VII

THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEAD

IT is during this stay at Neston that we first hear of a subject which was to be henceforth the all-absorbing interest of Teresa's life — the Devotion to the Sacred Head of Our Lord as the Seat of His Divine Wisdom. While awaiting the ruling of the Church on this important matter, we may venture to believe that the promotion of this devotion was the special mission for which Her Divine Spouse had designed her: that the singular graces and favours which He conferred upon her so freely were intended, not merely for her own sanctification, but with the further object of fitting her for this work. Our Lord Himself, she frequently assured her director, had taught her that this sublime devotion would sum up in itself all the worship due to His sacred Humanity, and be the great antidote to the pride of intellect and disbelief which are the crying evils of these latter times.

When, in the cold hard days of the seventeenth century, Our Lord wished to prove to the world the burning love of His Sacred Heart, He chose for His messenger a simple nun, and now, in our own age, He has sought a still more lowly soul to send forth as the herald of His Wisdom. Surely it is a point of no small significance that the instrument He had selected for this great work should be no renowned, world-famed professor, but an unknown teacher of a poor school! "I confess to Thee, oh Father, Lord of Heaven and earth because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in Thy sight." Where indeed could He have found a littler one than this simple, humble, teacher whose life was devoted to the very poorest of His children?

Teresa's first reference to this subject is on the feast of the Sacred Heart, 1879 — about the very time when Father Powell, inspired no doubt by the Holy Ghost placed her under obedience to write out for him all the secrets of her soul. For the next few years she recurs to it again and again, showing how frequently Our Lord appeared to her, each time explaining more fully the hidden depths and beauty of the Devotion and impressing her with His ardent wish for its propagation. She burned with longing to carry out His Holy will, though, knowing her own helplessness, she constantly implored Him to commit the task to some more worthy soul, some wise and learned man whose words would carry weight. But God's ways are not man's ways and He made it clear to her that, weak and powerless as she was, it was to her that the work had been confided. She laboured incessantly for this end, and yet, in spite of all her prayers for light, He never showed her what it was exactly that she had to do. Much as she loved to hide herself away, she would have gone forth gladly to summon the whole world to honour the Sacred Head, "the house which Wisdom hath built for Herself", but this sacrifice was not required of her. She did what she could: she taught the Devotion to the children and spoke of it to all her friends. Many, to her joy, embraced it with enthusiasm. Among them were Father Wilberforce, the well-known Dominican, Father Humphrey, SJ, and Mons. Weld, who all examined into it most carefully and then adopted it. The matter was at length brought before Dr. O'Reilly, the Bishop of the diocese, and Teresa prayed much for some clear proof which might convince him and cause him, not merely to sanction the Devotion, but actively to promote it. But no such proof was forthcoming and, though he allowed a little book of prayers to be printed, he took no public action. Teresa herself never wavered in her faith and hope, looking always for some open manifestation of the Will of God, as did also her two confessors. Father Snow wrote: "Both Father Powell and I expected that important miracles would take place and that these would be of great help in furthering the Devotion to the Sacred Head and at the same time be useful if hereafter there was question of her canonisation. But I never mentioned this subject to Teresa, nor did Father Powell to the best of my belief. On the 30th of May, 1884, which would be shortly before Whit Sunday of that year, she spoke to me of her intense desire to have the Sacred Head honoured and the intense suffering it caused her. I told her to wait for Whit Sunday when perhaps our Lord would let her know what she could do. On June 6th, she told me that on Whit Sunday our Lord had made known very clearly to her that it was not by wonders and miracles that He would make known the Devotion to the Sacred Head. That it was the wisdom of the world to look for signs but not His way; that when He Himself promised the Blessed Sacrament, He might have convinced by wonders those who refused to believe, but it was not according to the ways of His Wisdom."

And so Teresa longed and prayed and waited, until at last she seemed to understand the special part assigned to her, when she wrote:

[136] "If it pleases Him that I should not do anything but be consumed with this desire, then His Holy Will be done."

