19 สิงหาคม ระลึกถึงนักบุญยอห์น ยูดส์ (St. John Eudes) | ผู้บุกเบิกความศรัทธาต่อพระหฤทัยศักดิ์สิทธิ์

On August 19, the Catholic Church honors St. John Eudes, a 17th-century French priest who profoundly shaped modern Catholic devotion. Deeply troubled by the clerical ignorance and moral decline of his time, he founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (the Eudists) to establish seminaries for the proper formation of holy priests. He also founded the Order of Our Lady of Charity to rescue and rehabilitate women exploited by society. Most significantly, St. John Eudes was the pioneer of the liturgical worship of the Sacred Hearts. Years before the apparitions at Paray-le-Monial, he composed the very first Mass and Divine Office honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He died peacefully in 1680 after a lifetime of rigorous missionary preaching and heroic charity.

Reflection for the Faithful: St. John Eudes teaches us that authentic Christian devotion is never purely sentimental; it must overflow into tangible acts of mercy. His profound love for the Sacred Heart compelled him to care for plague victims and rescue marginalized women. May his intercession inspire us to conform our own hearts to the compassionate Heart of Christ, prompting us to reach out to the broken and vulnerable in our modern world with genuine, active love.