Sermon XVII: The Sacred Heart

"Learn of me for I am meek and humble of Heart."

   In the festivities of Corpus Christi, the triumph of Our Divine Savior is celebrated in the midst of His faithful. The Blessed Sacrament of the Altar is His second Bethlehem, where He is born again under the appearances of bread and wine; His second Nazareth, where He works in the quiet workshop for the salvation of our souls; His Promised Land, where He goes about to console, to heal, and to visit and strengthen the sick and the dying; His Mt. Calvary, where He constantly offers Himself for us. But every Christian soul feels also a longing desire for God and for heavenly bliss, and the soul seeks to satisfy this longing desire on earth by devotion to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. This Sacrament is like a Divine magnet which attracts to itself the hearts of men. Therefore, there is in the Catholic Church no devotion, no festivity, no feast which is not glorified and consecrated by the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

      For this reason, the Feast of the Sacred Heart follows immediately after that of Corpus Christi, for in this festival, as in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, the love of Jesus is wonderfully expressed, and in both and through love, our love for Jesus is enkindled. In the Blessed Sacrament is the Food of Love, and in the Sacred Heart of Jesus the devotion of love is enkindled, and wonderful to relate, both festivals and devotions were inaugurated in the Catholic Church by virgins. The festivities of Corpus Christi were introduced by the holy Sister Juliana in Luttich, in the year 1246, and the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by the Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque in a convent in the diocese of Autun in France. She died in the year 1690, at the age of forty-five years, and was beatified by Pope Pius IX in the year 1867. God chose the weak to accomplish a great work for the salvation of souls in His Church.

 Our Divine Savior appeared to the Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque. His Divine Heart was wounded, flames burst forth from It; It was crowned with a crown of thorns, and a cross protruded from Its center. In truth a picture full of meaning and beauty. Yes, the Sacred Heart was wounded for our sakes; It burned with love and longing for us; It bore all pains, cares and miseries for our sake, and longed with a great desire during the whole life of Christ for the sacrificial altar of His love, for the Cross.

   We will, therefore, today meditate on the Sacred Heart of Jesus; first, as the seat of Divinity; secondly, as the seat of Love; thirdly, as the seat of pain; and fourthly, as it continues to live in the Blessed Sacrament a life of grace and a life of sacrifice.

   Dear Jesus, assist us with Thy grace!

1. As the Divinity of Jesus Christ was united with His Soul and Body, so, too, is it united with His Sacred Heart. Therefore the Sacred Heart of Jesus was and is Divine, and Divine Its life. O Heart of Jesus, as holy and as pure as God Himself! O Heart of Jesus, as sweet and true as God Himself! As adorable, as amiable as God! Take our hearts to Thee, O Jesus, in order that they may become pure, and holy and worthy, a dwelling place of God and of His grace!

 2. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is also the seat of His love, for love dwells in the heart. Oh, how much love dwells in the heart of a father and a mother towards their children, in the heart of a friend towards a friend, of a bride towards her bridegroom! But what is all, even the most intimate love in human hearts, in comparison with the love of the Divine Heart of Jesus! Go to the crib and behold the love in that little Heart of the Divine Child in which the greatest love the world ever saw was born. How much does the heart suffer that is inflamed with a great love? For love is a fire that consumes hearts in its holy flame. For this reason, the sainted Martyrs often felt the external pain less because they were consumed from within by the flames of love for Jesus, and joyfully with songs on their lips----a wonder in the eyes of the Pagans----went to their Martyrdom. Saint Stanislaus was often obliged to cool his breast with snow in order to reduce the flames of his love for God in his heart. Love for God enlarged the heart of St. Philip Neri so much that it was only through the miraculous power of God that he continued to live. Love compelled St. Peter of Alcantara to leave his narrow cell and go out into the open to seek to dampen the flames of his love, and to breathe. Oh, who can describe the flames which consumed the Sacred Heart of Jesus! Every care, every compassion, every longing for the salvation of our souls seizes and moves that Sacred Heart. During three and thirty years the Sacred Heart of Jesus burned with love for God His heavenly Father, and with love for us, and was consumed as He Himself revealed in these words: "I must be baptized with another baptism, and how it drives and forces me until it is accomplished."

   3. But the heart is also the seat of suffering, for love cannot live without suffering. How painfully is often the heart of a father moved on account of his children; how deeply does the heart of a mother suffer! But what are all external sufferings in comparison with the agonies of the soul, with the cares and miseries which afflict men and shorten their life? And yet, my Christians, what are all the sufferings of human hearts together in comparison with the sufferings which the Sacred Heart of Jesus endured on earth? As great and as infinite as His love was, so great and immeasurably deep were the sufferings of His Sacred Heart. 

The life of Jesus was a Martyrdom, and His greatest pain was the Martyrdom of His own Heart. Behold His anxiety and sadness, the misery of His Soul on account of our ingratitude and sins, on account of the numberless souls that are lost, who plunged themselves into eternal unhappiness. On Mt. Olivet He struggled with death, and the agony of His Heart forced a sweat of Blood from the pores of His Body. Oh, if only a spark of His suffering should fall upon our hard hearts how earnestly would we not do penance for our sins, and how much grace and mercy would we not find! Oh, how much gratitude do we not owe to the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

     4. But, my beloved brethren, rejoice for the Sacred Heart of Jesus still lives; It lives a life of grace in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. What the Sacred Heart of Jesus felt in Its life on earth towards sinners and the erring, towards the poor, the sick and the inconsolable, that It now continues to feel in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. No matter how great your cares, your miseries, your sinfulness may be, the Sacred Heart of Jesus lives on in the tabernacle and beats with love and compassion for you. Take your refuge therefore to the Sacred Heart, open your heart to It, in order that It may heal your heart, console and have mercy on you.

      In the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar the Sacred Heart of Jesus continues Its life of sacrifice. It constantly offers Itself to God, the heavenly Father, for us, with Its merits, with Its sufferings on earth, with Its obedience and Death on the Cross. Jesus unites with His Sacred Heart the hearts of His true Christians and offers to God their prayers, merits and sufferings. This is surely a sufficient reason to adore and praise the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to love It from your hearts, and frequently to pray: "O sweetest Heart of Jesus, I implore, that I may love Thee more and more."

E-MAIL


HOME----------CHRIST THE KING-----------GALLERIES

www.catholictradition.org/Easter/easter31a.htm