DEVOTION TO THE SAINTS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
Premise
Our intent with this publication is to help souls understand the infinite love of the Sacred Heart and the infinite merits that derive from its Holy Wounds.
The Sacred Heart privileged the humble "garden" of St. Francis de Sales and after revealing to St. Margaret Maria Alacoque "Here is the Heart that loved men so much" manifested itself to Sister Maria Marta Chambon saying "I have you chosen to spread devotion to my holy wounds in the difficult times we live in ”.
A wish from reading these pages: being able to pray like Saint Bernard "or Jesus, your wounds are my merits".
SISTER MARIA MARTA CHAMBON CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Francesca Chambon was born on March 6, 1841 to a very poor and very Christian peasant family in the Croix Rouge village near Chambery.
On the same day he received holy baptism in the parish church of S. Pietro di Lemenc.
He wanted our Lord very soon to reveal himself to this innocent soul. He was just 9 years old when on a Good Friday, led by his aunt to worship the Cross, Christ, our Lord, offered himself to his eyes torn, bloodied, as on Calvary.
"Oh, what was he like!" she will say later.
This was the first revelation of the Savior's passion, which would have held so much place in his existence.
But the dawn of his life appeared above all favored by the visits of the Child Jesus. On the day of her first Communion, He visibly came to her; since then, on every day of her Communions, until her death, it will always be the Child Jesus whom she will see in the holy Host.
He becomes an inseparable companion of his youth, follows her in the work of the countryside, speaks with her along the way, accompanies her to the wretched paternal hovel.
"We were always together ... ah, how happy I was! I had paradise in my heart ... "So he said at the end of his life, recalling those sweet and distant memories.
At the time of these early favors, Francesca did not think she had to confide her family life with Jesus to others: she was content to enjoy it alone, naively believing that everyone had the same privilege,
However, the fervor and purity of this child could not go unnoticed by the worthy priest of the parish, who allowed her to frequently approach the sacred canteen.
It was he who discovered her religious vocation and came to present it to our monastery, Francesca was 21 years old, when the Visitation of Santa Maria di Chambery opened her doors. Two years later, on the feast of Our Lady of the Angels, on August 2, 1864, she pronounced the holy vows and, with the name of Sister Maria Marta, took her place definitively among the Sisters of Santa Maria.
Nothing on the outside revealed particular contact with Jesus Christ. The beauty of the King's daughter was truly entirely interior ... God, who undoubtedly reserved magnificent rewards for her, had treated Sister Maria Marta with respect to the external gifts, with evident parsimony.
Rough ways and language, less than mediocre intelligence, that no culture, not even summary, would have been able to develop (Sister Maria Marta could neither read nor write), feelings that would not have risen if not under the divine influence, lively temperament and a little tenacious ...
The sisters and his companions declare him smiling: "Oh, saint ... she was a real saint ... but sometimes, how much effort!". The "saint" knew it well! In his enchanting simplicity he complained to Jesus that he had so many flaws.
Your shortcomings He replied are the greatest proof that what happens in you comes from God! I will never take them away from you: they are the veil that hides my gifts. Do you have a great desire to hide? I have it even more than you! ".
Faced with this portrait, a second one can be placed with pleasure, with very different and attractive aspects. Under the outward appearance of a shapeless block, the careful observation of the superiors was not slow to guess a beautiful moral physiognomy, which was being perfected day by day, thanks to the action of the Spirit of Jesus.
We noticed in her some traits imprinted with infallible signs that reveal the divine artist ... and they reveal it all the better the more the lack of natural attractions has kept him hidden.
In his limited ability to understand, how many heavenly lights, how many deep ideas! In that uncultivated heart, what innocence, what faith, what pity, what humility, what thirst for sacrifices!
For now, it is enough to recall the testimony of her superior, Mother Teresa Eugenia Revel: “Obedience is everything for her. The candor, righteousness, the spirit of charity that animate it, its mortification and, above all, its sincere and profound humility seem to us the safest guarantee of God's direct work on this soul. The more she receives, the greater the sincere contempt for herself, usually oppressed by the fear of being in illusion. Docile to the advice given to her, the words of the Priest and the Superior have the great power to give her peace ... What above all reassures us is her passionate love for hidden life, her irresistible need to hide from every human gaze and the terror that takes into account what is happening in her. "
The first two years of our sister's religious life passed fairly normally. Apart from a gift of uncommon prayer, of a continuous recollection, of an ever-growing hunger and thirst for God, nothing truly particular was felt in her, nor that she allowed to foresee extraordinary things. But in September 1866 the young nun began to be favored by frequent visits by our Lord, the Holy Virgin, the souls of Purgatory and the heavenly Spirits.
Above all, Jesus Crucified offers her divine wounds to contemplate almost every day, now resplendent and glorious, now bright and bleeding, asking her to associate herself with the pains of the Holy Passion.
The superiors, bowing before the sure signs of the will of heaven, signs on which we cannot entertain ourselves in this brief compendium despite her fears, decide, little by little, to make her abandon herself to the needs of Jesus Crucified.
