BE AN APOSTLE OF THE

                            SACRED HEART OF JESUS

                             THE SALIENT POINTS OF

                              THE SOUL ASSURANCE

                                PRAYER PLAN ARE:

THE FIRST POINT OF THE PRAYER PLAN is . . . to have every man, woman, boy, and girl in the world, PERSONALLY CONSECRATE himself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. THE SACRED HEART WISHES TO REIGN IN ALL HEARTS. . . in the individual soul, in the family, in the state, and in the whole world. St. Margaret Mary tells us that the end and object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart is to establish a close union of love between our Lord and the Soul. She counsels a PERSONAL CONSECRATION to the Sacred Heart: "Offer Him your heart that He may reign there absolutely and that He may teach you to love Him perfectly, never to displease Him willfully, and to carry your cross lovingly." To RE-CONSECRATE one's self to the Sacred Heart each day, the prayer used is the CONSECRATION OF THE HUMAN RACE TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, ordered by Pope Pius XI, which begins with the words: "most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race"... In this prayer are outlined the intentions most dear to the Sacred Heart, for which He especially desires prayers. Everyone who follows THE PRAYER PLAN, who studies this prayer and analysis each intention, in order the more willingly and devoutly to recite this prayer daily - FOR ONE FOLD AND ONE SHEPHERD - will thus help to fulfill these loving requests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is by the daily recitation of this prayer that one CONTINUOUSLY RECONS CRATES one's-self to the Sacred Heart. If this is accomplished, homes will be blessed, and individuals, families, and nations spiritually united, as they need to be in the world today. This CONSECRATION PRAYER already has influenced the lives of millions; it has already made Christ known to millions in a way He was little known before. Today, because of it, people know Christ most especially as the Divine Lover of men. Nevertheless, there are millions more who still need to know Him in this capacity. The Act of Consecration, when said with the proper spirit of prayer and devotion, helps to make us Christlike. The Act makes us more conscious of the all-embracing love of Christ. It makes us more acutely aware of the Mystical Body of Christ. If our hand is infected, we try to cure it. Likewise if members of Christ's Mystical Body are sinfully infected, we try by prayer, at least, to procure for them graces necessary for conversion.

THE SECOND POINT OF THE PRAYER PLAN is . . . to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and to receive Holy Communion daily, if possible - FOR REPARATION. The reasons: The Holy Mass is God's greatest gift to us. It is the identical sacrifice Jesus made on Calvary. It is through the Mass that each soul gives the greatest possible honor to God, and it is in the Mass that the soul possesses the best and surest means of sanctification. That is why the Holy Mass is the most perfect Prayer for reparation; and Holy Communion, as a part of the Mass, should always be received whenever possible. . . because through frequent Holy Communion we become more Christ like, and we allow Christ to take more complete possession of ourselves. The Sacred Host is the only Food for the soul. One Holy Communion has the power instantly to sanctify us, for it is Christ Himself - Author of all sanctity - Who enters into us. The Bread of Life strengthens us for the emergencies of the day, which come by way of trials and temptations. The morning worshipper, who participates in the Holy Mass and receives Holy Communion, is most pleasing to the HEART OF CHRIST.

THE THIRD POINT OF THE PRAYER PLAN is . . . to spend a Holy Hour with Jesus once a week, and to encourage others to do the same - For Reparation. The Devotion of the Holy Hour has its origin in the very HEART OF CHRIST. . . . The first Holy Hour for reparation ever offered, was offered by CHRIST HIMSELF, on the FIRST HOLY THURSDAY NIGHT.. the night before He died on the Cross for the sins of all mankind. JESUS offered this Holy Hour to HIS HEAVENLY FATHER, in the Garden of Olives in Gethsemane. It was on this FIRST HOLY THURSDAY NIGHT that the greatest hatred of men went out to meet the greatest love of their SAVIOR . . . . JESUS had just instituted THE HOLY EUCHARIST. . . thus giving HIMSELF to the world until its consummation. He longed to stay with us after His death, as our Friend in the Tabernacle, as the Dispenser of graces in the Holy Mass, and as the Food of our souls in Holy Communion. When supper was ended, Jesus went into the Garden of Olives; He took with Him Peter, James and John (Matt. 26). Now when Christ had come into the Garden, He began to grow sorrowful and to be sad, to fear and to be sorely troubled. He could see Himself in the thousands of neglected Sanctuaries, from the depths of the Tabernacle, seeking the eyes of a friend, a brother, a spouse; seeking anyone to console Him and finding too often nothing but silence, loneliness, and cold forgetfulness, which but reopened the WOUND OF HIS HEART. Consider the hatred shown to Christ by the persecution of the Church today. Think of the ingratitude shown towards our Lord in the Sacrament of His Love. Are we aware of the many sacrileges that are committed each day, which are a betrayal of the loving Christ? . . . Are we mindful of the scorn with which His enemies treat the VICAR OF CHRIST? . . . CHRIST WAS. . . DURING HIS FIRST HOLY HOUR. . . ON THIS FIRST HOLY THURSDAY NIGHT. . . Weariness, sadness, fear, and anguish poured like a torrent upon His soul. He was not ashamed to confess to His Apostles the sorrow and weakness occasioned by this knowledge, for He said, "My soul is sorrowful even unto death. . ." Then, falling flat upon the earth, humbly and fervently He prayed. . . He prayed and wept bitterly. . He was in such anguish that His sweat became as drops of blood trickling to the ground. . . He then arose from His knees, trembling and weak, walked with unsteady steps to His three Apostles whom He found asleep. He awakened them and said, "Could you not watch one hour with Me?" . . . We condemn them for their ingratitude, for their coldness, their lack of feeling, lack of sympathy for Christ, and yet what are we doing to lighten His burden? . . . . Have we in any way shared His sufferings?

