The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Remedy for the Cruelty of an Evil Age

We live in the midst of evil times. Yet it is that we are only at the beginning stages of the absolute descent into madness that must occur when men and their nations do not know the tender mercies of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Modernity “liberated” itself from the sweet yoke of the Cross of the Divine Redeemer in a convulsive manner.

Indeed, the United States of America was the first nation since the conversion of pagan men and barbaric tribes in Europe in the First and early part of the Second Millennium not to acknowledge Christ the King and His true Church, and the French Revolution was characterized by men who openly expressed their hatred for the true Faith and who persecuted those who adhered to it without compromise.

American religious indifferentism has led to the triumph of the pagan, the barbaric and the overtly diabolical. The antitheism of the French Revolution led to the rise of Bolshevism and, more recently, to the European Union as the secular magisterium from which ordinary peons can never dissent.

Cruelty must characterize a world absent the Catholic Faith.

That’s right, cruelty.

Mercilessness.

Revenge.

There is cruelty to innocent preborn babies who are butchered in their mothers’ wombs every day. (Please see the Abortion Clock for the grim statistics.)

There is cruelty to those who are hospitalized and deemed to be “brain dead” in order for their bodily organs to be vivisected in a manner reminiscent of the Aztecs—or those “civilized” English persecutors under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, who personally ordered the drawing and quartering of Catholics who refused to acknowledge her as the head of the church in England. This cruelty extends as well to what is called "palliative care," which is designed to "ease out" those who are critically or terminally ill so that they can experience "death with dignity" (see Chronicling the Adversary's Global Takeover of the Healthcare Industry).

Yes, the modern world was established on the basis of cruelty, of hatred, hatred for Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and His true Church, hatred for His Social Reign over men and their nations and hatred of His Most Blessed Mother, the very Queen of Mercy.

Although we tend to think that our problems have just emerged in recent decades, it is actually the case that the proximate causes of our current theological and social decay are to be found in various elements of the Renaissance and, of course, the Protestant Revolution itself, something that was examined in yesterday’s article. One true pope after another warned us of the dire consequences that have flowed from the Protestant Revolution, which help to unleash the diabolical forces responsible for the rise and triumph of the naturalism of Judeo-Masonry.

There is, however, a remedy at hand for cruelty and hatred at work in the world, and that remedy is be found in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Pope Pius XI the following in an encyclical letter, Caritate Christi Compulsi, May 3, 1932:

Lamenting this unhappy state of things from our innermost heart, We are compelled as by a certain necessity to express, according to our weakness, the same words that came from the love of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, crying out in like manner: "I have compassion on the multitude" (Mark viii. 2). But, indeed, the root itself from which this most unhappy state of things arises is yet more to be lamented; for if that judgment of the Holy Spirit, proclaimed by the Apostle St. Paul, "the desire of money is the root of all evils," was always in close agreement with the facts, this is more than ever true at the present time. For is not that avidity for perishable goods which was justly and rightly mocked, even by a heathen poet as the execrable hunger of gold, "auri sacra fames"; is not that sordid seeking for each one's own benefit, which is very often the only motive by which bonds between either individuals or societies are instituted; and, lastly, is not this cupidity, by whatsoever name or style it is called, the chief reason why we now see, to our sorrow, that mankind is brought to its present critical condition? For it is from this that come the first shoots of a mutual suspicion which saps the strength of any human commerce; hence come the sparks of an envy which accounts the goods of others a loss to itself; hence comes that sordid and excessive self-love which orders and subordinates all things to its own advantage, and not only neglects but tramples upon the advantage of others; and, lastly, hence come the iniquitous disturbance of affairs and the unequal division of "possessions, as a result of which the wealth of nations is heaped up in the hands of a very few private men, who -- as We warned you last year, in Our Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo anno -- control the trade of the whole world at their will, thereby doing immense harm to the people.

4. Now if this excessive love of self and of one's own, by an abuse of the legitimate care for our country and an undue exaltation of the feelings of piety towards our own people (which piety is not condemned but hallowed and strengthened by the right order of Christian charity) encroaches on the mutual relations and the ties between peoples, there is hardly anything so abnormal that it will not be regarded as free from fault; so that the same deed which would be condemned by the judgment of all when it is done by private individuals, is held to be honest and worthy of praise when it is done for the love of the country. In this way, a hatred, which must needs be fatal to all, supplants the Divine law of brotherly love which bound all nations and peoples into one family under one Father who is in Heaven; in the administration of public affairs the Divine laws, which are the standard of all civic life and culture, are trampled under foot; the firm foundations of right and faith, on which the commonwealth rests, are overturned; and, lastly, men corrupt and obliterate the principles handed down by their ancestors, according to which the worship of God and the strict observance of His law form the finest flower and the safest pillar of the state. Furthermore -- and this may be called the most perilous of all these evils -- the enemies of all order, whether they be called Communists or by some other name, exaggerating the very grave straits of the economic crisis, in this great perturbation of morals, with extreme audacity, direct all their efforts to one end, seeking to cast away every bridle from their necks, and breaking the bonds of all law both human and divine, wage an atrocious war against all religion and against God Himself; in this it is their purpose to uproot utterly all knowledge and sense of religion from the minds of men, even from the tenderest age, for they know well that if once the Divine law and knowledge were blotted out from the minds of men there would now be nothing that they could not arrogate to themselves. And thus we now see with our own eyes -- what we have not read of as happening anywhere before -- impious men, agitated by unspeakable fury, shamelessly liking up a banner against God and against all religion throughout the whole world.

