A WOMAN IN LOVE: ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE

Margaret Mary Alacoque was born in Versovres, Autun, France on July 22, 1647 to a pious and relatively wealthy family. She was the fifth of seven children of Claude Alacoque and Philbert Lamyn, a Royal Notary who died when Margaret was 8. After his death, her mother and the family suffered domestic persecution from their relatives which drew her closer to prayer-closer to Christ. At this time, she was sent to the school of the Urbanist Nuns at Charolles where she received the only education she ever had. At the early age of 9 she was allowed to receive her first Communion. Shortly after, she became so sick and bedridden for several years. No remedy could be found for her illness so she was consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary with a promise that if she recovered she would become a nun. As a beautiful young woman she recovered from the illness and later entered the Sisters of the Visitation at the age of 24.

Sixteen months into her vocation, she received the now famous Great Apparitions of the Sacred Heart.

"What was so special about Margaret Mary?", you may ask. That she had the "since childhood" desire for God? That such was her pure intention to become a nun? Maybe, maybe not quite. As children, we never really know what we want to be. As a young adult, she might even have entered with the intent to escape the hardships of dealing with her father's relatives. Whatever her reasons may be, it was, to her, like a leap of faith. She did not have any special powers that drew her to be God's chosen one for those apparitions. She was just as ordinary as you and me. She made decisions like any other human being would: She had a chance to live a "better" life and she took it.

The difference is what she made out of it.

Her experience with the Sacred Heart is like falling in love. When she encountered Christ for the first time, the attraction left her speechless, consumed and radiant. She literally couldn't eat, sleep nor participate in any activity with her fellow nuns. She was aglow and overwhelmed. Like a passionate lover to her Beloved, she was drawn to Him as He was to her. The more time she spent with Him, the more she got to know Him. The more she got to know Him, the deeper she fell in love. More importantly, their love grew as Christ shared the most intimate secrets of His heart to her, a gesture that can only be done by one who is in love. He chose her to bring forth this love story - His unconditional love for all humankind - to every man, woman and child in the world.

But as God created duality in all things, such love is accompanied by suffering. The mystical connection between love and pain can only be known when one experiences it first-hand. St Margaret writes “No one can love without suffering.", for in the course of "building her relationship" with Christ and his Sacred Heart, she experienced physical pain (she felt pain on her side every first Friday of the month whenever Christ appeared) as well as emotional persecution from people around who doubt her claims of the apparition. With this and her own personal struggles, her love was constantly put to the test; yet she fought for the truth and defended it with her very own "secret weapon": Silence.

The profound implications of such a noble virtue illicit humility, obedience and quiet strength to withstand persecution and injustice in the face of carrying out His mission for her; To listen with her heart and with her soul; To persist in spite of her self-doubt; To open herself up to the Sacred Heart as a selfless instrument of His Love and Mercy for mankind even if she was a "simple, ordinary woman who took a leap of faith to a better life."

A better 'eternal' life she got for her accomplished mission.

A better gift she gave to all of us who believe.

The Sacred Heart promised "I will comfort (my devotees) in all their afflictions." Margaret Mary exemplified the keeping of this promise. Because, as there is affliction and suffering in our humanity, the Sacred Heart shares it with us and provides the universal cure for our pain: Love.

Today, October 16th, we celebrate Margaret Mary's 322nd death anniversary. Let her love and simplicity be our inspiration to make our hearts like His.

Let us all be heartstrong like her, never giving up in our love for the Sacred Heart.

HAPPY FEAST OF ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE!

Rev. Fr. Vic Y. Apacible

APPARITIONS OF THE SACRED HEART

APPARITIONS OF THE SACRED HEART

TO SR. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE

On 27 December 1673, Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque, while praying before the Blessed Sacrament, saw in a vision the Sacred Heart at Paray-le-Monial, in central France.

In that very first apparition, Jesus revealed to the young nun His immense and great merciful love for all mankind. Thereafter, two other apparitions followed: one at the beginning of 1674 and the other on July 2 of the same year, always while Sr. Margaret Mary was praying before the Blessed Sacrament.

According to Sister Mary, "He was in a flame of glory; His five wounds burning like suns, flames issuing from all parts of His human form, especially from His divine breast which was like a furnace and which He opened to disclose His utterly affectionate and lovable Heart, the source of all these flames. He revealed to me the indescribable wonders of His pure Heart for humankind. But His eager love had been met only with coldness and rebuffs."

Jesus asked her to "Do me the kindness of at least making up for all their ingratitude. First of all, you are to receive Me in the Holy Eucharist as often as obedience allows. Accept all mortification and humiliation that may result as a token of My Love. Besides this, you are to receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month. Then every Thursday night, you are to get up between eleven o'clock and midnight for an hour, lying face downwards not only to allay God's anger by asking mercy for sinners; but also to soothe in some way the heartaches, I felt when my Apostles deserted me, when I had to reproach them for being unable to watch with Me even for an hour."

A fourth apparition took place on 16 June 1675. It was during that apparition that Jesus requested that a feast honoring the Sacred Heart be established on the First Friday after Corpus Christi (in June). Jesus appeared to her and said. "I am asking you to have the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi set apart as a special feast in honor of my Heart, a day in which to receive Me in Holy Communion and make a solemn act of reparation for the indignities I have received while exposed on the altars of the world."

In those apparitions, Jesus showed to Sr. Margaret Mary His Heart afire with love for all human beings, crowned with thorns (which symbolized the sins of mankind) and pierced with the lance of human sinfulness and ingratitude.

"Behold the Heart that has loved mankind so much," said Jesus, "and which receives so much ingratitude in return."

Not only did Jesus reveal to Sr. Margaret Mary all the depth of His merciful love for all, but also asked the saintly nun to offer REPARATION for the ingratitude and the terrible offenses with which sinners respond to His immense Love. Of these grave offenses, Jesus specifically mentioned the indifference toward the Blessed Sacrament, its profanations, and the unfaithfulness of the persons consecrated to Him.

Among the ways to offer reparation for all these offenses, Jesus singled out the holding of a Holy Hour of Adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament, the Consecration to Him, and the devout reception of Holy Communion on the First Friday of each month.

An integral part of Devotion to the Sacred Heart is thus inspired by the desire of our Lord to have Catholics make solemn reparation for the neglect, indifference and ingratitude of the majority that results in Jesus Christ being left alone, abandoned and forgotten in our altars; never visited to offer consolation for such neglect, though He has given us the miracle of His Divine Presence in the Most Holy Blessed Sacrament, as a supreme gift in His desire to be always with us.