§ 2. Method.
As we have just seen, the definition of true holiness is simple: “My son, abandon yourself, and you will find me.” Thus, the method leading to it will also be simple. The one we present is neither troublesome nor complicated.
It involves consecration to the Sacred Heart, a complete and eternal surrender, and the FULL PRACTICE OF ONE OF THE NINE “SERVICES” to manifest and enliven this sacrifice of oneself. It also requires a preliminary condition, which we will now explain.
I. Required Condition
The necessary condition is nothing other than a resolute will to fully surrender oneself, with Jesus Christ as its sole object, its sole source, and its sole reward.
This surrender must be complete, we say. For a life of consecration does not allow division; it does not tolerate hours when we forget ourselves alongside hours when we seek ourselves. Thus, this self-surrender must extend to the entirety of life. However, it can have degrees of intensity, which we will address later.
It is clear that the ultimate goal of this surrender could not be the Sacred Heart if its object were anything other than Jesus Christ Himself, His venerable person, or some form of His service.
It must have its sole source in Christ. If it stemmed from human motives, how could it lead to holiness, which has Christ the Lord as its sole foundation?
Finally, it must find its exclusive reward in Jesus Christ. It will lose its sincerity to the extent that we look back at ourselves.
Here, we must beware of a threefold self-seeking. One may become attached: to personal honor, especially the kind that virtue attracts; to the tender gratitude of those we help; or to the joy and inner consolation we experience in God’s service.
Our consecration must be freed, liberated from these attachments; independent of all vanity and all indulgence of self-love.
And such consecration must spring from a firm resolve of the will. A fleeting surge of zeal is not enough, nor is it sufficient to rest on holy desires. One must know how to promise and to keep that promise.
Inconstancy in resolutions is a humiliating fact that demoralizes us, undermining the energy needed for good deeds. Let us not commit thoughtlessly to sacrifices beyond strict duty. Let us honestly assess our spiritual resources. A sincerely acknowledged deficiency spurs corrective effort. An imagined positive balance lulls the spirit into false and fruitless repose.
Instead of a flattering voice that presents us as better than we are, let us listen to the inner voice that reproaches our indifference and sloth and points out our cowardice. By candidly admitting our shortcomings, we will eventually overcome them.
If, therefore, an honest examination of conscience reveals that we do not meet this preliminary condition, let us first strive to fulfill it, promising nothing else for now.
**II. Exercises**
We indicated these at the beginning of this section. They are not new. They require no portion of our time. The key is to understand them well.
**A. Consecration to the Sacred Heart.**
We have already noted that we do not understand the act of consecration here as merely reciting, even piously, a formula expressing homage or atonement for wrongs committed. It is about a commitment, based on thorough and mature reflection; an acceptance of a duty whose content and importance we have fully considered, whose burdens we loyally take upon ourselves, which we regard as a point of honor, and which, after sufficient experience and with the advice of a prudent spiritual director, we may even make the subject of a vow.
Such a commitment gives a particular significance to our entire life. It makes us, in the beautiful words of Blessed Fr. de la Colombière, a new creation of God’s love.
This is the act of consecration, of surrender, as understood by this servant of God and St. Margaret Mary. Whoever surrenders in this way pledges to live entirely for the Sacred Heart, offering it a true sacrifice of oneself, to lead a life of consecration in the strict sense of the term—a pure and disinterested consecration to the service of the Heart of Jesus, bearing all the characteristics described above.
Although this surrender should have these qualities from the outset, it can be imagined as more or less effective and fruitful. One can distinguish a higher, ideal degree, which is the ultimate goal of the soul’s desires and aspirations, the summit it strives toward, and a lower degree, attainable immediately, right now.
What was St. Margaret Mary thinking when, in her act of consecration, she declared that “she gives and consecrates herself to the Sacred Heart, to henceforth honor, love, and glorify it alone with every part of her being, that it is her irrevocable resolve to belong entirely to it and to do everything for its love”?
And Blessed Fr. de la Colombière, with what awareness of the sacrifice of himself did he write: “I consecrate myself to Your Sacred Heart in the most perfect and fullest measure possible for me… God forbid that my treasure should ever be anything other than its poverty, my delight anything other than its sorrows, my love anyone other than Him alone! No, no, beloved Savior, I will never detach myself from You and will always be bound only to You.”
Others, far less advanced in perfection than these two heroes, can with all truth and sincerity adopt these same expressions, giving them the significance their current state allows, with strong hope of achieving something greater in the future. The essential thing is that their sacrifice, in some way, encompasses EVERYTHING.
From this perspective, it seems we can distinguish three main ways of forgetting oneself, that is, of surrendering to Christ the Lord.
