“My sister, my friend, thou hast ravished my heart…”

Dear Soul, to whom the good Master gives such loving appellations rejoice! Be filled with joy, with gratitude and love on hearing these words! A Brother! A Friend! What could you have more? And when this Brother–this Friend–is Jesus! What else is there to desire! What more can you crave than to possess the affection of such a Brother? What can you fear supported by the arm of such a Friend? Oh! Nothing, unless it be that you fear not to love Him enough, not to confide sufficiently in His Heart! Let there be no more discouragement, but instead, much love and confidence. You cannot exceed in this towards so good a Brother, so tender a friend!

In her letter to Mother de Saumaise at Dijon in March 1687, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque addresses the dilemma about spending time with others – or with Jesus.

She writes from the perspective of a cloistered nun, and believed that distractions of writing letters or visiting with others would take her away from prayer, and attention drawn to her, when she could spend this time with God.

St. Margaret Mary disliked such social activities and found them “repugnant” because she believed they were wasteful. She was concerned in replying to the people, she would be “continuously making new acquaintances,” which did not interest her, as her focus was on a contemplative life of solitude, silence, and prayer.

Yet, St. Margaret Mary tells us, “He gave me to understand that writing was for His glory; that I should answer those who write to His wretched slave about the devotion to the Sacred Heart.” In other words, St. Margaret Mary realised that writing becomes an opportunity, the occasion to speak to others of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to make his Sacred Heart known.

And similarly, the parlour where she met with visitors, she “finds this so painful that often I show much repugnance.” Reflecting on this afterwards, St. Margaret Mary confides, “I feel great remorse in not doing what I think God demands of me” not responding to the people who seek her because she prefers to remain unknown. By showing this repugnance, St. Margaret Mary regrets she fails God’s “design of doing them good” — they are deprived of God’s graces.

To make matters worse, St. Margaret Mary believes she is deceiving people because she is far worse than how they think of her. What we might call hypocrisy since we often find ourselves behaving one way, and yet, we are well aware of our sins and sinfulness. What St. Margaret Mary Alacoque conveys is the pain in being present to others, having their attention, and the good impression the people have of her.

St. Margaret Marry understands the suffering she must undergo, united with the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the graces she received were for those whom Jesus sent her way. Is this not also true for us, Jesus sends us those individuals so they may receive graces through the Sacred Heart? And this is a great act of Charity.

At the start of the year, 1687, St. Margaret Mary writes to her brother, Father James, parish priest at Bois-Sainte-Marie. Understandably, she loves her brother and she wants him to be holy. Basic instructions to holiness that St. Margaret Mary offers to her brother, we can apply in our own lives. Holiness is meant for all of us. What does she tell him: this world is a “vale of misery and tears.” St. Margaret repeats the words of the Salve Regina, “to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears…” And all is “vanity and affliction to the spirit” alluding to St. John’s letter (1 John 2:15-17). She restates a basic Biblical teaching taught to us as repeated by the Catholic Church, “only to serve and love God alone.” St. Margaret Mary advises her brother to eliminate three things: 1.) attachment to earthly things, especially, pleasure. She expresses this in terms of “attachments” –she does not say pleasure is bad, rather the attachment to pleasure and she adds gambling, suggesting a weakness of her brother. Gambling represents the category of addictions and so we can think of our own addictions that we need to combat or overcome, whether it being a “shopaholic,” food or social media addict, and the many others… 2.) St. Margaret Mary also talks about everything superfluous in dress and personal habits, distinguishing between the necessary and unnecessary—how many outfits do we need? And she adds that the money that is saved can go to the poor. 3.) Not to be “mixed up” in the things of the world means not to allow any “willful self-indulgence.” In other words, not to be “worldly” and this also echoes St. John’s letter (1 John 2:15-17). Our desires should be directed towards pleasing God rather than what pleases the world. She reminds her brother to devote himself entirely to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As members of the Guards of Honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, this letter is intended for each one of us.

This last letter of 1686, St. Margaret Alacoque writes to her former Superior, Mother Saumaise, at Dijon. At this time, in responds to the Revelations of Jesus, St. Margaret Mary continues to seek approval of devotion to the Sacred Heart because there is controversy and opposition. Why should her Revelations be taken seriously? How does Sister Mary Margaret even know if they are from God? And Communion on First Fridays? In the 17 th century frequent communion was quite unusual and not an established practise. How does a cloistered nun in a Visitation convent, called to humility, and hidden from the world, find approval for the Revelation and then support to make the message of Jesus known? As we encounter the challenges before St. Margaret Mary, we also learn how she unites herself with the heart of Jesus: hidden, withdrawn, unknown.

St. Margaret Mary raises another concern; a factor causing obstruction in the spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart: Satan. Not only is it difficult for her to find approval, let alone spread the devotion, but how can she do this as a cloistered nun committed to obedience, the vow that serves to purify us of pride? Caught within her own spiritual turmoil and interior battles, she will not allow Satan to win the upper hand, not by breaking her Vows, and not by sabotaging the Revelations. St. Margaret Mary already knows that Satan wants to snatch many souls away from Jesus, and with devotion to the Sacred Heart, Satan himself will lose souls. And so, St. Margaret Mary states boldly, “We must withstand all the attacks of Satan.” St. Margaret Mary is responding to parish priests who either prohibited devotion to the Sacred Heart or refused to admit new devotions. Even publishers during St. Margaret Mary’s time were prohibited from publishing anything on devotion to the Sacred Heart.

St. Margaret Mary resigned herself to the Will of God; He started this devotion, He will bring it to completion—if it is His will. In this way, St. Margaret Mary can prioritise her obedience to her superiors and her life as a cloistered nun submitting herself to God’s will. We can follow St. Margaret Mary’s example and put God’s will first, our vows and religious duties, and what helps us grow in sanctity before anything else, and to avoid those acts and habits that detracts us from sanctity.

