Holy Cards
Preview
Creation Date
approximately 1900
Work Type
devotional pictures
Location
Paris (France)
Description
Booklet holy card. Front panel features an illustration of the Sacred Heart framed by a crown of thorns and a bouquet of red roses. The inside features passages from Thomas à Kempis's 'The Imitation of Christ,' John's Gospel, and a prayer by Father Albert Tesnière. The back of the card features verses from Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and 'The Imitation of Christ.' This card was printed by Bouasse-Jeune around the turn of the century.
Transcription
Jesus, our friend. (front) Jesus, our friend. 'The love of Jesus is faithful and enduring… Love Him and keep Him for thy Friend. Keep close to Jesus in life and in death, and commit thyself to His keeping, who alone can help thee when all others fail.' (Imitation, II, VII.) "It is a great art to know how to converse with Jesus; and to know how to keep Jesus is great wisdom." (Imitation, II, VIII). Friendship is Mutual. Friendship is mutual; you cannot be our friend, O Jesus, wihtout our becoming Thine. This name of friend, the grace to be able to love as friends, the unspeakable honour and power of a real friendship with Thee, all this Thou didst bestow upon us at the Last Supper, immediately after the institution of the Holy-Eucharist, as though to tell us that it is in this Sacrament we become Thy friends, capable of loving Thee, worthy of doing so, and finding in the Eucharist itself the occasion of and the most favourable aid to friendship. 'I will not now call you servants...But I have called you friends because all things whatsoever I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you' (St. John XV. 15) Friendship desires Union. Friendship desires union of souls, and tends thereto with all its strength, it desires a union as close, as intimate, as perfect as possible. Its ideal and its perfection, its rest and its happiness, consequently, are found in complete and absolute unity. 'Ex ambobus fieri unum.' But Thou alone, O perfect Friend, Thou alone offerest plenarily to our heart the realization of this desire, the satisfaction of this need! Thy sanctifing grace makes us one with Thee through participation in the same divine life. 'Thou in Me, and I in them.' Gratitude to Jesus, our Friend. How can we thank sufficiently our Divine Friend for the gift of His friendship, in which we receive not only the highest honour, the most powerful helps, the most sure support, consolation in our trials, counsel in our doubts, compassion when we fall, but, still further, grace, and example, and security in all our friendships with our fellow men. Prayer. O Jesus! upon whose Bosom I may repose my weary head, and feel beating therein the Heart of the most devoted, the most delicate, the most tender of friends; Jesus, in whom is the source, the reason, the model and the security of all true friendship; jesus, the Friend, I adore Thee, I cast myself at Thy feet, I recognize Thee and I choose Thee once again as the best of all friends! How worthy of love Thou art, O my well-beloved Friend! (Father Tesnière). (inside) A faithful friend is a strong defence; and he that hath found him, hath found a treasure. (Eccl. VI, 14.) Nothing can be compared to a faithful friend, and no weight of gold and silver is able to countervail the goodness of his fidelity. (Eccl., VI, 15.) A faithful friend is the medicine of life and of immortality. (Eccl. VI, 16.) Without a friend thou canst not well life; and if Jesus is not thy friend above all others, thou shalt be sad and desolate indeed. (Imitation, II, VIII.) He that is a friend loveth at all times; and a brother is proved in distress. (Proverbs, XVII, 17) (back)
Collection
U.S. Catholic Special Collection
Repository ID
CSC.029-066
Permission Statement
This material may be protected by U.S. (Title 17, U.S. Code) and/or international copyright law. The material is available for personal, educational, and scholarly use. It is the responsibility of the researcher to locate and obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) or heirs for any other use, such as reproduction and publication.
