The Heart That Loves To The end

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Theme: The Heart that loves to the end

Today we celebrate one of the great feasts in the Catholic Church, the solemnity of the most sacred heart of Jesus. The heart as we know, is the center of a person, the place from which he or she makes choices which will affect the world within them and around them. Devotion to the Heart of Jesus reminds us that it is in His Sacred Humanity that we find the pattern for becoming fully human ourselves. In his incarnation, saving life, death and resurrection, we receive both the pattern-and the means-to become more like him.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart reminds us of our mission in a culture which has forgotten God. As such, we celebrate the heart so tender yet so compassionate loving to the very end. We celebrate the love of God who allowed his only begotten son Jesus to die for us irrespective of our sinfulness. We celebrate that heart of Jesus that was obedient to Father to the very end in offering himself as a living sacrifice to God the father for the sanctification of the world.

We celebrate that heart that tells us that only in him do we find joy and peace. It is only in him do we find our strength renewed. It is the heart that cares so much who goes out in search of the lost ones and seeks them out and restores them to their original state in life. This is simply the message of both the first reading (Ezekiel 34:11-16) and the Gospel reading (Luke 15:3-7). The second reading today (Romans 5:5b-11) builds the bridge by telling us that what makes this possible is the love of God which has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. In that while we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. This is made possible by the depth of the Love of God. It is for this reason we are saved from the wrath of God.

Beloved in Christ, the feast we celebrate today is a feast of joy meant for everyone. It is a feast that we must celebrate to show great appreciation to God for all that he has done for us.

Background to the celebration

Today’s feast which in Latin means “Sollemnitas Sacratissimi Cordis Iesu” is a solemnity in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. It falls 19days after Pentecost, on a Friday. The earliest possible date is 29^th of May, as in 1818 and 2285. The latest possible date is 2 July, as in 1943 and 2038. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is one of the most widely practiced and well-known Roman Catholic devotions, taking Jesus Christ’s physical heart as the representation of his divine love for humanity. It is a devotion not meant for only the aged, rather it is a devotion that is all embracing.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus can be clearly traced back at least to the 11^th century. It marked the spirituality of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12^th century and of Saint Bonaventure and St. Gertrude the Great in the 13^th century.

The beginnings of a devotion toward the love of God as symbolized by the heart of Jesus are found even in the fathers of the church, including Origen, saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint Hippolytus of Rome, Saint Irenaeus, Saint Justine Martyr and Saint Cyprian, who used in this regard John 7:37-39 and John 19:33-37.

History of the Sacred Heart

The first liturgical feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated with Episcopal approval on the 31^st of August 1670 in the Major Seminary of Rennes, France, through the efforts of Saint John Eudes. The mass and office composed by this Saint were adopted elsewhere also, especially in connection with the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart following on the revelations to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart Droste zu Vischering.

A mass of the Sacred Heart won papal approval for use in Poland and Portugal in 1765, and another was approved for Venice, Austria and Spain in 1788. Finally, in 1856, Pope Pius IX established the Feast of the Sacred Heart as obligatory for the whole church, to be celebrated on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi. Pope Pius XII raised the feast to the highest rank, double of the First Class, and added an octave; the 1955 reforms of the general Roman Calendar suppressed this octave and removed most other octaves.

Since 2002, the solemnity of the sacred Heart of Jesus is also a special Day of prayer for the Sanctification of priests. In 2009, the feast marked the beginning of a “Year for priests.” The first Friday of each month is devoted to the sacred Heart of Jesus.

Promises of St. Mary Margaret Mary Alacoque

Margaret Mary Alacoque said in her apparitions Jesus promised these blessings to those who practice devotion to his Sacred Heart. These promises include:

1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.
12. In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive communion on the first Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.

Beloved in Christ, let us make great effort to be devotees to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let us know that God will never abandon us so long as we don’t abandon him. I pray the most Sacred Heart of Jesus may teach us to love as he has loved. Let us spend the month of June in prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, lifting our families, nations, our endeavours, our possessions and our all into the hands of him we place all our trust.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus-Have Mercy on us.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus-Have Mercy on Us.

Immaculate heart of Mary, pray for us.