(ANS – Rome) – The third of the articles which Don Bosco had published in the Salesian Bulletin in 1886 to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart goes straight to ‘the heart of the Heart of Jesus’: In this third issue of the column, published in April, this devotion is analysed, explored and re-proposed as a special way to arrive at an understanding of the true value of what the author defines as ‘the most beautiful and greatest work, the masterpiece of the Heart of Jesus’: the Eucharist, precisely, the gift that Christ made of Himself as nourishment for the earthly journey.
The text, which could not fail to refer several times also to St Francis de Sales, a model of the pastor for Don Bosco and himself linked to the spread of devotion to the Heart of Jesus, opens with an ardent exaltation of the Eucharist, and the quotation taken precisely from St Francis de Sales of the Eucharist as the ‘Love of Loves’, the greatest gift received by humanity, superior even to the noblest acts performed by Jesus in his earthly life.
The author emphasises how Christ himself, before instituting the Sacrament, wished to prepare an understanding of it through the multiplication of the loaves and a discourse delivered in the synagogue at Capernaum. And this is because Jesus’ entire life, he explains, tends towards this culminating gesture of love, in which he gives himself entirely to humanity.
Then lamenting – already at the end of the 19th century! –that many Christians are moving away from frequent Communion which is the very soul of Christianity, Don Bosco cites and recalls the Dream of the Two Pillars, reiterating that for a true believer ‘there is no true Catholicism without Our Lady and the Eucharist’: Mary as the mother of faith and the Eucharist as its fulfilment are thus reaffirmed in one fell swoop.
In the continuation of the text, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is presented as the privileged way to renew love, faith in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and in general to relaunch Christian life and life in general. ‘Shall we infuse this weak and sluggish society with a principle of strength, virtue and valour, this rotten and gangrenous society with a powerful breath of chastity, of incorruption, of immortality? Let us ardently promote and practise devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus!’
Observing how devotion to the Heart of Jesus and to the Eucharist is a sure viaticum for growth in faith and holiness of life, St Francis de Sales is again proposed as a model, who passed on to his Visitation Sisters – the Order of the Visitation of St Mary, which he founded – a profound veneration for the Eucharist, aware that through it God dwells ‘familiarly and intimately with us’ and perfects the human being.
The Church too, it is added, recognises the link between the Eucharist and devotion to the Sacred Heart, so much so that in granting liturgical approval to the relative feast, the Holy See explicitly declared that it served to make the love of Christ manifested in the sacrifice and in the Sacrament shine forth.
Lastly, taking the reflection from the highest theological heights to the real concreteness of needs and practical necessities for pastoral work, Don Bosco once again invites support for the construction of the Sacred Heart Church in Rome, so that it may become the beating heart of this devotion throughout the Church.
Particularly noteworthy is that in this article of April 1886 he also added to the appeal in favour of the sacred building the appeal for a hospice for young people, pointing out that the Esquiline district where the church and hospice were to be built was inhabited by many young people without guidance, and adding that where pagan temples had once stood, the time had come to build a Christian institute that would form ‘sentinels destined to watch over for the glory of the true God and the salvation of souls’.
The full text of the article written for the Salesian Bulletin of 1886 is available in the original Italian version of the time below.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
April: The Heart of Jesus and the Eucharist
Most divine among divine things is the Eucharist, this marvel of marvels, rightly called the most beautiful and greatest work, the masterpiece of the Heart of Jesus. The most splendid acts, the most luminous examples of goodness and tenderness, with which the life of the Divine Redeemer is sprinkled, yield, are eclipsed before this which St. Francis de Sales called the Love of loves. What is good and beautiful in Him (Lord, God), exclaimed the prophet Zechariah, if not the wheat of the elect and the wine that makes virgins sprout? Quid enim bonum eius et quid pulchrum eius, nisi frumentum electorum et vinum germinans virgines? (C. IX, 17). Thus it is that to this superhuman work of power and goodness were constantly directed throughout the mortal life of Jesus his most lively and ardent desires, the noblest and most generous beats of his Heart. And so that we might understand the supernatural height of the gift and its infinite consequence for faith, He Himself wanted, even before performing it, to explain it to us and how to handle it with singular care this act of such delicacy, nobility and importance, having it preceded by the stupendous miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and choosing as the place of his speech both the Synagogue, where the people flocked from every part, and Capernaum, one of the largest and most populous cities of Judea (John VI, 48 ff.). But finally the memorable hour arrives, established by eternity for the institution of this ineffable Sacrament, and here too a new subject of wonder appears before us in the affectionately solemn circumstance, in the kind and gentle words, in the supremely delicate and paternal demeanor of the good Jesus (Luke XXII, 15 and following). Now what more could He do to insinuate into us both the superhuman sweetness of the Eucharist, and its importance, indeed its necessity, in the life of a Christian? This last thing can never be remembered enough, especially in our day, in which we unfortunately see a form of Christianity spreading too much and almost claiming to justify itself, which in practice would do without frequent Holy Communion. There is no Catholicism, our beloved Don Bosco once said in his eloquent simplicity, where there is no Madonna and the Eucharist. And rightly so, since if Christianity owes its origin and life in Jesus to Mary, the Eucharist is what constitutes its soul, its fulfillment, its perfection. Woe to society in general! Woe to nations, cities, educational institutions, where frequent Communion does not reign! Their moral religious existence cannot last, their days are numbered!
Or do we want to revive in our souls and in others the faith and love of the Eucharist? Do we want this faith and this love to be translated into works, so as to revive the most beautiful times of Christianity? Do we want to infuse into this weak and feeble society a principle of strength, virtue and value, into this corrupt and menacing gangrenous society a powerful breath of chastity, incorruption, immortality? Let us promote and practice with ardor the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And that this is in fact the principal, primary purpose of this most sweet devotion, we well learn from that one of the Saints to whom the high significance and propagation of such a devotion is most particularly due, namely, our St. Francis de Sales. It is enough to take a look at his life to quickly understand that in consigning to the Daughters of the Visitation, instituted by him, the precious deposit of this dear devotion, he wanted first of all to keep them devoted to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, through which the Divine Redeemer gives us His Heart, indeed in a certain way makes us masters of it. “Greet frequently,” wrote the holy Bishop, “the Heart of this Divine Savior, who to show us His love hid Himself under the appearance of bread, in order to dwell familiarly and intimately with us. Love, continued the holy Prelate, will make you know how great is the love of our God, who, to make Himself more ours, wanted to give us Himself as food for the spiritual health of our hearts, so that, by nourishing them, they might be more perfect.” Thus it is that the Church, affectionate mother and infallible teacher, in approving the feast and the Offices in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, declared that she did so “so that the faithful under the image of the Sacred Heart honor with greater devotion, fervor and spiritual advantage to their love that Jesus Christ shows us in his passion and death and in the institution of the Divine Sacrament.” Thus the Heart of Jesus, from which the Eucharist was born with the beginnings of the Church, symbolized by the Fathers and Doctors in the Blood flowing from the wound made by the lance, had to be in the moral and religious decrepitude of the world also the means, the most powerful instrument to make it live again and be reborn in the minds, hearts and works of depraved Christians, thus becoming the beginning and end, origin and end of the most august of the Sacraments.
But this devotion must have a place where it has its own special abode; this most lovable Heart must have a temple, from where, as from a center, its beneficial rays spread throughout the world. Now what other city could be more suitable for this than Rome, the center and life of the universal Church? What other place could be more suitable than that district of it, where so many people, far from the ancient basilicas and churches, live deprived of the word of God, and where thousands of poor young people without relatives, without protectors, without bread, coming from all parts of Italy, not to mention the world, incessantly ask for a hospice that will save them from the ruin of soul and body? Oh, then, let that monument arise and be completed with the church and the hospice of the Sacred Heart, where faith has what is most august, and charity what is most tender. May it arise to eternalize the love we owe to Jesus Christ, may it arise to keep our devotion firm at the center of Catholicism and faith, may it arise to immortalize the gratitude to the Great Pius IX, who began it, and to his most worthy successor Leo XIII, who became its strenuous continuator, may it finally arise to crown the sacrifices, to fulfill the most ardent vows of our Don Bosco. And since youth and the future are the same thing, and from this work so beneficial and salutary our beloved Father promises a happy and serene future for Italy, ah! may that moment hasten in which on that Esquiline Hill, where once stood the sacred temple of Concord, we see the monumental church consecrated to the most clement Heart of Jesus, and where profane excubiae or sentinels stood guard over false divinities, may an Institute be raised to educate sentinels destined to keep watch for the glory of the true God and the salvation of souls.
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