On the morning of the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I was praying in the chapel [of Darfeld Castle] before that statue that even as a child I loved so much. […]
The Blessed Sacrament was exposed. The statue, which was surrounded by flowers and candles, was so close to the altar on the Gospel side that, as I was praying before the statue, I also saw, with the same gaze, the Sacred Host in the monstrance.
I mention this, for, as I already explained at the beginning, I have never been able to separate the Heart of Jesus from the Blessed Eucharist, because in the latter the Most Sacred Heart is truly present as part of the precious Body of Our Lord. The statue represented to the bodily eyes what faith revealed to the eyes of the soul, and my heart was burning in the flames of divine love.
I had just received Communion and was completely united with Our Lord, inebriated with the delights of His Heart, when He said to me, not with a voice that resounded in my ears, but with that interior voice that I did not yet recognize, but which is now so familiar to me: “You will be a bride of my Heart.”
I cannot describe what I felt. I was buried, annihilated and confused, yet, at the same time, I was flooded by the torrents of His love. What happy moments – a bride of His Heart! But how? When? And I, so poor, so miserable. O My Jesus, only You know what transpired between us, for nobody shall ever comprehend it.
BLESSED MARIA OF THE DIVINE HEART.
Autobiography. Lisbon: Congregation of Our Lady
of Charity of the Good Shepherd, 1993, p.47-48