The explanation of the devotion must be given in Teresa's own words as she understood it from our Lord Himself. For the sake of clearness, the chief extracts from her letters dealing with the subject have been grouped together, though in point of fact they extend over several years. The first revelation seems to have been made to her in the little village school house at Neston, on the feast of the Sacred Heart, 1879, shortly after her return from Sabden. She described it to Father Powell, first explaining the way in which our Lord prepared her for this great vision:

[4] "During Holy Mass on Friday our blessed Lord brought before me all my nothingness and miserable sins and filled me with such great confusion that I felt that I should almost die. He has so often done the same of late and shown me at the same time His infinite Majesty that I have been almost annihilated. Ah my God who shall stand before Thee? It seems to me that this feeling must be the same, or something the same, that the poor soul feels when she stands before God to be judged. This great humiliation was succeeded by a sweet calm and holy joy after I heard these words again: "Fear not, it is I" (and such a torrent of sweet tears streamed down that seemed to refresh the soul wonderfully.) Not that I really heard the words spoken by the ears but they seemed impressed on the soul in such a manner that there is no doubt of what I heard, and these words are works, for, as at the Creation God said "Let there be light" and it was so, so I see in an instant verified the import of these words, for my poor soul that seemed so hard dry and cold, almost despairing enjoys at once that peace which the world cannot give.

"During the whole day I remained very recollected and although you told me to give myself entirely into the hands of God, I continually reminded our B. Lord that both you and Father Wells told me nothing was to be done in public, for our B. Lord made me feel that He wished to bestow some great favour upon me which covered me with such shame and confusion that I could hardly raise my head. For when I see our divine Lord giving His treasures to this vile traitor, I beg of Him to consider what He is about, for I fear that others might undervalue His great gifts seeing them given to so vile and wicked a wretch.

"When I retired to my room in the evening a deep recollection came upon me. Oh my God give me light and help that I may be able to express clearly to my director this which is entirely Thy work. Pity my weakness and by Thy obedience unto death, oh my God and by this same Wisdom which Thou hast shown me, instruct me, or do Thou oh Lord what Thy unworthy servant is unable to do...

"I was considering the excessive love of the Sacred Heart and offering to my Divine Spouse this same love to make amends for our coldness, and His constancy and infinite riches to make up for our poverty and misery, when our divine Lord suddenly represented to me the Divinity as a very large bright crystal stone in which all things are reflected or are, past, present and to come, in such a manner that all things are present in Him. This immense precious stone sent forth streams of richly coloured lights brighter beyond comparison than ten thousand suns, which I understood represented the Infinite Attributes of God. This great jewel also seemed to be covered with innumerable eyes which I understood represented the Wisdom and Knowledge of God... Our Blessed Lord showed me this Divine Wisdom, as I was saying, as the guiding power which regulated the motions and affections of the Sacred Heart, showing me that it had the same effect and power over its least action, and raising it, as the sun draws up the vapour from the ocean. He gave me to understand that an especial devotion and veneration should be paid to the Sacred Head of our Lord as the Seat of divine Wisdom and guiding power of the Sacred Heart, and so complete this heavenly devotion..."

This vision occurred at Neston, but most of the subsequent revelations took place at Bootle, in the Church of St. Alexander which she foresaw would become a great place of pilgrimage, as she told Father Powell:

[28] "Our Lord has this morning shown me that your requests will be granted and that greater wonders than those at Knock1 He will bring to pass in our very midst, that the eyes of all nations shall be turned towards us and pilgrims come from afar off."

Knock was a popular place of pilgrimage in Ireland.

The right-hand corner seat of the front bench on the Epistle side is still pointed out as the place where Teresa knelt, and where the heavens were so often opened to her and she saw and heard many things which it is not given to man to utter.

