January 19, 2026
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
After having learned from Jesus our Master the use we must make of our spirit, we will see tomorrow the use we must make of our heart. We will learn from Him that our heart must be: 1st, entirely for God; 2nd, entirely for God alone. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to do all our actions, small and great, for love of God, that is to say, with the sole motive of pleasing Him; 2nd, to multiply as much as possible, night and day, acts of love, saying with the Psalmist: Lord, make me love Thee; or with St. Ignatius: Give me Thy love, and it is enough; I desire nothing else. These two aspirations will serve us as spiritual nosegay.
Meditation for the Morning
Let us adore the Heart of Jesus as the divine exemplar on which our own must be formed. Let us penetrate into this sanctuary; let us admire its ineffable beauties, its adorable perfections. Oh! if once we had entered well into it, what graces, what lights and virtues we would bring away!
FIRST POINT
The Heart of Jesus Teaches Us to Give Our Heart Entirely to God.
Of what, indeed, was this divine Heart touched? What did it love, what did it desire, what did it breathe, if not the greatest glory of its heavenly Father? To see Him known, loved, adored, served by all creatures, to accomplish Himself all His wills, to repair the injuries done by the ingratitude of men to His eternal grandeurs: behold where all the movements of this great Heart tended; behold what motivated His fears or hopes, His joys or sorrows; behold what put Him in action or held Him in repose. This was His food, His life, He said. A man pressed by hunger and thirst is less content at the meeting of food or a living spring of water, than this divine heart when it could do something for the glory and love of God his Father. For this, nothing cost Him, neither to live in poverty and labor, nor to die on the cross; and He did not esteem to pay too dearly so great a good, in purchasing it at the price of all torments, all ignominies, even death itself. O Jesus! who will give me a heart similar to Thine, a heart whose whole ambition, whole joy is to love God and to make Him loved, to act and to suffer for Him! O eternal God, I have loved Thee too little and too late. Alas! I have scarcely begun to love Thee well. Take away from me my heart of stone and give me one more sensitive; or rather give me a heart of stone for all that is not Thee, and for Thee a tender, great, generous heart. Transform my heart into that of Thy Son. Let all my vivacities come to be deadened, my cares, my sorrows, my imperfect desires be consumed, in the furnace of holy love: and that I may carry away a greater charity for God and for souls.
SECOND POINT
The Heart of Jesus Teaches Us to Give Ourselves Entirely to God Alone.
This Sacred Heart, feeling that it is not too much of the creature's so small heart to love so great a God, took care not to share it, that is to say, not to give the least affection to the creature for itself, and to let it grieve or rejoice, be cast down or intoxicated for some foreign object. It was not enough for Him that God held the first place, as if the other places could without injustice be given to others than to God, as if the creature, once admitted in share, would not seize the principal part. With you, O my God, it is all or nothing. The creature, for the least place it is left in the heart, always claims the first. This is what experience teaches me. It takes days, whole months to console me for a small disgrace, for the loss, the absence or only the indifference of a friend, while, O my God, how easily I console myself for having displeased you. An enterprise that interests my vanity or my cupidity preoccupies me to the point of taking away my rest and attention to my other duties; a happy success transports me, while I am so cold for your interests, so feebly touched by what concerns your glory; I have only a light regret for having offended you or offended myself. Oh! how ashamed I am of this false love which knows neither how to be moved, nor to be touched, nor to compassionate, nor to be anxious for the beloved object! Therefore, no sharing; to God alone all my heart. O Heart of Jesus, obtain for me to come to this. I find myself so far from it! Purify my heart of all that is not You, and may I live only for You alone.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
Note on the Recovery of Missing Meditation
Important Note on This Meditation (First Week after Epiphany: Monday)
This meditation (Monday of the First Week after Epiphany) was lost in the original English publication by Benziger Brothers (1894 third edition), where pages 251–282 (and beyond) are missing from the available digitized copy.
The content has been recovered and translated directly from the corresponding section of the original French edition (Méditations pour tous les jours de l'année, by Rev. M. Hamon, 3rd edition equivalent, 1894), preserving the exact meaning, style, tone, and meditative structure of the 1894 English translation as closely as possible.
This recovery ensures continuity of the work while respecting the historical source material.