IX — FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Friday after the octave of Corpus Domini

Presence of God. — O Jesus, grant me to penetrate the secrets hidden in your divine Heart.

Meditation

1 — After fixing our gaze on the Eucharist, the gift that crowns all the gifts of Jesus’ love for men, the Church invites us to consider directly the love of Christ’s Heart, source and motive of every gift. It can be said that the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the feast of his love for us. “Behold that Heart which has so loved men,” Jesus said to St. Margaret Mary; “behold the Heart which has so loved men,” the Church repeats to us today, showing us that truly “in the Heart of Christ, wounded for our sins, God has mercifully deigned to give us infinite treasures of love” (cf. Collect). Inspired by this thought, today’s liturgy is a review of the immense benefits that come to us from Christ’s love; it is a hymn of praise to his love. “Cogitationes Cordis ejus,” sings the Introit of the Mass: “The designs of his Heart - of the Heart of Jesus - pass from age to age to snatch souls from death, to feed them in time of famine.” The Heart of Jesus is always in search of souls to save, to free from the snares of sin, to wash in his Blood, to nourish with his Body; the Heart of Jesus is always alive in the Eucharist to satisfy the hunger of all who long for Him, to receive and console all those who, disappointed by life’s bitterness, take refuge in Him in search of peace and refreshment. And Jesus Himself sustains us in the harshness of the journey: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Alleluia). If it is impossible to eliminate suffering from life, it is nevertheless possible for one who lives for Jesus to suffer in peace and to find in his Heart rest for the weary soul.

2 — The Gospel and the Epistle make us consider the Heart of Jesus even more directly. The Gospel shows us his Heart laid bare by the wound of the lance: “one of the soldiers opened his side with a lance”; and St. Augustine comments: “The Evangelist said opened, to show us that the gate of life is in a certain way opened there, from where the sacraments flowed out.” From the pierced Heart of Christ - symbol of the love that immolated Him for us on the Cross - flowed the sacraments, figured in the water and blood that came from his wound; and precisely through these sacraments we receive the life of grace. Yes, it is most fitting to say that the Heart of Jesus was opened to introduce us into life. “Narrow is the gate that leads to life” (Mt. 7:14), Jesus said one day; but if by this gate we understand the wound of his Heart, we can say that He could not have opened for us a more welcoming gate.

But St. Paul, in his beautiful Epistle, invites us to enter still more deeply into the Heart of Jesus to contemplate its “unsearchable riches” and penetrate “the mystery hidden in God.” This mystery is precisely the mystery of God’s infinite love, which has gone before us from all eternity and has been revealed to us by the Word made flesh; it is the mystery of that love which willed to redeem and sanctify us in Christ “in whom we have free access to God.” Once again Jesus presents Himself as the gate that leads to salvation: “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved” (Jn. 10:9); and the gate is his Heart which, being torn open for us, has introduced us into life. Only love can make us penetrate this mystery of infinite love; but it is not just any love: it is necessary, as St. Paul says, to be “rooted and grounded in love.” Only thus shall we be able “to know this love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Colloquy

“O Jesus, by divine disposition it was permitted that one of the soldiers should open and tear your side. With the Blood and water that flowed from it there poured forth the price of our salvation, so that, pouring from the hidden fountain of your Heart, it might give strength to the sacraments to confer the life of grace, and might be for those who live in You the cup that draws from the living fountain springing up to eternal life. Arise then, O my soul, do not cease to watch, bring your mouth here, to draw the waters, to drink at the fountain of the Savior.

“O Jesus, now that I have entered your most sweet Heart - and it is a great good for me to remain here - I do not wish easily to let myself be detached from You. O how good and sweet it is to dwell in your Heart! Your Heart, O good Jesus, is the rich treasure, the precious pearl that I discovered in the secret of your pierced Body, as in the dug field. Who will cast away this pearl? Rather, I will throw away all the pearls of the world, I will give in exchange all my thoughts and all my affections, and I will buy it; I will cast every care of mine into your Heart, O good Jesus, and it will surely satisfy me. And I have found your Heart. O Lord, your Heart, O most gracious Jesus: Heart of king, Heart of brother, Heart of friend. Hidden in your Heart, shall I not pray? I shall pray, yes. Already your Heart, I say it plainly, is also my heart. If You, O Jesus, are my Head, how then should what is yours not be called mine? Is it not true that the eyes of my head are mine? Therefore the Heart of my spiritual Head is my heart. What joy for me! Behold: You and I have but one heart. Meanwhile, having found again, O sweetest Jesus, this divine Heart which is yours and mine, I will pray to You, my God: receive my prayers into the sanctuary of your hearings; indeed draw me wholly into your Heart!” (St. Bonaventure, Tree of Life, 30; Mystic Vine, 3, 3 and 4).