Video: How the Sacred Heart of Jesus Transformed My Life

With my gratitude to the Institute of Christ the King for permision to use this image.

Today we have two things – my latest video and also a short extract from my book Cor Jesu Sacratissimum: From Secularism and the New Age to Christendom Renewed.

As it happens, both the video (below at the bottom of the page) and the following book extract are quite personal, even embarassingly personal in the case of the video, which goes into somewhat intimate details, related to my time living in France and my more than twenty pilgrimages to Paray-le-Monial.

Now, Paray-le-Monial is a small town in Eastern France, where in 1673, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque beheld the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is also a place that transformed my life – as I describe in both this short book extract and the video that follows it:

I travelled from iconoclasm to tradition in stages: from being a liberal New Ager to being a liberal Catholic enamored of the “Spirit of Vatican II” to being the traditionalist that I am today. And this traditionalism owes everything to my life-changing experience in Paray-le-Monial. Here, then, I want to add a very personal note regarding that extraordinary place in Eastern France.

For … it was only through the extraordinary presence I experienced in praying there, that I was able, at long last, to leave the past behind. There, in Paray, I finally shed my liberal leanings and became convinced the Catholic Church must recover its traditions for the sake of the world—including the Sacred Heart tradition.

Paray-le-Monial, what does it mean for the world today? The postcards on sale there speak of the “Cœur spirituel de l’Europe”—the spiritual heart of Europe! When first I saw these, I imagine I laughed. A bit over the top, I must have thought! But now, after more than twenty visits, I am no longer as skeptical, as once I was.

Once in Mulhouse, a great French city, hundreds of kilometers from Paray, I was praying in a church—when a complete stranger, an elderly Frenchwoman, interrupted me. We had a little conversation, which turned to Paray. She exclaimed: “Paray! One can feel the Heart of Jesus there.” I had to say I felt exactly the same thing.

A holy presence is felt in Paray. It is palpable in the Chapel of the Apparitions, where the relics of St. Margaret Mary lie. It is also profoundly present in the Jesuit chapel, which holds the relics of St. Claude La Colombiere. Therein, I experienced, in my prayer, graces that transformed me forever. And in the pages of old books, written long ago, I have found something that tells me I am not alone and neither is that elderly woman in Mulhouse. For here Bishop Bougaud describes the Chapel of the Apparitions:

Our humble Margaret Mary now rests . . . under the very spot upon which Our Lord appeared to her. . . . The pilgrim on his arrival pauses, involuntarily moved. The sweet mysteries accomplished in this place: on the one side, virginity, tenderness, thirst for immolation, heavenly detachment; on the other, condescension, mercy, infinite love . . . all that speaks to the soul. He forgets himself for hours in mute contemplation. There have been places more highly venerated on this earth, but there are very few more august or more sweet [Italics mine].

O Bishop Bougaud, how grateful I am for your testimony! And a hundred forty years later, you inspire me to leave behind my own feeble testament of my hours lost in prayer in this selfsame chapel, as well as in that astonishing Jesuit chapel.

Truly, the presence in these two chapels transformed my life …

I could never have written this book without them. Yet this presence also extended beyond these chapels. Waking in my bed at night, I felt struck: It is different here in Paray. Yes, around the clock in Paray, a very special presence could be felt bathing me, cleansing me, working on my soul. I confess there were times in Paray, where I endured real suffering. But how I felt succoured and strengthened there, like nowhere else on earth. In my agony, I knew I was being held.

We will not add much more, dear Reader – as all of this is far more amplified in the video below.

I will just say this video is my favourite so far. And I am going to say, yet again, that if you like it, I would be very grateful for any “likes”, shares  subscriptions, comments at YouTube or shares on social media. There are buttons to share on Facebook below and I would be particularly thankful to those who would consider sharing it in any relevant Facebook groups to which they belong.

This channel is the most serious new project I have undertaken in years, and I just want to have a hope of making it visible, at least visible, in the crowded, competitive world of YouTube. Thank you if you can help!

Sacred Heart on Irish altar. Photo by Kim Buck.