On the day after our culture focuses on the heart for St. Valentine's Day, the Church permits an optional memorial of the great apostle of the love of the Sacred Heart, St. Claude La Colombiere, spiritual guide to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque who was favoured with visions of the the Lord Jesus who spoke to her of the love of his heart.
This painting of St Claude La Colombière is based on an earlier portrait done during his own lifetime. However, the original image at the right, of Jesus holding his heart in his hand, was already in the Gesù, or Church of the Holy Name in Rome, the Mother Church of the Society of Jesus, a century before the occurrence of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary Alacoque in France.
This painting of St Claude La Colombière is based on an earlier portrait done during his own lifetime. However, the original image at the right, of Jesus holding his heart in his hand, was already in the Gesù, or Church of the Holy Name in Rome, the Mother Church of the Society of Jesus, a century before the occurrence of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary Alacoque in France.
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Like his friend St Margaret Mary Alacoque, whose Sacred Heart visions appear in stained glass, statuary and paintings in many Catholic Churches in Canada, Claude had no other desire than to direct people to the Heart of Christ.
The spiritual friendship of these two people led to the foundation of more than 280 religious orders, male and female, featuring “Sacred Heart” in their title. She was canonised by Pope Benedict XV in 1920, he by Pope John Paul II in 1992.
Unlike Margaret Mary, Claude never seems to have had a single vision of any kind but it was to him that she looked for guidance in dealing with her extraordinary revelations. When the recently ordained Claude arrived at her Visitation Monastery in 1675, an interior voice told her that this was the “man after his own heart” the Lord had promised to send her.
In later revelations Jesus again referred to him as “my faithful servant and perfect friend”. Margaret Mary herself said that “Fr La Colombière's talent is to lead people to God”.
Shortly after authenticating the visions of Margaret Mary, Claude was sent to England as chaplain to Mary of Modena, then Duchess of York and subsequently Queen of England for a short period, as wife of James II. It was in the Palace of St James, in the heart of the then virulently anti-Catholic London , that devotion to the Sacred Heart as we know it today was first publicly preached.
Claude carefully avoided any reference to his confidential dealings with Margaret Mary but felt that he could communicate the substance of her message of love in his sermons.
However, it was only after his death in 1682 at 41 of tuberculosis (caused largely by his imprisonment before deportation from England ) that the depth of his own spirituality was discovered in his personal retreat notes and reflections.
They ran into endless reprints in the decades after his death, almost an anticipation of what would happen to the writings of another French saint, Therese of Lisieux, who herself looked to him for inspiration.
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Father De La Colombiere's Prayer
My Lord and my God, I know well that Thou watchest over those who centre their every hope in Thee, and that they can stand in need of nothing who look to Thee for their all. Wherefore am I resolved to live henceforth without dread, and to sink in Thy bosom all my cares and all my sorrows. Man may rise against me, sickness may rob me of strength and means to serve as I would wish, I may even forfeit Thy grace through sin ; but never shall I forego my trust in Thy mercy. I will cling to it with my life's last breath. The Evil One may endeavor in vain to wrest it from me ; but nothing shall avail to shake this my steadfast trust.
Let others look to creatures, to wealth and talent for happiness; let them rely on the guiltlessness of their lives, the rigor of their penance, the number of their good works, or the earnestness of their prayers ; for me, Lord, my trust is my very trust itself. That trust in Thee has never, nor will it ever, deceive a soul.. I am therefore assured that I shall enjoy eternal happiness, since I so steadfastly hope for it, and since I look to Thee for it, my God.
I am aware, and but too well aware, alas ! how weak and fickle I am ; I well know that temptation miy wreck the most sturdy virtue ; I have seen the stars of the heavens fall and the pillars of the firmament shaken ; but all that dismays me not, when Thou, my God, art with me; and with me wilt Thou ever abide as long as I shall hope in Thee. In Thee shall I fend shelter from every ill, nay, more, I am assured always to hope, since I hop e even for this ever-enduring hope.
In fine, O my God, I am sure I cannot hope too much in Thee, nor receive less from Thee than that for which I hope. And so I hope;that Thou wilt be my stay in the steepest pathways, that Thou wilt ward off from me the most dangerous thrusts, that Thou wilt so nerve my weakness that it triumph over my most redoubtable foes.
I hope, yes, I am certain, that Thou wilt ever love me. I hope also to love Thee with an undivided and a boundless love. And that my love, by one effort, may reach the supreme degree, I hope, O my God, for Thy very self and from Thyself alone.
I hope that after having loved, served and adored Thee while time lasts, I shall have the happiness of seeing and enjoying Thee throughout all eternity.
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Winterlude/Bal de Neige 2011
Last week, I hosted a couple of visitors at my residence Fathers James Conn, S.J. (Boston College) and Mark Morely (Diocese of Hamilton). We took in the ice sculptures of the Ottawa winter festival, quaffed hot chocolate to warm up and had a grand time.
Some photos:
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| Father Mark (left), Fr. Jim |
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BALMIER CLIME
With 150 bishops from Canada, the USA, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Philippines, I am attending the bi-annual Workshop for Bishops on Moral Issues sponsored by the National Catholic Bioethics Centre and the Knights of Columbus in Dallas, Texas (where it's quite a bit milder). More on this in coming days.
