Reparation forms an essential element of the cult as proposed by the Church: "Ut, illi devotum pietatis nostrae praestantes obsequium, dignae quoque satisfactionis exhibeamus officium."
GROUNDS FOR REPARATION
"Reparation" in its general aspect means making up for the ingratitude by which men repay the love of the Sacred Heart; in this sense it extends to all sins and offences committed in the world. But for the present we may consider it more especially under its limited aspect of expiation for offenses against the holy Eucharist. It is of these offences that the Sacred Heart complained most sorrowfully: more than all others they should cut priestly hearts to the quick.
One cursory glance across the vast world: we see it dotted with innumerable tabernacles, where the Sacred Heart dwells, a prisoner of love; but, all around, millions of men, - objects of that Love, - who live and die as if there were no Blessed Sacrament, in total ignorance of it. What an appalling sight!
Far worse: the multitude of those who know, but only to heap ridicule, insults and crimes upon the Sacrament of Love. What Christian heart does not shudder at the thought of this?
And again, can we not visualize the coldness and indifference that envelop so many of the faithful kneeling in apparent devotion before the Blessed Sacrament, which, like a thick mist, cut off communication between their hearts and the Sacred Heart? At this, unhappily, we hardly shudder; but it wounds His loving Heart most cruelly.
That is what I see around me. But what of myself?
Let me pass in review my Eucharistic life, say, of yesterday; how often did I visit the Blessed Sacrament, and with what practical effects on my faith in the Real Presence?
What must Jesus have been thinking of me, when He missed me perhaps the whole day, or when He saw me at His feet so distracted, careless, uninterested? ...What has been my fervour at the altar during the holy Sacrifice, and my devotion during thanksgiving while the Sacred Heart was beating against my heart? And have I ever thought again, in the course of the day, of those stupendous manifestations of His love for me ?
Alas! for such poor return of love to "the Heart which has loved men so much" . . . And let me remember Our Lord's sad complaint: "What pains me most is that I am treated thus by hearts consecrated to me."
FERVOUR IN REPARATION
The duty of Reparation is incumbent on all Christians, as Pius XI points out in his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor. But we ought to be moved to fervour in it more than others, particularly for the offenses against the holy Eucharist.
The Blessed Sacrament is our own Sacrament, in a very special way. Priests are its ministers and custodians. From the day of a priest's first Mass, it has been truly for him the BLESSED Sacrament: filling his life with glory and beauty and joy and strength.
None can realize the burning love that consumes the Eucharistic Heart of
Jesus more than the "alter Christus", the priest who renews every morning at the altar the Sacrifice of Calvary... Does it not follow that none more than the priest ought to be moved by the ingratitude shown to that loving Heart, none stirred to greater generosity in expiating all offenses against the holy Eucharist?
Moreover, we ought to feel a special grief at the fact that the crimes against the Sacrament of love which wound the Sacred Heart most, come from brothers in the priesthood who repay the greatest of loves by the blackest of ingratitudes.
Let us be faithful to what we promise in our consecration to the Sacred Heart: "ipsorum expiare delicta, resarcire damna, et dolorem quo Te afficiunt amoris nostri consolatione minuere". The greater our love for the Blessed Sacrament, the greater will be our zeal for reparation. And, in turn, the delicacy of our love will grow with every act of reparation.
THE PRACTICE OF REPARATION
A priest's first care must be to suppress, as far as it depends upon him, all negligences in the external cult of the Blessed Sacrament. He should examine himself on this point: v.g. what is his vigilance concerning the cleanliness and decorum of the church, altar and tabernacle, of all that is used for the holy Sacrifice?
Then he must endeavour to foster in his flock a great interior devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and give the example of it, by his behaviour in church, at the altar and during his thanksgiving.
Here again is abundant matter for a serious examination of conscience, perhaps for a much-needed reform in Eucharistic piety.
Does our whole attitude in church and at the Eucharistic functions breathe faith, reverence, devotion?
But Reparation proper is chiefly practised by specific prayers of Reparation, voluntary mortifications, the oblation of good works (the morning offering of the Apostleship of Prayer puts the seal of Reparation on one's whole day), by Holy Hours, nocturnal adoration, etc.
How far do we show our love for the Sacred Heart by our fervour and constancy in at least some of those practices, and by our zeal to encourage them among our fellow Catholic brothers and sisters?
Generosity in Reparation will secure for us more abundantly the great blessings promised to those who have a true devotion to the Sacred Heart. Perhaps we have failed to experience the abundance of those blessings up to now, because we have given too little place, in our devotion, to Reparation?
"May the Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere."
Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 42.
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Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood.
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