Teresa Higginson, Neston,
England, 1874 (Sacred Head of Jesus)
Status: Cause for Beatification opened
Episcopal Remarks: - N/A
Corroboration by Other Seers: -
Biographical Information: Teresa Higginson (1844-1905)
was a saintly Catholic schoolteacher. She was born in Holywell, North Wales and
lived in various places including Gainsborough, Neston, Nottingham, Bootle,
Clitheroe, Edinburgh and Chudleigh in Devon where she died. It seems she
received many supernatural gifts including the mystical marriage and the
stigmata, and that she was chosen by Christ to make known his great desire that
his Sacred Head be worshipped as the Seat of Divine Wisdom. This would be a
remedy for a time of extraordinary intellectual pride and falling-away from
faith. It would be not only the completion of the Sacred Heart, but the
crowning of all devotions. In fact it was prophesied to be the one great means
for the conversion of England.
The
Messages
The
Sacred Head of Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ as The Seat of Divine Wisdom is
revealed in the Letters of Teresa Higginson to her Spiritual Director
As
recorded in the book by Lady Kerr
Teresa
Higginson, Servant of God 1927
Sadly today it is out of print
First
Page
TERESA
HELENA HIGGINSON was born in 1844, and was brought up with her seven brothers
and sisters. in an ideal Catholic home at Gainsborough. A bright, precocious
child, brimming with life and character, she appears to have attained the use
of reason in a remarkable way as a very young age, she was suddenly overwhelmed
by the sense of the majesty of God, she fell prostrate on the ground and vowed
herself to Him forever. At ten years of age she was sent to the convent at
Nottingham, but her school life was much interrupted by ill health, the result,
in part, of the austerities she used even then to practice. Her father having become bankrupt, she
trained as a teacher, thus discovering her life's vocation - "to teach the
poorest of God's children how to love Him." She was first appointed to St. Mary's Wigan, and later to St.
Alexander's Bootle. Her days were divided between school duties and visiting
the sick, her nights spent in prayer. To share the Passion of our Lord, and
thereby to atone for sinners, was the chief aim of her life. Her penances were
incredible. She hardly slept, she seldom ate. Her food was the Blessed
Sacrament. And our Lord repaid her love by admitting her to close share in His
sufferings, even, it would seem, granting her the sublime gift of the sacred
Stigmata. Blood was often noticed on her hands and head. Her friends bore
witness to her frequent ecstasies, her miraculous communions, the violent
assaults of the devil. Other secrets of her spiritual life she told to no one
but her confessor, to whom she was under vow to reveal them. Despite her
efforts to remain unnoticed, tongues could not be silenced and rumors spread.
Some upheld her as a saint, many more denounced her as a liar and a hypocrite.
Finally, the controversy waxed so fierce that she was dismissed, sick in body
and in heart, from Bootle. These trials were the final purification for what
her director believed to be the Mystical Marriage, the closest union with God
possible to a soul on earth, in which it can say with St. Paul: "I live
now, not I, but Christ liveth in me." The wonders ceased. Henceforth to
human eyes her life became supremely commonplace and ordinary. She no longer
prayed for the suffering: to do God's will most perfectly in all the tiny
things of daily life, such seemed to her the height of sanctity.
Twelve
years she spent in prayer and hidden service in St. Catherine's convent
Edinburgh, and then, her health somewhat restored, she felt called upon to
resume her work of teaching. She accepted a post in the little village of
Chudleigh, where, after a long, lonely year, she had a severe stroke and, on
February 15th, 1905, in her sixtieth year, she died. From the worldly standpoint how drab and dreary was her life, and
yet there is reason to believe that this humble little teacher in our English
elementary schools, was favored with God's most sublime revelations. Canon
Snow, her director, never wavered in his conviction that she would eventually
be raised to the altars of the Church, and he carefully preserved her writings.
Herein we read how our Lord again and again appeared to her, and impressed on
her His urgent wish that special honor should be paid to His Sacred Head, as
the seat of His divine Wisdom, in order to make atonement for the sins of pride
and intellect, and disbelief, so prevalent in these modern days. In a vision,
on the Epiphany, He once consoled her with these words: "Take courage, my
loved one, for the seat of divine Wisdom will be known, praised, and adored. as
I wish, and I will glorify My Name in thee."
SOURCES
OF INFORMATION
The
following are Canon Snow's instructions to his executers with regard to these
papers: "To my Executors: The whole contents of this drawer are the
letters and writings of the servant of God, Teresa Higginson, copies of them,
and various writings concerning her and the devotion to the Sacred Head of Our
Lord Jesus Christ. None of these papers must be destroyed but carefully
preserved together, and God in His own time and His own way will bring them to light
and cause them to be used to His own honor and the glory and the good of
souls. "It is right for me to
leave it on record that I was her director from September 1883, till her death
on 15th of February 1905. During that period she lived in various places,
(eleven years at St. Catherine's Convent, Edingborough) and went to confession
to the local priest, but she was in constant communication with me and always
regarded me as her director to whom she was under her vow of obedience. Since Benedict X1V in his essay on
canonization says that great weight ought to be given to the opinion of the
director of the servant of God, I feel I should do wrong if I died without
leaving behind me a declaration, which I now make, that it is my strong
conviction that Teresa Higginson was from her very early childhood called to a
very high degree of sanctity, that she was led by extraordinary ways; that she
went through, one after the other, the various degrees of prayer and union up
to and including the Mystical Marriage (This last she beautifully described in
a letter to Fr. Powell and in one to me). This conviction was formed by my
intimate knowledge of her, her interior, her way of life, her heroic virtues,
her suffering and trials, her writings, the analogy between her life and the
lives of the saints, all combined with my knowledge of mystical theology of
which I made constant and close study.
"I feel it right to say that I have the first conviction that
Teresa was not only a saint but also one of the greatest saints Almighty God
has ever raised up in His Church."
These striking words, written of Teresa Helena Higginson, express no
mere passing opinion, but are the weighty judgment of the wise old priest, who
for the last 22 years of her life, was the director of her soul.
Second Page
DEVOTION
TO THE SACRED HEAD
It
is during this stay at Neston that we first hear of a subject which was to be
henceforth the all absorbing interest of Teresa's life -the Devotion to the
Sacred Head of Our Lord as the Seat of Divine Wisdom. While awaiting the ruling
of the Church on this important matter, we may venture to believe that the
promotion of this devotion was the special mission for which Her Divine Spouse
had designed her: that the singular graces and favors which He conferred upon
her so freely were intended, not merely for her own sanctification, but with
the further object of fitting her for this work. Our Lord Himself, she
frequently assured her director, had taught her that this sublime devotion
would sum up in itself all the worship due to His Sacred Humanity, and be the
great antidote to the pride of intellect and disbelief which are the crying
evils of these latter times.
When,
in the cold hard days of the 17th century, Our Lord wished to prove to the world
the burning love of His Sacred Heart, He chose for His messenger a simple nun,
and now in our own age (1922), He has sought a still more lowly soul to send
forth as the herald of His Wisdom. Surely it is a point of no small
significance that the instrument He had selected for this great work should be
no renowned world famed professor, but an unknown teacher of a poor school!
"I confess to thee O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth because Thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to little
ones. Yea Father, for so it hath seemed good in Thy sight". Where indeed,
could He have found a littler one than this simple, humble teacher whose life
was devoted to the very poorest of His children?
Teresa's
first reference to this subject is on the feast of the Sacred Heart, 1879-about
the very time Father Powell, inspired by the Holy Ghost, placed her under
obedience to write out for him all the secrets of her soul. For the next few
years she recurs to it again and again, showing how frequently Our Lord
appeared to her, each time explaining more fully the hidden depths and beauty
of the Devotion and impressing her with His ardent wish for its propagation.
She burned with longing to carry out His Holy Will, though knowing her own helplessness,
she constantly implored Him to commit the task to some more worthy soul, some
wise and learned man whose words would carry weight. But God's ways are not
mans ways and He made it clear to her that weak and powerless as she was, it
was to her that the work had been confided. She labored incessantly for this
end, and yet, in spite of all her prayers for light, He never showed her what
it was exactly she had to do. Much as she loved to hide her self away, she
would have gone forth gladly to summon the whole world to honor the Sacred
Head, "the house which Wisdom hath built for Herself,"but this
sacrifice was not required of her. She did what she could: she taught the
Devotion to the children and spoke of it to all of her friends. Many to her
joy, embraced it with enthusiasm. Among them were Father Wilberforce, the well
known Dominican, Father Humphrey, S.J., and Mon. Weld, who all examined into it
carefully and then adopted it. The matter was at length brought before Dr.
