"The Sacred Heart," by Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS. (Click on the image to purchase).

On the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, please see my article "The Abysses of Love and Mercy of the Heart of Jesus: St. Therese of Lisieux and the Sacred Heart," published on the Web site of the Apostleship of Prayer.  Let me know your thoughts about St. Therese and the Heart of Jesus. 

As it's summer, I thought you'd like to know that Fr. James Kubicki, S.J., director of the Apostleship of Prayer in the United States, is now leading a "Sacred Heart pilgrimage" to various holy places in France.  From Paris he tweeted this photo of the shrine to St. Therese at the Church of Our Lady of Victories, where she prayed fervently before leaving on her pilgrimage to Rome and where she received the grace of realizing that it was really the Blessed Virgin who had cured her of a serious illness when she was ten. 

Our Lady of Victories Church in Paris. We have arrived on pilgrimage in France. pic.twitter.com/Rt6uyoGaSM

— James Kubicki, S.J. (@frjkubickisj) June 21, 2014

Fr. Kubicki and his group also visited the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre, where Therese and the other pilgrims attended Mass on Sunday, November 6, 1887 in the crypt, the only part of the Basilica then completed.  In the Basilica the pilgrims were all consecrated to the Sacred Heart before leaving Paris the next day.

Sacred Heart Basilica in Paris where Eucharistic adoration is 24/7 since 1885. pic.twitter.com/aGZRhxHLIE

— James Kubicki, S.J. (@frjkubickisj) June 21, 2014

Therese wrote this poem in 1895, either in June or in October, at the request of her sister, Marie of the Sacred Heart. She does not understand the Heart of Jesus as demanding reparation, but as "burning with tenderness." Jesus is the "only Friend whom I love," "my happiness, my only hope."  Unable to see his bright face or hear his voice, she still can rest on the Sacred Heart.  In her daring climax, she chooses that Heart for her purgatory.

“To the Sacred Heart of Jesus”

. . . . 

To be able to gaze on your glory,

I know we have to pass through fire.

So I, for my purgatory,

Choose your burning love, O heart of my God!

On leaving this life, my exiled soul

Would like to make an act of pure love,

And then, flying away to Heaven, its Homeland,

Enter straightaway into your Heart.

The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux, tr. Donald Kinney, O.C.D. Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1996, pp. 117-120. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

To read this and all Therese's 54 poems, please order a copy of the book "The Poetry of Saint Therese" by clicking on the icon below. This book is the only English translation from the critical and complete edition of Therese's manuscripts of her poetry. Even if you have read some other translation, I urge you to read this one, which includes the original French text and an English introduction and notes rich in interest.

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You may also read the text (but not the introduction and notes) of "To the Sacred Heart of Jesus" online thanks to the generosity of the Washington Province of Discalced Carmelites and the Web site of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux.