Reading: Deut.7:6-11; Ps. 103; 1 John 4:7-16; Matt. 11:25:30
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia
CELEBRATING
THE MOST SECRED HEART OF LOVE WOUNDED BY OUR DAILY SINS AND WICKEDNESS
Biologically,
the heart is the main organ in the circulatory system, the structure primarily
responsible for delivering and circulation of blood and transportation of
nutrients in all parts of the body. This continuous task uplifts the role of
the heart as a vital organ whose normal operation is constantly required. In
biblical language, “heart” indicates the centre of the person where his
sentiments and intentions dwell. So the
Church understanding the role the heart plays in the salvific history of humanity,
invites us to contemplate on the sacred heart of Jesus.
Little wonder every Friday after the
Sunday of the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, the Church celebrate the great
Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. An event that invites us to
contemplate and celebrate the love of God pouring forth from the Most Loving
Heart of Jesus pierced for the salvation of humanity. A great act of love which
God revealed through his influences on mystic saints such as St. Gertrude the
Great which was made more obvious through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the
revelation she had around 17th century.
In
this revelation the Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and showed her
his heart and the anguish and sorrow which he had for the sins and disobedience
of humanity, despite the incomprehensible act of love, compassion and mercy
that he has lavished upon us. Then the Lord said to her: “Behold the Heart that
has loved so many men, and yet, instead of gratitude, all I received were
ingratitude…” and asking in particular that the Friday after the week in which
the Solemnity of Corpus Christi is celebrated should be dedicated to him as the
Feast of reparation to his Most Sacred Heart. The Lord also promised St.
Margaret Mary that all those who devoted themselves to His Most Sacred Heart
with faith will be protected and receive the graces of God.
So,
the long development of this revelations led to the devotion to the Most Sacred
Heart of Jesus as we have it today. Though it was Pope Pius IX that extended
and placed this great Feast and Solemnity in its current form and honour. This
great feast also mark the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctity
of Priestly Life, keeping in mind that the priesthood is the product of Christ
sacrificial heart of love for humanity.
Hence,
we remember all those who have been called to model themselves after the life
of Christ’s love by giving themselves to the ministerial priesthood, that we
may truly model ourselves and our hearts after that of the Most Sacred Heart of
Christ. Let us be filled with love for all humanity while recognizing that the
priestly life is a very difficult undertaking especially in our world today.
Let us be supported by all, knowing that priests, though humans just like
everyone, have their flaws and imperfections, but we are at the same time held
up to a much higher expectation to care and guide the people of God.
Meanwhile, in the midst of all our difficulties, challenges, daily
temptations and pressures of life, we are called to abide in the loving heart of
Jesus for he who abides in love, abides in God and God abides in him as St.
John tells us in our second reading today by making us to know that God’s love
for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could
have life through him. So, let us love one another since love comes from God and
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love
can never have known God, because God is love.
Thus,
in this solemn feast our devotion is rooted in the mystery of God’s love; for it
is precisely through the Sacred Heart of Jesus that the Love of God for
humanity is manifested in all its effect and power especially for souls
thirsting for God’s mercy. For in it we find the inexhaustible source from
which we draw the water of life that refresh and revives the thirsty souls of
sinful humanity and make us new and alive again. Hence we are called today to
abide in this love of Christ.
And to
abide in his love entails constantly striving for holiness and a life of
sacrifice, though it is not easy, but Jesus invites us in our Gospel passage
today, to come to him, all who labour and are overburdened, and he will give us
rest. He says: “Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my
burden light”. For these grace have been hidden from the learned and the
clever, but have been revealed to mere children. More so, in our first reading
we are told that we are a people consecrated to the Lord our God; for the Lord
our God has chosen us to be his very own people out of all the peoples on the
earth because of his love for us.
Dear
friends, every Christian is called to embrace the love of God which he poured
out from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so as to become a wellspring which gives
life of love to others. For we ought to be offering life-giving water to a
parched and thirsty world. We are called to embrace that love which propelled
Jesus to lay down his life for his friends and also forgives his enemies, for
that is what this solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus represents. We are
called to contemplate the mystery of love in the heart of a God who full of
compassion, bestows his love upon humanity through his Son.
Though
humanity has rejected his love, but God does not lose heart in the face of
ingratitude or rejection by the people he loved and chosen; rather, with
infinite mercy he sends his only-begotten Son into the world to take upon
himself the fate of a shattered love, so that by defeating the power of evil and
death he could restore humanity once again from our slavery of sin and death
back into a life of grace and open up his Sacred Heart of love once again for
all who wishes to embrace it.
LET US
PRAY: Heavenly Father, grant that we, who glory in the loving Heart of your
beloved Son and recall the wonders of his love for us, may be made worthy to
receive an overflowing measure of grace from that fount of heavenly gift of
love which he offers to humanity. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do
pray for me and for the sanctity of all the Priests.
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