Among other mortifications, Jesus asks Sister Maria Martha even for the sacrifice of sleep, ordering her to watch alone, near the SS. Sacramento, while the whole monastery is immersed in silence. Such demands are contrary to nature, but perhaps this is not the usual exchange of divine favors? In the calm of the nights, our Lord communicates himself to his servant in the most wonderful way. Sometimes, however, he lets her struggle painfully, for long hours, against tiredness and sleep; however, he usually immediately takes possession of her and kidnaps her in a kind of ecstasy. He confides in her his pains and his secrets of love, full of delights ... The wonders of grace for this very humble, very simple and docile soul, increase day by day.
THREE DAYS OF ECSTASY
In September 1867, Sister Maria Marta, as the divine Master had predicted, fell into a mysterious state, which would be difficult to name.
He was seen lying on his bed, motionless, speechless, sightless, taking no nourishment; the pulse, however, was regular and the color of the face slightly pink. This lasted three days (26 27 28) in honor of the SS. Trinity. For the dear seer it was three days of exceptional graces.
All the splendor of the sky came to illuminate the humble cell, in which the SS. Trinity had descended.
God the Father, presenting Jesus to her in a Host, said to her:
"I give you He whom you so often offer me", and gave her communion. Then he discovered the mysteries of Bethlehem and the Cross, illuminating his soul with bright lights on the Incarnation and Redemption.
Then detaching his Spirit from himself, like a fiery ray, he gave it to him stating: “Here is the light, the suffering and the love! Love will be for me, the light to discover my will and finally the suffering to suffer, moment by moment, as I want you to suffer. "
On the last day, by inviting her to contemplate the Cross of her Son in a ray that went down from heaven to her, the heavenly Father granted her to better understand the wounds of Jesus for his personal good.
At the same time, in another ray that departed from the earth to reach heaven, she clearly saw her mission and how she had to make the merits of the wounds of Jesus bear fruit, for the benefit of the whole world.
JUDGMENT OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SUPERIORS
The Superior and the Director of such a privileged soul could not assume responsibility for such an extraordinary journey on their own. They consulted the ecclesiastical superiors, in particular the canon Mercier, vicar general and superior of the house, a wise and pious priest, rev. Father Ambrogio, Provincial of the Capuchins of Savoy, a man of great moral and doctrinal value, the canon Bouvier, called "the angel of the mountains" chaplain of the community, whose reputation for science and holiness also crossed the borders of our province.
The exam was serious, meticulous and complete. The three examiners agreed in recognizing that the path taken by Sister Maria Marta bore the DIVINE SEAL. They advised to put everything in writing, however, prudent and equally enlightened, they judged that it was necessary to keep these facts under the veil of the secret, as long as it pleased God to reveal them Himself. Thus the community remained unaware of the distinguished graces with which one of its members was favored, the least suitable, according to human judgment, to receive them.
This is why, considering also the opinion of the ecclesiastical Superiors as a sacred delivery, our mother Teresa Eugenia Revel undertook to report, day by day, what the humble sister referred to her, to whom, on the other hand, the Lord ordered to do not hide anything from her superior:
"We declare here in the presence of God and our holy Founders, out of obedience and as exactly as possible, what we believe has been sent from heaven, thanks to a loving love of the divine Heart of Jesus, for the happiness of our community and for the good of souls. God seems to have chosen in our humble family the privileged soul who must renew in our century the devotion to the holy wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our sister Maria Marta Chambon is the one that the Savior gratifies with her sensitive presence. Every day he shows her his divine wounds, so that he constantly asserts their merits for the needs of the Church, the conversion of sinners, the needs of our Institute and especially for the relief of the souls of Purgatory.
Jesus makes her his "toy of love" and the victim of his good pleasure and we, full of gratitude, experience in every instant the efficacy of his prayer on the heart of God. " Such is the declaration with which Mother Teresa Eugenia Revel's relationship opens, a worthy confidant of the favors of heaven. From these notes we take the following quotes.
THE MISSION
“One thing pains me said the sweet Salvatore to his little servant There are souls who consider devotion to my holy wounds as strange, worthless and unseemly: this is why it decays and is forgotten. In heaven I have saints who have had a great devotion to my wounds, but on earth almost nobody honors me in this way ". How well motivated this lament is! How few are the souls who understand the Cross and those who assiduously meditate on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom St. Francis de Sales rightly called 'the true school of love, the sweetest and strongest reason for piety'.
Therefore, Jesus does not want this inexhaustible mine to remain unexplored, that the fruits of his holy wounds be forgotten and lost. He will choose (is this not his usual way of acting?) The most humble of the instruments to accomplish his work of love.
On October 2, 1867, Sister Maria Marta attended a Vestition, when the vault of Heaven was opened and she saw the same ceremony unfold with a splendor very different from that of the earth. The whole Visitation of Heaven was present: the first Mothers, turning to her as if to announce her good news, said to her joyfully:
"The eternal Father has given to our holy Order His Son to be honored in three ways:
1st Jesus Christ, his Cross and his Wounds.
