FRIDAY HOMILY: SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS – YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS; I PLACE MY TRUST IN YOU
BY: Bishop Anthony Ewherido
Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9; Psalm (Isaiah 12); Ephesians 3:8-12; 14-19; John 19:31-37
“They will look upon him whom they have pierced.”
In ancient times, the heart was seen as the seat of every truly meaningful human action, the depth from which great decisions flow. In many circles, it was synonymous to life itself, such that a heartless person would be one who is not just cruel, wicked or sadistic but one who has ceased to have a meaningful existence. This conventional concept of the heart as life and source is solidly reinforced by the Heart we celebrate in today’s feast.
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Today’s Solemnity celebrates God’s love and Christ’s sacrificial love for us. Such love moved God to choose Israel, even while she was in slavery, and to forgive Israel repeatedly, despite multiple violations of the terms of their relationship with God. The extension of God’s overwhelming and all-embracing love to the rest of humanity was accomplished through Christ, the gift of God’s supreme love for the salvation of humanity. Christ’s love for us moved him to total obedience to the Father, before whom he offered the supreme sacrifice of love upon the Cross. Upon that Cross, Christ’s love flowed to give birth to the church, to us, for our cleansing and animation, in the blood and water that issued from the pierced side and Heart of Christ. From that moment on, the pierced Heart of Jesus became the ultimate symbol of God’s love for us. As we celebrate this Sacred Heart of Jesus today, we offer thanks and praise to God for the saving grace of the Heart of Jesus, even as we continue to pray that the Lord Jesus would make our hearts like unto his. A heart so divine, so sublime, and yet, so embedded in our human condition in order to bring us back to divinity. Jesus challenges us to imitate the fullness we celebrate in the gifts flowing from his heart, by allowing them to also flow through us to others. Filled with like love, may others come to feel the power of God’s love through our generosity and sacrifices. God has loved us so, despite our unworthiness, so that we may become apostles of God’s love to a world that is rife with hatred and evil.
Lord Jesus, enclose us in the safe enclave of your Sacred Heart. Amen.
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