June.
THE SACRED HEART— CORPUS CHRISTI.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The object of this devotion is the heart of the God - Man Christ Jesus. As the heart is the seat of all the affections, so the heart of our Lord is especially proposed to our devotion, as being the seat and sanctuary of (hat love wherewith he loved us, and gave himself for us. While, then, we address ourselves to that Sacred Heart, as it is united to the blessed Humanity, and therefore to the divine Person of the Word, we, in an especial and peculiar manner, honour the love which burned therein for man.
The particular intention of this devotion is, to make reparation for the outrages committed against the heart of Jesus during his mortal life; outrages which continue to be committed against him in the adorable Eucharist, which is the Sacrament of his love.
It was for this end that our Lord revealed to Venerable Sister Mary Alacoque, that he wished the festival and devotion of his Sacred Heart to be instituted in the Church. It is related in the life of this holy nun, that, being one day in prayer before the blessed Sacrament, Jesus shewed her his heart surrounded with thorns, surmounted by a cross, sand placed upon a throne of fire; and that he said to her: " Be* hold the heart that has so loved men, and has spared nothing to testify its love for them, even to the consuming of itself for their sake; but, in return, receives nothing from the generality of mankind but dishonour and ingratitude. What afflicts me most is, that hearts which treat me thus have been consecrated to me." Our Saviour then bade her use her utmost endeavours to procure the celebration of a particular festival in honour of his divine heart, on the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi; and this, for these principal intentions:— 1. That Christians might return him thanks for the ineffable gift bestowed upon them in the blessed Eucha-
