THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS (SOLEMNITY)

They will look upon him whom they have pierced.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion rooted in John’s Gospel, where blood and water flowed from Jesus’ side at his crucifixion. Gazing at the pierced heart of Christ, we marvel at his boundless love that led him to offer himself on the cross for us.

Although devotion to the wounded heart of Jesus existed as early as the twelfth century, it was in 1677 that a young Visitation nun, Margaret Mary Alacoque, experienced a vision of Jesus and his Sacred Heart. “I could plainly see his heart,” she wrote, “pierced and bleeding, yet there were flames, too, coming from it and a crown of thorns around it. He told me to behold his heart which so loved humanity. Then he seemed to take my very heart from me and place it there in his heart. In return he gave me back part of his flaming heart.”

Like St. Margaret Mary, countless people devote themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus today. When we contemplate his Sacred Heart, we can come in touch with the powerful, consuming love that Jesus has for us. We can bring him our burdens and worries, and he can give us insight into how to handle them. Seeing how much he suffered for us can soften our hearts and open us to the grace to turn away from the sins that we can’t seem to overcome. When we look upon his Sacred Heart and confess our failures to love, he gives us his own heart of love for our brothers and sisters.

Today, let’s be still before a crucifix. Let’s look upon our Savior, whose heart was pierced for us, and the blood and water that flowed from his side. Let’s contemplate the love that also flows from his heart and touches us and the whole world. Let’s ask the Spirit to make this love real to us today—in our loneliness, in our woundedness, in our sinful self-concern. And let’s ask Jesus to help us to receive his heart of love for all the people we will meet today.

“Jesus, I give my heart to you. Please give me your burning heart of love, that I may do all things for love of you.”

Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9
(Psalm) Isaiah 12:2-6
Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19
John 19:31-37

WORD AMONG US