In Easter Week, 1880, she wrote:

Ap. 9 80

[30] "When I went into the church a little after five on Easter Sunday morning, I had hardly knelt to adore Him present in the most holy Sacrament of His Love, when He drew me so entirely into Himself that I know not what I saw or heard for some time; but when the powers of the soul again began to act He represented Himself to me (I think) as we see Him in pictures of the Sacred Heart and His Sacred Head radiant as a sea of light and a glorious sun shining to its very depths and acting on the affections, motives, and entire workings of the Sacred Heart and raising them even as the sun draws up the vapours from the ocean. In this light, I saw distinctly formed the figure of a silvery dove which I understood was the Holy Ghost, and rolls of glory (I was going to say clouds but that is hardly correct) or pillars as a rainbow appeared above which I felt represented the Eternal Father. The whole formed an Eye which I knew was the Eye of God in unity. And from it I understood that our dear Blessed Lord wished His Sacred Head to be specially worshipped as the 'Seat of Divine Wisdom' and the powers of His Human Soul adored therein, as it is the seat of the intellectual powers of man.

"He has many times as I have before told you revealed to me His intention of crowning the devotion of the Sacred Heart in this point and I think when He spoke of the wonders He would work in our midst that He referred to some manifestation to this end."

On April 27th, she wrote in a tone of triumph and in a trembling hand as though still half rapt in ecstasy:

[36] "Our divine Lord says the time is at hand when the Wisdom of the Father shall be adored and the Love of God for man shall be revealed in the Light which shineth in darkness and enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world. It is the Will of our dear Blessed Lord that His Sacred Head be adored as the Seat of Divine Wisdom: not the Sacred Head alone, (I mean as we worship His sacred Hands and Feet) no, but the Head as the shrine of the powers of the Soul and the faculties of the Mind and in these the Wisdom which guided every affection of the Sacred Heart and motions of the whole Being of Jesus our Lord and our God. It is not His divine Will that the attributes or abstracts of the soul or mind, or that divine Wisdom which guided, governed and directed all in Him (the God Man) should have a distinct worship, but that they should all be specially honoured and His sacred Head adored as their Temple. And our dear Blessed Lord has shown me too how the head is also the centre of all the senses of the body, and that this devotion is the completion, not only of the devotion of the Sacred Heart, but the crowning and perfection of all devotions; and He showed me how the adorable Trinity at His baptism revealed to the world this special devotion, for His Sacred Humanity is the tabernacle of the thrice holy Trinity; and that St. John had specially spoken of this devotion for the Most High revealed to him that he should be thus worshipped before the end of the world, and he spoke of it as a magnificent city, etc. seeing the multitudes of variety and beauty and splendour of this Seat of divine Wisdom. It is a world of infinite magnitude, a sea of fathomless depths, a never setting sun of light inaccessible and immeasurable heights of untold mysteries of perfection and beauty. Our dear Blessed Lord did not positively state the precise time that this should be made a public devotion but He gave me to understand that whoever should venerate His sacred Head in this manner should draw down on themselves the choicest gifts of Heaven; and those who shall try by words or means to hinder or reject it shall be as glass that is cast down, or as an egg that is thrown to the wall, that is that they shall be shattered and become as naught, and shall be dried up and wither as grass on the housetop.

