“Prayer is the heart of faith: Lord, teach us to pray” the theme of the Eucharistic Adoration for the Vigil of the Sacred Heart by the Catechist Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, of via San Michele in Marcianise, which took place yesterday, Thursday 6 June. Feast which this year falls today, Friday 7th, celebrated with a religious service in the morning and a fraternal agape in the evening. A solemnity characterized by a movable date and celebrated on the first Friday after Corpus Christi. The World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of the Clergy is also celebrated on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. During the celebration and Eucharistic Adoration for the Vigil officiated by the parish priest Pasqualino Rubino with the deacon Augustine Half-head, another intense moment, the renewal of the solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience of the catechist nuns and together with the renewal of the promise of the associates. Let us remember that the origin of the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus dates back to the 15th century, when it was holy Margherita Alocoque he had a vision of the heart of Jesus on a throne of flames, surrounded by a crown of thorns. In another vision Jesus asks her to establish a celebration to honor her Heart and repair, with prayer, the offenses he receives.
The vigil of the Feast of the Sacred Heart, a solemnity of the Church, followed a novena of celebrations, nine days of prayers with liturgical songs animated by Mrs. Assunta Ventriglia who directed the choir of the devotees. The priests of Forania took turns at the celebrations, held in the chapel of the Missionary nuns. Numerous faithful participated. A real triumph. The celebration in the House of Prayer of Marcianise by the MCSC nuns with the Association “Eustachio Montemurro” chaired by Carmela Russian, with secretary Dorotea De Simone. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is represented in traditional iconography in Christ crowned with thorns, dominated by the cross and wounded by the spear, or with the heart surrounded by flames of merciful ardor for sinners.
“The love of Jesus, said the Pope, is one with his Mercy, with the forgiveness offered to anyone who asks for it.” At its origins, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, a cult, a very popular devotion that inspired churches, universities and oratories, sinking its values and origins starting from the visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque – the French mystic, the messenger of the cult who in 1856 Pope Pius IX extended it to the entire Catholic Church – at the thought of Pope Francis who contemplates the most spiritual value of the holiday: “not a little image – he said – but the heart of revelation.” An intense spirituality. The same spirituality, which envelops and characterizes the entire action and figure of Father Eustachio Montemurro, as founder of the religious Congregation and his charisma: a contemplative of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who bases his works as a doctor, educator and priest, on an intense spiritual impulse. “Do not desire anything – Father Eustachio teaches us as he prays – desire the humble state and Jesus, Your love, will elevate you if He likes it and if it benefits you. (…) Lord, do you speak to this unworthy son who always offends you, who has unbridled desires for vainglory and self-love? Lord, you have forgotten my serious sins, so let me make amends for them. Make me holy, my beloved Jesus, make me devoted to You, to combat my vainglory and my pride.”
Ernesto Genoni
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