The bitterness of the heart of Jesus in the womb of his mother

The Devotion of all devotions is love for Jesus Christ, and frequent meditation on the love which this amiable Redeemer has borne and still bears us. Let us consider the sufferings which the Heart of Jesus endured for us even from His Infancy, for then we shall be unable to love anything else but the Heart which hath loved us so much.

I. Consider the great bitterness with which the Heart of the Infant Jesus must have felt itself afflicted and oppressed, in the womb of Mary, at the very first moment when His Father proposed for His consideration all the series of contempt, sorrow and agonies which He was to suffer during His life, to deliver men from their miseries: In the morning he wakeneth my ear... And I do not resist... I have given my body to the strikers (Is. l. 4, 6). Thus did Jesus speak by the mouth of the Prophet. In the morning he wakeneth my ear. That is to say: From the first moment of My conception My Father made Me feel that it was His will that I should lead a life of sorrow and in the end should be sacrificed upon a Cross. And I do not resist... I have given my body to the strikers. All this I have accepted for your salvation, O ye souls of men! From that time forth I gave up My Body to the scourges, to the nails, and to the death of the Cross!

My beloved Redeemer, how much did it not cost Thee, even from Thy first entrance into the world, to raise me from the mire into which I have fallen by my sins! Thou didst consent to be treated as the lowest of slaves in order to deliver me from the slavery of the devil, to whom I had willingly sold myself by sin. Yet, knowing all this, I have had the boldness continually to afflict Thy most amiable Heart which has loved me so much! But since Thou, Who art innocent, and art my God, hast accepted such a painful life and death, I will accept for Thy love, O my Jesus, every trouble that shall come from Thy hands. I accept and embrace it because it comes from these hands once pierced through in order to deliver me from the hell which I have so often deserved. O my Lord, give me Thy holy love in order to render all sufferings and ignominy sweet and pleasant to me.

Most holy Mary, recommend me to thy Son for the love that thou bearest Him. Behold, I am one of those sheep for whom thy Son has died!

II. Reflect that whatever Jesus Christ suffered in His life and in His Passion, was all placed before Him while He was yet in the womb of His Mother, and He accepted all with love. But in accepting all this, and in overcoming the natural repugnance of the senses, O God, what anguish and oppression did not the innocent Heart of Jesus suffer! Well did He understand what He was to endure; first of all shut up for nine months in the dark prison of the womb of Mary; then in enduring the shame and the sufferings of His birth; being born in a cold grotto that was a stable for beasts; in having afterwards to lead for thirty years a despised life in the shop of an artizan; and in seeing that He was to be treated by men as ignorant, a slave, a seducer, and one guilty of death, and that the most infamous and painful death allotted to criminals.

All this did our loving Redeemer accept every moment, but at each moment that He accepted it, He suffered at once all the pains and humiliations that He was afterwards to endure even until His death. The very knowledge of His divine dignity made Him feel, still more, the insults that He was to receive from men: All the day long my shame is before me (Ps. xliii. 16). He had continually before His eyes His shame, especially that confusion He should one day feel at seeing Himself stripped naked, scourged, and suspended by three nails, and so end His life in the midst of the insults and curses of those very men for whom He was dying: Becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross (Phil. ii. 8). And why? To save us miserable and ungrateful sinners.

O loving Heart of Jesus, that loves men with so much tenderness and is so little loved by men — do Thou apply a remedy to such great ingratitude! Inflame our hearts with a true love for Thee. Ah, why can I not go through the whole world to make known the graces, the sweetness, the treasures that Thou dispensest to those who truly love Thee! Accept the desire I have of seeing all hearts burning with love for Thee: O divine Heart, be Thou my consolation in trials, my repose in labour, my solace in anxieties, my haven in tempests. I consecrate to Thee my body and my soul, my heart and my life, all that I am. To Thee I offer all my thoughts, all my affections, all my desires. O Eternal Father, I offer to Thee the pure affections of the Heart of Jesus. If Thou dost reject mine, Thou canst not reject Thy Son's. Blessed art thou O immaculate Mary, who hadst thy heart always and entirely united to the Heart of Jesus, obtain for me that in future I may wish and desire only what Jesus wills and what thou willest. Amen.