Sacred Heart

---- Forwarded Message ----
From: father patrick ...
Sent: Thu, 10 June, 2010 15:13:11
Subject: Closing of "The Year of the Priest"

Greetings and Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ!

As "the Year of the Priest"

comes to a close tomorrow,

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,

we give thanks to God

for the Blessings of this special year.

Tomorrow 10,000 priests will gather with

Pope Benedict

to thank God for the Priesthood

and

to Renew their commitment to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ

We join them in spirit and in prayer.

We thank God for this opportunity

for priests to grow spiritually

during this special year of Grace.

Sincerely in the Lord,

Father Patrick

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Sacred Heart - 2010

Solemnity Homily

This is a short account of what the doctrine and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus meant for St Gertrude.

Our Lord is Gertrude's spouse. He is the king, and she the queen. We need not see a reference to worldly court life in comparisons. Her references to it are always very vague. The thought behind them is more biblical than secular. It is simply intended to stress the natural majesty of God and the supernatural majesty which he has chosen to bestow upon his creature.

The relationship is not an equal one. God first loved us. Gertrude concentrates on his love and not hers. Thinking of his love, she thinks of what is traditionally the seat of love, the heart.

Gertrude and Mechthild of Hackeborn are known for their part in the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They did not invent it. They were instrumental in giving it form and making it ex­plicit. This is a devotion to the actual physical heart of the incarnate Son of God. This heart is part not only of his humanity. It is also part of his divinity. The two natures are united in a single person. It therefore contains the love not only of the man Jesus of Nazareth but also the love of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The two cannot be separated.

Gertrude speaks of "the wound of your divine heart, tabernacle of divine faithful­ness and infallible truth." The litany of the Sacred Heart is not just a beautiful devotional composition. It is theologically accurate and informative. To a large extent, the Litany was taken from the writings of Gertrude and Mechthild. The Heart of Jesus was formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, certainly. It is a created thing, but it is "substantially united to the Word of God," that is, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

It is in speaking of the Sacred Heart that Gertrude most clearly expresses her deep awareness of the humanity and divinity of her beloved. When she sees her soul as a tree fixed in the wound in his side, the sap she draws from his heart is "the power of the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ." When her soul is drawn like wax into his heart, it emerges marked with the seal of the whole Trinity. She gives us a lovely image in which a crystalline stream flows from the Sacred Heart, coloured in gold and rose, This represents the divinity and the humanity. They are distinct but inseparable.

The essential point about the Sacred Heart is that it is the instrument of the union between God and humankind. It is not just God the Son but the whole Trinity. It is the harp of the Trinity, its instrument of communication within itself and to creatures. It is the Sacred Heart which draws creatures to God:

It is a reciprocal action; we are drawn into the heart of God, and from that heart we draw all divine virtues. Gertrude shows this by depicting it as a two-way flow through a golden tube, which is our free will. We are used to the concept of indwelling. God dwells in the soul of Gertrude. But this too is reciprocal. The Lord invites her into his heart and depicts his body as her monastery. One of Gertrude's notable spiritual experiences was the exchange of hearts, another was the piercing of her heart, but she also pierced his: "Each word that she sang appeared like the sharpest spear, thrown from her to pierce the heart of Jesus Christ, and filling it with ineffably sweet delight."

Ending

When we sing in choir we are not singing to an earthly audience. We are piercing the Heart of Jesus, provided our mind is in harmony with our voices. Gertrude had a beautiful voice. Fancy having a Susan Boyle in our choir!

Fr. Nivard - Community Chapter