Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 06-03-05, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

June 3, 2005
The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Psalm: Friday 25

Reading I
Dt 7:6-11

Moses said to the people:
"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;
he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth
to be a people peculiarly his own.
It was not because you are the largest of all nations
that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,
for you are really the smallest of all nations.
It was because the LORD loved you
and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,
that he brought you out with his strong hand
from the place of slavery,
and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed,
the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant
down to the thousandth generation
toward those who love him and keep his commandments,
but who repays with destruction a person who hates him;
he does not dally with such a one,
but makes them personally pay for it.
You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments,
the statutes and the decrees that I enjoin on you today."

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10

R. (cf. 17) The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

Reading II
1 Jn 4:7-16

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.

God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.

Gospel
Mt 11:25-30

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.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

From: Deuteronomy 7:6-11

[6] "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has
chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples
that are on the face of the earth.

God's Election of Israel

[7] "It was not because you were more in number than any other people that
the LORD set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all
peoples; [8] but it is because the LORD loves you, and is keeping the oath
which he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a
mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of
Pharaoh king of Egypt. [9] Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the
faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him
and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and requites to their
face those who hate him, by destroying them; he will not be slack with him
who hates him, he will requite him to his face. ''You shall therefore be
careful to do the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I
command you this day."

Commentary:

7:6-16. It is fair to say that Deuteronomy 7:6-7 is the classic passage in
Old Testament revelation on God's special election of Israel. That election,
and the love which it evidences, are themes basic to this book; it keeps on
stressing them (cf., e.g., 4:20, 34; 9:5). God makes his choice first--quite
independently of the qualities or merits of the people or of individuals.
The only reason for his choice is pure love and (in the case of the
Israelites) the promises he made to their ancestors (cf. the note on Ex
1:8-14). Consciousness of this election, awareness that Israel is God's
special possession, runs right through Holy Scripture. The New Testament
upholds this privilege that belongs to Israel: John 1:11 ("He came to his
own home") must be interpreted in the first instance as meaning that the
Word comes specially to his people Israel; in the second instance he comes
to all mankind. Romans 9:4-5 carries the same message: "They are Israelites,
and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the
law, the worship, and the promise, and of their race, according to the
flesh, is the Christ [...]."

Verses 7-8 give the theological explanation of this election: God's pure
love, his predilection, is totally unmerited by Israel; this means that God
is sovereignly free to choose whomever he wishes for the mission he has in
mind; and no one has any right to be chosen specially by God.

What happens in the collectivity of the people of Israel also applies when
God singles out individuals for special assignments. In the New Testament,
it says apropos of the apostles, that "he called to him those whom he
desired" (Mt 3:13); and the case of St Paul is particularly apposite: Jesus
called hin though he "had blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him
[Christ]" (1 Tim 1:13).

"Vocation comes first," [St] BI. Josemaria Escriva reminds us. "God loves us
before we even know how to go toward him, and he places in us the love with
which we can respond to his call. God's fatherly goodness comes out to meet
us. Our Lord is not only just. He is much more: he is merciful. He does not
wait for us to go to him. He takes the initiative, with the unmistakable
signs of paternal affection" ("Christ Is Passing By", 33).

7:10. This verse touches on something very important as regards human
behavior: God rewards those who do good and punishes those who do evil.
Everyday experience does not always seem to bear this out: evil people enjoy
success whereas good people are mistreated and despised. Men have always
asked themselves how God's justice can be compatible with these facts.

The prophet Jeremiah will ask the Lord: "Why does the way of the wicked
prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?" (Jer 12:1). Many psalms
echo the same idea (cf Ps 37; 38; 29; 49; 73; 92). But the place where the
matter is dealt with most dramatically is the book of Job. The Wisdom books
of the Old Testament do a lot to provide an answer to this question, but it
will not be until the fullness of Revelations in the New Testament that it
is fully solved. Throughout the New Testament reward or punishment is not
depicted as a mathematical calculation, to produce instant recompense in
this life; rather, the way a person behaves in this life decides his or her
fate in the next life. If the wicked are successful in this life, that is
something very short-lived; whereas the joy of the righteous will reach its
fullness in eternal beatitude. Prior to that, the righteous often suffer
contradiction, pain and sorrow: it purifies their lives and gives an
increase of divine grace.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: 1 John 4:7-16

God is Love. Brotherly Love, the Mark of Christians

[7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and he who
loves is born of God and knows God. [8] He who does not love does not
know God; for God is love. [9] In this the love of God was made
manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that
we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we loved God
but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our
sins.