"Our beloved Spouse also let me know that it was in this church that He would manifest to the world the manner, etc. etc. that He wished to be honoured and the time, and all concerning this most wonderful Devotion. And I think it is that soul that is drooping as the vine under the weight of heavenly gifts and saturated through and through with the Precious Blood, that in His infinite Wisdom He has ordained to make known His holy Will to the world. For He continually shows me this precious soul so dear to Him, and frequently before He makes known to me anything concerning this heavenly devotion (to His Sacred Head) He comforts me also with it. For when I feel my poor heart breaking with sorrow at the coldness with which He is treated and the way He is betrayed even by His priests, He shows me this soul as His consoler and refuge, this lily in which He delights, and the will of this holy one blending so completely with His that they seem as one, this understanding in which the light of God shines as the midday sun in the clear waters of a spring, and that memory that is always recollected in God, that heart that pants and languishes for Him and wastes itself away in longing desire to be dissolved and be one with Him for all eternity. Oh my God how much You have taught me in this soul which You drew from the same abyss of nothingness as myself, and yet, through her ready compliance with Thy adorable Will in all things, Thou hast raised her to a pinnacle of perfection which but very few saints have ever reached. Oh my God how wonderful are Thy works and how incomprehensible Thy judgements and unsearchable Thy ways. For this jewel of Thy house is a wonder to the angels and Thou Thyself hast shown me that (she) this soul is one of the centre pieces of Thy Sacred Heart. I know not whether this soul is a priest, or even a male or female saint, but I know you will join with me in thanking God for all He has done for it, and allowing us, unworthy as we are, to live and worship before this same tabernacle where in His Love He deigns to listen to us as well as to this great servant of His Sacred Heart. I think our dear Blessed Lord shows me this soul to humble me, for I always feel that I am sinking away in the abyss of my own nothingness whenever He allows me to see it, and yet my whole soul seems to overflow with gratitude to Him for raising this soul to such perfection, and love and admiration at His work and delight beyond utterance at His reserving her (I mean the soul) to comfort and console, to love and adore Him as she does. And this last week, after our beloved Lord has shown me the greatness of His gifts to this saint, He has made me feel what black ingratitude it would be if she refused to fulfil His designs. I understand that of course it will be a great humiliation for her to undertake the great work which I think He intends, and I pray for and compassionate her exceedingly, yet I burn with desire to see His holy Will accomplished and say with her and for her, 'Thy holy Will be done, for Thou art my light and strength, Thou art my Protector and Helper, what shall I fear.' Although I have no curiosity to know who this chosen one is, yet I feel an ardent desire to be near her and to render her some service, to go and meet her as St. Elizabeth went to meet our Blessed Lady, our dear Mother Mary, at the time of the Visitation."

The above is the first allusion in Teresa's letters to this wonderful soul, though she seems to have known about it as far back as at Wigan, for Miss Ryland recalls her asking quite simply one day: "Do you know that Father Wells directs a saint ? I wonder who it is. If I knew I might do something for her, perhaps wash for her. Have you any idea who it is?"

After this she often writes of it to Father Powell, begging him to ask for prayers and longing to be allowed to do something for this chosen one.

[38] "Oh my Father pray fervently for me and ask that soul so dear to His sacred Heart to pray for me also. And is it too much of me to ask of you to let me render some service to this soul that so I may imitate Him a little Who has lavished on her such wonderful gifts. It seems so strange to me that you should never mention this holy one to me (not by name) but by telling me of her, that feeling the influence of her presence I might love Him and glorify His holy Name more for all He has done for her. For surely she is a glory to His Name."

Again she says:

[63] "Oh my Father may I do something for this one so dear to Him? I will not offend their humility in any way. I would not thus beg of you dear Father but I feel it would be a great service to my poor soul and I would not breathe one word of it — but just as you wish. I do not think I should be disheartened at seeing them doing so much for Him. I think I should feel I could get them to love Him for me and I would really try to learn the lessons Jesus would show me in them."

Father Snow wrote later: "Both Father Powell and myself were convinced that the soul was no other than her own, but, knowing that it was Our Lord's own secret, were silent when she spoke of it." And so it came about in the mysterious designs of Providence that Teresa learnt humility from the vision of her own sanctity, and that her mighty prayers, so pleasing in the sight of God, were offered, all unconsciously to herself, for the perfecting of her own soul.

Teresa had mentioned that St. John speaks of the Devotion to the Sacred Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, and Father Powell asked her for the reference. She replied:

May 9, 1880.

[42] "In obedience to your wish I asked our dear Blessed Lord where St. John had said anything in reference to the Sacred Head as the 'Seat of Divine Wisdom', and He gave me to understand that it was the chapter to which you referred without telling which one it was in particular, and He said that as by the cunning and deceit of the devil man first fell from God in Paradise and incurred darkness of intellect and death — so in these later days of darkness, self-indulgence, intellectual pride and conceit, the brightness of eternal light into which no defiled thing cometh shall shine out more glorious and brilliant than ten thousand suns, and the image of God's goodness and majesty and power shall be seen in this unspotted mirror of truth, purity knowledge and love.