O'Reilly, the Bishop of the diocese, and Teresa prayed much for some clear
proof which might convince him and cause him, not merely to sanction the
Devotion, but actively promote it. But no such proof was forthcoming and, he
took no public action. Teresa herself never wavered in her faith and hope,
looking always for some open manifestation of the Will of God, as did also her
two confessors. Father Snow wrote: "Both Father Powell and I expected that
important miracles would take place and that these would be of great help in furthering
the devotion to the Sacred Head and at the same time be useful if hereafter if
there was question of her canonization. But I never mentioned this subject to
Teresa, nor did Father Powell to the best of my belief. On the 30th of May,
1884, which would be shortly before whit Sunday, of that year, she spoke to me
of her intense desire to have the Sacred Head honored and the intense suffering
it caused her. I told her to wait for Whit Sunday, when perhaps Our Lord would
let her know what she could do. On June 6th, she told me that on Whit Sunday
Our Lord had made known very clearly to her that it was not by wonders and
miracles that He would make known the devotion to the Sacred Head. That it was
the wisdom of the world to look for signs but not His way; that when He Himself
promised the Blessed Sacrament He might have convinced by wonders those who
refused to believe, but it was not according to the ways of His
Wisdom."
And
so Teresa longed and prayed and waited, until at last she seemed to understand
the special part assigned to her, when she wrote: "If it pleases Him that
I should not do anything but be consumed with this desire then His Holy Will be
done".
The
explanation of the devotion must be given in Teresa's own words as she
understood it from Our Lord Himself. For the sake of clearness and the chief
extracts from her letters dealing with the subject have been grouped together,
though in point of fact they extend over several years. The first revelation
seems to have been made to her in the little village school house at Neston, on
the Feast of the Sacred Heart, 1879, shortly after her return from sabden. She
described it to Father Powell, first explaining the way in which Our Lord
prepared her for this great vision:
During
Holy Mass on Friday Our Blessed Lord brought before me all my nothingness and
miserable sins and filled me with such great confusion that I felt that I
should almost die. He has so often done the same of late and shown me at the
same time His infinite Majesty that I have been almost annihilated. Ah my God
who shall stand before thee? It seems to me that this feeling must be the same,
or something the same, that the poor soul feels when she stands before God to
be judged. This great humiliation was succeeded by a sweet calm and holy joy
after I heard these words again: "Fear not, it is I" (and such a
torrent of sweet tears streamed down that seemed to refresh the soul
wonderfully.) Not that I really heard the words spoken by the ears but they
seemed impressed on the soul in such a manner that there is no doubt of what I
heard, and these words are works, for, as at the Creation God said; "Let
there be light" and it was so, so I see in an instant verified the import
of these words, for my poor soul that seemed so hard dry and cold, almost
despairing enjoys at once that peace which the world cannot give.
"During
the whole day I remained very recollected and although you told me to give
myself entirely into the hands of God, I continually reminded our B. Lord that
both you and Father Wells told me nothing was to be done in public, for our B.
Lord made me feel that He wished to bestow some great favor upon me which
covered me with such shame and confusion that I could hardly raise my head. For
when I see our divine Lord giving His treasures to this vile traitor I beg of
Him to consider what He is about, for I fear that others might undervalue His
great gifts seeing them given to so vile and wicked a wretch.
"When
I retired to my room in the evening a deep recollection came upon me. Oh my God
give me light and help that I may be able to express clearly to my director
this which is entirely Thy work. Pity my weaknesses and by Thy obedience unto
death, oh my God and by this same Wisdom which Thou hast shown me, instruct me,
or do Thou oh Lord what Thy unworthy servant is unable to do....
"I
was considering the excessive love of the sacred Heart and offering to my
divine Spouse this same love to make amends for our coldness, and His constancy
and infinite riches to make up for our poverty and misery, when our divine Lord
suddenly represented to me the Divinity as a very large bright crystal stone in
which all things are reflected or are, past present and to come, in such a
manner that all things are present in Him. This immense precious stone sent
forth streams of richly colored lights brighter beyond comparison than ten
thousand suns, which I understood represented the Infinite Attributes of God.
This great jewel also seemed to be covered with innumerable eyes which I
understood represented the Wisdom and Knowledge of God. . . . Our Blessed Lord
showed me this Divine Wisdom as I was saying as the guilding power which
regulated the motions and affections of the Sacred Heart, showing me that it
had the same effect and power over its least action, and raising it, as the sun
draws up vapor from the ocean. He gave me to understand that an especial
devotion and veneration should be paid to the Sacred Head of our Lord as the
seat of divine Wisdom and guilding power of the Sacred Heart, and so complete
this heavenly devotion. . . . ."
This
vision occurred at Neston, but most of the subsequent revelations took place at
Bootle, in the Church of St. Alexander which she foresaw would become a great
place of pilgrimage, as she told Father Powell: "Our Lord has this morning shown me that your requests will
be granted and that greater wonders than those of Knock. He will bring to pass
in our very midst, that the eyes of all nations shall be turned towards us and
pilgrims come from afar off."
The
right-hand corner seat of the front bench on the Epistle side is still pointed
out as the place where Teresa usually knelt, and where the heavens were so
often opened to her and she saw and heard many things which it is not given to
man to utter.
Third
Page
In
Easter Week, 1889, she wrote:
"When I went into the church a little after five on Easter Sunday
morning I had hardly knelt to adore Him present in the most holy Sacrament of
His Love, when He drew me so entirely into Himself that I know not what I saw
or Heard for some time; but when the powers of the soul again began to act He
represented Himself to me (I think) as we see Him in the pictures of the Sacred
Heart and His Sacred Head radiant as a sea of light and a glorious sun shining
to its very depths and acting on the affections, motives, and entire workings
of the Sacred Heart and raising them even as the sun draws up the vapours from
the ocean. In this light, I saw distinctly formed figure of a silvery dove
which I understood was the Holy Ghost, and rolls of glory (I was going to say
clouds but that is hardly correct) or pillars as a rainbow appeared above which
I felt represented the Eternal Father. The whole formed an Eye which I knew to
be the Eye of God in Unity. And from it I understood that our dear Blessed Lord
wished His Sacred Head to be specially worshipped as the 'Seat of Divine
Wisdom' and the powers of His Human Soul adored therein, as it is the seat of
the intellectual powers of man He has
so many times as I have before told you revealed to me His intention of
crowning the devotion of the Sacred Heart in this point and I think when He
spoke of the wonders He would work in our midst that He referred to some
manifestation to this end."
On April 27th, she wrote in a tone of triumph
and in a trembling hand as though still rapt in ecstasy: "Our Divine Lord says the time is at
hand when the Wisdom of the Father shall be adored and the Love of God for man
shall be revealed in the Light which shineth in darkness and enlighteneth every
man that cometh into the world. It is the Will of our dear Blessed Lord that
His Sacred Head be adored as the Seat of Divine Wisdom: not the Sacred Head
alone, (I mean as we worship His Sacred Hands and Feet) no, but the Head as the
shrine of the powers of the Soul and of the faculties of the Mind and in these
the Wisdom which guided every affection of the Sacred Heart and motions of the
whole Being of Jesus our Lord and our God. It is not His Divine Will that the
attributes or abstracts of the soul or mind, or that Divine Wisdom which guided
governed and directed all in Him, (the God Man) should have distinct worship,
but that they should all be specially honoured and His Sacred Head adored as
their Temple. And our dear Blessed Lord has shown me too how the head is also
the centre of all senses of the body, and that this devotion is the completion,
not only of the devotion of the Sacred Heart, but the crowning and perfection
of all devotions; and He showed me how the adorable Trinity at His baptism
revealed to the world this special devotion, for His Sacred Humanity is the
tabernacle of the thrice holy Trinity; and that St. John had specially spoken
of this devotion for the Most High revealed to him that he should be thus
worshipped before the end of the world, and he spoke of it as a magnificent
city, etc. seeing the multitudes of variety and beauty and splendour of this
seat of Divine Wisdom. It is a world of infinite magnitude, a sea of fathomless
depths, a never setting sun of light inaccessible and immeasurable heights of
untold mysteries of perfection and beauty. Our dear Blessed Lord did not
positively state the precise time that this should be made a public devotion
but He gave me to understand that whoever should venerate His Sacred Head in
this manner should draw down on themselves the choicest gifts of Heaven; and
those who shall try by words or means to hinder or reject it shall be glass
that is cast down, or as an egg that is thrown to the wall, that is that they
shall be shattered and become as naught, and shall be dried up and wither as
grass on the housetop. "Our
beloved Spouse also let me know that it was in this church that He would
manifest to the world the manner etc, etc. that He wished to be honoured and
the time, and all concerning this most wonderful devotion. And I think it is
that soul that is drooping as the vine under the weight of heavenly gifts and
saturated through and through with the Precious Blood, that is His Infinite
Wisdom He has ordained to make known His holy Will to the world. For He
continually shows me this precious soul so dear to Him, and frequently before
He makes known to me anything concerning this heavenly devotion (to His Sacred
Head) He comforts me also with it. For when I feel my poor heart breaking with
sorrow at the coldness in which He is treated and the way He is betrayed even
by His priests He shows me this soul as His consoler and refuge this lily in
which He delights, and the will of this holy one blending so completely with
His that they seem as one, this understanding in which the light of God shines
as the midday sun in the clear waters of a spring, and that memory that is
always recollected in God, that heart that pants languishes for Him and wastes
itself away in longing desire to be dissolved and be one with Him for all
eternity.
Oh my God how much You have taught me in this
soul which You drew from the same abyss of nothingness as myself, and yet,
through her ready compliance with Thy adorable Will in all things, Thou hast
raised her to a pinnacle of perfection which but very few saints have ever
reached. Oh my God how wonderful are Thy works and how incomprehensible Thy
judgments and unsearchable Thy ways. For this jewel of Thy house is a wonder to
the angels and Thou Thyself hast shown me that (she) this soul is one of the
centre pieces of Thy Sacred Heart. I know not whether this soul is a priest ,
or even a male or female saint, but I know you will join with me in thanking
God for all He has done for it, and allowing us, unworthy as we are, to live
and worship before this same tabernacle where in His Love He deigns to listen
to us as well as to this great servant of His Sacred Heart. I think our dear Blessed Lord shows me this
soul to humble me, for I always feel that I am sinking away in the abyss of my
own nothingness whenever He allows me to see it, and yet my whole soul seems to
overflow with gratitude to Him for raising this soul to such perfection, and
love, and admiration at His work and delight beyond utterance at His reserving
her (I mean the soul) to comfort and console to love and adore Him as she does.
And this last week, after our Beloved Lord has shown me the greatness of His
gifts to this saint, He has made me feel what black ingratitude it would be if
she refused to fulfill His designs. I understand that of course it will be a
great humiliation for her to undertake the great work which I think He intends,
and I pray for and compassionate her exceedingly, yet I burn with desire to see
His holy Will accomplished and say with her and for her "Thy holy will be
done, for Thou art my light and strength Thou art my protector and Helper, what
shall I fear." Although I have no
curiosity to know who this chosen one is, yet I feel an ardent desire to be
near her and to render her some service, to go and meet her as St. Elizabeth
went to meet our Blessed Lady our dear Mother Mary at the time of the
Visitation." The above is the
first allusion in Teresa's letters to this wonderful soul, though she seems to
have known about it as far back as at Wigan, for Miss Ryland recalls her asking
quite simply one day: "Do you know that Father Wells directs a saint? I
wonder who it is. If I knew I might do something for her, perhaps wash for her.
Have you any idea who it is?"
After this she often writes of it to Father Powell, begging him to ask
for prayers and longing to be allowed to do something for this chosen one.
"Oh
my Father pray fervently for me and ask that soul so dear to His Sacred Heart to
pray for me also. And is it too much of me to ask of you to let me render some
service to this soul that so I may imitate Him a little Who has lavished on her
such wonderful gifts. It seems so strange to me that you should never mention
this holy one to me (not by name) but by telling me of her, that feeling the
influence of her presence I might love Him and glorify His holy name more for
all He has done for her. For surely she is a glory to His Name." Again she says: "Oh my Father may I do something for this one so dear to
Him? I will not offend their humility in any way. I would not thus beg of you
dear Father but I feel it would be a great service to my poor soul and I would
not breathe one word of it - but just as you wish. I do not think I should be
disheartened at seeing them doing so much for Him. I think I should feel I
could get them to love Him for me and I would really try to learn the lessons
Jesus would show me in them."
Fourth
Page
Father
Snow wrote later: "Both Father
Powell and myself were convinced that the soul was no other than her own but
knowing that it was our Lord's own secret were silent when she spoke of
it." And so it came about in the mysterious designs of Providence that
Teresa learnt humility from the vision of her own sanctity, and that her mighty
prayers, so pleasing in the sight of God, were offered, all unconsciously to
herself, for the perfecting of her own soul.
Teresa had mentioned that St. John speaks of the Devotion to the Sacred
Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, and Father Powell asked her for reference.
She replied: "In obedience to your
wish I asked our dear Blessed Lord where St. John had said anything in
reference to the Sacred Head as the 'Seat of Divine Wisdom,'and He gave me to
understand that it was the chapter to which you referred without telling me
which one it was in particular, and He said that as by the cunning and deceit
of the devil man first fell from God in Paradise and incurred darkness of
intellect and death - so in these later days of darkness, self indulgence
intellectual pride and conceit, the brightness of eternal light into which no
defiled thing cometh shall shine out more glorious and brilliant than ten
thousand suns, and the image of God's goodness and majesty and power shall be
seen in this unspotted mirror of truth, purity, knowledge and love. "Oh my Father do we not see the depth
of that divine Wisdom in the time that He has reserved for the manifestation of
His adorable Will in this respect? He each time also shows me the great blessings
and graces He has in store for all who shall further His divine Will to this
end, and makes me tremble with terror at the dread punishments. He has in store
for all who shall hinder, or try to hinder the furtherance of this heavenly
devotion, for their jaws He says shall be locked as those of the lions in the
den into which Daniel was cast, they shall be shattered and become as naught.
And the twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost that sparkle so beautifully in this
divine Wisdom are, as it were the foundations to this city of the Lord which He
has dug deep in humility. For He humbled Himself becoming obedient unto death,
even to the death of the Cross."
Again,
a few days later she said:
"After
holy Communion this morning I asked our B. Lord in what particular place St.
John referred to His Sacred Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom and He did not
tell me what text or words. He gave me to understand that it was spoken of in
the two last chapters of Revelations and with this mark were sealed the numbers
of His elect."
On
Ascension Day, our Lord once more appeared to her in glory and three times
asked her: "What wilt thou?"
"Oh
my Lord and my God what will I but Thy holy Will in all things? Lord what wilt
Thou have me to do? Teach me to do Thy holy Will for Thou art my God! Oh my
Father I know not how I live. Who would not be annihilated in the presence of
such awful majesty, such overpowering and unspeakable glory and power as I
beheld in Him Who is the Wisdom of the Father our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Who could tell the dread and fear that came upon me? For I cannot express what
I felt, and if it were not by a miracle of His power I should die as I sink
into the abyss of my own nothingness and misery.
"What
I have mentioned above happened on Thursday morning early and all my bodily
strength seemed to leave me and I have been very weak ever since. I was going
to say I saw our dear Blessed Lord in His glorified humanity, but I suppose it
is not right to say so, but I feel very certain of it which appeared in greater
majesty and glory than I have ever before seen Him and He addressed me, saying
"What wilt thou?" I was crushed and humbled as God only can humble
and at first a great inexpressible fear came upon me, but our dear Lord seemed
to behold me with such loving tenderness and compassion that by degrees the
fear passed off and I felt amazed and astonished at the marvelous condescension
of our dear Blessed Lord and lost in His mercy and Love. Oh with what
confidence those words inspired me, though I feel that in them too He was
asking me to do some great thing for Him of which at present I have not the
remotest idea, but my misery is such that it gives me greater confidence that
whatever He wishes to do in me or through me He will do Himself. I give myself
and all that I have and am (which is nothing) into His Sacred Hands to do with
me whatever He shall please, without thought of pain, humiliation or feelings .