2nd His Sacred Heart.
3 ° His holy Childhood: it is necessary that in your relations with him you have the simplicity of the child. "
This triple gift does not seem new. Going back to the origins of the Institute, we find in the life of mother Anna Margherita Clément, contemporary of Saint Giovanna Francesca of Chantal, these three devotions, of which the religious formed by her carried the imprint.
Who knows, and we are pleased to believe it, it is this equally favored soul who, in agreement with our holy Mother and founder, comes today to remind them of God's chosen one.
A few days later, the venerable mother Maria Paolina Deglapigny, who died 18 months earlier, appears to her daughter of the past and confirms this gift of the holy wounds: “The Visitation already possessed a great wealth, but not complete. This is why the day on which I left the earth is happy: instead of possessing only the Sacred Heart of Jesus, you will have all the holy humanity, that is, its sacred wounds. I asked for this grace for you “.
The heart of Jesus! Who owns it, does not possess all Jesus? All the love of Jesus? Without a doubt, however, the holy wounds are like the prolonged and eloquent expression of this love!
So Jesus wants us to honor him whole and that, adoring his wounded Heart, we know not to forget his other wounds, which are also opened for love!
In this regard, there is no lack of interest in approaching the gift of the patient humanity of Jesus, made to our sister Maria Marta, a gift of which the venerable mother Mary of Sales Chappuis was gratified at the same time: the gift of the Savior's holy humanity.
St. Francis de Sales, our blessed Father, who often visited his dear daughter to teach her in fatherhood, did not cease to assure her of the certainty of her mission.
One day when they spoke together: "My father she said with her usual candor you know that my sisters have no confidence in my affirmations because I am very imperfect".
The Saint replied: “My daughter, the views of God are not those of the creature, who judges according to human criteria. God gives his graces to a miserable one who has nothing, so that all refer to him. You must be very happy with your imperfections, because they hide the gifts of God, who chose you to complete the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The heart was shown to my daughter Margherita Maria and the holy wounds to my little Maria Marta ... It is a happiness for my Fatherly heart that this honor is granted to you by Jesus Crucified: it is the fullness of the redemption that Jesus has so much desired ".
The Blessed Virgin came, on a feast of the Visitation, to confirm the young sister on her way again. Accompanied by the holy Founders and by our sister Margherita Maria, she said with goodness: “I give my Fruit to the Visitation, as I gave it to my cousin Elizabeth. Your holy founder has reproduced the labors, the sweetness and humility of my Son; your holy Mother my generosity, overcoming all obstacles to unite with Jesus and do his holy will. Your lucky sister Margherita Maria has copied the Sacred Heart of my Son to give it to the world ... you, my daughter, are the chosen one to retain the justice of God, asserting the merits of the Passion and the holy wounds of my only and beloved Son Jesus!".
Since Sister Maria Marta made some objections to the difficulties she would encounter: “My daughter replied the Immaculate Virgin, you must not worry, neither for your Mother nor for you; my Son knows well what he has to do ... as for you, do only day by day what Jesus wants ... ".
Therefore the invitations and exhortations of the holy Virgin were multiplying and assuming various forms: “If you seek wealth, go and take it in the holy wounds of my Son… all the light of the Holy Spirit flows from the wounds of Jesus, however you will receive these gifts in proportion to your humility ... I am your Mother and I say to you: go and draw on the Wounds of my Son! Suck his blood until it runs out, which, however, will never happen. It is necessary that you, my daughter, apply the Plagues of my Son over sinners, to convert them ”.
After the interventions of the first Mothers, the holy Founder and the holy Virgin, in this picture we cannot forget those of God the Father, for whom our dear sister always felt a tenderness, a daughter's confidence and was divinely filled with his delicacies.
The Father was the first, who instructed her on her future mission. Sometimes he reminds her: “My daughter, I give you to my Son so that you can help yourself throughout the day and you can pay what is due to all of my justice from everyone. From the wounds of Jesus you will constantly take what to pay the debts of sinners ".
The community made processions and raised prayers for various needs: "Everything you give me is nothing, God the Father declared if it is nothing, the daring daughter replied then I offer you all that your Son has done and suffered for us ...".
"Ah replied the eternal Father this is great!". For her part, our Lord, to strengthen her servant, renews her several times the security that she is truly called to renew the devotion to the redemptive wounds: "I have chosen you to spread the devotion to my holy Passion in the unhappy times in which you live ".
Then, showing her his holy wounds as a book in which he wants to teach her to read, the good Master adds: “Do not take your eyes off this book, from which you will learn more than all the greatest scholars. Prayer to the holy wounds includes everything ”. Another time, in June, while prostrated before the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord, opening his sacred Heart, as the source of all the other Wounds, insists again: “I have chosen my faithful servant Margherita Maria to make know my divine Heart and my little Maria Marta to spread devotion to my other wounds ...
My wounds will infallibly save you: they will save the world ".
On another occasion he said to her: "Your way is to make me known and loved by my holy wounds, especially in the future".
He asks her to offer her wounds incessantly for the salvation of the world.
