Sunday, June 1, 2008

Garcia Moreno and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

We have just started the month of June, which is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

To honor the Sacred Heart, I thought it timely to honor one of His foremost devotees, the little known (or relegated to oblivion by liberals), former president of Ecuador, Gabriel Garcia Moreno.

In 1875, Moreno was murdered by Masonic assassins on the porch of the cathedral in his nation’s capital. He had been in Church, adoring the Blessed Sacrament.

Fallen from the porch and lying stretched out on the ground, his head bleeding, his left arm severed and right hand cut off by blows of a machete, the president knew he was murdered for being a faithful Catholic.

Hid dying words were: "Dios no muere!" "God does not die!"

I encourage all to read, reflect and imitate his rules of life, which are simple and saintly:

"Every morning when saying my prayers I will ask specially for the virtue of humility.

"Every day I will hear Mass, say the Rosary, and read, besides a chapter of the Imitation, this rule and the annexed instructions.

"I will take care to keep myself as much as possible in the presence of God, especially in conversation, so as not to speak useless words. I will constantly offer my heart to God, and principally before beginning any action.

"I will say to myself continually: I am worse than a demon and deserve that Hell should be my dwelling-place. When I am tempted, I will add: What shall I think of this in the hour of my last agony?

"In my room, never to pray sitting when I can do so on my knees or standing. Practice daily little acts of humility, like kissing the ground, for example. Desire all kinds of humiliations, while taking care at the same time not to deserve them. To rejoice when my actions or my person are abused and censured.

"Never to speak of myself, unless it be to own my defects or faults.

"To make every effort, by the thought of Jesus and Mary, to restrain my impatience and contradict my natural inclinations. To be patient and amiable even with people who bore me; never to speak evil of my enemies.

"Every morning, before beginning my work, I will write down what I have to do, being very careful to distribute my time well, to give myself only to useful and necessary business and to continue it with zeal and perseverance. I will scrupulously observe the laws of justice and truth, and have no intention in all my actions save the greater glory of God.

"I will make a particular examination twice a day on my exercise of different virtues, and a general examination every evening. I will go to confession every week.

"I will avoid all familiarities, even the most innocent, as prudence requires. I will never pass more than an hour in any amusement, and in general, never before eight o’clock in the evening."

Garcia Moreno, pray for us!

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