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-seventh of the thirty-three invocations: Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation.
Is it ironic that in the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that His Heart is said to be the source of all consolation? After all, as our friends at the Oxford University Dictionary remind us, consolation refers to comfort received after a loss or disappointment. It is the Lord Himself who suffered loss of life and life blood in His wounded Sacred Heart on Calvary’s Cross. We were lost in our sins when Christ’s Sacred Heart was pierced. We are able to turn to the Sacred Heart because He suffered willingly in order to save and redeem us.
We do turn to the Sacred Heart seeking consolation because “He was pierced for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities” (cf. Isaiah 53:5). We turn to the Sacred Heart seeking consolation because He is like us in all things but sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15). For what sort of things do we seek consolation?
From what losses or disappointments do we seek to be consoled? Some seek consolation from the Sacred Heart because of loneliness, abandonment, unemployment. Others seek consolation from the Lord because of sin and sickness. I can recall as a little fellow being so sad upon losing a tennis match or the unexpected death of a pet. Would that I had sought consolation in the Sacred Heart of Jesus! I know of one person who had suffered from dependence on a particularly addictive substance who experienced tremendous consolations which only the Sacred Heart could provide. Of old David and Simeon sought consolation from the Lord and he found it (cf. Psalm 94:19; Luke 2:25). Not all consolation is the same (cf. Job 6:9-10; 21:2). Saint Paul and the Philippians (2:1-4, 7-8) sought and received “consolation in Christ” who “emptied” and “humbled” Himself through the unity of hearts and minds. May our deep love for Christ console Him. May our consolation in the Sacred Heart of Jesus be no less.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr