August 21,
2012 Martin Mallon
(Ireland) Martin's previous
articles
A PILGRIMAGE TO PARAY-LE-MONIAL
Last week I, together with my wife and daughter, went on a Pilgrimage to
Paray-le-Monial (Paray), a small town in the
Paray-le-Monial is commonly called the home of the Sacred Heart and is where Our
Lord started the devotion to his Sacred Heart by a series of Revelations to St
Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation Nun at the convent in Paray, in the
seventeenth century. Margaret Mary's revelations from Christ led to the
establishment of the Holy Hour and to reception of Holy Communion on the first
Friday of every month. Through these revelations Our Lord also established the
feast of the Sacred Heart. Margaret Mary received strong support from St Claude
de la Colombiere, a Jesuit, who was confessor to her convent in Paray for a
period.
Some interesting quotes from Jesus’ revelations to Margaret Mary:
" Behold this Heart which has loved men so much, it spared no means of
proof - wearing itself out until it was utterly spent. This meets with
scant appreciation from most of them; all I get back is ingratitude - witness
their irreverence, their sacrileges, their coldness and contempt for me in this
Sacrament of Love. What hurts me most is that hearts dedicated to my service
treat me in this way.”
Jesus could be speaking today, there are no new sins.
”I thirst with such terrible thirst to be loved by men in the Blessed
Sacrament that the thirst consumes me. Yet I find no one trying to quench it
according to my desire by some return of my love.”
Since the time of Margaret Mary, Eucharistic Adoration has been established as a
common form of devotion, particularly since Vatican II with perpetual adoration
being found in parishes all around the world. If we believe what our Church has
believed since the time of Christ, that He is the Eucharist, no explanation of
this devotion should be necessary.
Such an encounter with Jesus, adoration, transforms our heart for compassion and
evangelisation; as Jesus said to Margaret Mary “If you believe, you will see
the power of my heart” and this was witnessed to by many present in Paray
during our stay.
While we were in Paray, the Emmanuel Community, the largest Catholic charismatic
community in the world, was holding an international gathering of its members.
Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard gave a teaching to the gathering of about 5,000. In
his teaching he highlighted the imperative to be given to compassion and mercy
when evangelising; it should be a matter of free disinterested love for others
and he based this on gospel examples of the compassion of Jesus. He showed that
Jesus is not indifferent to our sufferings. The Cardinal said that coming to
Paray was a source of strength from the heart of Jesus.
The Cardinal then stated that Mt 11:28-30 ˜Come to me, all you that are weary
and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you,
and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” needs concrete
charity/love when we are evangelising.
Then Cardinal Ricard quoted from Vatican II's Decree on the Church’s
Missionary Activity, #12:
The presence of the Christian faithful in these human groups should be inspired
by that charity with which God has loved us, and with which He wills that we
should love one another (cf. 1 John 4:11). Christian charity truly extends to
all, without distinction of race, creed, or social condition: it looks for
neither gain nor gratitude. For as God loved us with an unselfish love, so also
the faithful should in their charity care for the human person himself, loving
him with the same affection with which God sought out man. Just as Christ, then,
went about all the towns and villages, curing every kind of disease and
infirmity as a sign that the kingdom of God had come (cf. Matt. 9:35ff; Acts
10:38), so also the Church, through her children, is one with men of every
condition, but especially with the poor and the afflicted. For them, she gladly
spends and is spent (cf. 2 Cor. 12:15), sharing in their joys and sorrows,
knowing of their longings and problems, suffering with them in death's
anxieties.
The Cardinal said that communion is the source of truth, be with the sinner, not
teaching a lesson to the sinner but welcoming a brother. It is not just a
question of teaching others what is right, that is evil, unless teaching with
love. It is love which converts.
A short teaching on St Margaret Mary and her revelations can be found
at
this link