His holy Will is my only pleasure and if I can loose or suffer anything for Him
He knows I shall consider it as a great gain. Oh my God with Thee I make an
oblation of my whole being to Thy Eternal Father, my character, ect saying Lord
I am Thine, my love is all for Thee, do with me what Thou wilt now and forever
Amen. Holy Mary be a Mother to me. St. Joseph and all the angels and saints of
God pray for me. She again refers to
this vision in a later letter where she says: "Oh my God how shall I find
words to express the glory the majesty and beauty of that countenance before
which the Seraphim and Cherubim fall in mute admiration and adoration and I
like the apostles on Tabor cannot sustain this flush of glory, this stream of
the Divinity, and in amazement I prostrate myself to the ground and with
trembling reverence adore what mortal eyes are not able to behold or human
tongue able to describe - O magic wand of obedience that changes all things
into purest gold, oh Rod of Aaron which opens a passage into the depths and
riches and knowledge of God: oh key which unlocks the secrets of the Divinity
and the world to come; oh power which lays mountains low and overcomes every
obstacle and makes every way easy and straight - oh flower which ever blooms in
the Sacred Heart; in You I will write what I am able to say of those things
which I have beheld.
It
was very early on Ascension morning that I beheld our Blessed Lord in the way I
have above described and I think He is represented in pictures of the Sacred
Heart, only that around His Sacred Head shone a light of indescribable
brilliancy and beauty: as it were a sun in which sparkled twelve magnificent
crystal stones reflecting all the colors of the rainbow. And in the Head I saw
as it were an ocean of fathomless depth, smooth and clear, and the brightness
of the sun's rays penetrated to its very depths, and in it were reflected all
the beauties of the sun and twelve stones like diamonds in which were reflected
the green, yellowish green purple red ect and all the colors that sparkled in
the sunny rainbow, and nearly in the centre of this was an eye as I have drawn
on the other side. The awful majesty which overpowered me left me unable to
move for hours and although it is now ten days since I have not regained my
natural strength and it is with difficulty that I go about at all. The human
mind is too weak and the intellect too dull to understand comprehend or
describe the awful grandeur of the Divinity and I think it is a miracle we live
after a glimpse of it. Oh how terrible will be the lot of the reprobate at the
sight of this overwhelming majesty, this crushing power and here we see with
what reason the devils trembled at the descent into Limbo -
But
I am again wandering. Light streamed from every part of His Sacred Person and I
saw flames of fire bursting from His Sacred Heart which was surrounded by thorns
and surmounted by a cross,and I saw a silvery light in the form of a Dove
hovering over it as I have shown and Our Lord addressed me in these words:
"What Wilt Thou? as I have told you before.
On
May 27th 1880 Our Lord again showed Himself to her in all His glory: "This
morning at Holy Mass when the Sacred Host was raised at the elevation, I saw as
it were the whole court of heaven in prostrate adoration; then all was lost in
the excess of light which shone forth in effulgent splendor from the Sacred Person
of Our Lord Jesus Christ Whom I beheld as I have before described, but with a
sun of transcendent beauty and brilliancy shining around His Sacred Head and
and lightening up the very depths of His Sacred Heart. And He made me see very
clearly that the time is at hand when He will make known to the world the
desire (which has been consuming Him as it were) which He has to have His
Sacred Head adored and worshiped as the Seat of Divine Wisdom.
Later
in the same day she wrote in further explanation of the words of St. John in
the Apocalypse: While making a short visit to our dear Blessed Lord in the most
Holy Sacrament of His Love, those things which I asked you to read for me this
morning were represented in the soul and impressed very clearly in my mind, and
I saw how admirably they corresponded and how beautifully the comparisons
described the Sacred Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, for if you call to mind
those things which I have written regarding what our dear blessed Lord has
shown me and helped me to narrate respecting His Sacred Head, you will see how
He Himself represented to me in the Sacred Head (as the mind) a transparent sea
of light, in which were twelve beautiful precious stones in which sparkled and
reflected all the splendor of that sun which overshadowed it and in which too
were twelve other crystal stones all of unspeakable beauty and magnificence and
in which gleamed all the colors of the rainbow. And I think I mentioned a
resplendent light of greenish hue I see having the glory of God and the light
thereof like unto a precious stone, as it were a jasper, as crystal.
Fifth
Page
And
He gave me to understand that this Wisdom and Light was the seal that marked
the number of His elect and they shall see His Face and His Name shall be on their
foreheads... And is not the seat of Divine Wisdom as it were, a new heaven and
a new earth. The soul and intellectual faculties and the dwelling place of the
Most High, and the earth or human Head the shrine and centre of the senses of
the body by virtue of the hypostatic union a new earth - And in another place
it says: And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is the Temple
thereof and the Lamb, showing distinctly the union of the two natures in the
one person of Jesus Christ. And the glory of God enlightens it. He is the
beginning and the end, and His knowledge and wisdom are infinite as they are
eternal. And the great and high wall are things in God which are beyond our
understanding, and the twelve foundations are the virtues which come from the
Fruits of the Holy Ghost (and also maybe the Apostles as teachers of Divine
Wisdom and Pillars of His Church. Solomons prayer for Wisdom was most pleasing
to God, and He promises to give to Him that thirsteth of the fountains of the
water of life gratis, and blessed are they that wash their robes in the Blood
of the Lamb that they may have a right to the Tree of Life and may enter in by
the gates into the city. And he that shall overcome shall possess these things
and I will be His God and he shall possess these things and I will be His God
and he shall be My Son.
Our
Lord next signified to her the day on which He wished this feast to be
celebrated.: June 2, 1880... As I told you our dear Blessed Lord expressly asked
me to tell you from Him that He wished His most Sacred Head to be publicly
worshiped and honored as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, and said too that the
Friday, octave day of the feast of the Sacred Heart, should be dedicated as a
festival day in its honor, and special reparation and atonement be then offered
to Him. For He said: "See oh My beloved daughter I am clothed and mocked
as a fool in the house of My friends; I am crowned in derision I who am the God
of Wisdom and all Knowledge, I the King of Kings, the Almighty and All Powerful
One am presented with sham sceptre, and if thou wouldst make some return thou
canst not do better than tell my servant E. from Me that I now wish the
Devotion made known which I have so often communicated to you, and I wish the
first Friday after the Feast of my Sacred Heart to be set apart as a festive
day in honor of My Sacred Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, and that public
adoration be offered to Me for all the outrages and sins which are continually
being committed against Me". He also said that you must not be
disheartened at difficulties that may and will arise and crosses that will be
numerous. He will be your support and your reward is great. And anyone who
shall assist in furthering this Devotion shall be blessed a thousand fold, but
woe to him that shall reject or go against My wish in this respect, for they
shall be scattered in my wrath and shall know their place no more, but to them
that honor Me I will give of My might and I will be their God and they shall be
My children and I will place My sign upon their foreheads
Untold
blessings are promised to those who shall try to further Our Lord's wishes in
spreading the Devotion.
Our
Blessed Lord said that all that He had promised to those who should worthily
love and honor His Sacred Heart should be poured out upon those who honored it
themselves or were the means of others doing so. Oh Sacred Head may Thy Wisdom
ever guide us, and the sacred tongue ever bless us and plead for mercy and
pardon, and may we never hear the curse pronounced against those shall hinder
or despise this Devotion.
With
each fresh revelation our Lord seems to have impressed upon her more and more
His ardent longing to have His Sacred Head honored, and to have urged her to do
all in her power to carry out His wish.
And
again our dear Blessed Lord has made me feel that excessive desire that seems
to consume Him to have His Sacred Head honored as the seat of Divine Wisdom,
the governing power which rules the Sacred Heart, the Shrine of the powers of
His Holy Soul and the centre of the senses of the human body. Oh my Lord and my
God why dost Thou chose one so unable to do anything in furthering and
accomplishing Thy Holy Will. My poor heart is breaking because I cannot and
still Thou urgest me more and more and Thou burnest me too with this unceasing
flame that at times I know not what to do, I feel myself almost dying of desire
to see His Holy Will accomplished...
I
was making my usual visit on Friday morning when with the eyes of the soul I saw
Jesus consumed as it were with a burning fire, and the light of that sun which
is ever shining seemed to penetrate the that which He wills must come to pass,
is certain to be.
At
times Our Lord would comfort her by allowing her to foresee the great glory He
would gain from the practice of this Devotion, and the special rewards He held
in store for those who furthered it.
