With what affection should we embrace and endure all our afflictions, out of love for Jesus, our Saviour, since He first bore them for love of us! Should they not be most sweet to us, since they have already passed through His most gentle and loving Heart? What a horror we should have of our sins that have caused so many wounds and such intense grief to the divine Heart of our Redeemer!
We read in the life of St. Francis Borgia, of the Society of Jesus, that one day the Saint was speaking in front of a crucifix to a great sinner whom he was exhorting to be converted, but could not soften the hard sinful heart. Suddenly the crucifix – or rather the Crucified Saviour – out of His wondrous and abundant goodness, spoke to the sinner and urged him to follow the advice of His servant. At the same time, there issued blood from all His wounds. This was a sign that our Blessed Saviour was ready once again to shed His Blood and to die for his salvation if need be. But in spite of such miraculous goodness, as the wretched man still remained adamant, there issued a stream of blood from the wound at His side, which gushed over him and struck him dead on the spot… O God, what a fearful sight!
Let us learn from the foregoing example that it is not our Redeemer’s fault if we are lost. There are hearts so hard that, even if Jesus Himself were to come down from Heaven to preach to them, and they were to see Him covered with wounds and bathed in His Blood, they would still not be converted.
O my God, let us not be one of them, but give us the grace to open our ears to the voice of all the sacred wounds of Thy Body and Thy Heart, which are so many mouths through which Thou dost call to us unceasingly: “Return, ye transgressors, to the heart.” which means to My heart that is all yours, since I have given it entirely to you. Return to that most loving Heart of your Father, which is full of love and mercy for you, which will receive you and welcome you home, heaping upon you all blessings.
ST. JOHN EUDES.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus. New York:
Kenedy & Sons, 1944, p.38-39