5. It is true, indeed, that wicked men were never wanting, nor men who denied the existence of God; but these last were very few in number, and, being alone and singular, they either feared to express their evil mind openly, or thought it inopportune to do so. The Psalmist, inspired by the Divine Spirit, seems to hint this in those words: "The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God" (Ps. xiii. 1, lii. 1); as though he showed us such an impious man, as one solitary in a multitude, denying that God his Maker exists, but shutting up this sin in his innermost mind. But in this age of ours, this most pernicious error is now propagated far and wide amid the multitude, it is insinuated even in the popular schools, and shows itself openly in the theaters; and in order that it may be spread abroad as far as possible, its advocates seek aid from the latest inventions, from what are called cinematographic scenes, from gramophonic and radiophonic concerts and discourses; and possessed of printing offices of their own, they print books in all languages, and, taking a triumphant course, they publicly display the monuments and documents of their impiety. Nor is this enough; for dispersed among political, economical and military parties, and closely associated with them, through their heralds, by means of committees, by pictures and leaflets, and all other possible means, they labor diligently in the evil work of spreading their opinions among all classes and societies, and in the public ways; and to carry this further, supported by the authority and work of their universities, they succeed at last by forceful industry in binding fast those who have incautiously allowed themselves to be aggregated to their body. When We consider all this careful labor devoted to the advantage of an unlawful cause, that most sad complaint of Christ our Lord spontaneously rises in our mind and on our lips: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light" (Luke xvi. 8).

6. Now, the leaders and authors of this iniquitous faction do all they can to turn the present distress and need of all things to their own purpose; and they seek, by infamous cavils, to persuade the people that God and religion are to blame as the cause of all these great evils; and that the sacred Cross of Christ our Savior itself, the ensign of poverty and humility, may be compared with the ensigns of the modern lust of domineering; as though, forsooth, religion was joined in friendly union with those conventicles of darkness which have brought such an immense mass of misery upon the whole world. And by this line of argument they strive, not without fatal effect, to mix up the struggle for daily food, the desire to possess a smallholding, to have a fair wage, an honorable home and, lastly, those conditions of life that are not unworthy of a man, with their iniquitous war against God. It may be added that these same men, going beyond all measure, treat alike the legitimate appetites of nature and its unbridled lusts, so long as this seems to favor their impious plans and institutions; as though the eternal laws promulgated by God were in conflict with man's happiness, whereas they create it and preserve it; or as if the power of man, however much it may be augmented by the latest inventions of art, could prevail against the most mighty will of God the Best and Greatest and give to the world a new and a better order.

7. And now, indeed, which is much to be lamented, immense multitudes of men, having completely lost touch with the truth, adopt these delusions, and believing that they are fighting for livelihood and culture utter violent invectives against God and against religion. Nor is this directed against the Catholic religion alone. For it is against all those that acknowledge God as the Author of this visible world, and as the Supreme Ruler of all things. Moreover, the Secret Societies, which by their nature are ever ready to help the enemies of God and of the Church -- be these who they may -- are seeking to add fresh fires to this poisonous hatred, from which there comes no peace or happiness of the civil order, but the certain ruin of states.

8. In this wise, this new form of impiety, while it removes all checks from the most powerful lusts of man, most impudently proclaims that there will be no peace and no happiness on earth until the last vestige of religion has been uprooted, and the last of its followers beheaded -- as though they thought that the wondrous concert wherein all created things "show forth the glory of God" (cf. Ps. xviii. 2) could ever be reduced to everlasting silence. (Pope Pius XI, Caritate Christi Compulsi, May 3, 1932.)

Does it not seem as though Pope Pius XI was writing to us in our present day, eighty-four years after he issued Cartiate Christi Compulsi?

Pope Pius XI’s words were written at the height of the Great Depression, and the statism that emerged triumphant throughout the former countries of Christendom and elsewhere, including here in the United States of America, after World War II has led to the greatest depression of all: the poverty of the spirit, a poverty that can be found in the midst of the world, governed as it is by elected tyrants who have contempt for the laws of God and men, and in the midst of the counterfeit church of conciliarism, which is governed by truly heartless, cruel men who distort everything in the Sacred Deposit of Faith and thus mock Christ the King while leading men further and further into the abyss by reaffirming them in their lives of utter debauchery.