15th
June 1880
Our
Dear Blessed Lord showed me the great glory that would be given to the adorable
Trinity and to His Sacred Humanity through this Devotion. And He told me not to
be downcast because others did not accept and pay adoration to Him in the
manner He wished at once, for those who appeared the most against it now would
make up by future fervor; that His will is omnipotent and that those things
that man might and would use as stumbling blocks to this Devotion He would turn
into the very means of advancing it
September
10, 1880
You
know how anxious I am that the Will of Our dear Blessed Lord should be
perfectly accomplished in respect to His Sacred Head being honored as the Seat
of Divine Wisdom so I thought if our dear Mother Mary asked Him for some proof
for us to show our beloved Bishop He would give it her as a birthday present,
and so I petitioned Him and her also. When suddenly that dark thick cloud which
had overshadowed me for so long a time, disappeared, and the Glory and Radiance
of the Sun of Justice seemed to inundate my poor soul and so overpowered me
that I was completely out of myself, and I beheld and felt the delight and
glory that filled the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the little homage we had already
payed Him in the prayers we were saying and had said in honor of His Sacred
Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom, the Shrine of the Powers of His Soul and
Intellectual faculties, the centre of the Senses of His adorable Body and the
completion of the Devotion to His Sacred Heart. And He gave me to understand
that He would clothe with glory before angels and men in the courts of heaven
those who clothed Him in glory on earth and would crown them in everlasting
bliss. I saw the glory prepared for three or four concerned therein and I was
amazed at the greatness of their reward for I felt that Our Blessed Lord and
His Holy Mother considered this homage to wipe out the outrage offered to the
most wise and Holy God when He was crowned and mocked in derision and scorn and
clothed as a fool. It would seem that now those thorns would bloom I mean that
He would wish now to be crowned and acknowledged as the Wisdom of the Father,
the true King of Kings. And as the star of the old led the wise men to Jesus
and Mary so in these latter days the Sun of Justice must lead us to the throne
of God in unity and Trinity. Our Blessed Lord made me again understand that
proof shall not be wanting, but I felt that it was not the one we looked for I
mean that poor dear Maggie should be restored to sight. He did not and does not
seem to wish to let us know what proof He intends, but I think it is to be
something about that holy soul He has so often shown me as His delight and
consolation. If you ask that one so dear to Him I have no doubt but what we
shall obtain our request. I thank Him and love Him more for all He has done for
this one and I thought He was pleased for the honor you had shown them.
Ever
since Our Lord had first spoken to Teresa with regard to His Sacred Head as the
Seat of Divine Wisdom, this devotion had been acting as a leaven on her whole
spiritual life, until she came at last to view everything in its light... in
November 1880, she wrote:
It
has been the good pleasure of Our dear Blessed Lord to allow me to participate
more fully in His dreadful bitter Passion during the past week and He has
impressed on my soul more clearly than I ever before saw it the sixth Station
where St Veronica presents the towel to wipe the Face of Our Lord. And He made
me feel that He Himself commenced that devotion to the Seat of Divine Wisdom,
by impressing the image of His Sacred Head and Face upon the towel she offered
Him. It rewarded her piety and He comforted Himself in the glory and love and
compassion which should be rendered to Him and the adorable Trinity in it. Oh
Seat of Divine Wisdom and guiding power which regulates and governs all the
motion and love of the Sacred Heart may all minds know Thee, and all hearts
love, all tongues praise Thee now and forever . Thou art truly the Light that
shinesth in darkness, the height and depth of knowledge for in Thee are all
things present. Oh my Lord and My God I conjure Thee by this Seat of Divine
Wisdom by the love of the Sacred Heart and by all the Precious Blood Thou didst
shed and pain and anguish Thou didst take upon Thy Sacred Humanity, to imprint
now Thy seal upon this Devotion and give proof positive to His Lordship of Thy
Holy Will in this respect. Hasten oh Lord the day when all gazing into the
depth of Thy Wisdom and untold love we may commence that immeasurable bliss
here of gazing into that Face which is the joy of the saints and angels and
which we too hope to enjoy for all eternity. Oh Light and Love come quickly and
slake this raging fire which consumes my whole being, come and accomplish thy
will and my only desire. Oh Lord make no long delay. Oh Thou Who in the
beginning did say Let there be Light and it was so. Speak now oh Almighty God and
will that this unfailing light shine forth and the resplendent rays of this sun
brightens up our minds and hearts; prove oh Lord if such be Your Holy Will that
thou art the living and the true God.
Oh
Mary by all the love and homage thou hast bestowed on this Seat of Divine
Wisdom before which the cherubim and seraphim prostrate lie in awe and
trembling fear and love, but which thou hast so often pressed to thy Sacred
Heart and pillowed on thy breast. Oh Mary and Joseph all ye choirs of angels
and gleaming rows of saints, raise now your minds, hearts, hands to the
adorable Trinity and beg of the Holy of holies to look on those warm red drops
of priceless worth, the Precious Blood of Jesus which have obeyed the order of
His Divine Wisdom, and by His obedience unto death and all the Wisdom and Love
He has shown towards His creatures to arise and spread this light over the
whole face of the earth. Where would we all be if it were not for His Infinite
Wisdom and Love? In nothingness out of which He called all things.Then let all
things acknowledge, praise bless and love this Wisdom and adore the Sacred head
of Jesus as its seat. Not my will but Thine be done. I mean I am ready to wait
Thy good pleasure, but oh Lord Thou knowest all things, my love and my desires
are not hidden from Thee.
Sixth
Page
She gained fresh light and saw more clearly
into the meaning of the Devotion with each of the great feasts of the Church's
year.
"The
Annunciation, 1881"
"Almighty
God has on several occasions instructed me regarding the great mystery of the
Incarnation and I feel sure I have written on it before. I see more clearly now
though why Our Dear Lord is called the Word, because He is produced by the
Fathers thought or contemplation of Himself, for St John says: "In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the
Word was made flesh.' I think that in all it pleases the Almighty One to show
me He wishes to instruct me more and more fully concerning His infinite Wisdom
and love.
And
although the Son and the Holy Ghost are equally powerful, yet the Almighty
Power is attributed in a special manner to the Eternal Father and as the three
Divine Persons have the same Wisdom and Goodness Yet the Wisdom is particularly
attributed to the Son and the Goodness to the Holy Ghost, and we render a great
homage to the ever Blessed Trinity by adoring our dear Blessed Lord's Sacred
Head as the Seat of Divine Wisdom.
The
Ascension 1881
"When
I knelt to adore the thrice blessed Trinity for all the glory of the sacred
Humanity, I was caught up as it were and dissolved in the excessive heat and
glory of the Sun of Divine Justice, and I heard sounds of Praise and songs of
joy in the heavens which echoed and re-echoed from the earth, and they were
hymns of thanksgiving and admiration of the Seat of Divine Wisdom. Then I saw
reflected in the large crystal the glory which the ever blessed Trinity would
receive from the devotion to the Sacred Head and the numberless souls that
would be guided by its light to the bosom of the true Church and eventually to
the throne of God.
I
understand too that this should be the one great means of the conversion of
poor dear England, and that it was not far distant when she would bow her
understanding to the obedience of faith and repair in some manner through this
Devotion the great evil of her apostasy, and that Mary's name and Mary's Son
should be more honored than ever they had been dishonored by our people.
Whitsuntide
1881,
I
saw how the Sacred Head was in a special manner the dwelling place of the Holy
Ghost, and as at the moment of Creation the Spirit of God moved upon the
waters, so He is ever enshrined in the Sea of glass and His brightness is the
light thereof, and His love the Sun that gives light and governs all things in
this terrestrial and celestial Paradise as the sun rules the things of earth. I
have understood from our dear Blessed Lord that He wished the great mystery of
the Incarnation to be made very clear (or taught very carefully) to the
children.
On
Corpus Christi Our Lord again appeared to her:
June
19, 1881
Then
He really came and gave me Holy Communion Himself and drew me entirely to
Himself, even as a rain drop into the ocean, and there He represented to me the
great desire He had to have the Seat of Divine Wisdom honored and He instructed
me in this manner: that the uncreated Wisdom of God is God the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, and that God the Son, becoming man and being the Image of the
uncreated Wisdom of God, built for Himself a house. And as Jesus has promised
to remain with us forever, so He and the Spirit of Truth will guide and govern
and enlighten His Church to the end of time. As I saw Him as a sun by the heat
of this Sun of Divine Justice and guided by its light ascend to the great white
throne to adore the ever blessed Trinity in persons and Unity in Essence.