“My daughter, the world will remain more or less shaken, depending on whether you have performed your task. You are chosen to satisfy my justice. Closed in your cloister, you must live here on earth as you live in heaven, love me, pray to me continuously to appease my revenge and renew the devotion to my holy wounds. I want for this devotion not only the souls who live with you but many others to be saved. One day I will ask you if you have drawn from this treasure for all my creatures. "
He will tell her later: “truly, my Bride, I live here in all hearts. I will establish my kingdom and my peace here, I will destroy all obstacles with my power because I am the master of hearts and I know all their miseries ... You, my daughter, are the channel of my graces. Learn that the channel has nothing for itself: it only has what passes through it. It is necessary, as a channel, that you keep nothing and say everything that I communicate to you. I have chosen you to assert the merits of my holy Passion for all, but I want you to always remain hidden. It is my task to make known in the future that the world will be saved by this means and by the hands of my Immaculate Mother!
REASONS FOR DEVOTION TO THE SAINTS
In entrusting this mission to Sister Maria Marta, the God of Calvary was pleased to reveal to his ecstatic soul the innumerable reasons to invoke the Divine Wounds, as well as the benefits of this devotion, every day, at every moment to incite her to make her ardent apostle, He discovers to her the priceless treasures of these sources of life: “No soul, except my holy Mother, has had the grace like you to contemplate my holy wounds day and night. My daughter, do you recognize the treasure of the world? The world does not want to recognize it. I want you to see it, to better understand what I did by coming to suffer for you.
My daughter, every time you offer my Father the merits of my divine wounds, you gain immense luck. Be similar to the one who will encounter a great treasure in the earth, however, since you cannot preserve this fortune, God returns to take it and so my divine Mother, to return it at the moment of death and apply its merits to the souls who need it, therefore you must assert the wealth of my holy wounds. You just have to stay poor, because your Father is very rich!
Your wealth? ... It is my holy Passion! It is necessary to come with faith and confidence, to draw constantly from the treasure of my Passion and from the holes of my wounds! This treasure belongs to you! Everything is there, everything, except hell!
One of my creatures has betrayed me and sold my blood, but you can very easily redeem it drop by drop ... a single drop is enough to purify the earth and you don't think it, you don't know its price! The executioners did well to pass through my side, my hands and my feet, so they opened sources from which the waters of mercy gush eternally. Only sin was the cause you must detest.
My Father takes pleasure in offering my sacred wounds and the pains of my divine Mother: offering them means offering his glory, offering heaven to heaven.
With this you have to pay for all the debtors! By offering the merit of my holy wounds to my Father, you satisfy for all the sins of men. "
Jesus urges her, and with her too, to access this treasure. "You must entrust everything to my holy wounds and work, for their merits, for the salvation of souls".
He asks that we do it humbly.
“When my holy wounds inflicted me, men believed that they would disappear.
But no: they will be eternal and eternally seen by all creatures. I tell you this because you don't look at them out of habit, but I worship them with great humility. Your life is not of this world: remove the holy wounds and you will be earthly ... you are too material to understand the full extent of the graces you receive for their merits. Not even the priests contemplate the crucifix enough. I want you to honor me whole.
The harvest is great, abundant: it is necessary to humble yourself, to immerse yourself in your nothingness to gather souls, without looking at what you have already done. You must not be afraid to show my Wounds to souls ... the path of my Wounds is so simple and so easy to go to heaven! ".
He does not ask us to do it with the heart of the Seraphim. Pointing to a group of angelic spirits, around the altar during the Holy Mass, He said to Sister Maria Marta: “They contemplate the beauty, the holiness of God ... they admire, they adore ... you cannot imitate them. As for you it is necessary above all to contemplate the sufferings of Jesus in order to conform to him, to approach my wounds with very warm, very ardent hearts and to raise with great fervor the aspirations to obtain the graces of the return you solicit ".
He asks us to do it with ardent faith: “They (the wounds) remain completely fresh and it is necessary to offer them as for the first time. In the contemplation of my wounds everything is found, for oneself and for others. I'll show you why you enter them. "
He asks us to do it confidently: “You must not worry about the things of the earth: you will see, my daughter, in eternity what you will have gained with my wounds.
The wounds of my sacred feet are an ocean. Lead all my creatures here: those openings are large enough to accommodate them all. "
He asks us to do it in a spirit of apostolate and without ever getting tired: "It is necessary to pray a lot for my holy wounds to spread throughout the world" (At that moment, before the eyes of the seer, five luminous rays rose from the wounds of Jesus, five rays of glory that surrounded the globe).
“My holy wounds support the world. We must ask for firmness in the love of my wounds, because they are the source of all graces. You must invoke them often, bring your neighbor to them, talk about them and return to them frequently to impress their devotion on souls. It will take a long time to establish this devotion: therefore work courageously.
All the words spoken because of my holy wounds provide me with an unspeakable pleasure ... I count them all.
My daughter, you must compel those who do not want to come to enter my wounds ".