[11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
[12] No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in
us and his love is perfected in us.

[13] By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has
given us of his own Spirit. [14] And we have seen and testify that the
Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. [15] Whoever
confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in
God. [16] So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love,
and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Commentary:

7-21. St John now expands on the second aspect of the divine
commandment (cf. 1 Jn 3:23)--brotherly love. The argument is along
these lines: God is love and it was he who loved us to begin with (vv.
7-10); brotherly love is the response which God's love calls for (vv.
11 16); when our love is perfect, we feel no fear (vv. 17-18);
brotherly love is an expression of love of God (vv. 19-21).

This is not tiresome repetition of the ideas already discussed (2:7-11;
3:11-18): contrary to the false teaching which is beginning to be
spread, charity is the sure mark, the way to recognize the genuine
disciple.

St Jerome hands down a tradition concerning the last years of St John's
life: when he was already a very old man, he used always say the same
thing to the faithful: "My children, love one another!" On one
occasion, he was asked why he insisted on this: "to which he replied
with these words worthy of John: 'Because it is the Lord's
commandment, and if you keep just this commandment, it will suffice"'
("Comm. in Gal.", III, 6, 10).

7. The divine attributes, God's perfections, which he has to the
highest degree, are the cause of our virtues: for example, because God
is holy, we have been given a capacity to be holy. Similarly, because
God is love, we can love. True love, true charity, comes from God.

8. "God is love": without being strictly speaking a definition (in 1:5
he says "God is light"), this statement reveals to us one of the most
consoling attributes of God: "Even if nothing more were to be said in
praise of love in all the pages of this epistle", St Augustine
explains, "even if nothing more were to be said in all the pages of
Sacred Scripture, and all we heard from the mouth of the Holy Spirit
were that 'God is love', there would be nothing else we would need to
look for" ("In Epist. Ioann. Ad Parthos", 7, 5).

God's love for men was revealed in Creation and in the preternatural
and supernatural gifts he gave man prior to sin; after man's sin, God's
love is to be seen, above all, in forgiveness and redemption (as St
John goes on to say: v. 9), for the work of salvation is the product
of God's mercy: "It is precisely because sin exists in the world, which
'God so loved . . . that he gave his only Son' (Jn 3:16), that God, who
'is love' (1 Jn 4:8), "cannot reveal himself other than as mercy". This
corresponds not only to the most profound truth of that love which God
is, but also to the whole interior truth of man and of the world which
is man's temporary homeland" (John Paul II, "Dives In Misericordia",
13).

9. God has revealed his love to men by sending his own Son; that is, it
is not only Christ's teachings which speak to us of God's love, but,
above all, his presence among us: Christ himself is the fullness of
revelation of God (cf. Jn 1:18; Heb 1:1) and of his love for men. "The
source of all grace is God's love for us, and he has revealed this not
just in words but also in deeds. It was divine love which led the
second Person of the most holy Trinity, the Word, the Son of God the
Father, to take on our flesh, our human condition, everything except
sin. And the Word, the Word of God, is the Word from which Love
proceeds (cf. "Summa Theologiae", I, q. 43, a. 5, quoting St Augustine,
"De Trinitate", IX, 10).

"Love is revealed to us in the incarnation, the redemptive journey
which Jesus Christ made on our earth, culminating in the supreme
sacrifice of the cross. And on the cross it showed itself through a new
sign: 'One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once
there came out blood and water' (Jn 19:34). This water and blood of
Jesus speaks to us of a self-sacrifice brought to the last extreme: 'It
is finished' (Jn 19:30)--everything is achieved, for the sake of love"
([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 162).

