Sunday Within the Octave of the Sacred Heart
(3rd
Sunday after Pentecost) June 9, 2013
Epistle: 1 Peter 5: 6-11 Gospel, Luke 15: 1-10)
Last Friday was the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and
today’s Mass commemorates that feast. We
begin to see our Lord’s Sacred Heart prefigured in the very first Book of the
Bible at Genesis 6: 16, where God told Noah, “and the door of the ark
thou shalt set in the side.” When the great flood receded and the ark settle on
dry land, out of that door poured forth the life of the earth for the
continuation of the human race and the many animal species in the ark. Going
even farther back, we see the Sacred Heart prefigured in Adam and Eve. Eve was
formed by the Hand of God from a rib taken from the side of Adam when he was
asleep. Adam took her as his spouse and
gave her the name Eve which means mother of the living. Jesus was the second Adam and when He died, or
fell asleep, on the cross, His Heart were pierced and opened and the water and
blood that poured forth was the Church, which He took as His spouse. The
opening of Christ’s side was prophesied by Zacharias 500 years before Christ:
“And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers; and they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced . . .” (Zacharias 12: 10) Christ’s blood and water also represent the
Sacraments of the Church. By the Sacraments we obtain the “spirit of grace”
that Zacharias wrote about. Without Christ’s
Sacraments there is no life. We read in John 6: 54, “Unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you shall not have life in you.”
The adoration of the Heart of Jesus goes back to St.
John, who rested his head on the breast of Christ at the Last Supper (John 13: 23, 25) John surely
heard our Lord’s heart beating and experienced the depth of the love of Christ
for His children. John and the two
Mary’s were also present when Jesus’ side was pierced, and that was the actual
birth of the Church. We celebrate that birthday on Pentecost Sunday, the day
when the Holy Ghost inflamed the hearts of His followers, the day when the work
of the Church began.
When we hear the word “heart” we think of the physical
heart beating in our chest. But we also use the word “heart” symbolically in
connection with our moral and emotional lives. In this way we use expressions
like, “Have a heart,” or when we speak of an athlete who has great heart. Even
in the Divine Office there is a short prayer: “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes
observe my ways.” (Proverbs
23: 26)
The Church teaches that
devotion to the Heart of Jesus is entirely directed to this symbolism and recalls the love of Jesus, and His emotional and moral life.
When our Lord appeared on earth mankind had forgotten how
to love because he had forgotten what true beauty is. Human hearts were caught
up in a false love of themselves and of earthly possessions. Into this world
the Holy Ghost brought the Heart of Jesus, which is like a ladder between man and
God. His human heart could not love His Church without His Divine Heart being moved
to mercy. The devotion is as old as the Church because it rests on the truth
that Christ is the Spouse and the Church is his bride.
The Gospel reading for the Feast tell how a soldier
opened Jesus’ side with a spear, not that he stabbed Him or wounded Him, but he
opened His side. This opening in Christ’s side was prefigured by the door that
Noah was commanded to make in the side of the Ark. Into this door went every
living creature that was not to be destroyed by the flood. Christ’s side is
also the doorway of life. In His Heart is everything necessary for eternal
life, and out of His side poured the Sacraments and the Church. The Sacraments give
grace, and lead, not to destruction but to life.
The
Prophet Isaias foretold the benefits of the water and blood that poured forth
from the side of Christ: “You shall draw waters [meaning grace], with joy out
of the Savior’s fountains. (Isaias 12: 3) These fountains are the
Sacraments. But God says later in Jeremias, “For my people have done two evils:
They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have” dug wells “ that
can hold no water.” (Jeremias 12: 13) How does God respond to this sin of His children?
He overlooks it. He is touched at seeing them, and us today, trying to quench
our burning thirst for immortality by idolizing beauty and wealth – things of
this life that are like a mirage in the desert. We see them, then poof! They’re
gone. God sent His Son to straighten us out. Jew and Gentile alike, we have met
Jesus, the Christ. He is our companion on the way through life. He is God and
He has become Man, that for the good of our souls He might draw us to Him with
the cords of Adam (Osee 11:4), that is, by the love of His Heart of Flesh He may
lead us to what we were created for – eternity with Him in His Kingdom. That burning
thirst for immortality continues in us today, and so Jesus taught us in the temple, “If any man
thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that believeth in me . . . out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7: 37, 38)
The wound in Christ’s side is the doorway to His Church.
Eve was taken from the side of Adam to be his wife, in a prefigurement of the Church. The fulfillment of this is the opening of
Christ’s side so that His Bride, the Church, might come forth. Although no
trace of the wound that produced Eve exists today, Christ’s Church will continue
forever. We can think of the wound in His side and be reminded that we only
have to go to His Sacred Heart where we will find the living water of His
grace. This will make us immortal, and this is what we need for our eternal happiness
and salvation.
Today’s Gospel is the Parable of the Lost Sheep and
of the Lost Coin.
When the Shepherd finds the Lost Sheep he does not
punish it.
He places it on His Shoulders, just as Christ
placed the burden of
Our sins on His Shoulders when He picked up the
Cross.
When we are dried out from our sins we go to the
Confessional
Where we drink of His graces.
When we leave the Confessional, we are back on His
shoulders.
+++
Thanks to Fr. Demets, FSSP, for parts of
today’s sermon.
We Celebrate the
Tridentine Latin Mass
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