There is, however, a remedy at hand for cruelty and hatred at work in the world, and that remedy is be found by making reparation to the very fountain of Divine mercy, the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which Pope Pius XI explained in Caritate Christi Compulsi:

31. Let, therefore, this year the Feast of the Sacred Heart be for the whole Church one of holy rivalry of reparation and supplication. Let the faithful hasten in large numbers to the eucharistic board, hasten to the foot of the altar to adore the Redeemer of the world, under the veils of the Sacrament, that you, Venerable Brethren, will have solemnly exposed that day in all churches, let them pour out to that Merciful Heart that has known all the griefs of the human heart, the fullness of their sorrow, the steadfastness of their faith, the trust of their hope, the ardor of their charity. Let them pray to Him, interposing likewise the powerful patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of all graces, for themselves and for their families, for their country, for the Church; let them pray to Him for the Vicar of Christ on earth and for all the other Pastors, who share with him the dread burden of the spiritual government of souls; let them pray for their brethren who believe, for their brethren who err, for unbelievers, for infidels, even for the enemies of God and the Church, that they may be converted, and let them pray for the whole of poor mankind.

32. Let this spirit of prayer and reparation be maintained with keen earnestness and intensity by all the faithful during the entire octave, to which dignity it has pleased Us to raise this feast; and during this octave, in the manner that each of you, Venerable Brethren, according to local circumstances, shall think opportune to prescribe or counsel, let there be public prayers and other devout exercises of piety, for the intentions We have briefly touched on above, "that we may obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid." (Hebr. iv. 16.)

33. May this be indeed for the whole Christian people an octave of reparation and of holy austerity; let these be days of mortification and of prayer. Let the faithful abstain at least from entertainments and amusements however lawful; let those who are in easier circumstances deduct also something voluntarily, in the spirit of Christian renunciation from the moderate measure of their usual manner of life bestowing rather on the poor the proceeds of this retrenchment, since almsgiving is also an excellent means of satisfying divine Justice and drawing down divine mercies. And let the poor, and all those who at this time are facing the hard trial of unemployment and scarcity of food, let them in a like spirit of penance offer with greater resignation the privations imposed on them by these hard times and the state of society, which divine Providence in its inscrutable but ever-loving plan has assigned them. Let them accept with a humble and trustful heart from the hand of God the effects of poverty, rendered harder by the distress in which mankind is now struggling; let them rise more generously even to the divine sublimity of the Cross of Christ, reflecting on the fact, that if work is among the greatest values of life, it was nevertheless love of a suffering God that saved the world; let them take comfort in the certainty that their sacrifices and their trials borne in a Christian spirit will concur efficaciously to hasten the hour of mercy and peace.

34. The divine Heart of Jesus cannot but be moved at the prayers and sacrifices of His Church, and He will finally say to His Spouse, weeping at His feet under the weight of so many griefs and woes: "Great is thy faith; be it done to thee as thou wilt." (Matth. xv. 28.)  (Pope Pius XI, Caritate Christi Compulsi, May 3, 1932.)

This is a message for our day as well, is it not?

Yes, we must do penance for how we have grieved the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus by our sins.

We must do penance for our indifferences to the life-giving stream of Water and Blood that continues to flow forth from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the loving hands of Our Lady, she who is indeed the Mediatrix of All Grace.

We must do penance for the many times we have been distracted or rush in our prayers, for the many times we have been “too busy” to pray, to immersed in the agitation of the world to think in supernatural terms and to spend more time in prayer rather than “surfing” the internet to find the latest source of agitation and angst.

Our Lord Himself wants to enfold us in the tender mercies of His Most Sacred Heart as His consecrated slaves through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

May the Sorrowful Mysteries we pray today on the First Friday in the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, June, which is the very Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, remind us that the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus beat with love for each of us personally as He hung on the gibbet of the Holy Cross. He loves us. He wills our good, the ultimate expression of which is the very salvation of our souls as members of the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation and without which there can be no true social order.

How can we not return love unto Love Himself, who paid back the debt of our sins in His own Most Precious Blood as His Most Sacred Heart was bled dry to make it possible for us to be cleansed in the Baptismal font and in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance?

The Most Sacred Heart of Prisoner of Love awaits our acts of adoration in His Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

May we always beg Our Lady for the graces necessary to show forth the same tender mercies to others that her Divine Son shows for us through His Most Sacred Heart, which was formed out of her own loving Immaculate Heart.

A most blessed Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to you all.

Isn’t it time to pray a Rosary of reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary?Cor Jesu Sacratissimum, miserere nobis.

Cor Jesu Sacratissimum, miserere nobis.

Cor Jesu Sacratissimum, miserere nobis.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.