This month of June, 2025, we celebrate 350 years since the revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. As Guards of Honour our devotion to the Sacred Heart is formalised in our Guard of Honour enrollment and the Dial with the Hour we choose, “Hour of Reparation.” Whether we have been Guards of Honour for three years, or just joined, how has the Sacred Heart of Jesus transformed us? Yes, transformed. Sacred Heart devotions are not just rituals that are practised, but they are intended to bring the faithful closer to Christ. Adoration and the Sacraments, Confession and Communion are fundamental to this. But how has the Sacred Heart worked through us so others fall in love with the Heart of Jesus, so that, the coldness, indifference, and blasphemy towards the Sacred Heart of which Jesus speaks to St. Margaret Mary, is transformed not only into a burning love that we have, but that others also have.

We cannot feel content or satisfied that we have done enough, that we have loved enough. Love has no limit. Grace has no limit. What comes in the way between ourselves and God, ourselves and others, are those defects: impatience, pride, self-centredness, spiritual sloth, concupiscence (this includes food). While the austere asceticism of mystics such as St. Margaret Mary Alacoque might be asking too much—nobody really uses instruments of mortification anymore, and perhaps a few manage with water and bread on Fridays (and Wednesday)—but what ascetic practises do we engage in. Or has asceticism been abandoned? What concrete acts do we perform as a sign of our desire to be closer to the Sacred Heart? And also purified because divine love “purifies” This is why St. John Eudes uses the “burning furnace” image to speak of the love of Jesus! Love is concrete. Mercy is concrete. Catholics have always emphasised on the concreteness of how we live the teachings of Christ. Jesus Himself says, “If you love me, you will keep my Commandments” (John 14:5). Obedience, is concrete: to do what is holy and pleasing to God and to avoid what is unholy and displeasing to God. It is by love that we come to know the Heart of Jesus, His eternal love for us, and our finite and fragile love for Him.

When was the last time we went to Confession? The Saints have endless sins they ask forgiveness for; but more and more people don’t seem to know what sins to confess? Does this mean the sense of sin is lost? How do we approach the Sacred Heart at Communion when we are in a state of sin? How do we spend time in Adoration seeking to hear the voice of God when we are impure in so many ways? “Blessed are the pure for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

To be one with the Sacred Heart means a receptivity to allow Jesus to unite us to His Heart, to allow Him, to transform us, so the Heart of Jesus can beat within us. So, the ways of the world do not lead us or even distract us, but the pulse of the Sacred Heart Jesus is that which moves us.

Life is, as it were, an hour of strife, of agony and of suffering.  We must watch and pray, and have our agony of blood if we would reach the end happily. But how shall we bear this agony? Let us place ourselves beside Jesus in the Garden of Olives; and see how He prays, and struggles, and agonizes for love of us; and unite our suffering to His. Through this nearness to our divine Lord, we shall find strength and courage. They are not to be found elsewhere. But we must “watch” and pray, with our good Master, in our hours of suffering, and not “SLEEP” indolently, far from Him.

“With Thee, sweet Savior, I will watch and pray, Thou wilt sustain me through life’s dreary day.”

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque writes to Sister Marie-Gabrielle Morant at Moulins in 1686. In this short three-quarter page letter, we encounter the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and His flames of pure love. The burning love of Jesus is purifying, and so, Saint Margaret Mary can recognise her wretchedness and wickedness. As divine love wipes away our dirt, we can see ourselves more clearly: pride and selfishness, especially. Sister Margaret Mary seeks to be “humiliated” and “despised” by everybody. This clarity of self-perception reflects the cleansing love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus shaping her. Such experiences terrify us, being humiliated and despised, but Saint Margaret Mary embraces the redemptive significance of suffering. So long as we can acknowledge our miseries, we can also offer thanksgiving to God for coming to rescue us, to save us, “His Sacred Heart is an inexhaustible fountain of mercy.” This is why Saint Margaret Mary states, “It seeks only to fill humble hearts emptied of self…” If our hearts are full of pride, how can Jesus enter our hearts with that love He wants to give us? And so, the daily experiences that serve to humble us, that purify us of pride and self-love, we should welcome as our hearts are rendered more open to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is not praise or flattery that we should seek or content ourselves with. Only loving the Sacred Heart of Jesus and that He may love us in return. To love means to suffer; there is no other way. Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque tell us that when we love, we become like our beloved, and so, we are to live our lives like Jesus, our Beloved.

It is the Heart of Jesus that gives this invitation. But to whom? To ALL, and particularly to you, dear Soul, who are weary, burdened and afflicted! He desires to refresh you and to console you. If, during this month, the chalice of pain is offered to you, do not lose courage; go to Jesus! Do you not hear Him still calling “Come unto Me.” Ah! who knows as He knows, how to heal our wounds, how to soothe our grief? Those who have suffered like to be with those who suffer. The Heart of Jesus, broken by the ingratitude of men, will so perfectly understand you.

These words proceeding from the adorable Heart of Jesus will be your support and your strength during this month. Jesus may present you with this Chalice as a part of His design of love towards your dear soul. He may ask you to taste it, but He will not ask you to drink it all. He reserves the bitterest portion for Himself. Do not refuse this cup of sorrow any longer. Whatever may be the affliction and the pain of which it is composed, look to Jesus; and uniting your dispositions to the adorable dispositions of His Heart, say, in each moment of anguish or trouble, “Father, not my will but Thine be done.”

“I take the chalice, Lord, which Thou hast given to me; and pray, while drinking it, my love may comfort Thee.”