"Among us": it is difficult to convey in English everything the Greek
contains. The Greek expression means that the love of God was shown to
those who witnessed our Lord's life (the Apostles) and to all other
Christians, whose participate in this apostolic witness (cf. note on 1
Jn 1:1-3; this idea is repeated in vv. 14 and 16). But it also means
"within us", inside us, in our hearts, insofar as we partake of God's
own life by means of sanctifying grace: every Christian is a witness to
the fact that Christ has come so that men "may have life, and have it
abundantly" (Jn 10:10).

10. Given that love is an attribute of God (v. 8), men have a capacity
to love insofar as they share in God's qualities. So, the initiative
always lies with God.

When explaining in what love consists. St John points to its highest
form of expression: "he sent (his Son) to be the expiation of our sins"
(cf. 2:2). Similar turns of phrase occur throughout the letter: the
Son of God manifested himself "to destroy the works of the devil"
(3:8); "he laid down his life for us" (3:16). All these statements show
that: 1) Christ's death is a SACRIFICE in the strict sense of the word,
the most sublime act of recognition of God's sovereignty; 2) it is an
atoning sacrifice, because it obtains God's pardon for the sins of men;
3) it is the supreme act of God's love, so much so that St John
actually says, "in this is love."

What is amazing, St Alphonsus teaches, "is that he could have saved us
without suffering or dying and yet he chose a life of toil and
humiliation, and a bitter and ignominious death, even death on a cross,
something reserved for the very worst offenders. And why was it that,
when he could have redeemed us without suffering, he chose to embrace
death on the Cross? To show us how much he loved us" ("The Love of
Jesus Christ", chap. 1).

11-12. The Apostle underlines here the theological basis of brotherly
love: the love which God has shown us by the incarnation and redemptive
death of his Son, places us in his debt: we have to respond in kind; so
we "ought" to love our neighbor with the kind of gratitude and
disinterest that God showed by taking the initiative in loving us.

Moreover, by loving one another we are in communion with God. The
deepest desire of the human heart, which is to see and to possess God,
cannot be satisfied in this life, because "no man has ever seen God"
(v. 12); our neighbor, on the other hand, we do see. So, in this life,
the way to be in communion with God is by brotherly love. "Love of God
is the first thing in the order of commands", St Augustine explains,
"and love of neighbor is the first thing in the order of practice
[...]. You, who do not yet see God, will, by loving your neighbor,
merit to see him. Love of neighbor cleanses our eyes to see God, as
John clearly says, If you do not love your neighbor, whom you see, how
can you love God, whom you do not see (cf. 1 Jn 4:20)" ("In Ioann.
Evang.", 17, 8).

13. Having the gift of the Holy Spirit is the sure sign of being in
communion with God. Since the Holy Spirit is the love of the Father and
of the Son, his presence in the soul in grace is necessarily something
dynamic, that is, it moves the person to keep all the commandments (cf.
3:24), particularly that of brotherly love. This interior impulse shows
that the third Person of the Blessed Trinity is at work within us; it
is a sign of union with God.

The Holy Spirit's action on the soul is a marvelous and deep mystery.
"This breathing of the Holy Spirit in the soul," says St John of the
Cross, "whereby God transforms it into himself, is so sublime and
delicate and profound a delight to it that it cannot be described by
mortal tongue, nor can human understanding, as such, attain to any
conception of it" ("Spiritual Canticle", stanza 39).

14-15. Once more (cf. v. 1:4) St John vividly reminds his readers that
he and the other Apostles have seen with their own eyes the Son of God,
made man out of love for us. They were eyewitnesses of his redemptive
life and death. And in the Son, sent by the Father as Savior of the
world, the unfathomable mystery of God is revealed--that his very being
is Love.

"It is 'God, who is rich in mercy' (Eph 2:4) whom Jesus Christ has
revealed to us as Father: it is his very Son who, in himself, has
manifested him and made him known to us (cf. Jn 1:18; Heb 1:1f)" (John
Paul II, "Dives In Misericordia", 1).

