Sacred Heart of Jesus Meditation

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Sacred Heart of Jesus

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.

Jesus Sacred Heart St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

When the Catholic Church approved the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, she did not base her action only on the visions of St. 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 in so far 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.

The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

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 which surpasses all knowledge” (Eph 3:19).  Jesus handed down for all times the fundamental feature of His character:  “Take My yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of Heart.” (Mt 11:29).  He invited all, refusing none, surprising friends and rivals by His unconditional generosity.  He called out, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.” (Mt 11:28).

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 what I love the Father and do 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.  As the Last Supper, He said, “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15:13).

What enhances Christ’s love is the sovereign liberty with which He offered Himself.  He said, “The Father loves Me for this: that I lay down My life to take it up again.  No one takes it from Me; I lay it down freely.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.  This command I received from My Father” (Jn 10:17-18).

Christ praying at the Last Supper

Jesus loved people because they belonged to His Father.  Before He died He prayed, “For these I pray—not for the world but for these You have given Me, for they are really Yours” (Jn 17:9).  He did mankind much good for God’s sake, seeing in every person a child of God and the image of His Father.

He loved people for His own sake, because they were really so much in need of help, and because He wished to win them over to  His teaching by His innumerable favors.

When we see Jesus lavishly offering inexhaustible treasures of compassion and mercy, we are able to conceive something of the immensity of that ocean of Divine kindness and love from which the Sacred Heart of draws these treasures for us.

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.

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the Friday following the Second Sunday after Pentecost.

The Word of God

“This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.  I will place My law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”  -- Jeremiah 31:33

“Take My yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of Heart.” – Matthew 1:28

“I have come to light a fire on the earth.  How I wish the blaze were ignited!” – Luke 12:49

Christ pierced by a lance

“When they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.  One of the soldiers thrust a lance into His side, and immediately blood flowed out.” – John 19:34

Taken from Treasury of Novenas,  by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, SVD, Catholic Book Publishing Company, New York USA