she entered with joy into the divine Heart, and found sweet repose.

Though Mechtilde suffered violent pain she was filled with joy. “My soul,” she says, “is full of divine sweetness and floats in the divinity as a fish in water or a bird in the air. Union between God and the Saints, and that between God and my soul have only this difference: they rejoice in the fullness of their joy, and I in suffering.” The favours showered upon her during her severe illnesses astonished even the Saints in heaven.


Chapter 37 – The Sacred Heart at Saint Mechtilde’s Death

Suffering ends in death. Will the Sacred Heart which was with us in our tears remain with us in our agony, until our last sigh?

Yes; Jesus has promised all His devoted servants that He will be their support at that dread moment. He has deigned to give us a special pledge of this promise in the visible protection accorded to His Apostles in their last hour. All received the grace of a glorious death, not only before God, but also before men. They all prepared with the same care, with the same confidence in their Judge, and with the same peace in the last moments before their sacrifice. It was the same with Saint Mechtilde,

This humble and devoted servant of Jesus Christ had spent over fifty-seven years of her life in the Religious state; at the end she suffered continual pain for about three years, which ended in death. About a month before this happened, she went, as was her custom, through the exercise of preparation for death, composed by Saint Gertrude.

On the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost of the year 1298 she received Holy Communion for the last time. She then recommended her last hour to the mercy of God. Jesus, standing before her, said very tenderly: “Honour and joy of My divinity, delight and rest of My Spirit, wilt you come now and remain for ever with Me, fulfilling My desire and thine?” She replied: “My Lord God, I desire Your glory more than my happiness. I beg of Thee, therefore, to allow me to expiate by suffering all that, as Your creature, I have neglected in the praise I owed Thee.”

Our Lord received this reply very graciously, and said: “As you have chosen this, it is another mark of likeness to Me, for I accepted and voluntarily suffered the anguish of the Cross and of death for the glory of God and the salvation of the world. And, as My sufferings penetrated and moved the Heart of My Father, so Your sufferings and death shall penetrate into My Heart and contribute to the salvation of the whole world.”

Mechtilde’s Sisters suffered at witnessing her terrible pain, and also at the thought of the approaching separation: “Weep not and do not be sad on my account, my well-beloved,” she said to them. ” I share in your sorrow, and if it were the will of our sweetest Spouse who loves us, I would live always in these pains and so always be able to console you.”

What admirable dispositions! Like Saint Martin, the humble Benedictine is ready to live, to suffer, to die; but she willed above all the holy will of God, and that adorable will had decreed the end of her exile. Our Blessed Lord warned her of it, saying with much tenderness: “Come, My elect, My dove, My flowering field, where I have found all I wished for, My garden full of beauty where I have tasted all the joys of My divine Heart; there flourish all virtues, there grow the trees of good works, there flow the waters of devotion and fervour; it was always open for Me to find what I wanted. I loved to retire to this garden when sinners irritated Me; in drinking of its waters I was so inebriated as to forget the insults offered Me.”

On the evening of this Sunday Gertrude was praying for her friend, and received from our Lord the mission to warn her to prepare for Extreme Unction. She told her from Him that after the reception of this salutary Sacrament, our Lord, who watches with so much care over His friends, would hide her in His pure and spotless Heart in the same way, she added, as a painter takes great care of a picture newly painted, for fear it should be spoiled by the dust.

Mechtilde submitted, but without begging much for the precious Sacrament. On the Monday morning before dawn she was attacked suddenly with such violent pain that the priest was brought in great haste to give her Extreme Unction. During the ceremony Gertrude in ecstasy saw our Lord turn on Mechtilde a loving look, full of all the goodness and tenderness His divine Heart had had for her, when the priest anointed her eyes. It was as though a ray of divine light communicated to her all the merits of His most holy eyes. And the eyes of Mechtilde, under the influence of this divine goodness, seemed to distil an oil of infinite sweetness.

This mysterious fact made Gertrude understand that on account of Mechtilde’s merits our Lord gave great consolation to those who invoked her with confidence; she had deserved this privilege, because during her life she had from motives of charity always shown herself kind and considerate to everyone. In the same way, when the Unction was applied to the other parts of her body, our Lord gave to each the perfect merits of the corresponding sense of His own body.

The dying servant of God spoke also very lovingly to the Holy Virgin our Mother, recommending to her the companions whom she was about to leave, begging of her for love of her to show them greater affection. The Immaculate Virgin deigned to show she granted this request by laying her delicate hands on those of Mechtilde.

During her lengthened agony, Mechtilde said no other words than: “Good Jesus! Good Jesus!” showing that she had in her heart Him whose name, amidst the bitter agony of death, came continually to her lips with so much sweetness. And all there recommended themselves to her prayers, confiding to her their concerns and those of others they loved. Mechtilde could only reply, very faintly: “Willingly” or “Yes.” In this way she proved with what affection she would intercede with our Lord to grant all their petitions.

The longed-for hour came at last. Stripped of all that was earthly, perfectly resigned to the Will of her Beloved, this loving spouse was to leave the prison of the flesh to enter the nuptial chamber of her royal Bridegroom.

