Resisting Wrong
in the name of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Dear Friends of the Heart of Christ,
When the Sacred Heart of Jesus appeared to Saint Margaret Mary at Paray-le-Monial He expressed — in impassioned terms — His great love for her and for all humankind. Jesus was not satisfied in just manifesting His love, but He told our saint that His love for each one of us “goes so far as to exhaust and consume itself.” Human minds cannot fathom the depths of this love — so encompassing and eternal. In heartfelt laments, the Lord insistently recalls that His love is repaid with ingratitude, that it is rejected and insulted, and in some instances even blasphemed. In order to offset these despicable dispositions of human hearts, the forsaken heart of the Lord, symbol of unrequited love, asks for our homage of reparation.
History has some riveting tales to tell about how we mortals have endeavored to resist and overcome the vileness of human selfishness and depravity. One of the most engrossing episodes of human effort to satisfy the demands of Christ’s heart came at a time of great distress and upheaval during the French revolution (1789). To understand what happened, we need to take a look at a major revelation that St. Margaret Mary had toward the end of her life. In 1689, about a year before she died, Margaret Mary received a vision in which the Sacred Heart requested that devotion to His heart should reign in the halls of the King of France and through him spread to the great ones of the earth. This vision is recalled in a letter by our saint to her former superior Mother de Saumaise, written in June, 1689. The letter begins by exhorting the good Mother (and all of us, really) to be set on fire with perfect acceptance of and faithful cooperation with the designs of the Sacred Heart. Margaret Mary goes on to emphasize that “this Sacred Heart shall reign in spite of Satan.” She says that these words fill her with joy and are her only consolation. As the letter proceeds she shares with Mother de Saumaise the message given to her from the Sacred Heart: “Here are the words I heard,” she writes, “with regard to our King (Louis XIV): ‘Make known to the eldest son of my Sacred Heart that, as his temporal birth was obtained by devotion to my Holy Infancy, so will he obtain his birth into grace and eternal glory by consecrating himself to My adorable Heart. It wants to triumph over his and through him, over the hearts of the great ones of the earth…’”
This was quite a revelation from a humble and hidden little nun in an obscure cloister. She who is so insignificant in the eyes of the world, dares to address one of France’s most auspicious and powerful rulers and gives him a direct communication from heaven. Anyone who has read about or studied the history of Louis XIV begins to comprehend the ambitions of this man. As one commentator put it, “In his mind, Louis transcended mere mortality. He identified himself with Apollo, the Greek god of the Sun and adopted a new name, the Sun King.” So Margaret Mary must have realized the grandeur of this request in light of her own lowliness because she repeats in her next breath this sentence: “You may well smile, good Mother, at my simplicity in telling you all this, but I am following the inspiration being given me at this very moment.”
What happened to this Divine directive? Bishop Bougaud in his well-known life of St. Margaret Mary hints that there was no answer from Mother de Saumaise to this letter. Now, Mother de Saumaise had a considerable influence in upper ecclesiastical circles. She had been the superior of several Visitation houses. Bougaud suggests that she “would neglect nothing to reach even Louis XIV.” He also states that Mother de Saumaise had recourse to the Superioress of the Visitation Monastery of Chaillot, founded by Louise de La Fayette (1618-1665), an especially close friend of Louis XIII, who herself abandoned the king’s court for the Visitation cloister and eventually became its superior. In other words, Mother de Saumaise, who had friends in high places, could have readily influenced them to get Margaret Mary’s message to the King. Many theories abound as to what might have occurred, but there seems to have been no response on the part of the King to this important request from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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One-hundred years later the absolute breakdown of French society ensued as the French Revolution erupted. In desperation to save his life and the lives of his family members, as well as his throne, King Louis XVI, remembering this unfilled request concerning the consecration of France to the Sacred Heart, made it while still living at the Tuileries palace, under house arrest. With the help of his non-juring confessor (a priest faithful to Rome and not to godless revolutionary authorities), Louis drafted a vow of consecration to the Sacred Heart, solemnly pronounced it and then concealed the papers in the walls of his personal quarters. It was not found until the 1870’s when the palace had been partially burned and was being torn down. Louis, who was a proficient locksmith and fascinated with construction, could have easily hid away these private papers from the eyes of hostile revolutionaries. Yet, this consecration by the King — coming so late — did not spare Louis’ life, nor that of his Queen Marie Antoinette, nor of his son the future Louis XVII. (Some of you may recall that the Lord made reference to this hundred year procrastination of the kings of France in His 1931 message to Sister Lucia of Fatima in regards to His requested consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart: “Make it known to My Ministers, that given they follow the example of the King of France, in delaying the execution of My command… that like him, they will follow him into misfortune. They will repent of it, and they will do it, but it will be late. Russia will already have spread its errors in the world…”)