The FIRST excludes all purely human attachments and all primary seeking of personal satisfaction. Whether an act is of great or small significance, if I perform it with deliberation, its exclusive or predominant motive will never be the satisfaction or pleasure it brings me. At this degree, we still accept a reasonable measure of comfort and satisfaction, but we do not seek these unless a higher purpose guides the action.
This degree adds a very small measure of constant sacrifice to duty. Moderate pleasure plays a useful role, making it permissible to pursue it. However, it is only a lower-order good, easily abused. At this first degree of self-denial, we generally renounce even permissible pleasure unless a higher motive ennobles our pursuit of it.
The SECOND way excludes voluntarily seeking any personal pleasure and does not allow consciously dwelling on those that arise spontaneously.
Let us understand this clearly. Seeking personal pleasure is one thing; allowing recreation, rest, or enjoyment for a higher reason is another. I stand before a beautiful landscape. I gaze at it and admire it. This sight, which brings me joy, can it not elevate me to God? If I discover Him there and wish to love only Him in this sight, there is no self-seeking.
And those heartfelt consolations, sweet feelings, and delights we sometimes experience while praying to God, serving Him, or sacrificing for Him? These are providential aids and supports, which it would generally be imprudent to reject when God offers them to our weakness. However, we must not become attached to them. While accepting these graces with humble gratitude, let us avoid turning to vain self-satisfaction or personal honor, which they may occasion. Let us use these graces to unite ourselves more closely with the tender Father who consoles His children.
The THIRD way is a holy eagerness, within permissible bounds, for all that humbles and costs. This is the most complete self-consecration possible, a kind of race of generosity between God and His beloved creature, in which we will be deeply convinced that God always remains the victor.
Let us summarize these thoughts. Imagine three travelers, all resolved not to choose any path for pleasure alone. The first still lingers over beautiful sights along the way. The second pays them no heed or gives them just enough attention to yearn more fervently for the far more enchanting sights awaiting at the journey’s end. The third takes the shortest path, choosing the one that seems hardest and most arduous. These three ways of traveling aptly represent, it seems to us, the three kinds of surrender to the Heart of Jesus.
God loves a cheerful giver! (2 Cor. 9:7.) God loves one who gives with joy. Need we point this out? Such commitments should be undertaken with a serene brow and a joyful heart. God’s goodness has opened a wide field for our initiative, our impulses, and our generous resolves. Everything here must be voluntary, and coercion banished. God does not command here; He invites. Love comes to the fore, never fear. And if the burden seems too heavy to bear joyfully, take as much of it as you can, train your strength, and ask God to help you do more.
Moreover, between these three main degrees, there is room for many intermediate ones. Let each choose the measure of generous magnanimity that matches their strength. The essential thing is to adopt in life, out of love for the Savior, His strategy of self-denial, not the world’s strategy of indulgence. This means offering the Sacred Heart a certain kind of constant renunciation.
We say CONSTANT renunciation. Moments of fleeting weakness will thus be the result of mere surprise and do not yet signify backsliding. On the other hand, acts of a higher degree will naturally intertwine with the practice to which we have committed. These acts, performed more frequently, will prepare the soul for new renunciations. Ah, said St. Ignatius, when a person lets themselves be carried by the breath of grace, to what heights can they then soar!
This is the way to present the sacrifice that first comes to mind. We view it here in its austere form. Let us see how freely St. John of the Cross regarded it. Quoting Christ’s words on self-denial, the saint exclaims: “Oh, who can worthily express, who can faithfully practice, what is contained in this sublime skill of self-denial! … Truly spiritual people seek what is distasteful rather than what is sweet. They are more drawn to suffering than to consolations, more inclined to strip themselves of all goods for the love of God than to possess them, more delighted in dryness and affliction than in spiritual consolations and sweetness. They know that to divest themselves of everything in this way is to follow Christ…
To seek God in Himself is to want and seek, for the sake of our Savior, what is most troubling in the inner life, whether it comes from God or from creatures. And this, without doubt, is a sign of true love for God.
“Oh, who can say to what severity God wants us to carry this self-denial? It should be, as to the will, a kind of natural death and annihilation of all created things. And in this very spiritual death lies all our good, as the Son of God teaches us when He says that whoever wishes to save their soul will lose it.”
Is such language suitable only for saints whose mortifications terrify us? Not at all. St. John Berchmans, whose holiness is so captivating, expresses himself no differently: “Let what is sweet be bitter to you, and what is bitter, consider as sweetness.” This is one of his favorite maxims.
However, we can also take the perspective of love and distinguish three ways of loving God with our whole heart.
In all circumstances, pleasant or painful, that befall or impose themselves upon us, in every duty, every noble task, or every beautiful supererogatory act, we can love, fully love, the expression of God’s will. We can then love only that will and, for its sake, forget everything else. Finally, we can love it for its own sake, not even desiring the happiness that flows from this love.
This form, less daunting to our weakness, more enticing to our generosity, also makes us more clearly resemble Jesus Christ.
As the perfect man, He needed neither to suppress nor anticipate any internal rebellion, nor to fear any seductive allure of creatures. Everything in Him was life; nothing in Him had to die. His holiness, His immaculateness, did not admit of mortification in the strict sense. He could feast on the will of the Heavenly Father (John 4:34), seek His sole delight in fulfilling that will, and expose Himself to all torments for it. And so He did in reality. The Cross—for Christ—is the heroic execution of the Father’s good pleasure, the perfect testimony of His love for that Father (John 14:31). “Thy will be done”—this was on earth, and is in heaven, the ceaseless, eternal desire of His heart. And the sweetness of this “Fiat” He referred not to any human self—for there was no human ego in Him—but to His divine person, and thus to the Most Holy Trinity, with which He shares one divine essence and nature.
Divine life itself—how can it be understood otherwise than as an eternal act by which God, loving Himself, pours out, without any compulsion, all the good that exists? And He does so through a completely disinterested goodness, not for His own benefit or to increase His happiness.
As a theological virtue, charity should establish us in God, ensuring our participation in divine life. And here is the miracle it performs: it places God in our place as the center of love and activity. When we consent to this shift of our center beyond ourselves and, no longer looking back at the human self, wish to refer everything to God, even the love we have for ourselves, this highest degree of self-denial and love makes us, to the fullest extent possible, imitators of God. We then begin to truly live the divine life.
Is it not evident how helpful such consecration to the Sacred Heart, as described above, will be in realizing such lofty plans?
The goal was love. Through consecration, love also becomes the sweet path leading to that goal. Consecration delivers us to Christ, whom we should resemble. Does this not clearly and consciously include accepting God’s plan, which saves and sanctifies us through Christ? To reach God, we choose the path He Himself traced for His grace to reach us.
Thus, we can, without exaggeration, consider such consecration as a foundational act that powerfully and wonderfully unites divine love with devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout our mortal life.
For performing this act, choose a day whose holiness would further elevate the solemnity of our surrender. The Feast of the Sacred Heart is excellently suited for this purpose. And the first Friday of each month will be a preordained day for renewing our consecration and infusing it with new fervor.
A FORMULA of consecration, if it is your own creation, will allow you to better understand the meaning of the words used. You will find in it a truer echo of your heart. On the other hand, by adopting a formula endorsed by the Church’s approval and the holiness of its author, you can, while reciting it, recall the generous fidelity with which chosen souls kept faith with their heavenly Spouse. In this regard, the acts of St. Margaret Mary and her spiritual director, marked by the strength of their sentiment, deserve particular attention. Let each reflect, weigh these benefits, and choose the formula that best suits the state of their soul.
**B. “Services” Rendered to the Sacred Heart.**
This consecration, periodically renewed, will lead us onto the true path of holiness and keep us on it. However, to avoid faltering in progress, a daily practice is needed to ensure the constant and increasingly perfect execution of the great resolve to forget oneself and replace self-love with the love of Jesus Christ.
Such a practice is provided by a devotion well-known to religious and even to the faithful. Although it does not come directly from St. Margaret Mary, it is based on her revelations, writings, and counsels.
The devotion of the “nine services” rendered to the Sacred Heart consists in establishing and maintaining a partnership between heaven and earth to glorify, love, and honor the Divine Heart. The earthly partners pledge to offer the Heart of Jesus a special tribute of adoration and love each month. They unite with one of the heavenly choirs and choose certain saints as patrons for assistance and to supplement their own deficiencies.
This practice seems highly suited to our purpose. For each service reveals in the Sacred Heart of Jesus a particular reason for complete surrender to Him; each service assigns to this surrender a specific task to fulfill.
Such consideration of the matter from various angles will enable us to better understand what we have promised. And the variety of exercises will prevent routine or weariness.
To imbue ourselves with the spirit of the “service” assigned to us, to realize the duties it imposes, and to motivate ourselves to fulfill them, we propose making a heartfelt meditation on it on the first Friday of each month, which can be profitably revisited on any other Friday. These meditations are best conducted before the Blessed Sacrament.
To this end, the third part will first include meditations on the services. They will be arranged according to a uniform plan, always leading to a twofold outcome: enlightening our steps and strengthening them on the path of self-denial through devotion to the Sacred Heart.
For each service, we will provide material for four meditations, the first two being more developed than the last two. The material seems sufficiently rich for each to select what best suits their inclination and zeal.
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Devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Practice and Theory
Translated by Fr. Herman Libiński, S.J.
Kraków 1933
Jesuit Fathers Publishing House
Devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Practice and Theory
Catholic during the Great Apostasy 
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