“In the Heart of Jesus whoever is in anguish on account of the crosses of life can find peace; those afflicted by suffering and illness obtain relief; those in the grip of uncertainty and anxiety experience joy, because in Christ’s Heart are depths of consolation and love for all who turn to Him with confidence.” 

These beautiful and meaningful words were penned by Pope St. John Paul II.  In light of what is happening in our world today and in our Church, they give us hope and courage in darkened times.  During this month of October we can turn to many saintly souls for words of wisdom and direction as we seek to make sense of the chaos around us—global, ecclesiastical, as well as our own personal crises.

One of the most significant statements by St. Margaret Mary that I often ponder and that was recently quoted by a popular Catholic writer is this: 

“I understand that the devotion of the Sacred Heart is a last effort of His love toward the Christians of these latter days.  It offers them an object and means to persuade them to love Him.”

  This thought is very aptly explained by Fr. Gerald Culleton, a twentieth century priest and author.  He writes,

That is why devotion to the Sacred Heart is so vital for the times we are living in.  What of the times we are living in… Do they seem “strange” to you?  About a year ago, a prominent Cardinal declared to an American audience,  “We are living in most troubled times in the world and also in the Church.”  He went on to declare, “In such a pervasively disordered cultural condition, there is legitimate fear of a global confrontation which can only mean destruction and death for many.”  And a few days ago, a national Catholic newspaper ran an article with the title that asked, “Are these difficult times the ‘End Times’?  This article caught my attention because it quoted a message by the late Father Michael Scanlan, TOR.  [I happened to be acquainted with Father Scanlan before he became president of the Franciscan University of Steubenville from 1974-2000.  He was then the little-known director of a prayer group that gathered at St. Francis Seminary in a small western Pennsylvania town.  I used to attend that prayer group on Friday evenings with a bunch of students from the Neumann Center at a state university in the general area.]  Anyway, this is what Fr. Scanlan wrote in the article I referred to which was originally published in New Covenant magazine in 1980:  “My Church is desperately in need of this judgment.  They have continued in an adulterous relationship with the spirit of the world.  They are not only infected with sin, but they teach sin, embrace sin, dismiss sin.”  Doesn’t that sound familiar as we read and hear about the indictments against the church pouring in from secular and religious sources alike?  We need to call to mind the prophetic words of Pope John Paul II as he responded to German Catholics in a 1980 visit.  When asked what was going to happen to the Church, he replied,
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“We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ…  With your prayer and my prayer, it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed.” 

Another spiritual writer and lay evangelist from Canada, has described the present confusion in the church this way:  “We have become a Church that remains mostly in the head, often disconnected from the heart.  Thus, we have lost the essential ingredient to inheriting the Kingdom—a childlike disposition.  Without that, even some of the Church’s best apologists have tended to sneer at the mystical, at the apparitions of Our Lady and the phenomena that often accompany them.  We have lost our ability to discern prophetic words, suggesting that even they can be ignored, even when they have attained ‘approval.’”  Reflecting further, he concluded:  “Frequently, ordinary people living devout lives with hearts pursuing the Lord have a good sense of what God is doing.  I’m never surprised how tuned in very prayerful people are to what the heart of the Lord is doing.”

Without a doubt, there are many faithful Catholics and Christians and other God-fearing people who are concerned about the spiritual worldliness and ecclesiastical degeneracy that seem to surround us.  We should keep in mind, however, that Jesus has cautioned us (see Mt 24:36):  “About the day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father.”  So-called prophets proclaiming that the end of the world is upon us and who even venture to announce precise dates should be carefully avoided for their false presumptions.  But let us not be so naive as to ignore the signs of the times.  Let us pay attention to the calls of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who wants each of us in this critical time to draw closer to Him and to become the special friends of His Heart.  Christ’s words inform us:  “My love is a personal love.  I love each soul that I have created as if that soul were the only soul in the universe, and I adopt My infinite love to the particular sensibilities and needs of that soul with all the wisdom and tenderness of My divine Heart” (see In Sinu Jesu p. 151).

So what can we do to alleviate the terrible clash of ideas and interests that appear to exist on every secular and religious plane?  We see about us constant conflicts whether they be in the political realm or in our churches and its leadership—from the grassroots to the upper echelons of authority.  The battle between right and wrong, light and darkness is played out wherever we go.  How do we respond so that we enable God’s forces to triumph?

Here I would like to interject some thoughts and references that have come to me over the past weeks.  Obviously, unless you live in an environment totally devoid of contact with civilization, you are made aware everyday of the pressing need for God’s intervention so that peace and goodness will reign over our earth.  A recent reading from the Magnificat liturgical guide tells us for the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (Oct. 4th):  “The only way of reforming the Church is to suffer for her.  The only way of reforming the visible Church is to suffer for the invisible Church.  The only way of reforming the vices of the Church is to lavish on her the example of one’s own most heroic virtues.” (Quoted from the noted French author George Bernanos, 1888-1948).

Many of us are not in a position to enact laws and moral codes that will effect wide ranges of people, but the way we live our spiritual lives can indeed make a difference.  The following thoughts are culled from the book In Sinu Jesu.  They instruct us of the Lord’s way of doing things.  “When you come into My presence,” Jesus says, “and prefer Me to the other things that solicit your attention and make claims upon your time, I am consoled and glorified.The proof of friendship is the choice of one’s friend over all else.I want you to prefer Me, and give Me time that could be given to other persons and things.In so doing, you will show Me your love and offer Me the consolation of a true friendship…What matters is the desire to seek My Eucharistic Face and to abide in My company” (p. 158). And, “When you are in adoration before My Eucharistic Face, you are not idle; you are working in a way far more efficacious than any human undertaking can be” (p. 150).

Let us remember that the Sacred Heart of Jesus explicitly asked St. Margaret Mary to make up as far as she could for the coldness and ingratitude shown Him, especially in the Sacrament of His Love.  To do this, Jesus requested a holy hour to be made every Thursday evening whereby she was to allay God’s anger by asking mercy for sinners and soothing the heartache Jesus felt when he was abandoned by his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.   

In our times, we absolutely need such dedicated pray-ers to engage in the spiritual warfare going on all around us.  The very timing of this talk—October 7th—recalls the famous Battle of Lepanto in the year 1571.  In the 16th century, a strong and aggressive Sarasen force was poised to conquer the European continent with the aim of wiping out Christianity.  They vowed “to place a crescent on top of St. Peter’s and a turban on the pope’s head.” Under Pope St. Pius V, Christians banded together, turned to Mary, invoked the Rosary, and were saved when God gave them a victory at one of the most famous naval battles in history.   Now the legions of evil are poised to launch a different kind of battle as they infiltrate the church with the doctrines of secularism and relativism.  As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once predicted, Satan will endeavor to empty the Church of its divine content.

So much bad news can distract us from the realization that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is alive and well and is going to triumph come what may.  To facilitate His work, one Catholic newspaper has recently announced the creation of a League of the Sacred Heart and testifies to the fact that the great Catholic counterrevolutionaries in history have fought under the banner of the Sacred Heart.  Citing the Catholic uprising in the Vendee during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, and the twentieth century Catholic witness of the Cristeros in Mexico and the Carlists in Spain, the League purposes to turn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to counteract today’s spiritual meltdown.  May their good work prosper and incite all of us to love the Sacred Heart of Jesus and have confidence in His merciful goodness for only He can truly bring peace and security out of our present confusion and anxiety.  +