Feast of the Sacred Heart, Friday – 7th June 2024 – Hosea 11,1.3-4.8-9; Jn 19,31-37
Poured Forth for Eternity
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; it is a unique symbol of the incarnate love of God for us, through the life, sufferings and death of Jesus. In the Middle Ages, this devotion was focused on the wound in the side of Christ as we read in today’s Gospel passage from John. Later, from the visions of St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque, the emphasis shifted more to the Heart of Jesus, as a symbol of the love of Jesus for all humanity. Love is as essential to those who are called by God as blood pumped by the human heart is to the human body. Through this devotion, we honour the “immense love of the Son of God”, who poured out all the Sacred Blood from His Sacred Heart. This love is manifested especially in the mysteries of the incarnation and the Eucharist. We are called to return this love by acts of love, adoration, gratitude and reparation.
John’s Gospel presents a Roman soldier piercing of the side of Jesus and the flow of blood and water from the opening, as a special “sign”. Medically speaking, this was not a strange phenomenon, but for John it has special significance. It is a special sign pointing to the meaning of the work and mission of Jesus. Already in his Gospel, water and blood have been established as signs of salvation. In describing the water and blood flowing from the side of Jesus, John expects his readers to link this sign with Baptism and the Eucharist, the two main sacramental celebrations of the early Church. This ‘fountain’ can refer to the cleansing water by participating in Jesus’ death and rising to glory. Giving importance to this sign, the Fathers of the Church interpreted commonly that the Church is said to have been born from the wounded side of Christ.
As we celebrate the extraordinary love of God for us, manifested in an extraordinary way by the sufferings, death and rising of Christ, let us be ever grateful to God for the continuous manifestation of God’s personal love for each of us. And this love has no limits, no exceptions. Let us make it truly effective by passing it on to every person whom we meet in our lives. Our love must be a love of forgiveness, reconciliation, healing and compassion.
