First Friday June 2, 2023 

Guards of Honor 1st Friday / June 2023 Fr. David Bellusci, OP 

“My Heart has expected reproach and misery and I looked for one who would grieve together with Me, but there was none; and for one that would comfort me, and I found none!” (Ps. 68)

“BEHOLD THE HEART WHICH HAS SUFFERED SO MUCH!”

Shortly after her profession as a Visitandine nun (November, 6, 1672), St. Margaret Mary tells us in her autobiography that Jesus revealed Himself to her

saying, “I will make my abode in thee.” Margaret Mary really did not know what to expect as she never had these experiences. She made herself present to Jesus, as she refers to Him as “Divine Master”: her will was subordinated entirely to the will of her Divine Master – even without knowing what to expect from Him. She knew that whatever came from her Divine Master could only be good, and she remained receptive to His Divine Love however it was communicated to her. “I saw and felt Him close to me and heard his voice much better than if it had been with the bodily senses.” Because Margaret Mary could not produce herself this Divine presence there was no way for her to turn away from these experiences: this presence came from Jesus Himself. Margaret Mary experienced a self-annihilation – “sunk into the abyss of nothingness” -- the experience of the finite human in the presence of the Divine Master. Margaret Mary encountered Jesus as a friend, as a spouse “passionately in love,” or as a father who, “loves his only child.” The centrality of love and its rich expressions as friend, spouse, and father, reveals the power of the love of Jesus who seeks to make his “abode” in each of us. St. Margaret Mary teaches us that Jesus wants to claim our hearts, so as to be united with His Sacred Heart. Jesus seeks us, our presence, our thoughts, our heart.

Jesus, you have given me your heart at the Cross.  May you find an abode in my heart.. Amen

Prayer to Renew Our Fidelity and Devotion 

Divine Jesus, my Saviour and my King, with all my heart I  renew the promise which I have made to love, to glorify and  to console Your adorable Heart as a member of the Guard  of Honor. Grant O good Master, to make me daily more  loving, more devoted and more faithful. I ask this same  grace for all the Associates through the most sweet Heart of  Your Mother. AMEN