16. "Knowing" and "believing" are not theoretical knowledge but
intimate, experienced attachment (cf. notes on 2:3-6; 4:1-6; Jn 6:69;
17:8). Therefore when St John says that they knew and believed "the
love God has for us" he is not referring to an abstract truth but to
the historical fact of the incarnation and death of Christ (v. 14), the
supreme manifestation of the Father's love.

"He who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him": St Thomas
Aquinas explains "that in some way the loved one is to be found in the
lover. And so, he who loves God in some way possesses him, as St John
says (1 Jn 4:16) [...]. Also, it is a property of love that the lover
becomes transformed into the loved one; so, if we love vile and
perishable things, we become vile and perishable, like those who
'became detestable like the things they loved" (Hos 9:10). Whereas, if
we love God, we are made divine, for the Apostle says, 'He who is
united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him' (1 Cor 6:17)" ("In Duo
Praecepta", prol., 3).

From: Matthew 11:25-30

Jesus Thanks His Father

[25] At that time Jesus declared, "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of
Heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to babes; [26] yea, Father, for such
was Thy gracious will. [27] All things have been delivered to Me by My
Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows
the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal
Him. [28] Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. [29] Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am
gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
[30] For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

Commentary:

25-26. The wise and understanding of this world, that is, those who
rely on their own judgment, cannot accept the revelation which Christ
has brought us. Supernatural outlook is always connected with
humility. A humble person, who gives himself little importance, sees;
a person who is full of self-esteem fails to perceive supernatural
things.

27. Here Jesus formally reveals His divinity. Our knowledge of a
person shows our intimacy with Him, according to the principle given by
St. Paul: "For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of
the man which is in him?" (1 Corinthians 2:11). The Son knows the
Father by the same knowledge as that by which the Father knows the
Son. This identity of knowledge implies oneness of nature; that is to
say, Jesus is God just as the Father is God.

28-30. Our Lord calls everyone to come to Him. We all find things
difficult in one way or another. The history of souls bears out the
truth of these words of Jesus. Only the Gospel can fully satisfy the
thirst for truth and justice which sincere people feel. Only our Lord,
our Master--and those to whom He passes on His power--can soothe the
sinner by telling him, "Your sins are forgiven" (Matthew 9:2). In this
connection Pope Paul VI teaches: "Jesus says now and always, `Come to
Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' His
attitude towards us is one of invitation, knowledge and compassion;
indeed, it is one of offering, promise, friendship, goodness, remedy of
our ailments; He is our comforter; indeed, our nourishment, our bread,
giving us energy and life" ("Homily on Corpus Christi", 13 June 1974).

"Come to Me": the Master is addressing the crowds who are following
Him, "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew
9:36). The Pharisees weighed them down with an endless series of petty
regulations (cf. Acts 15:10), yet they brought no peace to their
souls. Jesus tells these people, and us, about the kind of burden He
imposes: "Any other burden oppresses and crushes you, but Christ's
actually takes weight off you. Any other burden weighs down, but
Christ's gives you wings. If you take a bird's wings away, you might
seem to be taking weight off it, but the more weight you take off, the
more you tie it down to the earth. There it is on the ground, and you
wanted to relieve it of a weight; give it back the weight of its wings
and you will see how it flies" (St. Augustine, "Sermon" 126).

"All you who go about tormented, afflicted and burdened with the burden
of your cares and desires, go forth from them, come to Me and I will
refresh you and you shall find for your souls the rest which your
desires take from you" (St. John of the Cross, "Ascent of Mount
Carmel", Book 1, Chapter 7, 4).

Meditation

Novena

Offering

Meditation

Devotion to the Sacred Heart, as we know it, began about the year 1672. On repeated occasions, Jesus appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, in France, and during these apparitions He explained to her the devotion to His Sacred Heart as He wanted people to practice it. he asked to be honored in the symbol of His Heart of flesh; he asked for acts of reparation, for frequent Communion, Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the keeping of the Holy Hour.

When the Catholic Church approved the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she did not base her action only on the visions of Saint Margaret Mary. The Church approved the devotion on its own merits. There is only one Person in Jesus, and that Person was at the same time God and Man. His Heart, too, is Divine -- it is the Heart of God.

