Читать книгу Perpetual Intercession to the Agonizing Heart of Jesus - Jean Lyonnard - Страница 11

PERPETUAL INTERCESSION TO

in His Agony in the Garden of Olives; and, by the merits of that long agony, to obtain the grace of a good death for the eighty thousand who die each day. This number is not exaggerated, it is an ascer- tained fact.

The excellence and advantages of this Confraternity are obvious. Its special object of veneration is among the greatest, the holiest, the most perfect, that can be found in heaven or on earth, for it is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, considered in the most touching manifestations of Its love, in all that It has endured for our salvation; it is the Agonizing Heart of the only Son of God, equal to Him from all eternity; of the only Son of the Immaculate Virgin, born of her, in time, by the divine power of the Holy Spirit.

It meets the most urgent and important need of souls; of the countless multitudes who are dying each day. The eternal fate of thousands will be decided within the next twenty-four hours, a few minutes will seal that of a vast number. Alas! how many of them are in a state of mortal sin, and there- fore on the very brink of hell! Can any need be greater than theirs? What can be

THE AGONIZING HEART OF JESUS.

more important than to beseech God, by the Holy Agony of Jesus, to show mercy to these poor creatures now in their agony? Hell is ready to swallow them up, will you not try to rescue them? Christians, pray, intercede for them. To-morrow it will be too late! In a few minutes, eternity will have begun for many of them.

The advantages of this Confraternity, and the motives for belonging to it, are weighty and numerous. In the first place, it offers a perpetual honourable reparation, a continual homage to the agonizing heart of Jesus. Those who love Him cannot but feel the power of such a motive. In the present day, the efforts of His love are often frustrated by the ingratitude and malice of His own chil- dren; justice calls upon us to make Him all the reparation in our power. In the second place, the Confraternity has already obtained, and will, we may hope, continue to obtain, countless graces for the dying. We can never duly appreciate these benefits, till we know, what the heart of man hath never known, what his eyes hath not seen, nor his ear heard; the ineffable happiness of heaven, the inexpressible misery of hell. An eternity of bliss! An eternity of torment! Joy or