This is a replica of an image of the Sacred Heart that was very much loved by Father Mateo.

Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey,
Apostle of The Enthronement of the Sacred Heart

Page 2

A LIFE OF FAITH

-It is the spirit of faith that we lack the most. We ought to see Jesus everywhere: in our brothers, in the occurrences of life, in good fortune and bad. Let us be even wiser than the blind man in the Gospel who said to Jesus, "Lord, that I may see." Let us say, "Lord, that I may see YOU, and be blind to all the rest." We are too clever. We reason too much. We would be better off without a head. Then we would have more faith and more light, and we would act in consequence, especially if we had some cross to carry.

"There was once a poor girl confined to a bed of suffering in a Paris hospital. Upon her request, they made the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in her room. Some time later she wrote to me: 'Father, it is so good to have Jesus near me! I can't move any longer, but I wish I had wings to go and preach to all those who suffer. But no, I don't need wings to love and suffer. I know that suffering is also an apostolate, and that from my bed, I can perhaps preach better than anyone else.' "

Father Mateo went on, saying, "You too have crosses-----happily so! Accept them with faith, yes; but also make the most of them. Suffering earns souls. Never forget it. If the sacrifice seems hard to you, say to Jesus, 'I accept it just the same, and joyously, so that You may reign.' Forget yourselves, think only of Jesus and His interests, and He will take yours in hand and make Saints of you."

LIFE OF LOVE

It is sad but so true that Jesus Christ, Love personified, is not loved. No, He is not loved, or very little. During His apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary, Our Lord said, "Behold this Heart which has so loved men that It has spared nothing, even going so far as to exhaust and consume Itself to prove Its love to them. And in return, I receive from the majority of men only ingratitude, by their irreverence, sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt with which they treat Me in this Sacrament of love (the Holy Eucharist)."

Father Mateo said, "And you . . . do you want to love, do you want to be hosts for the triumph of Jesus? Belong to Him without reserve. He is the only reality in life; all the rest is nothing!

"Let me tell you about the love of Jesus Christ and His totally Divine charity. I ask the Heart of Jesus that each word I speak may be like a beat of His Merciful Heart . . . What will duplicate the miracle of Cana? What will change the common and perhaps muddy water of our life into generous wine? What will work this miracle? The charity of Jesus Christ! It possesses the almighty power to change, transform and transfigure our poor life and make it a wholly Divine life. His charity urges us. It insists, it wants to have complete control of our heart; it asks and implores us to give our hearts in exchange for His Heart!

"Let us have this science of sciences, the only great science of all the great Saints, the science of the love of Christ. That is really what matters most: to know Christ, His love for us, and to live by His love . . . But how can we prove that we believe in the love of Christ? By loving Him. The complement of faith is charity; for as Saint Thomas says, sanctity does not consist in knowing much, meditating much, thinking much. The great secret of sanctity is to love much. We know that there are great doctors . . . frigid and glacial, erudite men, walking libraries who have absorbed all the knowledge of the geniuses, of Saint Bernard and Saint Thomas, but who do not love like Saint Bernard and Saint Thomas. These frigid scholars have nothing of the charity of Christ . . .

"The charity of the Heart of Jesus is not and cannot be merely a savored joy, a sensation, an emotion. We must leave all of that to false devotion . . . The love of Our Lord is a strong, integral will that consists in wanting God's good pleasure, cost what it may. It is a burning flame that proceeds from the light of faith. It is said, and rightly so, that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. It is all too true! Many souls are content with feeble desires, wanting and not wanting, promising and not delivering, finally remaining midway along the road or exposing themselves to very great chastisements.

"Nevertheless, there are beautiful souls everywhere that nothing can separate from the love of Christ . . . How fine it is to find, even in the world and in the midst of its vanities, hearts in love like the illustrious lovers of Jesus: Lucy, Cecilia and Agnes. I have known one of these privileged souls intimately, and I will take the liberty to say something about it. There was nothing extraordinary about the piety of this child, who was of high social standing, except her wonderful docility to grace. Endowed with rare natural qualities, a fine mind, many talents and a charming simplicity, she was the unique little queen of her family. Her father especially was proud of his daughter. But since he was a rich and worldly man, he never had a thought about the obstacles to virtue his pious child might encounter in the world. He wanted to enjoy her presence and make her the center of attention at all costs. From the time she was barely fifteen, she had to accompany him everywhere. He took his little queen to every ball, every worldly gathering, every banquet, party and play.

"Now, along with her jewels, this young girl, dressed like a princess, wore a rough hair shirt beneath her silken gown. Whenever she was asked to go to a party, she would tearfully beg not to go, but her father would issue his command. So with tears in her eyes, she would dress and and put on her jewels for the occasion. Before leaving, she would cast herself at the feet of the Sacred Heart and exclaim, 'O beloved Jesus, I leave my heart in Your Heart!'

"Then she went where her father wanted her to, but it was the Master alone Who lived in her. Nothing distracted her, nothing diverted her, nothing disturbed her. Her union to Jesus was so deep that there were moments amid hundreds of people, in a theater or at a dance, when she seemed to be in ecstasy. She told me so without realizing it: 'I feel overcome by something like sleep.' It was Our Lord rewarding her courage and fidelity. When they returned at three o'clock in the morning, she would begin a holy hour and remove the hair shirt that had made her bleed . . . She was a holy child, as I can testify after having followed her for many long years. Very rarely have I encountered such a fervent soul. It puts us to shame! You can see, at least, the result ot a great love For the Master in a heart that He has ravished and captivated.

"Almost everywhere, even among pious persons, we find the Crucified One separated from the Cross. People want to love the One Who is crucified without loving His Cross, but the two are inseparable . . . It is regrettable that so many souls are in illusion on this point. Saint Teresa of Avila said that three-quarters of the prayers addressed to God could be summed up in the following invocation: 'From the cross and suffering, deliver us, O Lord!' And they want to be saints! People listen willingly when someone talks about mortification; they admire the penances of the Desert Fathers and can even say, 'My God, I love You.' But let them receive a pin prick or undergo some contradiction, let trials or sickness come their way, let the cross draw near, and they tremble with dread and do not understand how God can let His servants be so harshly tried . . .

"In conclusion, O apostles of the Heart of Jesus, be sources of life. May each of you be able to say, 'I have given myself to God; I am laboring and suffering so that all those I love may have life.' And you will obtain it by living the faith and love I have spoken to you about. Sacrifices, good works, little daily duties, prayers, trials, all become a source of grace for you with far-reaching consequences; and certain souls that Jesus knows and that you talk about to Him, receive the needed and awaited help, comfort and joy, light, courage and salvation. You act long-distance, like a Divine and very real telepathy. Countless supernatural fruits are communicated by the Communion of Saints and the reversibility of merits. You are conquerors, all the while living in peace and silence, escaping from the dangers of the exterior apostolate. And the principle of this fruitful apostolate, which is the principle of the Saints, is the intensity of a great love."

TAKEN FROM Visites et séjours du Père Mateo à l'Abbaye de Sept-Fons, August 1917 and February 1918.

VIEW THE PAINTING COMMISSIONED AND DISPLAYED AT PARAY-LE-MONIAL, FRANCE


-----Contact Us----

HOME--------------------------------IMMACULATE HEART

www.catholictradition.org/Two-Hearts/sacred-heart18b.htm