It was the hour for the community to rise, and the Mother Superior was the first, with a few others, at Mechtilde’s side, when quite suddenly her face changed and assumed a look of exquisite tenderness, coming from an interior feeling of great love. One would have thought that by her signs and happy looks, as she was now unable to do so in words, she was inviting her dearly-loved Sisters to congratulate her on the ineffable gifts our Lord had bestowed on her. Then the God of majesty, the God of pure delights, the only One who can satisfy the loving soul, enclosed His spouse in the light of the divinity, and penetrated her entirely with it. He, the Chanter of chanters, with the sweetest voice intoned a song which surpassed all earthly melodies. In this moment He repaid this soul, which like a nightingale had so often on the earth charmed His divine Heart, less by the sweetness of her voice than by the fervour of her devotion. He therefore sang to her these words: “Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for thee. Arise, My love, and come without delay.” He reminded her of the great grace granted her nine years previously, when He had given her His Heart as a pledge of His love and protection.

As soon as she had rendered her last sigh in the Heart of her Beloved, Gertrude saw her in glory, resting, full of joy, on the breast of Jesus. The Angels and Saints came to salute her, less as an equal than as a queen. Saint Gertrude begged her to pray that the defects of those on earth for whom she had always shown so much affection might be cured. Mechtilde replied: “I see very clearly in the light of truth, that all the affection I have ever felt for anyone on earth is smaller than a drop of water is to the ocean, compared with the tender affection which fills the divine Heart towards those I loved. I also see, in a manner incomprehensible to you, how good are the designs of Providence: in that God leaves man certain defects which give him cause for humbling himself and for making efforts, so making each day progress in the way of salvation. And so I could not have the thought of any will other than that of the almighty wisdom and tender goodness of my sweet and loving Lord, in which He has desired for each one according to His good pleasure. All I can do, in considering the admirable ways of the divine goodness, is to spend myself in praise and thanksgiving.”

This reply was for Saint Gertrude a consolation and encouragement. A consolation: she was immeasurably loved by the Sacred Heart. An encouragement: she must bear her defects and combat lovingly to the end.

The day following at the first Mass, which was a Requiem Mass, the elect of God appeared to her; she seemed drawing from the Heart of our Lord with golden tubes. In this way those who had a special devotion to her drew from the divine Heart all they desired. They seemed to be saying these or similar words: “By the love which made you grant so many favours to Your beloved Mechtilde, or to any other Saint, and by Your will to grant grace to whomsoever it may be on earth or in heaven; hear me, sweet Lord Jesus Christ, by her merits and those of Your elect.”

During the Mass which followed that of the burial, Mechtilde appeared as one settled in the divine Heart, using this Heart as a lyre of which she touched four strings, making a delicious melody in several parts, melody of praise, thanksgiving, loving complaint and prayer.

The last vision with which Saint Gertrude was favoured about her holy friend resumed all her teaching: zeal for the divine praise and love for the Sacred Heart. Mechtilde always appeared to be resting in the Heart of Christ, and she left it to come and meet Gertrude, showing herself to be in the brightness of glory, clothed with a dazzling garment that seemed covered with diamonds, some shining like stars and others clear as a mirror. Gertrude asked what more she desired from her Order. “Above all,” she said, “I desire the praise of my Lord. You could do nothing that would give me greater happiness than to praise Him unceasingly. He has placed me among His Saints who please Him most by praising Him best.”

Gertrude replied: “How are we to praise God in you?” Mechtilde replied: “Perform all your actions with the same purity of intention and perfect love that I always had for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Do this when you enter the choir to pray or to sing. Do the same when you go to sleep or take your meals, and the same for everything else. Do all your actions for me, to the praise of my Beloved, and in that you will find your salvation.”

Gertrude continued: “What do you gain for the praises we offer to God for you?” She replied: “A special embrace which renews all my joy and happiness.” And Gertrude saw three rays of light which came from the divine Heart and illuminated Mechtilde and all the Saints. These turning to our Lord sang: “We praise you for the everlasting beauty of Your spouse, for the delight you take in her, and for the perfect union which makes her one with Thee.”

Gertrude, seeing that our Lord took pleasure in these praises, said to Him: “Why, O Lord, do you take so great a pleasure in being praised in this soul?” He answered: “Because while living she desired above all things to see Me praised. She has kept this desire, and I come to satisfy her with My ceaseless praise (et hanc incessabili laude mea cupio satiare).”

On the feast of Saint Catherine, Mechtilde came to the choir with our Lord, as if to direct the singing according to custom. And as Saint Gertrude was astonished and said to her: “Is there anything you would like to ask of your sisters?” she replied: “Rejoice ardently together in your Beloved; His love surrounds you with as much tenderness and affection as that of a mother with her only child. She would always wish it to be resting on her breast. He also protects you against all that might prove harmful. God, who loves you so much, wishes you always to remain attached to Him, and never to forsake Him. If you leave Him, He will send sorrows so that you may return to Him; so does a faithful mother act. She chastises her child if it leave her and fall, to teach it not to leave her. In the same way a mother finds great joy in the tender, loving words of her child, so does your Spouse desire of you. Therefore give Him your hearts, since He is Father, Lord and Spouse and Friend and all in all to you.”

The last words Gertrude understood by a divine inspiration; since He is our Father, we ought to go to Him for all we need; since He is our Lord, we must place in Him all our hope; since He is our Spouse, we must love Him with all our heart and soul; and since He is our Friend, we must tell Him with great confidence all our pains and necessities and look for consolation from Him only.