Homily for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Reading: Romans 5:6-11. Theme: The Sacred Heart- Symbol of God’s Great Love for Us
The Sacred Heart of Jesus which we celebrate this Friday, is a symbol of the amazing love of God and the devotion connected with it is ancient in the Church with its roots in the Sacred Scriptures. We see this in our second reading for this Sunday which I just read, wherein we hear that God loved the world so much that He came as one-of-us in order to die for all-of-us. And St. Paul tells us that what is amazing about this loving action of Christ is that He did this for us while we were still caught up in our selfishness and sinfulness. This is so totally opposite of how we act. We demand that people be good to us before we extend goodness back to them. But then, Jesus doesn't have a selfish heart like ours. His Sacred Heart was always focused on God the Father and others.
Jesus invites us to undergo a spiritual heart transplant. He asks us to consent to this supernatural procedure so that we can become more like Him in loving God the Father and loving others no matter who they are…and even if they do not love us in return. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Physician who carries it out and the surgical instrument He uses to accomplish it is a true and living devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This devotion has taken many different forms in various times and places, but it has come to be described in our times by three words that are each unique expressions of love: consecration, adoration and reparation.
Consecration means conscious or mindful dedication. In regards to the Sacred Heart, it is a personal response to the awareness of God’s immense love for us individually. Personal consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus usually begins with the recitation of a special prayer, but it’s proved day in and day out by how we act towards others. Anyone can repeat a prayer. It does not demand much from us at all. But the real proof of our consecration to the Heart of Christ is found in the day-in and day-out striving to become more like Jesus and to love as he loves. It proves itself in how much we strive to develop within us the qualities we see in Jesus in the Gospels: purity of motivation in what we do, honesty in our dealings with others, love that shows itself in unselfishness.
Adoration is honor and homage given to the one we love. Ever since its beginning, devotion to the Sacred Heart has been inseparable from the Eucharist and this makes total sense because they are both expressions of divine love. The Heart of Christ is a symbol of this love and the Blessed Sacrament is the living reality of this love made flesh for us at every Mass. Through frequent and mindful reception of the Eucharist we are filled more and more with the life and love of Christ that can flow out of us to others. By coming into His Real Presence in the tabernacle we spend time in His company and get to know Him better. Adoration added to Consecration gives concrete reality to our Sacred Heart spirituality.
Lastly, we come to the third word, Reparation. To repair means to patch things up, to make amends. When we offend someone we feel the pain of it within our own hearts and have no peace of mind until we make things right between us again. When it comes to God, we make reparation for our sin by saying we’re sorry or if it's serious stuff, we get ourselves to the Confession. But you know, it’s also possible to offer reparation on behalf of someone else. It’s not the same thing as them doing it of course, but our love cannot wait for them to do it. It moves us to action ourselves. It’s kind of like if someone intentionally offends our spouse or significant other. We feel their pain and we try to console them. We just can’t stand by and do nothing. We say nice things to them to try and lessen the pain.
And the same can be said about offenses against Christ. Of course, He does not need reparation because He cannot be hurt in that way. But we who love Him have been hurt and it moves us to do what we can to make up for it even if just in some small way. And that is why we are here tonight. Our love for Jesus will not allow us to just sit back and shake our heads in disgust but do nothing. We come to adore Him for those who will not adore Him. We come to love Him on behalf of those who do not love Him. And of course, above all, we come to pray that those who ridicule and blaspheme Him will come to the awareness that God loves each one of them personally and immensely. And we pray that they, in response, will end up giving their hearts to Him in return.
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