My dear parishioners,
Peace! The Catechism of the Catholic Church mentions the Heart of Jesus variously. “Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God’s plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since His Passover. The phrase ‘heart of Christ’ can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known His heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure” (CCC, 112; cf. Luke 24:25-27, 44-46; Psalm 22:14). how in view of the incarnation He loves with a human heart, and “the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation ‘is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that … love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings’ without exception” (cf. CCC, 470, 478; John 19:34; Pius XII Encyclical Haurietis aquas). One form of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Here we consider the fourth of the thirty-three invocations: Heart of Jesus, of Infinite Majesty.
When asking mercy from the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Infinite Majesty, what are we saying? What do we mean? The love of God (Jesus is God) for us is great and without limit.
What experience do we have of the infinite? By way of the via negativa, the negative way, we have direct experience of finitude. There was a time when we were not, when we did not exist. We know people who have died, who seemingly are no longer. We see things come into existence (e.g. new buildings/homes, automobiles, computers…) and we see things go out of existence (e.g. demolition of buildings/homes, automobiles, computers). In contrast, the infinite does not come into or go out of existence. The love of the Sacred Heart for the Eternal Father and for us is without limit and is so great in amount and degree as to be infinite.
What experience do we have of majesty? In the song America we sing about the majesty of “purple mountains,” their grandeur. God is greater, that is more majestic, than His creation including the mountains. Our friends at the Oxford University Press remind us that “impressive dignity, beauty, royal power” are parts of “majesty.” Who could be more dignified than Almighty God? This is part of the mystery of the incarnation, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Heart of God who is the source of all dignity who nevertheless was dishonored in His Passion, scourged and pierced for our offenses. As the term “lord” is a royal title, so too is “majesty” as when addressing a king or queen “Your Majesty.” The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Heart of the King of the universe, Lord of Heaven and Earth (not merely of York or Cambridge or Norfolk…).
When we honor the Sacred Heart by rejecting sin and Satan and the glamour of evil we respect infinite majesty of God, which is His due.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr