Feast Day Of Sainte Marguerite-Marie Alacoque - 17 October

Copied from the book, The Devotion To The Sacred Heart, foreword to the first edition, page xi, written by Father Patrick O'Connell, 1 January 1959 [1]:

    The complete edition of The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Father Croiset, S.J., is presented to the public for the first time in English.  This book was composed during the lifetime of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and published in 1691, the year after her death.  The letters of St. Margaret Mary...show that the book was written at the request of Our Savior Himself, conveyed to Father Croiset by St. Margaret Mary; in her letter to him asking him to compose this book she assured him on the , part of Our Savior that he was to get special assistance, and when the work was near completion she told him that it was so completely in accordance with the wishes of Our Lord that it would never be necessary to make any changes in it.  The book, then, rests on the authority of Our Lord Himself; as He promised, no change in it was ever found necessary...

The paragraphs below are excerpts from the same book, cited above, the first is from page 10 (Life of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque) , the second is from the Appendix on page 326 (Prayers Composed in Honor of the Sacred Heart by St. Margaret Mary):

    And in another place she writes: "From this time on, my divine Master has never ceased to reprove me for my faults and to show me how hideous they are.  What displeases Him most and what He reproves me for most severely, is want of respect and attention before the Blessed Sacrament, especially at the time of Office and prayer.  Alas!  of how many graces have I not deprived myself by distractions, by looking around from curiosity, by a more comfortable but less respectable posture?  The sorrow which I feel as soon as I perceive that I have offended Him in anything obliges me to go immediately and ask for some penance, for my divine Savior assured me on many occasions that the least penance performed under obedience was more pleasing to Him that the greatest austerity of my own choice....

Prayer of Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament

    Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God, whom I believe to be really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, receive this act of most profound adoration to supply for the desire I have to adore Thee unceasingly, and in thanksgiving for the sentiments of love which Thy Sacred Heart has for me in this Sacrament.  I cannot better acknowledge them than by offering Thee all the acts of adoration, resignation, patience and love which this Divine Heart has made during Its mortal life, and which It makes still and will make eternally in Heaven, in order that through It, I may love Thee, praise Thee and adore Thee worthily as much as it is possible for me.  I unite myself to the Divine Offering which Thou dost make to Thy Divine Father, and I consecrate to Thee my whole being, praying Thee to destroy in me all sin and not to permit that I should be separated from Thee eternally.  Amen.

[1] Croiset, Father John [Père Jean], S.J. The Devotion To The Sacred Heart. Translated by Father Patrick O'Connell, B.D., TAN Books, Second Edition, 2013.