One day when Sister Maria Marta had a burning thirst, her good Master said to her: “My daughter, come to me and I will give you water that will quench your thirst. In the Crucifix you have everything, you have to satisfy your thirst and that all souls. You keep everything in my wounds, do concrete works not for enjoyment, but for suffering. Be a worker who works in the field of the Lord: with my Wounds you will earn a lot and effortlessly. Offer me your actions and those of your sisters, united with my holy wounds: nothing can make them more meritorious and more pleasing to my eyes. In them you will find incomprehensible riches ”.
It should be noted at this point that in the manifestations and confidences we finish talking about, the divine Savior does not always present himself to Sister Maria Marta with all her adorable wounds together: sometimes she shows only one, separate from the others. So it happened one day, after this ardent invitation: "You must apply yourself to heal my wounds, contemplating my wounds".
He discovers her right foot, saying: "How much you must venerate this Plague and hide in it like the dove".
Another time he shows her his left hand: "My daughter, take from my left hand my merits for souls so that they can stay on my right for all eternity ... Religious souls will be on my right to judge the world , but first I will ask them for the souls they had to save. "
THE CROWN OF THORNS
A moving fact is that Jesus requires a very special cult of veneration, reparation and love for his august head crowned with thorns.
The crown of thorns was for him the cause of particularly cruel sufferings. He confided to his bride: "My crown of thorns made me suffer more than all the other wounds: after the garden of the olive trees, it was my most excruciating suffering ... to relieve it you must observe your rule well".
It is for the soul, faithful to imitation, a source of merit.
"Look at this garment that has been pierced for your love and for whose merits you will one day be crowned."
This is your life: simply enter it and you will walk with confidence. The souls who have contemplated and honored my crown of thorns on earth will be my crown of glory in heaven. For an instant that you contemplate this crown down here, I will give you one for eternity. It is the crown of thorns that will obtain that of glory. "
This is the gift of election that Jesus gives to his beloved ones.
"I give my crown of thorns to my beloved ones: It is the good proper to my brides and privileged souls, it is the joy of the blessed, but for my loved ones on earth it is a suffering".
(From each thorn, our sister saw an indescribable ray of glory rise).
"My true servants try to suffer like me, but nobody can reach the degree of suffering that I have suffered".
From this anime, Jesus urges a more tender compassion for his adorable leader. Let us listen to this lament of the heart turned to Sister Maria Marta in showing her her bloody head, all pierced, and expressing such suffering that the poor woman did not know how to describe: “Here is the One you are looking for! Look at what state it is ... look ... remove the thorns from my head, offering my Father the merit of my Wounds for sinners ... go in search of souls ".
As you can see, in these calls of the Savior, the concern to save souls is always heard as an echo of the eternal SITIO: “Go in search of souls. This is the teaching: suffering for you, the graces you have to draw for others. A single soul that does its actions in union with the merits of my holy crown earns more than the whole community. "
To these austere calls, the Master adds exhortations that inflame the hearts and make all sacrifices accepted. In October 1867 he presented himself to the ecstatic eyes of our young sister with this Crown, all radiated by a shining glory: “My Crown of thorns illuminates the sky and all Blessed! There is some privileged soul on earth to whom I will show it: however, the earth is too dark to see it. Look how beautiful it is, after being so painful! ".
The good Master goes further: He unites her equally to his triumphs and sufferings ... he makes her glimpse the future glorification. Placing them with living pains, this holy crown over her head says: "Take my crown, and in this state my blessed will contemplate you".
Then, turning to the Saints and pointing to his dear victim, he exclaims: "Here is the fruit of my Crown".
For the righteous this holy crown is happiness but, on the contrary, an object of terror for the bad guys. This was seen one day by Sister Maria Marta in an apparition offered to her contemplation by the One who took pleasure in teaching her, revealing to her the mysteries of the beyond.
All illuminated by the splendors of this divine Crown, the court in which souls are judged appeared before his eyes and this happened continuously before the sovereign Judge.
The souls who had been faithful throughout their life threw themselves confidently into the arms of the Savior. The other women, at the sight of the holy crown and remembering the love of the Lord they had despised, rushed terrified into the eternal abyss. The impression of this vision was so great that the poor nun, in telling it, was still trembling with fear and fright.
THE HEART OF JESUS
If the Savior thus discovered all the beauty and richness of his divine wounds to the humble religious, could he perhaps fail to open the treasures of his great wound of love to her?
"Contemplate here the source from which you should draw everything ... it is rich, above all, for you ..." he said pointing out his bright wounds and that of his Sacred Heart, which shone among others with an incomparable splendor.
"You have only to approach the Plague of my divine side, which is the Plague of love, from which very fiery flames are released".
Sometimes, later, for several days, Jesus granted her the sight of his most holy glorious Humanity. He then remained close to his servant, conversed amicably with her, as in other times with our holy sister Margherita Maria Alacoque. The latter, who never departed from the Heart of Jesus, said: "This is how the Lord showed himself to me" and meanwhile the good Master repeated his loving invitations: "Come to my heart and do not fear anything. Put your lips here to take possession of charity and spread it in the world ... Put your hand here to collect my treasures ".