"Oh my father, do we not see the depth of that divine Wisdom in the time that He has reserved for the manifestation of His adorable Will in this respect? He each time also shows me the great blessings and graces He has in store for all who shall further His divine Will to this end, and makes me tremble with terror at the dread punishments He has in store for all who shall hinder, or try to hinder the furtherance of this heavenly devotion, for their jaws He says shall be locked as were those of the lions in the den into which Daniel was cast, they shall be shattered and become as naught. And the twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost that sparkle so beautifully in this divine Wisdom are, as it were, the foundations to this city of the Lord which He has dug deep in humility. For He humbled Himself becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross."

Again, a few days later she said:

May 23, 1880.

[47] "After holy Communion this morning I asked our B. Lord in what particular place St. John referred to His Sacred Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom and He did not tell me what text or words. He gave me to understand that it was spoken of in the two last chapters of the Revelations and with this mark were sealed the numbers of His elect."

On Ascension Day, Our Lord once more appeared to her in glory and three times asked her: "What wilt thou?"

[40] "Oh my Lord and my God, what will I but Thy holy Will in all things? Lord what wilt Thou have me to do? Teach me to do Thy holy Will for Thou art my God! Oh my Father I know not how I live. Who would not be annihilated in the presence of such awful majesty, such overpowering and unspeakable glory and power as I beheld in Him Who is the Wisdom of the Father our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Who could tell the dread and fear that came upon me? For I cannot express what I felt, and if it were not by a miracle of His power I should die as I sink into the abyss of my own nothingness and misery.

"What I have mentioned above happened on Thursday morning early and all my bodily strength seemed to leave me and I have been very weak ever since. I was going to say I saw our dear blessed Lord in His glorified humanity, but I suppose it is not right to say so, but I feel very certain of it which appeared in greater majesty and glory than I have ever before seen Him and He addressed me, saying, 'What wilt thou?' I was crushed and humbled as God only can humble and at first a great inexpressible fear came upon me, but our dear Lord seemed to behold me with such loving tenderness and compassion that by degrees the fear passed off and I felt amazed and astonished at the marvellous condescension of our dear B. Lord and lost in His mercy and love. Oh with what confidence those words inspired me, though I feel that in them too He was asking me to do some great thing for Him of which at present I have not the remotest idea, but my misery is such that it gives me greater confidence that whatever He wishes to do in me or through me He will do Himself. I give myself and all that I am or have (which is nothing) into His sacred Hands to do with me whatever He shall please, without thought of pain, humiliation or feelings. His holy Will is my only pleasure and if I can lose or suffer anything for Him, He knows I shall consider it as a great gain. Oh my God with Thee I make an oblation of my whole being to Thy Eternal Father, my character, etc. saying, 'Lord I am Thine, my love is all for Thee, do with me what Thou wilt now and forever more Amen.' Holy Mary be a Mother to me. St. Joseph and all the angels and saints of God pray for me."

She again refers to this vision in a later letter where she says:

[44] "Oh my God how shall I find words to express the glory the majesty and beauty of that countenance before which the Seraphim and cherubim fall in mute admiration and adoration and I, like the apostles on Tabor, cannot sustain this flush of glory, this stream of the Divinity, and in amazement I prostrate myself to the ground and with trembling reverence adore what mortal eyes are not able to behold or human tongue able to describe. — Oh magic wand of obedience that changes all things into purest gold, oh Rod of Aaron which opens a passage into the depths and riches and knowledge of God; oh Key which unlocks the secrets of the Divinity and the world to come; oh flower which ever blooms in the Sacred Heart; oh power which lays mountains low and overcomes every obstacle and makes every way easy and straight — in you I will write what I am able to say of those things which I have beheld.

"It was very early on Ascension morning that I beheld our B. Lord in the way I have above described and I think as He is represented in pictures of the Sacred Heart, only that around His sacred Head shone a light of indescribable brilliancy and beauty: as it were a sun in which sparkled twelve magnificent crystal stones reflecting all the colours of the rainbow. And in the Head I saw as it were an ocean of fathomless depth, smooth and clear, and the brightness of the sun's rays penetrated to its very depths, and in it were reflected all the beauties of the sun and twelve stones like diamonds in which were reflected the green, yellowish green, purple, red etc. and all the colours that sparkled in the sunny rainbow, and nearly in the centre of this was an eye as I have drawn on the other side. The awful majesty which overpowered me left me unable to move for hours and, although it is now ten days since, I have not regained my natural strength and it is with difficulty that I go about at all. The human mind is too weak and the intellect too dull to understand, comprehend or describe the awful grandeur of the Divinity and I think it is a miracle we live after a glimpse of it.

