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.