St Margaret Mary Alacoque

In approving the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Church did not trust to the visions of St. Margaret Mary; she made abstraction of these and examined the worship in itself. Margaret Mary’s visions could be false, but the devotion would not, on that account, be any less worthy or solid.

Private revelation is not part of the Catholic faith (church approval only means the content of the message is sound and the vision wasn’t faked; you don’t have to believe in it) and of course one need not practise devotions foreign to one’s rite (and is forbidden from so doing in church!). Some say the roots of this devotion, which in its best-known form is very much from the culture of 17th-century France, go back beyond St Margaret Mary to St Mechtilde and St Gertrude in the 1200s, and the Orthodox (who with icons, the hours and all their canons and akathists to choose from don’t need to import foreign practices!) refer to Our Lord liturgically as he ‘who loves mankind’ (φιλανθροπος, человеколюбец) all the time!

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.

More.

From Tea at Trianon.

St Hierotheus of Athens
The troparion and kontakion to today’s Julian-calendar saint. For the health of Archbishop Christodoulos his successor.

Troparion, tone 1
LL we faithful praise Hierotheus the disciple of Paul. He is the world’s teacher, Hierarch of Athens, and a preacher of the faith, revealing Christ’s Mysteries and pouring forth streams of godly doctrine. His life was well-pleasing to God who is greatly merciful.

Kontakion, tone 8
IEROTHEUS, Bishop of Athens, we honour thee, for thou hast taught us ineffable Mysteries and art an inspired hymn-writer. Intercede that we may be delivered from our sins and so may cry: Rejoice, O wise and heavenly Father.