Then
when I went into church He urged me more and more to make known His desire, and
there seemed to be a crown of fire which consumed His Sacred Head and ate into
the very brain and He said: "Behold the burning desire I have to have My
Sacred Head honoured as I have instructed you."
Seventh Page
July
16, 1881
Our
Divine Lord has made me feel that it is with this special devotion as with the
mustard seeds, that, although so little known and less practised it will be the
great devotion of the Church in time to come, for in it the whole of the Sacred
Humanity is honoured-the holy Soul and intellectual Faculties, which have not
hitherto been specially venerated and which are nevertheless the noblest part
of the human being, and the Sacred Head-Sacred Heart, in fact the whole of His
Sacred Body. I mean that the members of His adorable Body and five senses were
ruled and governed by the intellectual and spiritual powers, and we venerate
each act they suggested and the Body performed; for if we move only our hands
we must use the powers of the soul if it be only the will to do it or anything
else; but in each action of the God Man we see an infinite degree of
wisdom,power,knowledge and love, and in the motive of each act we see the
perfect fulfillment of the Law, loving God above all things and our neighbor as
ourselves. In other words the honor and glory of His Eternal Father and love
and zeal for the salvation of man. And who can speak of that Love?
He
urged me to pray for true light, faith and wisdom for all especially heretics
and all poor sinners and made me feel that the people of our dear land should
shine in the brightness of this true light and bring back more souls through
this devotion than they had scattered through the darkness of their infidelity.
And it seemed to me that Mary prayed with me and reminded Him her Divine Son
that this England is called her Dower and He filled Her hands with graces and
blessings for us and a new glory as it were shone around Her the reflection of
the glory that surrounds the Seat of Divine Wisdom. And our Blessed Lord
renewed all the promises He has made to bless, ect all who practice or further
this devotion in any way."
On
the Feast of the Epiphany, 1882, she was filled with consolation when our Lady
came and placed the Divine Infant in her arms.
And
as I beheld Him the eternal Son of God and Mary's Son, our dear little Infant Jesus,
that instant I perceived these words infused into every centre of my soul:
"Take courage my loved One for the Seat of Divine Wisdom will be known,
praised and adored as I wish and I will glorify My Name in thee."
And
again He showed her the great things that would come to pass in the church of
St. Alexander which she loved so well:
He
brought very clearly and distinctly before me how in this church He would be
honored and how it would be filled with worshippers from far and near and
loving hearts will gather together and praise and glorify and thank Him, making
reparation to the Seat of Divine Wisdom, and holy souls will comfort and
condole with Him honoring His Divine Soul and here souls would be drawn to His
Soul and they would be instructed by Him in this Wisdom of His Sacred Head and
burnt with the desire of His Loving Heart. Here in the sacrament of His Wisdom
and Love they will see things as they really are, and He will bless them and
all who truly adore Him and honor Him as He desires with an ever lasting
benediction.
Ardently
she longed to see that day and prayed incessantly that she might be allowed to
know clearly what it was Our Lord was asking of her, but still she was content
to await His good pleasure in disclosing it.
May,
1883
On
Saturday I was so overpowered and annihilated, crushed almost out of existence,
and when I got to my room and was about to prepare my meditation a deep
recollection came upon me and our dear blessed Lord drew me entirely into
Himself. The powers of the soul were not able to act. The eye of the soul was
wide open in God drinking in knowledge and strength love and confidence, yet
the faculties of the mind I think are overpowered with God's infinite beauty,
power and awful purity; and the love God has for Himself and the work of His
hand which is felt and understood very forcibly in the soul is too great for
the human heart to bear, and this I think caused a kind of death to the body
while the soul reposes in God; a sweet though agonizing death which gives a new
life-I felt (though I did not see any form of a dove or any sensible
representation) that the Holy Spirit of God hovered over me, or rather
saturated me through and through and showed me that the gifts He had entrusted
to me were for His glory and that of the Father and the Son. And He gave me a
fortitude to act and instructed me that I had to do His work and that I must
not shrink from the duties He would impose on me in reference to the Devotion
to the Seat of Wisdom and His holy Soul, yet He did not tell me what that work
was and I did not ask. I feel it is much more perfect to wait though it seems
so long, yet I know what He says must be, and though He urges me earnestly yet
I know all time is nothing in His sight and if it pleases Him that I should not
do anything but be consumed with this desire then His Holy Will be done. I am
all Thine do with me what Thou wilt! And when I find myself saying to Him: 'How
long O Lord will Thou delay? I check myself and say: 'not my will but Thine be
done.
During
the month of June our Lord again impressed upon her the infinite love of His
Sacred Heart and how He suffered from the neglect and cruel ingratitude of His
children.
There
is no pang like this loving in vain as it were which Jesus suffers so
intensely. No spear can pierce so acutely as coldness from the the souls He has
love unto death.He taught me a little of that by allowing me to enter as it
were into that Divine and loving Heart and so participate in some way in this
pang of His Sacred Heart.
He
gave me Holy Communion twice on Friday once before you and once after, towards
two or three o' clock in the afternoon. It seems as though a sword of fire and
light pierced me through and through my soul and body saturating it in its
flame. Then on Sunday He seemed to bathe me in His most Precious Blood and
showed me how the devotion to His Holy Soul sorrowful unto death and to the
Seat of Divine Wisdom was only another means which His love urged to draw us
more closely to that Sacred Heart. It is not in any way intended to take the
place of the devotion to His Sacred Heart, only to complete and further it.
And
He again impressed upon me that all the promises that He made concerning the
practice and devotions of love to His Sacred Heart should be bestowed a hundred
fold upon those who practice devotion to the Seat of Divine Wisdom. And I
understand that His time is at hand and we will not have to wait long as you
have given me to understand.
Although
to the end of her life Teresa recurred again and again to this all-absorbing
subject, and though she never ceased to pray and do all she could for the
spread of the devotion, the following letter dated just before Dr O'Reilly bade
her cease writing, is the last in which she enters in any detail into its
meaning. It gives a most striking diagnosis of the pride of the intellect and
the rebellion against authority which are the crying evils of the day, and in
it she again describes the favored soul which was once more shown to her, but
now more beautiful than ever-so beautiful in fact that at first she mistook it
for Our Lady. How far was she in her humility from thinking that this glorious
soul could by any possibility be her own!
Eighth
Page
June
1883
He
showed me how man outrages the Divine Wisdom by the abuse of the three powers
of his immortal soul and by his sins-stamps out as far as he can the image of
the Triune God in himself and by mad folly tries also to rob nature of its God,
tries to prove that matter is eternal and creative in itself and that there is
no God or need for a God; that when nature decays in one form it only assumes
another, that for instance that decayed bodies evaporate into gases of
different kinds and are scattered in the air-that these atoms accumulate and
adhere together forming different substances and reappear as a new creature,
and that so matter and nature are creative of themselves and need no creative
or providential power to call them into being or maintain then in existence.
That
man in his pride of intellect and perverseness of will tries to drag down the
great eternal Three in One, the Beginning and End of all things, from Heaven
and blots Him out of earth; that infidelity is rife, and man denying God puts
away from himself any law or restraint against his vile passions, for if there
is no God there cannot be Divine Law commanding this and forbidding that.
Oh
my God, my God, Look not upon our sins but upon the Face of Thy Christ-Listen
to His dying prayer, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Oh
look on the gaping wounds and the warm flowing Blood and have pity on us for
this same most Precious Blood.
Man
too darkens his understanding by his infidelity. Take away the sun and we
cannot have light or heat. Take away faith which is the light of the soul and
all is decay and desolation, if we have not faith we cannot love or serve God.
If we do not believe there is a God well may God in His wrath say that man is
flesh that is quite corrupt. Now God must have some recompense for all these
blasphemies against Himself as God.
It
is worldly wisdom which is folly that is drawing down souls into an abyss of
darkness which is Hell, and as of old when the heart of man set his affections
against God, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, really human yet Divine because (united
to the Person of God the Son) belonging to God the Son made Man, was the
atoning object and Jesus revealed the burning love of His Sacred Heart and
complained of man's coldness and demanded a reparation and condolence and souls
were warmed in that furnace of Divine Love and souls burnt again with charity
towards the God of Love.
