Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque,
the saint and mystic of the 17th century, of the Visitation Order,
and who has given the mission to spread the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
As a young girl, St. Margaret Mary suffered from paralysis for four years
before she begged the Blessed Virgin Mary for a miraculous cure
and had promised that if she was granted this cure,
she would dedicate herself to the religious life and to a religious order.
And the Virgin Mary granted her request and she instantly was restored to perfect health.
So she continued her life as a young girl and growing up,
she was granted revelations as a young lady.
Our Lord would often appear to her in the form of the crucified,
and St. Margaret Mary didn't think that this was strange or exceptional.
She thought that everybody was granted these types of divine assistance in their spiritual life.
So when she came to be 17 years old,
her mother sought to encourage her to establish herself in the world,
perhaps to marry or something of that sort.
But,
St. Margaret Mary didn't have interest in marrying,
but she did think that she was exempt from the vow that she made as a child
to Our Lady to enter religious life.
She thought that she could be devout in the home,
serving her mother,
serving the poor,
and doing various works of charity.
So slowly but surely,
she gave herself over to the world,
in a certain sense,
taking part in worldly pleasures.
And one time,
when she was coming back from a ball at night,
she had a vision of Our Lord.
Our Lord appeared to her as he appeared after his scourging,
and he rebuked her for having put off her vow of entering into religious life,
especially after he had given her so many proofs of his special love for her,
with his various apparitions, etc.
And so St. Margaret Mary repented,
and then made a firm resolve to enter religious life,
and she entered,
of course,
the Visitation Order,
and actually it would be for the rest of her life.
She would regret two particular things that she did during this time.
And that was the wearing of some superfluous jewelry,
giving way to vanity,
indulgence in the Church,
and also wearing a mask at one of the carnivals in order to please her brothers.
And so our Lord, as she entered religious life,
our Lord gave her the mission of spreading devotion to his sacred heart.
And in trying to spread this devotion and get it started,
she received much opposition, even from her own sisters in her order,
before it was finally recognized as divinely inspired.
And she persevered and dealt with patience,
dealt patiently with all of the tribulation that our Lord permitted
before this devotion was spread.
And the core of the devotion is, as our Lord said and revealed to St. Margaret Mary,
he revealed his heart to her.
And he said,
This is the core of the message.
The heart of Christ, which poured out his infinite love for mankind,
obtaining for us the redemption, the possibility of salvation,
and is greeted with so much indifference,
so much ingratitude,
and of course, even hostility on the part of mankind.
And so our Lord came to reveal his heart and to call for reparation,
to make a reparation for these offenses and indifference.
And so this was the ideal of St. Margaret Mary
and should also be the ideal of our lives,
to make reparation through our prayers and sacrifices,
for the ingratitude rendered to the heart of our Lord.
We should seek to return our Lord's love with our own love,
by living holy lives, by avoiding sin, and by practicing virtue.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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