Oh how terrible will be the lot of the reprobate at the sight of this overwhelming majesty, this crushing power — and here we see with what reason the devils trembled at the descent into Limbo —

But I am again wandering. Light streamed from every part of His Sacred Person, and I saw flames of fire bursting from His Sacred Heart which was surrounded with thorns and surmounted by a cross, and I saw a silvery light in the form of a Dove hovering over it as I have shown above and the sun's rays streamed into its very depths and our Lord addressed me in these words: 'What wilt thou?' as I have before told you."

On May 27, 1880, our Lord again showed Himself to her in all His glory:

[48] "This morning at holy Mass when the Sacred Host was raised at the elevation, I saw as it were the whole court of heaven in prostrate adoration; then all was lost in the excess of light which shone forth in effulgent splendour from the sacred Person of our Lord Jesus Christ Whom I beheld as I have before described, but with a sun of transcendent beauty and brilliancy shining around His sacred Head and lighting up the very depths of His Sacred Heart. And He made me very clearly see that the time is at hand when He will make known to the world the desire (which has been consuming Him as it were) which He has to have His sacred Head adored and worshipped as the Seat of Divine Wisdom."

Later in the same day she wrote a further explanation of the words of St. John in the Apocalypse:

[48a] "While making a short visit to our dear Blessed Lord in the most holy Sacrament of His Love, those things which I asked you to read for me this morning were represented in the soul and impressed very clearly in my mind, and I saw how admirably they corresponded and how beautifully the comparisons described the Sacred Head as the 'Seat of Divine Wisdom', for, if you call to mind those things which I have written regarding what our dear B. Lord has shown me and helped to narrate respecting His sacred Head, you will see how He Himself represented to me in the S. Head (as the mind) a transparent sea of light, in which were twelve beautiful precious stones in which sparkled and reflected all the splendour of that sun which overshadowed it and in which too were twelve other crystal stones all of unspeakable beauty and magnificence and in which gleamed all the colours of the rainbow. And I think I mentioned a resplendent light of greenish hue I see 'having the glory of God and the light thereof like unto a precious stone, as it were a jasper, as crystal.'

"And He gave me to understand that this Wisdom and Light was the seal that marked the number of His elect ('and they shall see His Face and His Name shall be on their foreheads'). And is not the Seat of Divine Wisdom 'as it were a new heaven and a new earth'? The soul and intellectual faculties and the dwelling place of the Most High, and the earth or human head the shrine and centre of the senses of the body by virtue of the hypostatic union a new earth. — And in another place it says: 'And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God almighty is the Temple thereof and the Lamb', showing distinctly the union of the two natures in the one Person of Jesus Christ. And the glory of God enlightens it. He is the Beginning and the End, and His Knowledge and Wisdom are infinite as they are eternal. And the great and high wall are things in God which are beyond our understanding, and the twelve foundations are the virtues which come from the Fruits of the Holy Ghost (and also may be the Apostles as teachers of Divine Wisdom and Pillars of His Church). Solomon's prayer for Wisdom was most pleasing to God, and He promises to give to him that thirsteth of the fountains of the water of life gratis, and blessed are they that wash their robes in the Blood of the Lamb that they may have a right to the Tree of Life and may enter in by the gates into the city. And he that shall overcome shall possess these things and I will be His God and he shall be My Son."

Our Lord next signified to her the day on which He wished this feast to be celebrated.

June 2, 1880.