 . . THERE IS A NEED OF WEEKLY HOLY HOURS IN THE LIFE OF EVERY ONE. . . .
And, as if to make clear this need, in the year 1675, in the month of June, our Lord appeared to Sister Margaret Mary, a Visitation nun. He showed her HIS HEART. . .and complained of the ingratitude of sinners, saying, "But, do thou, at least, make up for their ingratitude as much as thou art able. "Every Thursday night, I will make you share in the crushing sorrow which I willed to experience in the Garden of Gethsemane.  This fellowship with My sadness will cause you an agony harder to bear than death. You will join in the humble prayer which I offered in the midst of My suffering. Therefore, you will rise, between the hours of eleven o'clock and midnight, and remain prostrate in prayer for an hour. . . with the intention of appeasing the Divine Justice, of imploring mercy for sinners, of honoring Me, and also of consoling Me, for the bitterness which I felt at being abandoned by My Apostles, a bitterness which caused Me to reproach them for not. . . WATCHING ONE HOUR WITH ME," The Holy Hour is the remedy for a sin-sick world, , , Perhaps you have asked yourself this question: " What can I do to make the world a better place?" This is the answer. . .  "COULD YOU NOT WATCH ONE HOUR WITH ME?"
Compassionate Love stood looking at the three huddled in sleep. He had always felt compassion for the multitudes and especially for these whom He had chosen out of the multitudes. He knew their physical weakness and fatigue, He knew, too, their willingness of spirit; also, their weakness in carrying out what they willed because they trusted too much in themselves and failed to trust in the help He alone could give them. So now they were asleep when He had asked them to watch with Him. Now in this dark hour when He had allowed Himself to feel the human need of compassion and comfort, they had failed Him. In His loneliness He felt the indifference and neglect of these, His special friends. "Could you not watch one hour with Me?" "THE SPIRIT IS WILLING BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK." So He went back under the olive trees to watch - alone. And in His lonely watch He saw Himself in all the lonely tabernacles throughout the world to the end of time. In every century and in every country He saw His friends, His beloved giving in to weariness and weakness because they, too, failed to count on the strength He would give them if only they would trust Him. But in searching the souls of men through the centuries, His divine mind did find weak, little souls who, though they knew their weakness and littleness, rejoiced in their very helplessness that He might glorify His power in their weakness, He heard them echoing the words of His servant Paul: "Gladly do I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in me." Here were souls to whom He could open His Heart to flood their souls with His peace and strength. They at least would watch with Him. With the love He would put into their hearts, they would find no difficulty. For where there is love, labor is sweet. His search now comes to this very century, to this country. His divine mind sees me - at this very moment. His eyes, compassionate with love, look into the depths of my heart, and He asks for the response of love. He sees my great weakness, my helplessness, my utter nothingness, my complete inability without His help to respond to His great love. He asks only that I believe in His Compassionate Love for me in my weakness.

"ONLY BELIEVE IN MY LOVE AND YOU WILL EXPERIENCE THE MARVELOUS EFFECTS OF MY LOVE."

He asks only that I surrender myself to His love, that I allow Him to love me to His Heart's content and let Him fill me with the love He desires me to give Him in return. My misery cries to His mercy. I have only to look with the steady believing gaze of faith at the beams of Merciful Love streaming from His Sacred Heart, and long for Him to fill me with the love I do not have - look and long, and then trust Him absolutely; that is all I have to do. "Jesus, I trust in Thee." Was this moment when He saw me during His agony one of comfort for Him, or did I add to His great sorrow? What answer did He then see me giving now to His gentle request: "Could you not watch one hour with me?"

TODAY, AS PERHAPS NEVER BEFORE. CHRIST DESIRES YOU TO
WATCH WITH HIM.

He desires you to be the recipient of His love, for He has willed to make us the channels of His love for the salvation of the world. Do you have relatives or friends whom you desire to enfold in His love? Do you know those that need physical help or that need spiritual aid to be brought back to His fold? Do you desire to keep God's wrath from falling on the wickedness of this, our beloved land? Do you wish to do what is beyond the power of soldiers and legislators for the salvation of this country? Do you long for the power that will penetrate the Iron Curtain of Russia, where men have tried to shut God out? Do you wish to aid God's Underground in preserving and extending the faith in the very heart of Russia? Prayer is the power that will accomplish these things. Prayer, especially prayer in common before the Blessed Sacrament, is the power that will aid in conquering the world. Do you wish to join those who have volunteered to watch one hour a week with Him, to make reparation for the innumerable sins of men and for the conversion of sinners? Will you go even further and become a lay Altar Apostle for the spread of this great work? The time is short for all of us, and we have a world to conquer for Christ. You have nothing to lose but the chains of your self-love. With the Blessed Sacrament exposed. laymen are in the Sanctuary, offering a Holy Hour of Reparation with the congregation.

                           THE HOLY HOUR OF REPARATION

But there are many who turn aside because they are too busy with such "important" things! Many simply ignore the great gifts of  God, and others use His very gifts to offend Him. The great ingratitude and the unspeakable ignominy and outrage of the human race in rejecting God and His love is something that wounds the hearts of men and women who have even the least love for Christ. Hence they are eager to make some slight reparation for the vast neglect. The Holy Hour of Reparation fills the need they feel. And it is an answer to His explicit invitation: "Could you not watch one hour with me?" Have we the hardness of heart to refuse Him one hour a week? And if we have such hardness, then let us humble ourselves and ask that our heart be wounded by love to the point where we will want to make a Holy Hour no matter how dry or desolate we may feel. Indeed, a dry and desolate hour may be the holiest of holy hours! Such an hour may well be one that will bring healing to many souls, and may save from hell many that would otherwise be lost.