Beginning with his second great apparition to Saint Margaret Mary, Jesus spoke of the sadness he feels because his great love for humanity receives in exchange “nothing but ingratitude and indifference”, “coldness and contempt”. And this, he added, “is more grievous to me than all that I endured in my Passion”. 162SAINT MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE, Autobiography, n. 55.
Jesus spoke of his thirst for love and revealed that his heart is not indifferent to the way we respond to that thirst. In his words, “I thirst, but with a thirst so ardent to be loved by men in the Most Blessed Sacrament, that this thirst consumes me; and I have not encountered anyone who makes an effort, according to my desire, to quench my thirst, giving back a return for my love”. 163Letter 133 to Father Croiset. Jesus asks for love. Once the faithful heart realizes this, its spontaneous response is one of love, not a desire to multiply sacrifices or simply discharge a burdensome duty: “I received from my God excessive graces of his love, and I felt moved by the desire to respond to some of them and to respond with love for love”. 164Autobiography, n. 92. As my Predecessor Leo XIII pointed out, through the image of his Sacred Heart, the love of Christ “moves us to return love for love”. 165Encyclical Letter Annum Sacrum (25 May 1899): ASS 31 (1898-1899), 649.