At the age of twelve St. Peter Julian Eymard was already making night adoration in his home from eleven to midnight on Thursday, thus fulfilling the Sacred Heart's request to St. Margaret Mary and exemplifying the truth that night adoration in the home leads to Holy Hours in church. Peter Julian's mother, we are told, was so edified when she thus discovered her boy in adoration that she did not have the heart to scold or disturb him.

"It was devotion to the Sacred Heart that saved me," Father Eymard could say in later years. Oh, how much youngsters and grownups nowadays need devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to be saved from the contagion of sin, to be rescued from the indifference and mediocrity of our times, and to be set on fire with love of God and of souls!

Like St. Pius X after him, Father Eymard regretted the practice of those who upon entering a church, go and kneel in front of a statue of the Sacred Heart, instead of concentrating their prayerful attention on the Tabernacle where He is present in person. And he would exhort in letters and sermons: "Find the Sacred Heart where it is, living, all-good, and all-merciful, in the Eucharist. Unfortunately that divine and loving Heart is not known and loved, even by many devout people, who play at any number of little devotions, good in themselves, but neglect the one devotion which ought to be the life and the end of all the others: the Heart of Jesus that gave us Calvary and the Eucharist."

Immaculata Magazine
Jules V. Simoneau, S.S.S.

Reprinted from , a lay apostolate dedicated to renewing appreciation for the Mass as the greatest gift which God has given to His beloved spouse, the Church. Their mission is to show how, in the Eucharistic Liturgy, Jesus renews and transforms us–and the world–in His life and love.