Now
too when infidelity and pride of intellect open rebellion against God and His
revealed Law, self will and self conceit is filling the minds of men and
drawing them away from the sweet yoke of Jesus and binding them with the cold
heavy chains of self-seeking, private judgment, and abandoning all right to be
governed and wishing to govern oneself, disobedience to God and His holy Church
- that same Jesus the Incarnate Word, the Wisdom of the Father who became
obedient even unto death of the Cross, again gives us an antidote, an object
which can and does, and will in every way make up and repays a hundred fold the
debt that is contracted to the infinite Justice of God.
Oh
what atonement could be made for guiltiness like this? Or who such ransom could
be paid To save from the abyss? See there a victim, nature scorns The Head of
Jesus crowned with thorns.
Our
dear Blessed Lord has again and again impressed upon me His great desire to
have His Sacred Head honored as the Seat of Divine Wisdom and as it is the
abuse of reasoning powers which is now working such devastation in souls, it is
the faculties of the mind and the powers of the soul that are sinning against
God, so He complains, ah so pitifully, that His Soul is sorrowful even unto
death.
And
He impresses upon me more and more that His Soul is not known, His Soul is not
loved, and tells me not by actual words, but He infuses this complaint and
saturates the soul with this feeling, which is as it were the overflowing of
His holy and adorable Soul and makes known in an unmistakable manner that He
wishes His holy Soul to be comforted, and shows and makes me feel that sorrow
and anguish that so wrung from Him that complaint to His Eternal Father.
And
as the angel of the old told Abraham that God would find a victim for the
holocaust, and turning round he found a lamb, a male lamb of under one year old
caught by its horns in the thorns of the hedge, so now God again provides a
Victim , a peace offering, a sacrifice of propitiation the Seat of created and
uncreated Wisdom crowned with thorns.
And
our obedience and faith, like Abraham's must first be true and tried. We must
bow our understanding to the obedience of faith and God will show us the Lamb
caught in the thorns which He particularly and expressly wishes to be a
sacrifice to His outraged Deity, to His Infinite and Eternal Wisdom. Ah, how
beautifully God shows me the likeness to this Lamb which He distinctly says
through the mouth of His inspired writers was provided by God. It was caught in
the thorns, then it was sacrificed, its blood was shed, its heart was pierced
and it was consumed by the fire of sacrifice. So the Sacred Head crowned with
thorns and the dewdrops of Precious Blood are as damask roses telling of the
Love that draws forth those streamlets of ruby red...
I
think it is the same soul that our Divine Lord has before shown me and whom He
has lavished His choicest gifts and graces upon, whose whole being seems to
rest in Him, in whose soul is reflected very perfectly the Triune God, Whose
Will is in all things, one with His, who is burning with and in flames that
consume His Sacred Heart, whose soul gives Him great Adoration, who condoles
with Him in His sorrows, who is as He gave me to understand an angel of
consolation to Him. And He showed me
very clearly how perfectly this soul adored the Seat of Divine Wisdom and
rendered comfort to His Holy Soul. I think He wishes to teach me by this holy
soul what gifts and graces He bestows on those who give themselves up entirely
to Him. And if it were only to reflect one single ray of glory such as shines
in such profusion from this one, oh it would be worth trying for, for all
eternity, she gives such glory to her Creator, her Redeemer, her Spouse.
Her
love is all for Him and her zeal for souls and His glory is as the pillar of
fire which went before the People of Israel. Our dear Blessed Lord seems to me
to love this soul so tenderly and He gave me to understand that He will reveal
the brightness of His shining in her, that multitudes may be drawn to love Him,
to praise and thank Him for the gifts He has given her. She is truly a Child of
Mary, and ornament of the Church. Oh how He humbled me in this soul, and gave
me, poor worm of the earth, confidence and love for Him and His work, for I
love this soul on account of the glory she gives to Our dear Divine Spouse, and
I thought I would ask you to let me offer our undertakings to him through her
to Mary.
And
I begged of Him through the love He has for Himself to show His work in her and
thus glorify His Name. I begged of Him through the Wisdom of His Sacred Head
and for Mary's sake for I have heard Him by those words in the soul, show her to
Mary and tell her that she is His Spouse, that she has risen early to meet Him
and the dew drops are on her feet. The dew drops of His Precious Blood and
roses encircle her brow. I think He has given to her the marks of His Precious
Wounds and she is sealed with His Seal, and Wisdom is on her lips.
Oh
how it makes me want to do something for Him, how puny we are and how little we
see we have done when God shows us a generous soul like this. I have asked our
dear Blessed Lord to show her to you and to others, for I know you will glorify
God in His wonderful work in her soul. Is it presumption of me to wish to speak
with this saint? To hear her say that sweet name of love, Jesus, for I feel
that it would make me love Him even more. Blessed be God in His angels and His
saints. Amen.
When
I last saw this soul at first I thought it was our dear Blessed Lady, for it
seemed to me that the angels of God gazed at her in wondering admiration and yet
the glory which now ascends to the Blessed Trinity from this soul and the
graces that God showers down upon the earth through her is wonderfully
increased. Ah how wonderful is God' in Saints. Our dear Blessed Lord instructed
me that the Devotion will be acknowledged and will rapidly spread and draw many
souls to Him. I often find myself begging of Him to choose someone who is to
reveal the longing wish of His Sacred Heart to have the Seat of Divine Wisdom
honored. I feel that everyone must think that our dear Lord could not throw
such pearls to such swine as I am but I check myself in obedience and say
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven: I know I asked Him to let
this favored soul be the messenger of His Love for she knows of and practices
this Devotion. Will you ask our dear Lord to let this soul, if it be His Holy
Will, be an instrument instead of your obedient child,
In
the Sacred Head and loving Heart... Teresa Higginson...Enfant de Marie.
COMPLAINTS
OF THE SOUL OF OUR BLESSED LORD
"My
Soul is not known. My Soul is not loved. Night and day I see living lamps
burning before My Altar. My Sacraments of Love finds worshippers and victims;
but My Soul does not meet with sympathizing souls. Every day I give Myself to
My creatures, and swallowed up in this union, they praise everything in Me but
My Soul and My Sacred Head crowned with thorns, the Seat of Divine Wisdom. Few
there are who compassionate the anguish of My Soul, sorrowful unto death. My
Heart has found thousands of hearts, but My Soul remains solitary, and My
Thorn-Crowned Brow unhonored. My Face besmeared, and My Eyes and Mouth filled
with congealing Blood, and no one is there to wipe it away and refresh My
parched Lips and swollen Tongue. My Soul is Sorrowful even unto death, and I have
looked for some one to comfort Me and there is no one"
Ninth
Page
FATHER
WILBERFORCE'S MEMORANDUM
HOLY
CROSS LEICESTER.
Nov.
9 1882
Dear
Father Powell
You
asked me to express to you in writing my opinion regarding a volume of letters
written by Miss T.H. containing among other matters an account of certain
revelations which she considers to have been made to her by Our Blessed Lord
Himself. Concerning devotion to the Sacred Head as the Seat of divine Wisdom.
This would also include some opinion as to the spirit of the writer of these
letters.
I
must first express the diffidence with which I give any opinion about matters
so exalted in their nature and so widely removed from the beaten track of the
spiritual life, especially as I have not any knowledge of the soul in question.
1
As to the devotion itself.
The
object of this which in a certain sense may be called a new devotion, is the
Sacred Head of the Divine Word Incarnate; but not simply that Sacred Head
itself considered as the chief organic part of the material Body of Jesus
Christ, but that Sacred Head considered as the Shrine or Tabernacle of the
created Soul of the God Man united as that soul is, in one Person, with the
uncreated and eternal Wisdom of God the Son. Thus the Devotion bears a striking
analogy to the devotion in honor of the Sacred Heart which beat in the breast
of our Incarnate God, yet not simply as a material object of worship but as the
Shrine and symbol of the Love of Jesus Christ, love residing in the Soul which
was united in one Person with the Son of God.
There
would appear to be no theological objection to a devotion in honor of the
Sacred Head as the Shrine of the intellectual faculties and powers of the Soul
of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the soul is the form of the whole body, and
therefore of the head, the principle organ of the body; and as the Soul of Our
Blessed Lord is united in one Person with the God Head, His Sacred Head is
manifestly Divine and worthy of the highest Adoration or the worship of Latria.
