The Imitation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The end of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is threefold. The first, to make Jesus a return for that boundless love, of which His Heart is the symbol, that made Him do so much and suffer so immeasurably for our sake; and induced Him to bestow upon us that sweetest and most precious of all gifts, the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The second, that, through the fervor of our piety, we may, as far as we can, make amends for all the insults which have been, or are even now offered to His most Sacred Heart, which He exhibits to us as the throne of His affections. The third, that imitating what we worship, we may be inspired with the same affections, the same sentiments that animated His Heart during His life of toil and suffering, and still animate It in His blissful and Sacramental life. This work, which contains a summary of Ascetic Theology, and embraces the doctrine, as well as the practice, of the spiritual and interior life, will supply ample matter for daily meditation, throughout the whole year. In this manner the reader will be enabled to repeat it every year, to examine it more closely, and to impress it more deeply on his mind and heart. He can, if it so pleases, start from the beginning and continue to the end of the work; or he may, whilst going on from the beginning, occasionally break off this order, either when some necessity or advantage invites him to some portion specially adapted to his present feelings; or when, on the days on which he approaches holy Communion, his devotion suggests the last Book as better suited to his actual circumstances.