THE SACRED HEART, OUR SANCTIFICATION.
June 24, 2022.
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus – C.
“The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Rom 5:5b
A Togolese proverb says: “The heart rules without rules.”
And an Albanian proverb adds: “That which comes from the heart is always
sincere.”
The heart of Jesus is the fountain of love. It is also the
spring of human purification, sanctification, and salvation. The heart of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ speaks of the Heart of God himself. The Psalm 33
that we sing as the entrance antiphon of today's Eucharistic celebration says:
“The designs of his Heart are from age to age, to rescue their souls from
death, and keep them alive in famine.”
God has only one plan, the salvation of mankind. And for
that mystery of salvation to be accomplished, he sent his only Begotten Son who
out of love died on the Cross for us. While dying on the Cross, the Lord Jesus
showered us with His blood and water that flew from his pierced heart. His
heart became the wonderful symbol of the Father’s love for us. Through it, we
were purified and made worthy to receive an overflowing measure of God's grace.
Through the wounded heart of Jesus Christ on the Cross, we were pardoned,
purified, sanctified, and saved. For, his heart speaks words of wisdom and
boundless mercy and love.
About the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Magisterium says: “The
prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes
his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of
love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to
follow the way of the cross in the Savior's steps. the stations from the
Praetorium to Golgotha and the tomb trace the way of Jesus, who by his holy
Cross has redeemed the world.” CCC 2669.
This day is also called to be a day of sanctification of the
Church through the sanctification of its servants, the priests who are the
mirrors and the external signs of the merciful and loving heart of Jesus the
Lord.
The readings are all about the Lord, the Good Shepherd. A
Call for every shepherd and pastor of the Church to incarnate the heart of
Jesus. In the first reading, looking that those he appointed as shepherds of
his people were not faithful to their mission, but instead abusing of his
people, the Lord says: “I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them
rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring
back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the sleek and the
strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly.” The good shepherd has a heart
for his sheep. He cares for them and is ready to die for them. He can sacrifice
everything out of love for them.
The Lord Jesus, in the Gospel, emphasizes that fact through
the parables he addresses to the Scribes and the Pharisees. He is a shepherd
who is ready to leave ninety-nine unlost sheep to run in the search of the lost
one and rejoice more over him when found. Only a shepherd who shepherds with
the heart can do so, and not those who seek personal interests. This parable is
actually what Jesus did on the Cross for us. He who was without sin accepted to
sacrifice himself for the purification and salvation of sinners. He died for
our reconciliation with his Father. His heart was the fountain where he washed
away our sins.
St. Paul, in the second reading, tells us that the love of
God has been poured into our hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit. This
took place when Christ died for us. Through the death of the Lord, we are given
the proof of God's love. His mercy has gone beyond our sins. His pierced heart
has opened us the way to holiness and salvation.
Celebrating today's solemnity, let us ask that grace to make of our hearts the mirrors of the heart of Jesus. To be filled with the same mercy and love he had for us.
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