First Friday November 3, 2023 

Guards of Honor 1st Friday / November 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)

“SHARING OUR SACRED HEART DEVOTION!”

We believe and participate in the Sacred Heart devotion -- the extraordinary revelations received by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque without realizing the radical courage of this mystic. Margaret Mary Alacoque experienced trials not only in terms of her own fragile health but also the skeptics around her who dismissed the revelations. Like all Saints, Margaret Mary demonstrated exceptional courage; she was not easily defeated. In her letter to Mother de Sumaise at Dijon in 1686,

Margaret Mary writes, “Satan is eager to destroy this but he will not be able to do so if this Sacred Heart be its defence and support …” Mary Margaret responded to the revelations coming from God with great humility and prudence defending the revelations and instructions Jesus communicated to her.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart took a cloistered Visitandine nun, separated from the world, faithful to Jesus her King, and His message to her. St. Margaret Mary with humility and obedience surrendered to Jesus. She remained faithful to the message of the Sacred Heart regardless of the obstacles she encountered

including disbelief. God chose this simple and devout nun to reveal the messages of His Son’s Sacred Heart. God called St. Margaret Mary into deeper communion with Him through the Sacred Heart and the Church in validating the authenticity of these apparitions provides each of us the opportunity to love Jesus more intimately. Jesus, Son of God, offers us His precious heart on the Cross. We pray with the devotion to the Sacred Heart; but do we have courage to share this devotion? Can we be inflamed by the Sacred Heart so our burning love reaches out and is felt by others?

Sacred Heart of Jesus, may your burning heart inflame us.

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 Immaculate Heart of Your Mother. AMEN