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 twenty-fifth of the thirty-three invocations: Heart of Jesus, obedient unto death.
When the Litany invokes the obedience of the Sacred Heart of Jesus unto death, it is an allusion to Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians 2:8 “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross.” This passage from Sacred Scripture is repeatedly cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church §§ 411, note 305, is about Christ the new Adam who makes amends superabundantly the disobedience of Adam; 461, note 83, is about the Incarnation; 539 is about Jesus’ resisting the temptations of Satan in the desert anticipating the supreme victory of His filial love and obedience to the Father on Good Friday; 612, note 435, is about the agony in the garden of Gethsemani; 908, note 444, is about participation in Christ’s kingly office. This passage is also the Canticle at Evening Prayer on Saturdays in the Liturgy of the Hours.
The Lord Jesus was a pious Jew who lived in obedience to the Law of God (cf. Galatians 4:4; CCC, 531). Throughout His earthly life He was obedient to Saint Mary and Saint Joseph His foster father keeping the Fourth Commandment perfectly (cf. Luke 2:51-52; CCC, 532).
Our faith in and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us of many things. We are decedents of Adam and should not follow his disobedience. Christ, the new Adam, is not only our Saviour but our model, how we too should be obedient unto death, as countless martyr saints before us. The sacrificial offering on Good Friday’s Cross, where the Sacred Heart was pierced with burning love for the Father and for us, overwhelms Adam’s disobedience. Faith and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is incarnational not just notional. He was obedient not only in His thoughts and will but in His deeds. As His faithful followers we too should be obedient to the Lord God, His Gospel, His bride Mother Church, even unto death.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr