NOVENA

TO PREPARE OURSELVES

FOR THE FEAST OF

THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

with Fr de Clorivière

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PREAMBLE

When Fr. de Clorivière was chaplain of the English

Benedictines in Brussels, he wrote in English a Novena in

honour of the Heart of Jesus.

In this year of faith, in response to the desire of the

General Chapter of 2011, to deepen our founding texts of

our spirituality of cordiality, we propose an adaptation of

this novena.

The morning prayer, grace to request & the invitation to

reflection are drawn from this Novena of 1770.The pages

on the right-hand offer a deepening of the texts.

This would be a grace for the Society if each DHM is

committed to pray this novena for nine days before the

Feast of the Sacred Heart. This prayer may be shared with

our lay friends.

Founders Team 2013

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MORNING PRAYER

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal life,

Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love.

You are my refuge and my sanctuary.

O my adorable and loving Saviour,

consume my heart with the burning fire

with which yours is aflamed.

Pour down on my soul

those graces which flow from Your love.

Let my heart be united with Yours.

Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things.

May your will be the rule of all

my desires and my actions.

Amen.

Prayer of Saint GERTRUDE

Benedictine -Eisleben 1256-1302

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1st Day

To have seen me

is to have seen the Father Jn 14:9

Grace to request

For a heart full of respect

for the Heart whose Love

is immeasurable: the Son is the perfect image of the Father.

Invitation to reflection

The Heart of Jesus was formed by the Holy Spirit

of the purest blood of virgins.

It is the sanctuary of the Trinity,

the seat of the mind of Christ.

This is the Heart of our master, our Lord,

our God, all grace comes from Him.

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Text to meditate

To make our prayers effectual and remove anything that

might hinder the Lord’s merciful designs we must make

fresh efforts to please Him, and try with all our hearts to

imitate our Divine Saviour according to the text that we

have placed at the beginning of this letter: “In your minds

you must be the same as Christ Jesus.” Phil.2.5

1st Circular Letter, p.5.

and in my real life…

Remember all the blessings I received and to express

my gratitude to God.

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2nd Day

Nothing can come between us

and the love of Christ. cf. Rm 8:38-39

Grace to request

For a heart full of gratitude,

entirely consecrated to this Heart

which gave itself to us

Invitation to reflection

The Heart of Jesus focuses

His infinite love of God for men.

The fullness of grace is in Him.

Meekness and humility reign in Him.

It is the heart of a father,

a brother, a friend, a husband, a saviour.

The cross and the altar tell us how much

the Heart of Jesus has loved us and how much

we must love Him in turn.

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Text to meditate

What a lesson for us! How carefully we should we study it

in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This divine Heart, is a

masterpiece held in an almighty hand. In it are assembled

all created and uncreated perfections, and the treasures of

knowledge and of divine wisdom are contained within it.

It is great and holy and beautiful enough to be worthy

object of His good pleasure before whom all greatness, all

created sanctity disappears. From this heart, as from their

source, flow all graces and benefits…

and in my real life …

As for us, how do we act? What ought we to do?

1st Circular Letter p.9-10.

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3rd Day

I loved them to the end.

cf. Jn 13:1

Grace to request

For the grace of a heart full of compassion

for a Heart full of love

but not loved

Invitation to reflection

During his earthly life, Jesus was persecuted

from his birth till his death on a cross.

His Heart has become a sign of contradiction,

his Eucharistic Body is often despised,

even by those who believe in God.

Even among priests and religious

are found indifference, coldness.

How the slightest offense

against the Heart of Jesus

would seem detestable

if we really loved Him

and if we had a real

conformity of sentiments with him...

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Text to meditate

Your love O Jesus goes to excess, you want to be where

people are, your Heart does not suffer the absence. As a

divine sun, you illumine and warm the world, not by rays

fallen from far away, but by your actual presence.

30 Days Retreat.

and my real life…

Today, try to have more compassion

for those who suffer.

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4th Day

I will sing your love for ever, Yahweh. Ps 89

Grace to request

The grace to share in the communion of saints,

the gratitude of the blessed to face such love

Invitation to reflection

In Heaven, everything exudes love and gratitude

for the Heart of Jesus.

Saints see face to face the immense love

and grace flowing from his love for men.

Now they know that they were loved,

their heart is overflowing with gratitude:

Heaven heard their hymns of praise and

thanksgiving

Let the earth be united to heaven

to love and praise our Lord.

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Text to meditate

I could keep to the Apostle’s words and speak to you of

the exaltation of the Sacred Humanity and the ineffable

glory of that name before which” every knee shall bow in

heaven and earth and under the earth”. I could picture to

you the peoples of the earth submitting to religion as a

recompense to the desires of our Saviour’s heart; in

consequence, if here below you share in that divine Heart,

you will have part in His glory, His happiness.

1st Circular Letter p.17-18.

and in my real life…

Remember those who have gone before us

and live the spirit they have given us.

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5th Day

Before the angels

I will sing your praise. Ps 138

Grace to request

The grace of a heart capable of contemplating

the wonders of the Heart of God with

a loving and joyful humility

Invitation to reflection

Angels contemplate the glory of God and rejoice.

They worship the divine Heart, Seat of Wisdom,

the center where the sky is reconciled with the earth,

where God and men are one.

For the love of the Sacred Heart, the Angels

are willing to give all the help

and all services to men that appeal to them.

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Text to meditate

Christ shows us His divinity in its glory, and the

humiliations of His humanity cannot dim its splendour;

they only serve to show the value of his love. The less the

eyes of the body can see, the clearer is the eye of faith.

Who then can hinder us from contemplating our Lord,

His sacred humanity, His cross, and the throne of glory

where He sits at the right hand of the father?

2nd Circular Letter, p 32.

and in my real life…

Open our eyes today to the hidden divinity of Christ.

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6th Day

I found Him whom my heart loves...

Sg 3:4

Grace to request

For a heart not centered on self,

but turned towards the Lord..

Invitation to reflection

Mary sings a unique song,

she formed the heart of the Son of man

with her blood.

The Heart of Mary was formed by the Father

on the model of the Heart of her Son.

In these two hearts are the same feelings,

same desires, even love.

Jesus receives his mother's human form

and communicates his divine being

in a mutual exchange.

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Text to meditate

This act of charity should be "of one heart and soul" of all

those who are united in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and

Mary, but the fire illumines in us must be universal, it

must participate in the qualities of the fire burning in the

Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It must be active,

ardent and strong as death.

Here is your Mother, p 50.

and in my real life…

And if I wrote today my Magnificat with my life?

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7th Day

Your attitude should be the same as

that of Christ Jesus. Phil 2: 5

Grace to request

Grace to share the love and respect

of Sacred Heart of Jesus for God.

Invitation to reflection

The eternal Word loves himself

in the Heart of Jesus, and he communicates

his love for the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The Heart of Jesus is burning

with divine love.

It may render our hearts similar to His,

engraving in our hearts, gentleness,

humility, charity.

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Text to meditate

The love of the Heart of Jesus for God is the love of the

Son of God for the Father. The love of the Heart of Jesus

for man is modeled on the love of the father for the son.

“As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you”. Its

only limit is the immense capacity of the heart of God-

Incarnate.

1st Circular Letter p. 7.

and in my real life… Today, welcome and respect

each other as sacred ground. cf. Ex 3: 5

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8th Day

This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.

Mt 3:17

Grace to request

Grace to contemplate the love of the three Persons

of the Trinity for the Heart of Jesus..

Invitation to reflection

The Son of God, the incarnate Word,

loves his human heart, an instrument of salvation

for the world..

God the Father loves the Heart of His only Son,

so much that He created man

in His image and likeness.

God the Holy Spirit loves the Heart of Jesus as

the perfection of his works, the source of all grace,

his best sanctuary.

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Text to meditate

Accustom us therefore to the fact that faith gives us this

adorable mystery, to make it the object of our praise, to

confess, in adoration of the triple Sanctus, unity in

essence and equality in majesty.

30 Days Retreat.

and in my real life…

Letting my life be questioned by the life of relationship within the Trinity to build communion.

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9th Day

I no longer live,

but Christ lives in me. Ga 2,20

Grace to request

The grace of transforming union with

the Heart of Christ to love and be loved by God.

Invitation to reflection

The Heart of Jesus responds to the love

of each of the three persons of the Trinity

with all his ability to love.

The Heart of Jesus is the source and model of holiness.

His love transforms us into Him.

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Text to meditate

O Most Holy Heart of Jesus! source and model of

holiness! be Thou my only life. Grant, I beseech Thee, that

love may so unite me to Thee, and transform me into

Thee, that all my actions, taking their beginning from

Thee, and being of the utmost possible conformity with

Thine, may, through so glorious a union, become pleasing

in the sight of God.

And that not a single grace bestowed on me be void of fruit,

or otherwise than most perfectly corresponded to. Hear me,

sweetest heart of my adorable Redeemer! By that plenitude

of all good gifts so lavishly outpoured in Thee, and of which

we have received everything, I conjure Thee to hear and

grant my prayer.

Amen.

Novena in honour of the Heart of Jesus p 57.

and in my real life…

To abandon myself to the

Spirit to configure me to

Christ to serve the Kingdom

of God.

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PRAYER OF FATHER DE CLORIVIÈRE

Age 33, MAY 22, 1768,

DAY OF PENTECOST

O Jesus strengthen me by the Holy Spirit who descended

on this day on the Apostles, transforming them into new

people. I do not deserve such a favour, but your goodness

is infinite. Since you like to inspire in me the love of

perfection, you will not refuse me the grace to live

perfectly.

Complete your work, O Lord, to the glory of your Name,

imprint this divine likeness in me and make me and my

feelings and interior sentiments and in all my outward

conduct, a perfect image of you.

Blessed Virgin, Mother most loving and compassionate, I

implore the grace of your all-powerful intercession. St.

Joseph and St. Peter, St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier

and all the saints of the Society of Jesus, help me with

your prayers and your example, that I am able to walk

every day in the footsteps of our Divine Redeemer.

Amen!

Intimate Notes

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The Heart of Mary

is the most perfect image

of the Heart of her Son.