One day He makes her share in his immense desire to pour out the graces that overflow from his Heart:
“Collect them, because the measure is full. I can no longer contain them, so great is the desire to give them. " Another time it is an invitation to use those treasures again and again: “Come and receive the expansions of my heart that wishes to pour out its excessive fullness! I want to spread my abundance in you, because today I received in my mercy some souls saved by your prayers ”.
In every instant, in different forms, he calls out to a life of union with his sacred Heart: “Keep yourself well attached to this heart, to draw and spread my blood. If you want to enter the light of the Lord, it is necessary to hide in my divine Heart. If you want to know the intimacy of the bowels of mercy of the One who loves you so much, you must bring your mouth close to the opening of my Sacred Heart, with veneration and humility. Your center is here. No one will be able to prevent you from loving him nor will he make you love him if your heart does not match. Everything creatures say cannot tear your treasure, your love away from me ... I want you to love me without human support. "
The Lord still insists addressing to his bride a pressing exhortation: “I want the religious soul to be stripped of everything, because to come to my Heart it must have no attachment, no thread that binds it to the earth. We must go to conquer the Lord face to face with him and seek this heart in your own heart. ”.
Then return to Sister Maria Marta; through his docile servant, he looks to all souls and especially to consecrated souls: “I need your heart to repair offenses and keep me company. I will teach you to love me, because you don't know how to do it; the science of love is not learned in books: it is revealed only to the soul who looks at the divine Crucified One and speaks to him from heart to heart. You must be united with me in each of your actions. "
The Lord makes her understand the wonderful conditions and fruits of intimate union with her divine Heart: “The bride who does not lean on the heart of her husband in his pains, in his work, wastes time. When he has committed shortcomings, he must come back to my Heart with great confidence. Your infidelities disappear in this burning fire: love burns them, consumes them all. You must love me by abandoning me completely, leaning, like St. John, on the heart of your Master. Loving him in this way will bring him a very great glory. "
How Jesus wishes our love: He begs him!
Appearing to her one day in all the glory of her Resurrection, she said to her beloved, with a deep sigh: “My daughter, I beg for love, as a poor man would do; I am a beggar of love! I call my children, one by one, I look at them with pleasure when they come to me ... I await them! ... "
Taking truly the appearance of a beggar, he repeated to her again, full of sadness: “I beg for love, but most, even among religious souls, refuse it to me. My daughter, love me purely for myself, without taking into account neither the punishment nor the reward ”.
Pointing to her our holy sister Margaret Mary, who "devoured" the Heart of Jesus with her eyes: "This loved me with pure love and only for myself, only for me!".
Sister Maria Marta tried to love with the same love.
Like an immense fire, the Sacred Heart drew it to itself with unspeakable ardor. She went to her beloved Lord with transports of love that consumed her, but at the same time they left in her soul a completely divine sweetness.
Jesus said to her: “My daughter, when I chose a heart for you to love me and do my will, I light the fire of my love in it. However I do not incessantly feed this fire, for fear that self-love gains something and that my graces are received out of habit.
Sometimes I withdraw to leave the soul in its weakness. Then she sees that she is alone ... making mistakes, these falls keep her in humility. But because of these shortcomings, I do not abandon the soul I have chosen: I always look at it.
I don't mind small things: forgiveness and return.
Each humiliation unites you more intimately to my Heart. I don't ask for big things: I simply want the love of your heart.
Cling to my Heart: you will discover all the goodness with which it is full ... here you will learn the sweetness and humility. Come, my daughter, to take refuge in it.
This union is not only for you, but for all members of your community. Tell your Superior to come to lay down in this opening all the actions of your sisters, even the recreations: there they will be as in a bank, and they will be well guarded ".
A moving detail among a thousand others: when Sister Maria Marta became aware of that night, she could not help but stop to ask the Superior: "Mother, what is a bank?".
It was a question of his candid innocence, then he began to communicate his message again: “It is necessary that for humility and annihilation your hearts unite with mine; My daughter, if you knew how much my Heart suffers from the ingratitude of so many hearts: you must unite your pains with those of my Heart. "
It is even more particularly to the souls in charge of the direction of the other Directors and Superior that the Heart of Jesus opens with its riches: “You will make a great act of charity by offering my wounds every day for all the Directors of the Institute. You will tell your Master that she comes to the source to fill her soul and, in a tomorrow, her heart will be full to spread my graces above you. She has to lay down the fire of holy love in souls, speaking very often about the sufferings of my Heart. I will give everyone the grace to understand the teachings of my sacred Heart. At the hour of death, all will arrive here, for the commitment and correspondence of their souls.
My daughter, your Superiors are the custodians of my Heart: I must be able to place in their souls all that I would like of grace and suffering.
Tell your mother to come and draw from these sources (the Heart, the Wounds) for all your sisters ... She must look at my Sacred Heart and confide in everything, regardless of the gaze of others ".
