Devotion

Homily for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

Devotion is a word that is often used in speaking about the Sacred Heart of Jesus as in “I have great devotion to the Sacred Heart.” Two synonyms for the word devotion are ardor or zeal. We speak of “devotion to duty,” “devotion to family,” and “First Friday Devotions.” When speaking of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, our first thought might be to remember St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a woman religious who promoted the devotion to the Sacred Heart after receiving several visions of Jesus. These visions revealed to her forms of devotion to the Sacred Heart, the chief features being the First Fridays Devotion – which is the reception of Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of each month as an act of reparation, - Eucharistic adoration during a "Holy hour" on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

Another person with a great devotion to the Sacred Heart was Queen Maria I who vowed, before an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Convent of Carnide, to build a church and convent under the Rule of Saint Theresa if she was given the grace of bearing children that would assure the succession of the House of Braganza. After successfully delivering a son, she fulfilled her vow by initiating the construction of the Royal Basilica and Convent of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Lisbon, Portugal. This was the first Catholic Church that was dedicated to the Sacred Heart.

Looked at in its bare essentials, Christian life is a matter of removing obstacles to God’s love, accepting our needy state, allowing space for God’s action, and in more mystical terms, surrendering ourselves to the influence of God’s love. The love of Jesus for human beings is a love for imperfect people, for people who stumble almost daily, who must say to themselves often, “Oh, that was a foolish thing to do.” Though some comparisons can be made, God’s love for us is generally not what songs and film in our culture mean by love. Rather it is like God’s love for Israel, described for us today in the passage from the prophet Hosea. God’s love for Israel was not made because they were promising as a people. Rather, God chose them because of who God is. In his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul expresses the hope that we, “rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.” God’s love starts with the unappealing and goes on to make us appealing, to fashion us more and more, patiently and slowly, into the likeness of his son Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel text for today, we are reminded that God’s love for us is so great that his only begotten son was willing to die on a cross for our sakes. When his side was opened with a lance after his death, blood and water poured out, much the same as blood and water are present when a child is born. St. John probably includes this detail to show the reality of Jesus’ death. We can correctly state, therefore, that the death of Jesus is the initiation of our birth to eternal life.

As we celebrate this Solemnity today, let us pledge ourselves to expressing the divine love of the heart of Jesus in our daily lives by deeds of charity for all cross our paths each day.