Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
Very blessed feast of the Sacred Heart.
And we know the revelations of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary were
there took place in the 17th century, but much earlier in the 13th century
on the feast of St. John the Evangelist,
St. Gertrude had a vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
similar to the first one experienced by St. Margaret Mary,
where she had the privilege to look,
lay her head upon the chest of the Sacred Heart.
And at this time on St. John's Feast, St. John the Evangelist was there.
And the heart of our Lord was laid bare to St. Gertrude.
And she was able to know firsthand of his infinite love and mercy.
And she asked,
St. John, why didn't you write about all the wonders of our Lord's mercy in your gospel?
And St. John told her that he was writing for the early church,
people whose hearts were on fire with the love of Jesus.
He said,
This message,
this message of our Lord's mercy is going to be reserved
for the later days
when the love of God had grown cold in men's hearts.
And in the first book about devotion to the Sacred Heart,
as revealed to St. Margaret Mary,
this was written by Fr. John Prosay, who was a Jesuit priest.
And it was written at the request of our Lord himself.
St. Margaret Mary informed Fr. John that our Lord was very pleased with his book.
And in this book, we read the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a more,
or warm-hearted and ardent devotion toward Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
Its principal motive being the extreme love which he shows us in this sacrament,
and the principal object to make reparation for the contempt and the outrages which he suffers in this same sacrament.
So nothing could be more clear.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is essentially Eucharistic.
And without devotion to the Eucharist, there just really isn't any devotion to the Sacred Heart.
We know our Lord's heart is a...
a soul.
A symbol of that love that led Jesus to enter, or to institute, the Eucharist.
And in fact, we can say that the Eucharist contains the heart of Jesus.
His heart's just not a beautiful statue like we have here, or a picture.
But...
His heart is a living reality.
Beating out of love for us in the Blessed Sacrament.
And I know I don't have to convince anyone here of this reality.
But we know there are many people who doubt the reality,
or even reject the reality of the true presence.
And actually, for skeptics, the true presence has even been proved scientifically.
And I'm referring to the first recorded Eucharistic miracle that took place in Laziano, Italy.
You may have heard of the miracle of Laziano.
And there was a priest who had doubts.
He didn't...
He didn't reject the reality of the true presence.
But he just wondered,
Do I really have the power to change bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ?
So one day after the double consecration at Mass,
the host turned to flesh.
And the wine and the chalice turned to blood.
And he called the people up to the altar that were at the Mass to witness this miracle.
And the miracle is actually preserved to our present day in Laziano, Italy.
You can go there and venerate and adore.
Our Eucharistic Lord.
Although you don't have to travel that far.
He's right here.
And we know that.
But in 1970,
the church allowed scientists to examine this Eucharistic miracle.
And...
They found through their test that the blood in the chalice was real human blood.
And...
The blood actually coagulated into four or five different globules.
And they were all of a different size.
But when the scientists weighed each one,
they each weighed the same.
And when they put them all together,
it was the same weight as they weighed individually.
That Jesus is whole and entire in each part of the Eucharist.
Also, they discovered that the flesh
was muscle tissue.
Muscle tissue from the human heart.
From a human heart.
And not just any flesh,
but from our Lord's sacred heart.
Also,
the proteins that were in the blood
is the same as those found in fresh human blood.
And anyone knows,
if you sit a piece of meat
or a cup of fresh blood
on the table,
it doesn't take long for it to rot.
And this miracle has been venerated for centuries.
And it's not dead.
It's living.
It's got the same proteins as living blood.
That...
The Blessed Sacrament is the living Lord Jesus.
And just as I mentioned earlier,
and...
That it's not a...
The sacred heart's not a statue or a picture.
And I have nothing against statues and pictures
that raise our minds and hearts to God.
But the sacred heart is a reality
beating out of love for us
in the Blessed Sacrament.
And it's right here
in our chapel,
in any Catholic church,
for you to go
and spend time with our Lord.
This is where you're going to find Him.
And...
...
...
It's right here where we can honor Him
and adore Him.
It's in the Sacrament,
the Blessed Sacrament,
that our Lord's heart receives
so much coldness
and indifference
and forgiveness.
He's there day and night
and the majority of the time
without any visitor,
without any worshiper,
without any worshiper.
And as St. John said,
this message of our Lord's mercy
was saved for later days
when men's hearts grew cold.
And we know in 1675
when our Lord appeared to
St. Margaret Mary,
He mentioned to her
how offended He was
at man's indifference,
at man's coldness.
That they would show
no sign of reverence
when entering the church
or passing by a church.
They would receive Him
in a state of mortal sin
without going to confession beforehand.
And this was 1675.
I think there were many more people
going to church back then.
There were many more people
going to confession
than there is today.
Indeed, we know
the heart of man
has grown cold
and indifferent toward
our Lord this day.
So on this feast,
let us give Him that
reparation that He asked for,
give Him that consolation,
that adoration,
and that atonement
that He asked for
for the salvation of sinners.