[49] "As I told you, our dear B. Lord expressly asked me to tell you from Him that He wished His most Sacred Head to be publicly worshipped and honoured as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, and said too that the Friday, octave day of the feast of the Sacred Heart, should be dedicated as a festival day in its honour, and special reparation and atonement be then offered to Him. For He said, 'See oh my beloved daughter, I am clothed and mocked as a fool in the house of my friends; I am crowned in derision, I who am the God of Wisdom and all Knowledge, I the King of Kings, the Almighty and All-powerful One am presented with a sham sceptre, and if thou wouldst make some return, thou canst not do better than tell my servant E. from me that I now wish the Devotion made known which I have so often communicated to you, and I wish the first Friday after the feast of my Sacred Heart to be set apart as a festive day in honour of my Sacred Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, and that public adoration be offered to Me for all the outrages and sins which are continually being committed against Me.' He also said that you must not be disheartened at difficulties that may and will arise and crosses that will be numerous. He will be your support and your reward is great. 'And anyone who shall assist in furthering this Devotion shall be blessed a thousand fold, but woe to him that shall reject or go against my wish in this respect, for they shall be scattered in my wrath and shall know their place no more, but to them that honour Me I will give of my might, and I will be their God and they shall be my children and I will place my sign upon their foreheads and my seal upon their lips."

Untold blessings are promised to those who shall try to further our Lord's wishes in spreading the Devotion.

[51] "Our B. Lord said that all that He had promised to those who should worthily love and honour His Sacred Heart should be poured out upon those who honoured it themselves or were the means of others doing so. Oh Sacred Head, may Thy Wisdom ever guide us, and the sacred Tongue ever bless us and plead for mercy and pardon, and may we never hear the curse pronounced against those who shall hinder or despise this Devotion."

With each fresh revelation our Lord seems to have impressed upon her more and more His ardent longing to have His sacred Head honoured, and to have urged her to do all in her power to carry out His wish.

[49b] "Again our dear B. Lord has made me feel that excessive desire that seems to consume Him to have His sacred Head honoured as the "Seat of Divine Wisdom", the governing power which rules the sacred Heart, the Shrine of the powers of His holy Soul and the centre of the senses of the human body. Oh my Lord and my God, why dost Thou chose one so unable to do anything in furthering and accomplishing Thy holy Will? My poor heart is breaking because I cannot and still Thou urgest me more and more and Thou burnest me too with this unceasing flame that at times I know not what to do, I feel myself almost dying of desire to see His holy Will accomplished...

"I was making my usual visit on Friday morning when with the eyes of the soul I saw Jesus consumed as it were with a burning fire, and the light of that sun which is ever shining seemed to penetrate the most secret recesses of His sacred Heart. I felt that inexhaustible fire burn me as it were. Oh my God how can I find words to express what I would say: I mean that our B. Lord let me see and feel something of that desire which He has to have His sacred Head honoured, as I have before made known. I saw how the divine Wisdom governed, and the powers of the holy Soul of Jesus Christ cooperated in the redemption of man, and I was lost in wonder and admiration at what I beheld. — I know not at least half I saw, but I was impressed with the great desire of Jesus."

[51a] "I know He is infinite Wisdom and His word is creative and I (marvel) how He can desire as He desires and yet delay so long. His ways are not the ways of men and His designs are in the depth of His eternity. As the dew falls silently and unobserved on the bosom of the earth and it sinks in and fertilises the barren soil, so even now. He made me experience on Sunday the very aching of His sacred Heart to make known this crowning Devotion to His sacred Humanity, and showed how the motions and love of His sacred Heart were swayed by the powers of His Soul and intellectual faculties, and how the heart without the mind of man is incapable of merit — if a man is unconscious what can His Heart do, or if wanting in reason at what account do we value his gifts or deeds? And I understand that even the devotion to His sacred Heart is incomplete without this devotion to His sacred Head... He brought before me all He has before taught me respecting the devotion to the Seat of Divine Wisdom and His desire to have It honoured and impressed upon me again all about the great mystery of the Incarnation and the inseparable union which existed between Himself, the Eternal Father, and the Holy Spirit, and showed me how jealous was the Blessed Trinity of the beauty of His House and the Place where His glory dwelleth...

