This love of God is that sacred fire of which Christ said: “I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I but that it be kindled?” (St. Luke xii, 49). It shone with a most refulgent light when, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of fiery tongues and filled the minds and hearts of the disciples. And see how the Divine love, then received, transformed the Apostles into new men. Before, they had been very dull of comprehension, some of them asking the Saviour on the day of His ascension whether He was then going to restore the Kingdom of Israel; then they became at once the infallible teachers of the world. Before, they had been cowardly men, locked up in the upper room for fear of the Jews; then they were suddenly changed into heroes, rejoicing, when they had been publicly whipped, that they were allowed to suffer for the name of Jesus. All of them were glad to die for their Lord. Countless martyrs were enkindled with the same fire of love; men, timid women, little boys, tender maidens, astonishing the Pagans by their heroic fortitude. When the early persecutions were past, thousands of solitaries retired from the allurements of the world, and were led by the spirit of Divine love into frightful solitudes to spend their lives in penance and prayer, thinking of God alone. Every subsequent age in the history of the Church is replete with similar exhibitions of the love of Jesus. Hundreds of thousands of Christians left home and country, and sacrificed their lives to rescue from the hands of Pagans the tomb of the Redeemer. Others, during the Ages of Faith, devoted their riches or their personal labor to erect magnificent cathedrals, and provide a rich supply of gold and silver vases, of precious vestments and ornaments for the house of their beloved Lord. When the charity of many had grown cold, the Blessed Saviour knew how to rekindle its fires by means of the devotion to His Sacred Heart. He appeared to His humble servant Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, and said to her: “Behold the heart that has loved men so much, and yet I receive nothing but ingratitude in return.” The whole purpose of this beautiful devotion is to elicit the love of human hearts for their loving Saviour, so as to unite God and men together by the golden bond of love. To promote this devotion Jesus has been liberal in His promises. For those who practise it fervently He promised that He would be their secure refuge during life and above all in death, that He would bestow a rich blessing on all their undertakings, that by it tepid souls would become fervent, and fervent souls would mount quickly to a high perfection, that He would give to priests the gift of touching the hardest hearts, that He would write in His sacred Heart the names of those who would zealously promote this devotion and He would never allow them to be blotted out.