The Glories of the Sacred Heart

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Burns & Oates, 1876 - 302 Seiten
"The Sacred Heart is, as Simeon prophesied of Jesus Himself, 'Signum cui contradicetur.' Like the title of His Blessed Mother, who is in very truth 'Mother of God, ' it has drawn to itself all the assaults of heresy. For it is a divine test of faith in the mystery of the Word made Flesh, 'ut revelentur ex multis cordibus cogitationes.' Those who have trusted with a yearning hope that the faith of Englishmen, in the Incarnation at least, was firm and clear were saddened and silenced when the pilgrimage to Paray-le-Monial elicited from some of the highest sources of the established religion a profession of simple Nestorianism. It was then that the first fifty pages in this book were published. Having been out of print for some time, they are now reprinted, as the doctrinal foundation of all that follows. The devotion of the Sacred Heart has two aspects: the one as the centre of all dogma; the other as the source of the deepest devotion. In this latter aspect it reveals to us the personal love of our Divine Redeemer towards each and every one for whom He died. It is a manifestation of His pity, tenderness, compassion, and mercy to sinners and to penitents. Nevertheless, its chief characteristic and its dominant note is His disappointment at the returns we make to Him for His love, and above all, His divine displeasure at the faults and sins of those who are specially consecrated at His service. He seems to be sadly upbraiding us with the three doubting questions which He put to Peter, 'Lovest thou Me?' and to be looking upon us as He turned and looked on him, when he had thrice denied his Master. Into this part of the devotion of the Sacred Heart I have not ventured. It has already been treated so profusely by others, and by many of whom I have only to learn; it is in itself so deep and intimately related to the personal life and mind of each, that I have always felt it better to use but few suggestive words rather than to draw out devotional acts, which to the writer are no doubt spontaneous, natural, and real, but to the reader may be a burden like Saul's armour to David. In the following pages, therefore, I have intentionally confined myself to the dogmatic side of the devotion; and for the following reasons. I believe firmly that when divine truth is fully and duly apprehended it generates devotion; that one cause of shallowness in the spiritual life is a superficial apprehension of the dogma of the Incarnation; and that one divine purpose in the institution and diffusion of the devotion of the Sacred Heart, in these last times, is to reawaken in the minds of men the consciousness of their personal relation to a Divine Master. He has foretold the dimness and coldness of these latter days: 'The Son of Man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, faith on the earth? (S. Luke xviii. 8.)' 'Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold (S. Matt. xxiv. 12).' In that day the disciples of the Sacred Heart at least will 'know whom they have believed.'"--

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Seite 45 - THAT which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life ; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us...
Seite 105 - Spirit in the inward man ; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith ; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Seite 173 - ARISE, shine; for thy light is come, And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And gross darkness the people: But the Lord shall arise upon thee, And his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, And kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Seite 245 - Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God : therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God...
Seite 33 - I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire; whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Seite 289 - The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Seite 189 - In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Seite 188 - But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, and to the Church of the first-born, who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect...
Seite 205 - I am crucified with Christ ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
Seite 24 - He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names ; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

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