"Oh infinite Wisdom, boundless Love, how unsearchable are Thy ways. Make known oh Lord Thy desires to have Thy sacred Head honoured as the 'Seat of divine Wisdom' and to have Thy holy Soul sorrowful unto death comforted. Breathe Thy complaints oh Lord my God into the soul of one who has power to act. Arise and show that Thou art the Almighty God. Make known the burning desire of Thy sacred Heart. Make haste oh Lord for Thy own dear sake. Do not thus delay I conjure Thee through Thy most Precious Blood and for Thy bitter Passion's sake. I ask Thee, oh ever Blessed Trinity in the holy Name of Jesus, in honour of this same Seat of divine Wisdom, and through the burning love of His sacred Heart, I ask it in the name of Mary and Joseph and for the salvation of souls that Thou wilt make known and spread this Devotion. Oh Lord Thou knowest the desire with which I desire to satisfy Thee yet how weak and helpless I am and how little is yet done. Speak Lord and say what Thou wouldst have us do...

"I understand too that in the devotion to the Seat of divine Wisdom the Holy Ghost will be unfolded to our understanding, or His attributes will shine forth in the Person of God the Son: that the more we practise devotion to the sacred Head, the more we must see of the working of the holy Spirit of God in the human soul, and the better we will know and love the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost who are ever in a unity of Essence though in a Trinity of Persons...

"Dear rev. Father I think if we began to ask our dear Lord three times a day, through His Precious Blood and cross and passion, to hasten the Devotion and spread it far and near, He must grant our request, when our desire is but as a small spark compared to the burning furnace of His desire. Oh, I cannot understand how He can so yearn to be thus honoured (He Who is almighty) and yet delay so long to accomplish His ardent wish. Yet I know His ways are unsearchable and His Wisdom infinite, and that which He wills must come to pass, is certain to be."

At times our Lord would comfort her by allowing her to foresee the great glory He would gain from the practice of this Devotion, and the special rewards He held in store for those who furthered it.

June 15, 1880.

[52] "Our dear B. Lord showed me the great glory that would be given to the adorable Trinity and to His sacred Humanity through this Devotion. And He told me not to be downcast because others did not accept and pay adoration to Him in the manner He wished at once, for those who appeared the most against it now would make up by future fervour; that His Will is omnipotent and that those things that man might and would use as stumbling blocks to this Devotion He would turn into the very means of advancing it."

September 10, 1880.

[63] "You know how anxious I am that the Will of our dear B. Lord should be perfectly accomplished in respect to His sacred Head being honoured as the Seat of divine Wisdom, so I thought if our dear Mother Mary asked Him for some proof for us to show our beloved Bishop He would give it her as a birthday present, and so I petitioned Him and her also. When suddenly that dark thick cloud which had overshadowed me for so long a time disappeared, and the glory and radiance of the Sun of Justice seemed to inundate my poor soul and so overpowered me that I was completely out of myself, and I beheld and felt the delight and glory that filled the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the little homage we had already paid Him in the prayers we were saying and had said in honour of His sacred Head as the Seat of divine Wisdom, the Shrine of the powers of His Soul and intellectual faculties, the centre of the Senses of His adorable Body and the completion of the Devotion to His sacred Heart. And He gave me to understand that He would crown and clothe with a peculiar glory all those who furthered this Devotion. He would clothe with glory before angels and men in the courts of heaven those who clothed Him in glory on earth and would crown them in everlasting bliss. I saw the glory prepared for three or four concerned therein and I was amazed at the greatness of their reward for I felt that our B. Lord and His holy Mother considered this homage to wipe out the outrage offered to the most wise and holy God when He was crowned and mocked in derision and scorn and clothed as a fool. It would seem that now those thorns would blossom, I mean that He would wish now to be crowned and acknowledged as the Wisdom of the Father, the true King of Kings. And as the Star of old led the Wise Men to Jesus and Mary, so in these latter days the Sun of Justice must lead us to the throne of God in unity and Trinity. Our B. Lord made me again understand that proof shall not be wanting, but I felt that it was not the one we looked for, I mean that poor dear Maggie should be restored to sight. He did not and does not seem to wish to let us know what proof He intends, but I think it is to be something about that holy soul He has so often shown me as His delight and consolation. If you ask that one so dear to Him, I have no doubt but what we shall obtain our request. I thank Him and love Him more for all He has done for this one and I thought He was pleased for the honour you had shown them."