At that time Jesus exclaimed:
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.” (Mt 12:25)
One of the earliest Catholic devotions I learned as a child was devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since my Mom and all three of my sisters attended the Academy of Sacred Heart, the words “Sacred Heart” were part of an almost daily vocabulary. And then there’s the image of the Sacred Heart with which we are familiar, and I remember it being a little confusing to me as a child. Why was the heart of Jesus outside of His body? Doesn’t it have to be inside His body to pump His blood? But then I think I figured that Jesus could do whatever He wanted, since He’s God. But in my CCD classes at St. Francis Xavier I got a chance to ask the religious sister my question, and she told me: “He wants to show you His love.” That was good enough for me!
As a child an image of a heart was always a sign of love, especially on Valentine’s Day. But as I got older, I realized that the way Jesus really showed His love was not by simply showing His heart, but by dying on the cross and allowing His Sacred Heart to be pierced by a lance. As Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15:13). And then the next day Jesus lay down His life on the cross.
So, we have three special days when we are especially focused on the love that Jesus has for us. The first is Good Friday when Jesus lay down His life for us. The second is Corpus Christi when we specifically recall that Jesus gives us his Body and Blood to eat and drink at each Mass. And the third is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus where we see visually that pierced heart.
And there’s no coincidence that the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart is celebrated (usually) on the Friday after Corpus Christi. St. Margaret Mary Alocque had a private vision in which Jesus revealed His heart to her and said, “I ask thee that the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi be set apart as a special feast to honor My Heart.” It is recorded that she had this vision during Eucharistic adoration, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the altar.
“O, Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine!”
(Very Rev. Msgr.) Christopher H. Nalty
msgr.nalty@gmail.com