There are two things that must always be found together in the devotion to the Sacred Heart: Christ's Heart of flesh and Christ's love for us. True devotion to the Sacred Heart means devotion to the Divine Heart of Christ insofar as His Heart represents and recalls His love for us.

In honoring the Heart of Christ, our homage lingers on the Person of Jesus in the fullness of His love. This love of Christ for us was the moving force of all he did and suffered for us -- in Nazareth, on the Cross, in giving Himself in the Blessed Sacrament, in His teaching and healing, in His praying and working. When we speak of the Sacred Heart, we mean Jesus showing us His Heart, Jesus all love for us and all lovable.

Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God's infinite love. The Human Nature which the Son of God took upon Himself was filled with love and kindness that has never found an equal. He is the perfect model of love of God and neighbor.

Every day of His life was filled with repeated proofs of "Christ's love that surpasses all knowledge" (Eph 3:19). Jesus handed down for all time the fundamental feature of His character: "Take My yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of Heart" (Mt 11:29). He invited all, refusing none, surprising friends and rivals by His unconditional generosity.

The meaning of love in the life of Jesus was especially evident in His sufferings. Out of love for His Father He willed to undergo the death of the Cross. "The world must know that I love the Father and do just as the Father has commanded Me" (Jn 14:31).

The love that Jesus bore toward us also urged Him to undergo the death of the Cross. At the Last Supper, He said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends" (Jn 15:13)

The Heart of Jesus never ceases to love us in heaven. He sanctifies us through the Sacraments. These are inexhaustible fountains of grace and holiness which have their source in the boundless ocean of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Novena Prayer

Divine Jesus, You have said, "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you." Behold me kneeling at Your feet, filled with a lively faith and confidence in the promises dictated by Your Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary. I come to ask this favor: Mention your request).

To whom can I turn if not to You, Whose Heart is the source of all graces and merits? Where should I seek if not in the treasure which contains all the riches of Your kindness and mercy? Where should I knock if not at the door through which God gives Himself to us and through which we go to God? I have recourse to You, Heart of Jesus. In You I find consolation when afflicted, protection when persecuted, strength when burdened with trials, and light in doubt and darkness.

Dear Jesus, I firmly believe that You can grant me the grace I implore, even though it should require a miracle. You have only to will it and my prayer will be granted. I admit that I am most unworthy of Your favors, but this is not a reason for me to be discouraged. You are the God of mercy, and You will not refuse a contrite heart. Cast upon me a look of mercy, I beg of You, and Your kind Heart will find in my miseries and weakness a reason for granting my prayer.

Sacred Heart, whatever may be Your decision with regard to my request, I will never stop adoring, loving, praising, and serving You. My Jesus, be pleased to accept this my act of perfect resignation to the decrees of Your adorable Heart, which I sincerely desire may be fulfilled in and by me and all Your creatures forever.

Grant me the grace for which I humbly implore You through the Immaculate Heart of Your most sorrowful Mother. You entrusted me to her as her child, and her prayers are all-powerful with You. Amen.

Offering

My God, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the intentions for which He pleads and offers Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in thanksgiving for Your favors, in reparation for my sins, and in humble supplication for my temporal and eternal welfare, for the needs of our holy Mother the Church, for the conversion of sinners, and for the relief of the poor souls in purgatory.

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Father, we rejoice in the gifts of love we have received from the heart of Jesus your Son. Open our hearts to share his life and continue to bless us with his love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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June 03, 2005

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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"I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment" (Jesus to St. Margaret Mary).

Sixteenth century Calvinism and seventeenth Jansenism preached a distorted Christianity that substituted for God's love and sacrifice of His Son for all men the fearful idea that a whole section of humanity was inexorably damned.