PROMISES OF OUR LORD
The Lord is not content to reveal his holy wounds to Sister Maria Marta, to expose to her the pressing reasons and benefits of this devotion and at the same time the conditions that ensure its outcome. He also knows how to multiply the encouraging promises, repeated with such frequency and in so many and varied forms, which force us to limit ourselves; on the other hand, the content is the same.
Devotion to the holy wounds cannot deceive. “You do not have to fear, my daughter, to make my wounds known because someone will never be deceived, even when things seem impossible.
I will grant all that is asked of me with the invocation of the holy wounds. This devotion must be spread: you will get everything because it is thanks to my Blood which is of infinite value. With my wounds and my divine heart, you can get everything. "
The holy wounds sanctify and ensure spiritual progress.
"From my wounds come fruits of holiness:
As the gold purified in the crucible becomes more beautiful, so it is necessary to place your soul and those of your sisters in my sacred wounds. Here they will perfect themselves like gold in the crucible.
You can always purify yourselves in my wounds. My Wounds will repair yours ...
The holy wounds have a wonderful efficacy for the conversion of sinners.
One day, Sister Maria Marta, anguished at thinking about the sins of humanity, exclaimed: "My Jesus, have mercy on your children and do not look at their sins".
The divine Master, answering her request, taught her the invocation that we already know, then added. “Many people will experience the effectiveness of this aspiration. I want priests to recommend it often to their penitents in the sacrament of confession.
The sinner who says the following prayer: Eternal Father, I offer you the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ, to heal those of our souls he will obtain conversion.
The holy wounds save the world and ensure a good death.
“The holy wounds will infallibly save you ... they will save the world. You have to take a breath with your mouth resting on these sacred wounds ... there will be no death for the soul that will breathe in my wounds: they give real life ".
The holy wounds exercise all power over God. "You are nothing for yourself, but your soul united with my wounds becomes powerful, it can also do various things at a time: to deserve and get for all needs, without having to go down to the details ".
Placing his adorable hand on the head of the privileged darling, the Savior added: “Now you have my power. I always take pleasure in giving the greatest thanks to those who, like you, have nothing. My power lies in my wounds: like them you too will become strong.
Yes, you can get everything, you can have all my power. In a way, you have more power than me, you can disarm my justice because, although everything comes from me, I want to be prayed for, I want you to invoke me. "
The holy wounds will particularly safeguard the community.
As the political situation became more critical every day (says our Mother), in October 1873 we made a novena to the holy wounds of Jesus.
Immediately our Lord showed his joy to the confidant of his Heart, then he addressed these comforting words: "I love your Community so much ... never will something bad happen to it!
May your Mother not get upset about the news of the present time, because the news from outside is often wrong. Only my word is true! I tell you: you have nothing to fear. If you left out the prayer then you would have something to fear ...
This rosary of mercy acts as a counterweight to my justice, keeps my revenge away ”. Confirming the gift of her holy wounds to the community, the Lord said to her: "Here is your treasure ... the treasure of the holy wounds contains crowns that you must gather and give to others, offering them to my Father to heal the wounds of all souls. Someday these souls, to whom you will have obtained a holy death with your prayers, will turn to you to thank you. All men will appear before me on the day of judgment and then I will show my favorite brides that they will have purified the world by means of the holy wounds. The day will come when you will see these great things ...
My daughter, I say this to humiliate you, not to overpower you. Know well that all this is not for you, but for me, so that you may attract souls to me! ”.
Among the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ, two must be mentioned especially: the one concerning the Church and the one concerning the souls of Purgatory.
THE SAINTS AND THE CHURCH
The Lord frequently renewed to Sister Maria Marta the promise of the triumph of the holy Church, through the power of her wounds and the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin.
"My daughter, it is necessary that you carry out your mission well, which is to offer my wounds to my eternal Father, because from them must come the triumph of the Church, which will pass through my Immaculate Mother".
However, from the beginning, the Lord prevents any illusion and any misunderstanding. It could not be the material triumph, visible, as certain souls dream! In front of Peter's boat the waves will never calm down with perfect docility, indeed sometimes they will make her tremble with the fury of their agitation: Fight, always, fight: this is a law of the life of the Church: “We do not understand what is asked, asking for his triumph ... My Church will never have a visible triumph ".
However, through the constant struggles and anxieties, the work of Jesus Christ is completed in the Church and for the Church: the salvation of the world. It is carried out as much better as prayer, which occupies its place in the divine plan, most begs the help of heaven.
It is understood that heaven is especially won when it is implored in the name of the holy redemptive wounds.
Jesus often insists on this point: “The invocations to the holy wounds will obtain an unceasing victory. It is necessary that you continually draw from this source for the triumph of my Church ".
THE SAINTS AND THE SOULS OF PURGATORY AND THE SKY
"The benefit of the holy wounds brings down the graces from heaven and the souls of Purgatory rise to heaven". The souls freed through our sister sometimes came to thank her and told her that the feast of the holy wounds that had saved them would never pass:
“We didn't know the value of this devotion until the moment we enjoyed God! By offering the holy wounds of our Lord, you work as a second redemption:
How beautiful it is to die passing through the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ!
