The love of the Sacred Heart for each of us, which is unique and inexhaustible, reaches unimaginable heights. As a consequence, how can we not have absolute trust in divine mercy, despite our miseries? Or, perhaps, even because of them?
Newsdesk (June 14, 2021, 14:34, https://gaudiumpress.ca/) When considering the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which the Church celebrates on the Friday following the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, we may fall too short on the treasure of goodness and mercy that such form of piety puts into the hands of the faithful.
The Heart of Jesus is the most genuine and substantial tabernacle of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Consequently, there is no better way to adore the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit than through Him.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus embraces in an unfathomable way the two natures of Christ: the human and the divine. Thus, invoked in the litany dedicated to Him as “substantially united to the Word of God.”
Thus, it is through him that God enters into contact with us, respecting our proportions and presenting himself to us in a way that inspires us with confidence.
In return, by adoring God through the Sacred Heart, we make use of the most privileged, even supreme, altar for our prayers to ascend to Heaven. As a result, they will be received with absolute complacency.
God has loved us from all Eternity
It is the symbol par excellence of God’s infinite love for sinners and the most moving manifestation of His capacity to forgive. To be open to the mercy that flows from Him constitutes a sure source of salvation. As Pope Pius XII emphasizes:
“Only He, who is the Only Begotten of the Father and the Verb made Flesh ‘full of grace and truth’ (Jn 1:14) and having descended to men oppressed by countless sins and miseries, was able to make flow from his human nature – united hypostatically to his Divine Person – a spring of living water that would copiously water the arid earth of humanity, transforming it into a flowering and fertile garden.”
The Creator loved us incalculably long before He gave us existence. Considering the world of divine possibilities, he chose each one of us in particular, keeping us present in his Redemption.
For God loves us, not only according to the good placed by Him in our human nature when He created us but according to the state of perfection that we will have in the Beatific Vision – if we arrive there – purified by the Most Precious Blood of Redemption.
In summary, for the Sacred Heart of Jesus each of us is a son, and an only child, loved unimaginably since long before we were born!
Trust and Reciprocity
Wishing to redeem the human race, led astray by the sin of our first parents, Our Lord Jesus Christ shed his last drop of blood on the Cross. And, if necessary, he would have made this supreme sacrifice to save each one of us individually.
In front of such an unfathomable manifestation of kindness, it is impossible for us not to feel loved by God despite our miseries. Even after having rolled in the mud of sin, we can count on the infinite merits obtained by the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus during his Passion. Because, under that primordial light placed by Him in our soul, a reflection of his own perfections, he will do everything to redeem us. Even our miseries offer the Heart of Jesus the opportunity to manifest his infinite goodness and his immeasurable desire to forgive, resulting in greater glory for God.
We must, therefore, fill ourselves with confidence and dismiss the slightest uncertainty about the Creator’s love for us. But we must, above all, have a burning desire to place ourselves totally into the hands of Divine Providence, without ever thinking of obtaining any personal benefit detached from the glory of the Highest. For any good we may think of for ourselves will be nothing compared to that participation in the divine perfections which He has reserved for us from always.
So when we close our eyes to this present time and are born into eternity, we will have an unimaginable essential and accidental glory, participation of God’s glory. Why? Because, as St. Augustine teaches, when God rewards us, he crowns his gifts.
Aware of this wonder, let us trust in the Most Sacred Heart that has loved us to the end and bends all the more over creatures, the more they need forgiveness.
The greatness of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
It is indispensable to refer to Mary. Because Her Immaculate Heart, according to St. John Eudes, is so united to that of her divine Son as to form one, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary.
And just as Our Lord viewed all men in the Garden of Olives, so the Mother of the Church must have glimpsed, at that instant, all who were to be part of the Mystical Body of Christ.
The greatness of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a mystery that our intelligence cannot grasp. Without a doubt, She prayed on Calvary for all. And today, She accompanies from Heaven the difficulties and joys of each of Her children, ready to attend to us with unspeakable affection, tenderness, and care.
Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP
Text extracted, with adaptations, from the magazine Heralds of the Gospel n.126, June 2012.
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The love of the Sacred Heart for each of us, which is unique and inexhaustible, reaches unimaginable heights. How can we not have, as a consequence, an absolute trust in the divine mercy, despite our miseries? Or, perhaps, even because of them? Newsdesk (June 6, 2021, 09:47, Gaudium Press) When considering devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus – whose. View article
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