And then follows that deeply moving continuation:
“…and in return for this love, I receive from many nothing but ingratitude, indifference, and a lack of reverence.”
What did Christ ask of her according to her testimony? Nothing complicated. According to Margaretha Maria, He asked for: more love, adoration, and time spent with Him. Reparation for those moments when love is rejected or forgotten. A feast day in honour of His Heart.
What grieved Him most, according to her, was not the unbelief of those who did not know Him. Rather, it was the indifference of those who did know Him. What touches the heart is not: “Why do people not love Me?” but rather: “I have given so much love, and received so little in return.”

A phrase often associated with these visions is:
“Behold this Heart, which has loved mankind so greatly, and in return receives only ingratitude.”

“Behold this Heart, which has loved mankind so greatly that It has spared nothing, exhausting and consuming Itself in order to show them Its love. And in return for this love, I receive from most people only ingratitude, indifference, irreverence, and coldness.”

Notice what is not being said.
It does not say:
• “I am angry because people do not obey Me.”
• “I punish them because they make mistakes.”
• “I turn away from them.”
No. The pain lies precisely in love that remains unanswered. For when someone you do not know rejects you, it hurts less than when someone you love becomes indifferent.
This can also be seen in the Gospel. Jesus appears to have great patience with tax collectors, sinners, and those who are searching. Yet what truly grieves Him is hardness of heart, hypocrisy, and people who know all the language of religion but no longer love.
Ultimately, devotion to the Sacred Heart is not about: “You must try harder.” Rather, it is about:
“Do not let your heart grow cold.”

According to her testimony, Christ also asked for an hour of adoration as an act of reparation for the indifference He experienced. This later became known as the Holy Hour.
The hour during the night between Thursday and Friday refers to the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ’s loneliness, and His question to the disciples: “Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40) What Jesus is truly asking is: “Stay with Me.”
She shared these experiences with her spiritual director, the Jesuit Claude la Colombière (1641–1682). Both Margaretha Maria and Claude la Colombière recorded these events in writing.

Because her visions were inseparably linked to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. For her, the Sacred Heart and the Eucharist were not two separate realities. The Heart that has loved humanity so greatly remains present in the Eucharist and invites us to respond with love, faithfulness, and vigilance.
For this reason, she is most often depicted together with Jesus showing His Sacred Heart, but also with a monstrance, or kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament. Since she received her visions before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, they were closely connected to the Eucharist, where Jesus asks everyone: “Stay with Me.”

Sister Margaretha Maria died in Paray-le-Monial on 17 October 1690, at only forty-three years of age. It was not until 166 years later that Pope Pius IX established the Feast of the Sacred Heart for the entire Church. Pope Benedict XV canonised her in 1920. Her body is preserved and venerated in the chapel of the Visitation Sisters in Paray-le-Monial. To this day, many pilgrims from all over the world visit her tomb. Her memorial in the Roman liturgical calendar is celebrated on 16 October.