Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is intimately connected to the apparition of the Virgin of Revelation who told Bruno, “The nine first Fridays to the Sacred Heart, a divine promise, has saved you.” In fact, during the apparition on the 12th April 1947, the Virgin of Revelation spoke of devotion to the Sacred Heart and the ‘First white love’ – the Eucharist encouraging everyone saying, “do not ever tire of being close to Jesus’ Eucharistic heart”. Inspired by Our Lady’s exhortation, we thought that the best way to conclude the month dedicated to devotion to the Sacred Heart was a hold a Eucharistic Vigil to warm His Heart with our love just as the Virgin of Revelation said. The rector of the Sanctuary, Fr Piergiorgio Vitelli, welcomed the idea to mark the conclusion of this month with special devotions to the Sacred Heart.
Mons. Guido Marini, Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies, presided over the devotions and during his meditation he invited us to listen to the Heart of Jesus truly Present in the Eucharist. Mons. Marini stressed the fact that it is possible to ‘hear’ the words of the Lord in our hearts during Eucharistic Adoration during a beautiful loving encounter with the Lord.
The Maestro proposed seven words to guide our meditation: Faith that is at the centre of our existence and it guides all that we do. The hope to look into the future knowing that Our Lord sustains us in all things and that one day we will have our definitive meeting with Him. Charity that is not our love of God, but rather, God’s love that lives in us and wants to reach out to meet the whole world through us. When we are before the Eucharist we are before the Blessed Trinity who is Love. It is this Love that is present and sustains us in every moment of our lives. Church – without the Church there is no Jesus. This fact alone should be enough for us to love the Church. Reparation - the Lord’s Heart was opened by a lance and our sins also wound the Lord. Therefore, we must make reparation for all the ways we refuse the Lord’s loving call for our lives. Finally, Communion – we are called to love as the Lord wants us to love so that we can grow in communion with God and our brothers just like the saints! The Maestro concluded his meditation by encouraging us to love the Lord with a new intensity because, as St Ignatius of Antioch said, “nothing is better than Jesus Christ”.
The meditation by the Mons Marini can be viewed here with English Subtitles (you need to select this option on YouTube):
Amidst lighted candles, the congregation sang the Litany to the Sacred Heart followed by the hymn, Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Their lighted candles were a reminder of hearts aglow with the love of God and a symbol of the fact that the Sacred Heart dispels the darkness in our lives to show us the way to live life more fully with hearts full of love for God and our friends in the faith.
The devotions concluded with a hymn to the Virgin of Revelation who encourages us to always, “Go to my Eucharistic Son and warm Him with your love”.
God Bless Us
And the Virgin Protect Us
Technical problems during the live stream caused problems with the video’s audio presentation. A video with an improved sound can be viewed here (in Italian): VIDEO Link