Each time that we gather around
the Lord’s table for mass as a community of faith, we celebrate the love that
God has for us in a special way – that is one of the eternal truths of our
Catholic faith. Today’s
solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus always falls 19 days after Pentecost,
which is always on a Friday. And
we know from our faith that Jesus died on a Friday. The
Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most beloved religious devotions in our
Church. We,
the disciples of Christ, see his physical heart as a symbol of the love that he
has for humanity. Many
saints have contributed to our understanding of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
especially St. Margaret Mary Alacoque of the Sisters of the Visitation of Holy
Mary. Her
visions of Jesus in the 17th century conveyed this message: “Look at this Heart which has loved humanity
so much, and yet humanity does not want to love Me in return. Through you My
Divine Heart wishes to spread its love everywhere on earth. Contemplating Jesus’ Sacred Heart, our own hearts are to
be touched by his death on a cross, by the way the soldier thrust a lance into
his side, out of which blood and water flowed. St
Augustine wrote about how Christ became the door for our salvation, how that
door was opened for us by his death and resurrection, by the soldier’s lance
that opened up his side. We have
the free will to choose how and where we want to enter Christ, where we can
enter from his side as he hung dying upon the cross, the side from which the
blood and water flowed. The purification we receive from Christ is the
water that flowed from his side. The
redemption we receive from Christ is the blood that was shed for us.
St Justin Martyr, who died in the middle of the 2nd
century, asserted that “we the Christians are the true Israel which springs
from Christ, for we are carved out of his as from a rock.” May the heart of Jesus motivate us out us his infinite love. May that love call us to action.
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