"Do not imagine that I am going to speak to you of anything but My Cross. By it I saved the world; by it I will bring the world back to the truths of the Faith and to the Way of Love.
I will manifest My will to you: I saved the world from the Cross, that is to say, through suffering. You know that sin is an infinite offense and needs infinite reparation. That is why I ask you to offer up your sufferings and labors in union with the infinite merits of My Heart. You know that My Heart is yours. Take It, therefore, and repair by It. Instil love and trust into the souls that come in contact with you. Bathe them in love, bathe them in confidence in the goodness and mercy of My Heart. Whenever you can, speak of me and make me known; tell them always not to fear, for I am a God of love.
I recommend three practices very specially to you:
First: The practice of the Holy Hour, because it is one of the ways by which an infinite reparation can be offered up to God the Father, through the mediation of Jesus Christ His Divine Son.
Second: the devotion of the five Paters in honour of My wounds, since through them the world was saved.
Third: Constant union, or rather daily offering of the merits of My Heart, because by so doing you will give to all your actions an infinite value.
Unceasingly use My Life, My Blood, My Heart. Confide constantly and without any fear in this Heart: this secret is known to few; I want you to know it and to profit by it." (See file A Cup of Cold Water)
Then after a few definite requests addressed to the Society, Our Lord added: "Rest in My peace. I love you, I guide you, I defend you, so never have any doubts of My loving kindness." (WDL 405: Way of Divine Love, p. 405)
On Friday, Sept. 8, 1922, towards evening He came “as a poor man hungry and begging” she wrote, thus accurately describing the atmosphere of sad appeal that seemed to envelop His whole person.
"O slake My thirst to be loved by souls, especially to be loved by those I have chosen. That soul is oblivious of My love," He went on, alluding to the unfaithful priest. "It is his ingratitude that puts Me into this state."
"Then," wrote Josefa, "I begged Him to accept all the little acts done here, the sufferings of the house, and above all the very real desire we all have to comfort and please Him. I asked Him to purify and transform these very little things, and give them some value in His sight.
"I do not look at the act itself, I look at the intention," He replied. "The smallest act, if done out of love, acquires such merit that it gives Me immense consolation. I want only love, I ask for nothing else." (WDL 193)
On June 11, 1923, Our Lord said to Josefa: "How often in the course of the ages have I, in one way or another, made known my love for men: I have shown them how ardently I desire their salvation. I have revealed My Heart to them. This devotion has been as light cast over the whole earth, and to-day it is a powerful means of gaining souls, and so of extending My kingdom.
Now, I want something more, for if I long for love in response to My own, this is not the only return I desire from souls: I want them all to have confidence in My mercy, to expect all from My clemency, and never to doubt My readiness to forgive.
I am God, but a God of love! I am a Father, but a Father full of compassion and never harsh. My Heart is infinitely holy but also infinitely wise, and knowing human frailty and infirmity, stoops to poor sinners with infinite mercy.
I love those who after a first fall come to Me for pardon. I love them still more when they beg pardon for their second sin, and should this happen again, I do not say a million times but a million million times, I still love them and pardon them, and I will wash in My Blood their last as fully as their first sin. (Rev. 1:5)
Never shall I weary of repentant sinners, nor cease from hoping for their return, and the greater their distress, the greater My welcome. Does not a father love a sick child with special affection? Are not his care and solicitude greater? So is the tenderness and compassion of My Heart more abundant for sinners than for the just.
This is what I wish all to know. I will teach sinners that the mercy of My Heart is inexhaustible. Let the callous and indifferent know that My Heart is a fire which will enkindle them, (Heb. 12:29; Deut. 4:24) because I love them. To devout and saintly souls I would be the Way, that making great strides in perfection, they may safely reach the harbor of eternal beatitude. ..... It is so easy to trust completely in My Heart!" -- June 1923. WDL 353
On Feb. 19, 1923, Our Lord said to Josefa: "It was My intention, also, to show souls that I never refuse grace even to those who are guilty of grave sin; nor do I separate them from the good whom I love with predilection. I keep them all in My Heart, that all may receive the help required by their state of soul.
But how great was My sorrow to see in the person of My unhappy disciple Judas, the throng of those who, though often gathered at My feet and washed with My Blood, would yet hasten to their eternal perdition.
I would have these to understand that it is not the fact of being in sin that ought to keep them from Me. They must never think that there is no remedy for them, nor that they have forfeited for ever the love that once was theirs. No, poor souls, the God who has shed all His Blood for you, has no such feelings for you!
Come all of you to Me, and fear not, for I love you all. I will wash you in my blood (Rev. 1:5) and you shall be made whiter than snow. (Ps. 51:7; Is. 1:18) All your offenses will be submerged in the waters in which I Myself shall wash you, nor shall anything whatsoever be able to tear from My Heart Its love for you." (WDL 243)
(Selections from The Way of Divine Love, the Message of the Sacred Heart to the World,ON Oct. 15, 1923, in the silence of the retreat which had been going on, our Lord came to continue giving the Message which had been so painfully interrupted.
The Way of Divine Love, by Josefa Menendez. --- This book is more than an account of extraordinary graces granted to a humble soul; it is the message that Our Lord Himself desired to be made known to the world. It is truly a spiritual classic. Approved by Pope Pius XII. 506 pgs. - soft cover - $3.50 + $4.00 shipping.
J.M.J. Book Company, P.O. Box 15,
Necedah, WI 54646 ------------------ Tel. (608) 565-2516
by Josefa Menendez, Sister of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 1890--1923.)