Feast Homilies
THE
MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS
INTRODUCTION
The feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is a
popular Catholic observance. It began with the devotion to the Most
Sacred Heart from the apostolic times. The feast developed over many
centuries. Jesus appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in France in
1673 and requested a special devotion to his Sacred Heart. The feast got
universal acceptance after this vision. It also relates to other
devotions of Jesus like the First Friday Devotion, the feasts of Corpus
Christi, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Divine Mercy. The symbols
on the image of the Sacred Heart are worthy of reflection.
BIBLE TEXT
(John 19:30) Jesus took the wine and said, “It is
now fulfilled.” Then he bowed his head and gave up the spirit. (31) As
it was Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on
the cross during the Sabbath, for this Sabbath was a very solemn day.
They asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified broken, so they
might take away the bodies. (32) The soldiers came and broke the legs of
the first man and of the other who had been crucified with Jesus.
(33) When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead; so they
did not break his legs (34) Instead, one of the soldiers thrust a lance
into his side and immediately there flowed out blood and water.
(35) This testimony is given by one who saw it; his testimony is true
and he knows that he is telling the truth. This man gives his witness so
that you may believe as well. (36) All this happened to fulfill the
words of Scripture, Not one of his bones shall be broken. (37) Another
text says, They shall look on the one whom they have pierced.
INTERPRETATION
We need to understand the devotion to the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Biblical, historical, and symbolic
perspective.
(30) Jesus took the wine and said, “It
is now fulfilled.” Then he bowed his head and gave up the spirit.
Jesus died on the cross after he completed
the mission that his Father had entrusted to him.
(31) As it was Preparation Day, the
Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath,
for this Sabbath was a very solemn day. They asked Pilate to have the
legs of the crucified broken, so they might take away the bodies.
John was the only apostle and evangelist
present at the foot of the cross during Jesus’ crucifixion. Only he has
recorded the piercing of Jesus’ heart. He gives the reason for the
piercing. Though Romans let the dead body to hang on the cross
overnight, the Jews could not do that. “If a man, guilty of any capital
offence, has been put to death by hanging him on a tree, his body must
not remain hanging there through the night. But, you shall make sure to
bury him on the same day because the hanged man is accursed by God. So
you shall not defile the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as
an inheritance” (Deut 21:22-23). Besides, the following day was a great
Sabbath of the Passover feast. The soldiers broke the legs of the
crucified using clubs to speed up the person’s death.
(32) The soldiers came and broke the
legs of the first man and of the other who had been crucified with
Jesus. (33) When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead;
so they did not break his legs.
Jesus was weak when the soldiers crucified
him. So, out of the three crucified, Jesus died first and there was no
need to break his legs.
(34) Instead, one of the soldiers
thrust a lance into his side and immediately there flowed out blood and
water.
The purpose of piercing the side of Jesus
with a spear was not to kill him because he was already dead. According
to the non-canonical books, Centurion Longinus did this to confirm
Jesus’ death. The water flowed from Jesus’ heart is the watery lymph
from the pericardium. The blood that remained in the heart also came
out.
Though the human heart is on the left side of
the body, some artists make this wound on the right just below the ribs.
The centurion might have pierced from below on the right side to bypass
the ribs and to push the heart against the ribs on the left side. This,
by divine providence, assured that Longinus did not break Jesus’ rib.
“All this happened to fulfil the words of Scripture, not one of his
bones shall be broken” (Jn 19:36). The piercing of the heart assures
that Jesus was dead before his burial, proving beyond any doubt that he
had died before the resurrection.
Theologians give a symbolic interpretation of
the water and blood that came from the heart of Jesus. Water stands for
baptism and blood for the Holy Eucharist. Sister Faustina who propagated
the Divine Mercy devotion confirmed this interpretation based on her
vision. Some believe that just as God opened Adam’s side to create Eve,
God opened the side of Jesus to generate his bride, the church. Church
uses water (baptism) and blood (Holy Eucharist) of Jesus to start the
spiritual birth, which is the Christian life. Through the baptismal
water, Jesus cleans the stains of original sins, and through his body
and blood, he nourishes our souls for eternal life.
(35) This testimony is given by one who
saw it; his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth.
This man gives his witness so that you may believe as well.
John the Evangelist was an eyewitness to the
events that happened at Jesus’ crucifixion because he was present there
with Mary, the mother of Jesus. He assures that he saw what he has
recorded. His purpose for this recording was to increase our faith in
Jesus.
(36) All this happened to fulfill the
words of Scripture, Not one of his bones shall be broken.
John found the fulfilment of the scripture
passage in keeping the bones of Jesus unbroken. According to Exodus
12:46, when the Israelites killed the Passover lamb, God commanded them
not to break bones of the lamb. The Lord repeated the same instruction
for the later observance of the Passover (Num 9:12). Psalm 34:21
prophesied on Jesus’ crucifixion: “He watches over all his bones; not
one of them shall be broken.” So, John presents Jesus as the perfect
lamb, fulfilling the prophecies and completing the Old Testament
sacrifices.
(37) Another text says, They shall look
on the one whom they have pierced.
John here quotes Zechariah
12:10.
HISTORIAL BACKGROUND OF THE FEAST
People consider the heart as the centre of
feelings. The heart stands for love, compassion, understanding, and the
seat of emotions. Devotion to the Heart of Jesus is a human response to
God’s love manifested through His son’s self-sacrifice for humanity. The
central theme of the salvation history is God’s love for people who are
the only beings created in his image and likeness. Unlike other
creations, human beings are the children of God. So, when they fell from
grace, he could not abandon them. He took every effort to redeem them.
