Paray-le-Monial and the Sacred Heart Devotion
Chapel of the Visitation in Paray-le-Monial We have entered the Chapel of the Visitation in Paray-le-Monial and celebrated Mass many times over the last nineteen years of leading pilgrimages to the Shrines of France. As we kneel at the beginning of the Eucharistic prayer, we find our eyes and hearts drawn to the area above the Altar of Sacrifice where there is a powerful mural depicting that moment when the Heart of Jesus united Itself forever with St. Margaret Mary’s heart and that of St. Claude Colombiere.We see Our Lord Jesus hovering over St. Margaret Mary, His Heart on fire out of love for her and for us. We cannot fail to ponder: Is Our Lord not offering to unite His Heart with ours at the moment we receive Him in the Holy Eucharist, that He might envelop our hearts inside His, that we might love and forgive with His Heart, our heart no longer alive but His Heart in us, beating with every thought we have, every act we perform? As we kneel there, the years melt away and we are present at the Mass, that fateful day when St. Claude Colombiere brought Margaret Mary Holy Communion, and Jesus united Himself forever with His two faithful servants. Our eyes travel to the right side of the main Altar where there is a grille till today, where the nuns still hear Mass and receive Holy Communion. It is here, behind this very grille, that Margaret Mary heard Mass and received Holy Communion. This is where she went into ecstasy, where Our Lord Jesus, present in the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the Altar, gave her the message of Love she was to spread to the whole world from Paray-le-Monial. It was in Paray-le-Monial that He showed her His wounded Heart and asked her to establish a Feast in honor of His Sacred Heart. 
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque dvd book and cd - taped in Paray-le-Monial Saint Claude Colombiere The Shrine of Saint Claude Cooombiere is just down the street from the Chapel of the Visitation. The mural of the Sacred Heart behind the Altar in the Shrine there is magnificent and is included in the dvd.
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