A soul who during his life has honored, treasured the wounds of the Lord and offered them to the eternal Father for the souls of Purgatory, will be accompanied, at the moment of death, by the holy Virgin and the Angels, and our Lord on Croce, all resplendent with glory, will receive and crown her. "
REQUESTS OF OUR LORD AND THE VIRGIN
In exchange for many exceptional graces, Jesus asked the Community for only two practices: the Holy Hour and the Rosary of the holy wounds:
“It is necessary to deserve the palm of victory: it comes from my holy Passion ... On Calvary victory seemed impossible and, however, it is from there that my triumph shines. You have to imitate me ... The painters paint pictures more or less conforming to the original, but here the painter is me and I engrave my image in you, if you look at me.
My daughter, prepare to receive all the brush strokes that I want to give you.
The Crucifix: here is your book. All true science lies in the study of my wounds: When all creatures study them they will find in them the necessary, without needing another book. This is what the Saints read and will read eternally and it is the only one you must love, the only science you have to study.
When you draw on my wounds, you lift the divine crucifix.
My Mother passed through this path. It is very hard for those who proceed by force and without love, but gentle and consoling is the path of souls who carry their cross with generosity.
You are very happy, to whom I have taught the prayer that disarms me: "My Jesus, forgiveness and mercy for the merits of your holy wounds".
'”The graces you receive through this invocation are graces of fire: they come from heaven and they must come back to heaven ...
Tell your Superior that she will always be listened to for any need, when she will pray to me for my holy wounds, by reciting the Rosary of mercy.
Your monasteries, when you offer my holy wounds to my Father, draw the graces of God on the dioceses in which they are found.
If you cannot take advantage of all the riches with which my wounds are full for you, you will be very guilty ".
The Virgin teaches the happy privileged one how this exercise should be accomplished.
Showing herself in the appearance of Our Lady of Sorrow, she said to her: “My daughter, the first time I contemplated the wounds of my beloved Son, it was when they placed her most holy Body in my arms,
I meditated on his pains and tried to pass them through my heart. I looked at his divine feet, one by one, from there I passed to his Heart, in which I saw that great opening, the deepest for my Mother's heart. I contemplated my left hand, then my right hand and then the crown of thorns. All those wounds pierced my heart!
This was my passion, mine!
I hold seven swords in my heart and through my heart the sacred wounds of my divine Son must be honored! ”.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH OF SISTER MARIA MARTA
Divine graces and communications truly filled all the hours of this exceptional life. During the last twenty years, that is, until his death, nothing appeared outside these wonderful graces, nothing, except the long hours that Sister Maria Marta spent in front of the Blessed Sacrament, immobile, insensitive, as in ecstasy.
Nobody dared to question her about what passed in those blessed moments between her ecstatic soul and the divine Guest of the tabernacle.
That continuous succession of prayers, work and mortification ... that silence, that continuous disappearance, seems to us a further proof, and not the least convincing, of the truth of the unheard of favors with which it was filled.
A soul, of suspicion or even of ordinary humility, would have tried to attract attention, claiming to grab a little glory of the work that Jesus did in her and for her. Sister Maria Marta never!
He plunged with great joy into the shadow of common and hidden life ... however, like the small seed buried in the earth, devotion to the holy wounds sprouted in hearts.
After a night of terrible suffering, on March 21, 1907, at eight in the evening, at the first Vespers of the feast of her pains, Mary came looking for her daughter, who had taught her to love Jesus.
And the bridegroom received forever in the wound of his sacred Heart the bride whom he had chosen here on earth as his beloved victim, his confidant and apostle of his holy wounds.
The Lord had committed her through solemn promises, ancient and written by the maternal hand:
“I, Sister Maria Marta Chambon, promise to our Lord Jesus Christ to offer myself every morning to God the Father in union with the divine wounds of Jesus Crucified, for the salvation of the whole world and for the good and perfection of my community. Amen"
God be blessed.
ROSARY OF THE SAINTS OF JESUS
It is recited using a common crown of the Holy Rosary and begins with the following prayers:
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
O God, come save me. O Lord, make haste to help me. GLORY TO THE FATHER, I BELIEVE: I believe in God, Almighty Father, creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; descended into hell; on the third day he rose from the dead; he went up to heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Almighty Father; from there he will judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, eternal life. Amen.
1 O Jesus, divine Redeemer, have mercy on us and the whole world. Amen.
2 Holy God, strong God, immortal God, have mercy on us and the whole world. Amen.
3 O Jesus, through Your most precious Blood, grant us grace and mercy in the present dangers. Amen.
4 O Eternal Father, for the Blood of Jesus Christ, Your only Son, we beg you to use us mercy. Amen. Amen. Amen.
On the grains of our Father we pray:
Eternal Father, I offer you the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To heal those of our souls.
On the grains of the Ave Maria please:
My Jesus, forgiveness and mercy. For the merits of Your holy wounds.
In the end it repeats three times:
“Eternal Father, I offer you the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To heal those of our souls ”.