From our limited human perspective, it is hard to understand why such a good king was allowed to die, but guillotined he was — the only French King to endure such an ignominy. Instead of sparing him for further work on the face of this earth, the Lord seems to have offered him the palm of martyrdom. It is a known fact that Louis bore the wrong done to him with the utmost patience and forgave his enemies in a Christ-like manner. He stated in his last Will and Testament, written on Christmas Day, 1792, less than a month before he was killed: “I pardon with all my heart those who made themselves my enemies, without my having given them cause, and I pray God to pardon them, as well as those who, through false or misunderstood zeal, did me much harm.” The king never wished to be avenged, but wanted to overcome evil with good. Interestingly enough, during the Restoration of the Monarchy from 1815-1830, there were sporadic attempts to organize a cult to honor Louis XVI, whom Pope Pius VI described as a martyr. However, because of continual upheavals in the French government and the efforts of different authors to discredit him, the cause of the king went no where.
One of the greatest obstacles to the Faith during the French Revolution was a law passed on the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. This subordinated the Catholic Church in France to the French government. Catholic Church property was nationalized and now belonged to the state to dispose of it as it willed. Monastic vows were forbidden and all ecclesiastical orders and congregations were dissolved, excepting those devoted to teaching children and nursing the sick. Bishops and priests were required to swear loyalty to the state in far stronger terms than to any religious doctrine. For awhile, Louis XVI procrastinated in signing this Civil Constitution, pleading that he needed official word from Rome before doing so. But the Pope refused to compromise, saying that no political regime had the right to change the internal structure of the Church. Still lacking the signature of the king, the governing body of the National Assembly voted to require the clergy to declare an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. Only five bishops (out of about 135) and about half the clergy agreed, while the rest refused and became known as non-jurors or refractory priests. Where the majority had taken the oath, as in Paris or bigger cities, the refractory minority could easily be victimized by society at large. Women religious, of course, were to face equally repulsive measures by the revolutionary authorities. Because the religious life of women was organized into separate orders or congregations, women’s decisions about the oath tended to be made collectively. And even though revolutionary officials treated the oath as an individual decision, women religious inclined to reject the oath uniformly. For example, all the Sisters of the Visitation Monastery at Nantes but one, refused the oath.
As Catholics became more alarmed as the Revolution expanded, an underground movement of resistance developed, with its emblem — the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Religious houses (there were 167 Visitation Monasteries in French territory at the time of the French Revolution) as well as a prodigious network of dedicated laity began to produce, with an all-out effort, badges and emblems of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — the most spiritual symbol against the destruction of religious and cultural values during this time. Wearing the insignia of the Sacred Heart expressed one’s conviction that He would reign in spite of everything and that His power and protection were over all.
These happenings may appear to be in a far distant past with no relation to our lives today. But let us not deceive ourselves because history inclines to repeat itself. A quick look around our world will surely remind us that Christians are in trouble and that things may get worse as the tests to stay faithful and do the right thing become bigger for us all. In an article by Dr. Laurie Roth, she insightfully points out that we see changes of policy around us in well-established groups and youth organizations that once held Christian values. Systems of belief that are secular in nature and even anti-Christian are now acceptable and serve as guiding principles for youths and adults. We may think that by simply moving away from these groups and forming new ones that we can isolate ourselves. But she cautions: evil’s appetite is never satisfied, it is never content to co-exist; its aim is to destroy.
So all of us have a choice to make. Will we be faithful to God and the teachings of the Gospel as we live our daily lives or will we acquiesce for the sake of acceptance, a fear of personal loss or even persecution? Let us cling to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and implore His protection over us and our loved ones. One day, if we are faithful to the end, we will experience His unfathomable love and glory.†