St
Thomas (Summa. pt 3.Qu.6.Art. 4) teaches that the son of God assumed a created
Soul and a created Intellect, and the holy Doctor quotes the words of St
Augustine who proves this truth from the teaching of Our Lord Himself, Animan
quoque dicit S Augustinus Se harbere osentendit dicens Joan X 18. Ego pono
Animam meam et iterum sum eam, Intellectum quoque animae ostendit se habere,
dicens Matt. x 29. discite a Me, quia mitis sum and humilis cordis Et de ipso
per prophetam Deus sicit, Isa Lii 13 Ecce intelliget Puer Meus St Thomas then
proceeds to prove this Catholic doctrine by three reasons against the
Apolinarians and Arians.
The
same holy doctor (sum. Pt. Qu xxx Art 1) teaches that the Divinity of Christ and
His Humanity are to be Adored with one and the same worship. He quotes Canon 9
of the council of Constantinople which refines the doctrine in these words: 'Si
quis in duabus naturis adorari dicit Christum, ex quo duae adorationers
introducuntur, sed non una adoratione Deum Verbum incarnatum cum propria ipsius
carne adorat, sicut ab intitio Dei ecclesiae traditum est, talis anathema sit'.
Then the Angelic doctor proceeds to show that ex parte Ejus qui adoratur there
is only one and the same Adoration of the two natures, because the Person is
One; but on the other hand Ex parte causae qua honoratur' we can admit that
there is more than one Adoration; for Christ is honored by one Adoration on
account of His Created Wisdom.
In
the devotion now being considered when the Sacred Head is honored and as the
Person is Divine, the honor due to the Sacred Head is Divine (vid. St. Thom.
Sum. pt 3. Qu xxv Art 2) This being as above stated in strict analogy to the
worship of the Sacred Heart, needs no further proof to show its perfect harmony
with the teaching of the Catholic Church.
On
the fitness of the devotion.
Having
thus shown that the devotion to the Sacred Head is not opposed to the teaching
of the Catholic faith, the next question that arises may thus be put: Is the
Devotion a congruous one? Is there any special fitness in it? At this
particular time?
If
we consider that the Devotion in itself will be acknowledged that there is a
certain special fitness in it as a Devotion to the Eternal Wisdom. In support
of this view the teaching of St Thomas can again be adduced. The holy Doctor
(Sum. pt 3. Qu 3 Art 8) maintains that it was more fitting that the Person of
the Son of God should assume our nature than that either of the other Persons
of the Adorable Trinity should become Incarnate. One reason advanced by St
Thomas to prove this will throw considerable light on this devotion....St
Thomas considers that it was more fitting that the Son of God should become
Incarnate rather than the Father or the Holy Spirit because to the Eternal Son
is attributed Wisdom (1 Cor.i.24) Christ the Wisdom of God. For as man sinned
and perished by an inordinate desire of wisdom and knowledge, so it is
especially fitting that he should be restored by him to whom Wisdom is
especially attributed.
From
this we may rightly proceed to conclude that a most fitting object of special
devotion for man after being redeemed is that very Wisdom by Whom the
redemption has been accomplished. Now the Shrine of that Wisdom, its earthly
tabernacle, is the Sacred Head of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Devotion therefore
in itself is most congruous and fitting.
It will not be difficult in the second place to show that there is a
peculiar fitness in this devotion to the age in which we live. In order to suit
a particular time, a Devotion ought to meet the special dangers of the day of
the day supplying an antidote to prevalent spiritual diseases. Now the spirit
of this age is evidently one of spiritual rebellion. The human mind intoxicated
by modern scientific discoveries is inclined to cast off all restraint and to
refuse any longer to remain subject to the sweet yoke of faith. Rationalism,
pure and simple, is the prevailing spirit of the day. This spirit is at once
most injurious to God and especially to the Wisdom of God in high, the Fountain
of Wisdom, because it causes man to love and value the foolishness of human
wisdom, despising what they consider to be the folly, but which truly is the
eternal Wisdom of God. Moreover this spirit is most destructible to souls who
are induced by it to love the darkness rather than the light.
Against
this pernicious spirit of evil and its consequences the Devotion to the Sacred
Head is especially directed. For as it consists in the Adoration and praise of
the Sacred Head as the Shrine of the Divine Wisdom, it is particular adapted to
be used in reparation for all the insults offered to that Divine Wisdom by the
sins of the infidelity and intellectual pride. Just as the Devotion to the
Sacred Heart met the error of Jansenism so destructive of the spirit of Love,
so the devotion to the Sacred Head will oppose the blightening errors of
rationalism and infidelity, so insulting to the Infinite Wisdom of God
Incarnate.
Moreover
a fervent Devotion to the Divine Wisdom and its earthly shrine will bring down
on the Faithful, we most confidently hope, a special grace to preserve their
faith intact and to spread that precious gift among many still out of the fold.
We
may then conclude that this Devotion is thoroughly theological, in strict
harmony with the devotion already so solemnly and frequently approved, of the
Sacred Heart, most congruous in itself, and lastly particularly suited to the
special needs of the age in which we live.
PRAYER TO THE SACRED HEAD OF OUR BLESSED LORD
JESUS AS THE SEAT OF DIVINE WISDOM.
Wisdom
of the Sacred Head guide me in all my ways,
O
Love of the Sacred heart, consume me with Thy fire.
Three
glorias in honor of the Divine Will, Memory and understanding.
O
Seat of Divine Wisdom and guiding power which governs all the motions of the
Sacred Heart, may all minds know thee, all hearts love Thee and all tongues
praise Thee, now and forever more.
LITANY
TO THE SACRED HEAD OF JESUS.
Lord
have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us Lord have mercy on us. Christ hear
us, Christ Graciously hear us.
God
the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us God the Son Redeemer of the World Have
mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. Sacred Head of Jesus formed
by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary (after each invocation say
GUIDE US IN ALL OUR WAYS)
Sacred
Head of Jesus Substantially United to the Word of God. Sacred Head of Jesus
Temple of Divine Wisdom Sacred Head of Jesus, Centre of Eternal Light Sacred
Head of Jesus Tabernacle of Divine Knowledge Sacred Head of Jesus Safeguard
against error Sacred Head of Jesus Sunshine of Heaven and Earth Sacred Head of
Jesus Treasure of Science and Pledge of Faith Sacred Head of Jesus Radiant with
Beauty, and Justice and Love Sacred Head of Jesus Full of Grace and Truth
Sacred Head of Jesus Living Witness of Humility Sacred Head of Jesus Reflecting
the Infinite Majesty of God, Sacred Head of Jesus Centre of the Universe Sacred
Head of Jesus Object of the Father's joyous Satisfaction Sacred Head of Jesus
upon which the Holy Spirit Rested Sacred Head of Jesus Around which the Glory
of Mount Tabor Shone Sacred Head of Jesus Who had no place on earth on which to
Rest. Sacred Head of Jesus Whom the Fragrant Anointing of Magdalen Consoled
Sacred Head of Jesus Bathed with the Sweat of Blood in Gethsemani Sacred Head
of Jesus who Wept for our Sins Sacred Head of Jesus Crowned with Thorns Sacred
Head of Jesus Outraged by the Indignities of the Passion Sacred Head of Jesus
Consoled by the loving gesture of Veronica Sacred Head of Jesus Bowed to the
earth which was Redeemed at the moment of death on Calvary
Guide
us in all our ways.
Sacred
Head of Jesus Light of every being born on earth, Sacred Head of Jesus Our
Guide and our Hope Sacred Head of Jesus Who knows all our Needs Sacred Head of
Jesus Who gives Us All Graces Sacred Head of Jesus that Governs all the motions
of the Sacred Heart Sacred Head of Jesus Whom we wish to adore and make known
through the World Sacred Head of Jesus Who knows all the secrets of our hearts
Sacred Head of Jesus Who enraptures and Angels and Saints, Sacred Head of Jesus
Who one day we hope to be unveiled forever,
Jesus
we Adore Your Sacred Head; We surrender Utterly to All Degrees of Your Infinite
Wisdom
This
litany bears the imprimatur of Fredericus Gul, Liverpool England 1927
While
the Devotion is approved...Teresa Higginson has been given the title of Servant
of God. However the revelations to her from Our Lord, in authenticating have
been put on hold awaiting the miracles associated with beatification
References
1. Messages taken
from Seat of Divine Wisdom at
http://www.cathworld.org/worlds/cath/wisdom/wisdom1.htm)