God made a special covenant with the nation
of Israel and selected it as his firstborn son (Ex 4:22). At Mount
Sinai, the Lord passed in front of Moses and cried out: “The LORD, the
LORD, a God full of tender love and graciousness, slow to anger, and
abounding in fidelity and kindness. He shows kindness to the thousandth
generation, and forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Ex 34:6-7).
Even when the Israelites sinned against God, He was faithful to his
covenant and continued loving and forgiving them.
John 3:16 expresses God’s great love: “Yes,
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes
in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.” Devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus has a link to Saint John the Evangelist because he
was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and reclined close to Jesus (Jn
13:23).
The earliest known proponent of the devotion
to the Sacred Heart was Saint Bernard in the 11th century. Saint
Gertrude the Great and Saint Mechtilde were 12th century visionaries of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus. However, this devotion became popular after
four centuries when Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque had visions in 1673.
Jesus showed her the now-famous image of the Sacred Heart and revealed
to her his desire for a widespread devotion of his Sacred Heart. On the
feast of Saint John the Evangelist, Jesus allowed Saint Margaret Mary
Alacoque to rest her heart upon the heart of Jesus. Saint John and Saint
Gertrude had similar opportunities. So, Jesus wanted to propagate not
just the love but the devotion to the physical and beating heart of
Jesus. The feast of the Sacred Heart was first started in France in
1670. Later in 1856, Pope Pius IX extended this feast to the universal
church. On 11 June 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the whole of mankind
to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
This feast of the Sacred Heart interconnects
with the feasts of Corpus Christi, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Divine
Mercy, and the First Friday Devotion. Pope Urban IV instituted the Feast
of Corpus Christi in 1264 that is especially devoted to the Body and the
Blood of Jesus. Just as the Old Testament priests separated blood from
the sacrificial lamb’s body, so was the last drop of Jesus drained out
with the piercing of his heart on the cross. Jesus asked Saint Margaret
to have the feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of
Corpus Christi. So, Jesus selected the feast day and related it to the
feast of Corpus Christi.
Pope Pius VII established the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1805. It was from Mary that Jesus received his physical heart. She supported Jesus through her suffering at the foot of the cross. The church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the day after the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Thus, the church links the feasts of the two hearts. Saint John Eudes propagated the devotion to the two hearts in the 17th century
Pope Saint John Paul II established the Feast
of the Divine Mercy on 22 April 2001. Through a vision to Saint
Faustina, Jesus revealed that the red and white rays on the image of the
Divine Mercy signify the blood and water that flowed from his side on
the cross when Longinus pierced his heart. Thus, the feast of the Divine
Mercy extends the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The First Friday Devotion also developed from
the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus based on Saint Margaret Mary’s
vision of Jesus. This devotion is in reparation for mankind’s sins by
attending Holy Mass and receiving the Holy Eucharist on the first Friday
of every month for nine consecutive months. Jesus assured special
privileges for those who practise it: the grace of last penitence, death
in grace, an opportunity to receive sacraments at the time of death, and
a safe refuge in the Divine Heart at the last moment of life.
SYMBOLIC MEANING OF THE SACRED HEART
Based on her visions, Saint Margaret Mary
designed and produced the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the
image, we see the heart outside the chest of Jesus, shining with divine
light. It has wounds and bleeding, encircled by the crown of thorns, and
with a cross on the top. The wounded hands of Jesus point to the heart.
The heart stands for the
physical heart of Jesus and his sacrificial love for humanity.
The pierced and bleeding heart reminds us of
the piercing of his heart while he was on the cross and the last drop of
blood and water that came out of his heart.
The crown of thorns recalls the sharp thorns
woven into a crown and pressed onto Jesus’ head to humiliate and torture
him before his crucifixion.
The cross on the top of the heart stands for
the Roman device of execution that was used on Jesus. It is the ladder
that connects heaven and earth through the redemptive work of Jesus.
Flames on the heart are symbolic
of the burning love of Jesus for humanity.
The light surrounding the heart
represents the divine light that shines in the darkness of this world.
MESSAGE
1. “My dear friends, let us love one another
for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows
God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. This is
how the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into this
world that we might have life through him” (1 Jn 4:7-9). So, let us
share the flame of God’s love with one another.
2. Jesus is the best model of “agape.” It is
the unconditional love of God for humanity. It is the sacrificial love
of Jesus who gave his life as a ransom to redeem us from Satan. People,
including our family members, might hurt us. Following Jesus’ example,
we must forgive them, love them, and pray for them.
3. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
is not a devotion to an organ of Jesus, but the heartfelt love of Jesus
for us. Love should be mutual, and we should express it in our dealing
with God’s children who need our care.
4. According to a Christian tradition,
Longinus who pierced the side of Jesus was a centurion and became a
convert. Church venerates him as a saint and martyr. Saint Peter’s
Basilica in the Vatican City has his marble statue for veneration.
Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini completed that in 1638. Saint
Longinus’ feast is on October 16th. This shows how Jesus had forgiven
and favoured even those who persecuted him. Let us imitate Jesus in
doing good, even to those who torture us.
5. Jesus himself has introduced different
devotions to him, like the Sacred Heart devotion, Holy Face devotion and
Divine Mercy devotion, (https://whitelilyoftrinity.com/catholic_
jesus_devotions.html), throughout the history of the church. Let us keep
the devotion to the Sacred Heart by our active participation in the Holy
Qurbana where he repeats his sacrifice with us and for us.