Sacred Heart of Jesus: Furnace of Love for the Church

It is certainly true that this adorable Heart is a burning furnace of divine love, radiating its fire and flame in all directions, in heaven, on earth, and even in hell: in heaven in the Church Triumphant, on earth in the Church Militant, and in purgatory in the Church Suffering, and to some degree even in the hell of the damned.

Let us come down to earth and see what is most worthy and great in the Church Militant. It is the holy Sacraments—the Sacrament of Baptism by which we are made children of God; Confirmation, which gives us the Holy Spirit; Penance, which washes away our sins and restores us to God's favor; the Blessed Eucharist, which feeds our souls with the flesh and blood of the Son of God, making us live by His life; Matrimony, which forms children for God, to serve and honor Him on earth and to love and praise Him forever in heaven; Holy Orders, which gives to the Church priests who shall continue the functions of the great High Priest and thus cooperate with Him in the great work of the salvation of the world, so that they bear the name and the character of saviors in Holy Scripture: "And saviors shall ascend Mount Sion" (Obadiah 1:21) and Extreme Unction, which at our departure from this world fortifies us against the enemies of our salvation, who at that last hour make their final endeavor to ruin us.

The seven Sacraments are so many inexhaustible fountains of grace and holiness, which have their source in the immense ocean of the Sacred Heart of our Savior; they are so many flames of a divine furnace from which proceed all spiritual blessings. But the brightest of those flames is the most Holy Eucharist. It is true that this great Sacrament is a compendium of all the wonders of the power, wisdom and goodness of God, but it is also true that it is one of the fruits of the incomparable Heart of Jesus and one of the flames of that wondrous furnace.

Since a solemn feast is celebrated by Holy Church in honor of the Blessed Sacrament, what a solemnity should also be kept in honor of His most Sacred Heart, which is the source of all that is great and rare and precious in this august Sacrament?

Let us, as it were, descend in spirit to purgatory, to the Church Suffering. What is purgatory? It is the awe-inspiring throne of divine justice, which metes out in this place punishments so terrible that St. Thomas says: "The slightest pain suffered there surpasses all the sufferings of this world." (1) St. Augustine says the same thing as the Angelic Doctor. (2) Nevertheless, the terrible justice of God does not hold such sway in purgatory that mercy has no part there. Mercy with justice has constituted purgatory, to open paradise, which would remain closed to the majority of men if purgatory did not exist, because it is a truth of our faith that nothing contaminated shall enter heaven: "There shall not enter into it anything defiled" (Rev 21:27). Thus a soul, even though it had but one venial sin on quitting the body, would never enter paradise unless the merciful Savior had established purgatory to purify it. And so purgatory is a result of the goodness and charity of the most benign Heart of our Redeemer.

Let us descend still lower. Let us go in spirit into hell, since St. Chrysostom declares that not one of those who thus go there during this life to inspire themselves to the work of their salvation with fear and trembling shall descend there after death.

What is hell? It is a place of torment, according to the Holy Gospel: "place of torments" (Lk 16:28); it is "hell-fire" (Mt 18:9); "everlasting punishment" (Mt 25:46)…. in short, it is the place of the vengeance and anger of God. But the infinite mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is manifested there in three ways.

First, His goodness provides that the damned are not punished as much as they deserve; for sin deserves infinite punishment, seeing that it is an offense committed against a God who infinitely deserves to be served and obeyed, and against a God to whom we have infinite obligations. Sin deserves infinite punishment not only as to extent and duration, but also intensively as to the degree and quality of the punishment. Now, although the pains of the reprobate are infinite as to extent and duration, they are limited as to intensiveness and degree, seeing that Our Lord could increase them ever more and more. This He does not do because of the ineffable goodness of His most tender Heart.

Secondly, His justice has established a hell to punish the wicked who die in their sins, but His mercy too has fashioned it, says St. Chrysostom, to inspire the fear of God in the hearts of the good and to lead them to work out their salvation "with fear and trembling" (Eph 6:5).

Thirdly, the unparalleled goodness of our Savior employs the fires of hell to enkindle in our hearts the fire of divine love. In what way? In this manner. If you had deserved punishment by fire, what an obligation you would have to love the person who delivered you from such a heavy penalty! How few persons there are on earth who have never committed a mortal sin! There are very few indeed. And what was the just desert of all those who offended God mortally even but once in their whole life? They have merited hell, but on them alone does it depend to be freed therefrom. To whom do they owe this obligation? To the immense charity of the most kind Heart of our Redeemer, which gives them infinite obligations to serve and to love Him. Acknowledge that the loving kindnesses of the amiable Heart of this divine Savior are exceedingly admirable; that He uses even the fires of hell to draw us to love Him and hence to belong to the number of those who shall possess Him eternally.

And so this divine furnace, the adorable Heart of Jesus, diffuses everywhere its fiery flames, in heaven, on earth, and even in hell. O ineffable goodness! O wondrous love! O God of my heart, would that I possessed all the hearts that have ever been, are, and shall be, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, to employ them in loving, praising and glorifying You unceasingly! O Jesus, only Son of God, only Son of Mary, I offer You the most loving Heart of Your divine Mother which is more precious and pleasing to You than all hearts. O Mary, Mother of Jesus, I offer You the most adorable Heart of Your Well-beloved Son, who is the life and love and joy of Your Heart.

The preceding excerpt is taken from St. John Eudes, The Sacred Heart of Jesus, P. J. Kenedy and Sons, 1946, pages 21-24, and edited by the Order of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary, at www.heartsofjesusandmary.org. The Order of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary is a contemplative community of lay and religious dedicated to serving the Hearts of Jesus and Mary through Eucharistic Adoration, contemplation, and corporal works of mercy.

Notes

(1) Summa IIIa, q. 46, a. 6, ad 3.

(2) "Gravior est ille ignis, quam quidquid potest homo pati in hac vita." Super Psalm. 37; "Ille purgatorius ignis durior erit, quam quidquid potest in hoc saeculo poenarum videri, aut cogitari, aut sentiri." Serm. 4 pro defunctis.