Jesus’s
heart is so on fire with love for humanity that it has to spread.
He
wanted Margaret Mary to spread this love as it contains the graces
necessary
for salvation.
Jesus’ Heart
Shortly after she was professed, Mary Margaret
received a tremendous grace. She was praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament when she was filled with Jesus’ presence, to the extent that she
forgot where she was.
Jesus had her lie against his chest like St. John at
the Last Supper. He told her the secrets of his heart.
“My Divine Heart,” he said in her autobiography, “is
so inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular that, being unable any
longer to contain within itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It must
spread them abroad by thy means, and manifest Itself to them (mankind) in order
to enrich them with the precious treasures which I discover to you, and which
contain graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from
the abyss of perdition.”
Jesus’s heart is so on fire with love for humanity
that it has to spread. He wanted Margaret Mary to spread this love as it
contains the graces necessary for salvation.
Then he asked her for her heart, which she begged him
to take. He put it inside his own.
She described this as watching a little atom consumed
by a furnace. When he pulled her heart out, it looked like a flame. He put it
back in her. He told her that her burning heart would consume her until the end
of her life.
The Aftermath
Margaret Mary was accused of being possessed. The
sisters threw copious amounts of Holy Water over her to cure her. She was also
sent to speak to many theologians, who openly doubted her.
Finally, she went to Confession to St. Claude de
Colombière. For the first time in her life, someone believed her immediately.
He taught her the discernment of spirits and advised her to thank God for the
graces he had given her constantly. He permitted her to pray the way God had
taught her and ordered her to stop punishing herself for struggling with vocal
prayer.
Shortly after this, she went to receive Communion from
Claude. Jesus gave her a vision of both their hearts being consumed by his. He
told her that they were to work together to spread devotion to his Sacred
Heart.
Claude eventually wrote a book about her visions. This
brought a new dedication to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and also vindicated her
in her community. Today the Sacred Heart of Jesus is revered by Catholics
around the world.
Taken from: St. Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart – Ascension
