June 12 — The Sanctity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The Sanctity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

1. The sanctity of the Sacred Heart is the sanctity of One who is God as well as man. The Sacred Heart of Jesus hates sin as God hates it, loathes it with inexpressible loathing. How, then, can I, who am so full of sin, venture to appeal to the Heart to which sin is thus foul with a foulness that knows no bound or limit? At least I can pray that I may share in a greater degree this hatred of sin, and so learn to avoid it.

2. Happily for us the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by reason of the Divine nature of Our Lord, has also unbounded love for sinners. His infinite sanctity makes Him long after them with an inexhaustible love and an unceasing desire to see them rid of the sin that defiles them. If sins still cling to me it is not His fault, but my own. It is owing to my want of correspondence to His constant invitations to come to Him to be healed of all sin.

3. There is also communicated to the Sacred Heart a boundless store of created graces of the same kind as those bestowed on us, but immeasurably higher in degree. In this store is contained the grace necessary for every need, and among them the special graces which I need, and which are there ready to flow into my soul if I put no hindrance in the way.