The Church always countered this view with the infinite love of our Savior who died on the cross for all men. The institution of the feast of the Sacred Heart was soon to contribute to the creation among the faithful of a powerful current of devotion which since then has grown steadily stronger. The first Office and Mass of the Sacred Heart were composed by St. John Eudes, but the institution of the feast was a result of the appearances of our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1675. The celebration of the feast was extended to the general calendar of the Church by Pius IX in 1856.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus
"Beloved brethren, since it had been ordained by a merciful Providence that the Church should be formed from the side of the crucified Christ and that the words of the Scriptures be fulfilled: They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced — a soldier armed with a lance opened the sacred Breast. The Blood mingled with water, which was shed from that pierced side, was the price of our salvation. Flowing from the hidden fount of the Sacred Heart, it gave to the sacraments their power of conferring the life of grace, and to those already living in Christ a draught of the living fount, gushing forth unto life eternal.

"Arise, therefore, O soul friendly to Christ! Cease not your vigil; bring close your lips, that you may draw waters from out the Savior's fountain. Oh, how good and how pleasant it is to dwell in this most Sacred Heart. Your Heart, dearest Jesus, is the great treasure, the precious jewel which we will find in the dug field of Your sacred Body. Who is there who would throw away this jewel? Rather would I throw away all my own jewels, my thoughts and my affections, and cast my cares upon Your Sacred Heart, which will nourish me without fail. I beg of You, sweet Jesus my God, place my prayer among those that You will answer. Draw me wholly into Your Heart. For unto this end Your side was pierced, that an entrance would lie open to us. Unto this end Your Heart was wounded, that detached from worldly tumult, we would be able to dwell in it.

"But above all, Your Heart was wounded so that a visible scar would enable us to see the invisible wound of Your love. For how could the ardor of Your love be better shown than by this, that not only Your Body but even Your very Heart was pierced with a lance? Truly the wounds of the flesh showed forth the wounds of the spirit. Who is there who would not love One so loving? My dearly beloved, let us pray that the Sacred Heart may deign to wound our heart still so hard, still so impenitent, and bind it with the sweet bonds of His love." — St. Bonaventure

Things to Do:

From the Catholic Culture Library read Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Sacred Scripture by Bishop Raymond Burke.
Bake a heart shaped cake or cookies in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Novena Honoring the Body and Blood of Christ

I thank You, Jesus, my Divine Redeemer, for coming upon the earth for our sake, and for instituting the adorable Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist in order to remain with us until the end of the world.

I thank You for hiding beneath the Eucharistic species Your infinite majesty and beauty, which Your Angels delight to behold, so that I might have courage to approach the throne of Your Mercy.

I thank You, most loving Jesus, for having made Your- self my food, and for uniting me to Yourself with so much love in this wonderful Sacrament that I may live in You. I thank You, my Jesus, for giving Yourself to me in this Blessed Sacrament, and so enriching it with the treasures of Your love that You have no greater gift to give me.

I thank You not only for becoming my food but also for offering Yourself as a continual sacrifice to Your Eternal Father for my salvation.

I thank You, Divine Priest, for offering Yourself as a Sacrifice daily upon our altars in adoration and homage to the Most Blessed Trinity, and for making amends for our poor and miserable adorations.

I thank You for renewing in this daily Sacrifice the actual Sacrifice of the Cross offered on Calvary, in which You satisfy Divine justice for us poor sinners.

I thank You, dear Jesus, for having become the priceless Victim to merit for me the fullness of heavenly favors. Awaken in me such confidence in You that their fullness may descend ever more fruitfully upon my soul.

I thank You for offering Yourself in thanksgiving to God for all His benefits, spiritual and temporal, which He has bestowed upon me.

In union with Your offering of Yourself to Your Father in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I ask for this special favor: (Mention your request). If it be Your holy Will, grant my request. Through You I also hope to receive the grace of perseverance in Your love and faithful service, a holy death, and a happy eternity with You in Heaven. Amen.

O Lord, You have given us this Sacred Banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.
You have given them bread from Heaven.
Having all sweetness within.
Let us pray. God our Father, for Your glory and our salvation You appointed Jesus Christ eternal High Priest. May the people He gained for You by His Blood come to share in the power of His Cross and Resurrection by celebrating His Memorial in this Eucharist, for He lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever.
Amen.

O Jesus, since You have left us a remembrance of Your Passion beneath the veils of this Sacrament, grant us, we pray, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of Your Body and Blood that we may always enjoy the fruits of Your Redemption, for You live and reign forever. Amen.

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