by Margaret Mary Alacoque (Author), The Sisters of the Visitation Margaret Mary Alacoque, VHM (French: Marguerite-Marie Alacoque) (22 July 1647 – 17 October 1690) was a French Catholic Visitation nun and mystic who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form. ntimate insights from the saint to whom Our Lord gave the Sacred Heart revelations. Includes Our Lord\'s own words to her and tells how she sought out suffering for the love for God. A very famous book and one of only six saint's autobiographies in existence. At the monastery, Alacoque reportedly received several private revelations of the Sacred Heart, the first on 27 December 1673 and the final one 18 months later. The visions revealed to her the form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, Eucharistic adoration during a "Holy hour" on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.[5] She stated that in her vision she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night in meditation on Jesus' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Holy Hour practice later became widespread among Catholics.
The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila presents a remarkable description of the entire spiritual life from the first release from mortal sin into Sanctifying Grace through the Mystical Marriage of the soul with Christ as a journey through what she called The Interior Castle. She sees the soul as a magnificent castle full of spacious and well-lit rooms or mansions each of which leads deeper into the heart of the castle to the seat of the King. However, St. Teresa laments that most people give all their attention to the outer wall of the castle the body ignoring the beauty of the soul within. St. Teresa gives practical advice regarding the early struggles and the temptations to turn back which beset the beginner. She describes each of the seven mansions and urges us forward to love and serve the Divine Majesty, imparting her absolute conviction that progress toward God through prayer is worth vastly more than all the treasures of this earth.
This book was one of the main sources for the movie "The Passion of Christ." In vivid detail the saint tells us about the mysteries from the Old Testament such as the flood to the very detail of the Crucifixion, and what it was like to be the Mother of God. Anne Catherine Emmerich was born to poor parents at Westphalia, Germany in 1774. When she was twenty-eight years old she became an Augustinian nun at Ulmen, and apparently began to experience ecstasies as a result of spiritual favours. She received the Stigmata in 1813, confined to her bed, and reportedly convinced a vicar-general, Overberg, and three physicians of her sanctity. She later reported that she had seen visions of Christ and the souls in purgatory as a child, as well as a circular core with three sections representing the Trinity. She is the author of The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, and The Bitter Passion and the Life of Mary.
