Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

06-30-2019Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart and the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is centered on the heart of Jesus as the emblem of Divine love. This Feast has been a Solemnity in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar since 1856, and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost. Even though there has been the devotion to the sacred Heart from the early days of the church we have from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the first unmistakable indications of devotions to the Sacred Heart in the Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries. The most significant source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart is from the revelation to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), who claimed to have received visions of Jesus Christ. The revelations were numerous, and the church has accepted these to be real and deeply spiritual. In one of the apparitions, Jesus allowed Margaret Mary to rest her head upon His Heart during which time He revealed to her the wonders of His love, telling her that He desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of His goodness, and that He had chosen her for this work.

It was on June 11, 1899 Pope Leo XIII solemnly consecrated the whole mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1928 Pope Pius XI approved the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The devotion to the Sacred Heart began on Calvary when the Heart of Christ was pierced on the Cross; it opened the door to realizing how deeply Jesus loves us. In return, he wants nothing other than our total love. God wants us to love him without reserve. This is what devotion to the Sacred Heart is all about.

In the Gospel of Luke, from chapter 4 until chapter 9, Jesus has been basically ministering in Galilee, around the Northern districts of Palestine. Luke 9:51 states: "Now it happened that as the time drew near for him to be taken up, he resolutely turned his face towards Jerusalem…" This grand journey will culminate with the triumphant entry into Jerusalem in Luke 19. Lukan writing has an agenda: in the Gospel of Luke, the Good News that is proclaimed for the first time in Nazareth (Lk 4) travels to Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish world (Lk 20 to 24). In the Acts of the Apostles, after the Pentecost, the Good News that is proclaimed in Jerusalem travels to the capital of the known world then, Rome. The Good News is always on the way. In fact, in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke refers to the Christians as, "the followers of the Way" (Acts 9:2; 18:25; 19:9). Against this backdrop, in the gospel text of today we have three examples, I will follow you wherever you go (Lk 9:57): It is God who initiates a vocation. Follow me! Follow the Kingdom with a single-minded devotion.