The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-06-11

call tor-
When we wish to represent man as being very
amiable, we say of him: "He has a good heart.
And good heart, as it is perceived as
such, begets interest, and interest begets study:
and study begets knowledge, and knowledge begets
love, and love begets devotion But if we love a
good heart in Others and feel ourselves compelled
it were, to give our love to of good heart,
can we possibly withhold our love from that best
of hearts, our Savior's, which we Christians are
supposed to know, love and cherish, and to make
known loved and cherished! Of Him. as neither
of angel of saint, it be said: "To know
Him is to love Him." Of Him can we say i'll very
truth, not only that He has good heart, but the,
best of hearts.
Every Catholic devotion is a loving homage
paid to a sacred object, as seen IN the light of
faith 1t Is in the last analysis, the outgrowth and
living expression of Catholic dogma. 1t has its
seat in the heart and its root in the intellect. 1t
grows out of divine truth, and is nurtured by di-
vine love, as the flower is nurtured by the warm
sunshine. Now the truth out of which the devo-
ton to the Sacred Heart of Jesus grows is the CEN
trail truth of the Christian region-the Incarna-
ton of the Son of God: And the word was made
flesh and dwet amongst us, and we saw his glory,
the glory, as it were, of the only-begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth" The Son of God
became man without ceasing to be God. He is true
God and true man in one divine Person. Begot
ten of the Father before all ages true God of true
God, co-equal with the Father, in the fulness of
time He took upon Himself our nature in the
womb of the Virgin Mary, and made man of
her. He took to Himself a complete body and soul
and became as one of us in all save sin. Through
the mystery of the Incarnation the human body
and soul were hypostatically united to the Di-
vinity, forming, not two persons, but two natures
in one Person; and hence we can give divine wor-
ship to the human nature of Christ because it has
become the nature of God.
Now, as we can and do give divine worship to
the SACRED HUMANITY of Christ because it
is hypostatically united to His Divinity, so we
can give divine worship to any PART of His HUI
manity, for the same reason. But why do we single
out the heart as the object of our devotion? 1t is
because this devotion is devotion of love; and.
whether the heart be the seat of the human affec-
tons or not-a question warmly discussed among
any rate, the heart is looked upon
by men as the symbol of love, and hence we wor-
ship the Sacred Heart as the symbol of our Di-
vine Lords love for us.
This, then, was the motive Of the Church in ia
roring and encouraging devotion to the Sacred
Heart, in nstituting feasts and dedicating month
IF the year to its homage, namely to honor the
immense love with which the Heart of God burned
1or us, to keep alive and perpetuate its memory
md to beget and foster in our hearts return of
ove-in a word, to carry out the wish of her
Founder: Il am come to cast fire upon the earth
md what will | but that it be enkinded" And
What is more natural than such an institution? To
console herself for the loss of cherished child,
mother retains a part of his clothing. To solace
lis sorrow, son erects suitable monument to the
memory of the father whom he loved. A people
ct free from slavery wish to preserve the brave
md generous heart of their liberator, whom death
las removed from their gratitude. In fact it
Gems that while these precious pledges keep alive
heir regrets they still sweeten the bitterness of
heir sorrow. And so, by instituting devotion to
he Sacred Heart the Church has, so to speak.
rected monument to the memory of her beloved
spouse, has given us powerful means of foster
ng in our hearts a memory of the noble sacrifices
Which the love of Jesus imposed upon Him. and of
ASAOoASlAiS
lin. In the Holy Eucharist we adore, not only
lis Divine Nature, but also His human body and |
lood; by particular feasts we venerate His ador-
bic wounds, and the very thorns with which His |
acred brow was crowned, the nails which pierced |
lis hands and feet and the cross on which He ex-
ired. Why, then, should we withhold our homage
rom the Sacred Heart, the nobest and tenderest
ortion of His Sacred Humanity-the Heart that
wed us even unto death!
All blessings come to us from this divine Heart
y the mouth of Jesus it has published those evan
elical truths which teach the way to heaven. 1t
as His Sacred Heart that prompted Him to heal
he sick and call the children to Him, to pardon
nners and to raise the dead to life. 1t was His
acred Heart that poured out its bloody sweat from
very pore in His body, in the Garden of Olives.
was His Sacred Heart that wept over Lazarus
the tomb and over the Inflated City of Jeru-
llem-sad figures of a soul stained and dead in
N. How amiable He is when He compares Him
IF to father who weeps for JOY at seeing his
rodigal son return; when He depicts Himself
us under the image of the Good Shepherd who
oes out into the mountain Businesses to seek for
is lost sheep; when he pardons the woman taken