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 thirty-first of the thirty-three invocations: Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee.
How is the Sacred Heart of Jesus our salvation? The Sacred Heart of Jesus is our salvation because the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Heart of the Savior. Saint Cyprian (+258; Letter 73:21; On unity PL 4:509-536) with other Fathers of the Church was keen to teach extra Ecclesiam, nulla salus (outside the Church, none are saved CCC § 845). We could just as easily say that apart from the pierced Heart of Jesus and it’s sacred flow none are saved. Saint John Paul II (+2005) happily preached sine Ecclesiam mulla salus (without the Church none are saved) because Christ the Redeemer, whose Sacred Heart was pierced for our salvation, established His Church to dispense for all time the graces He won on Calvary (cf. Matthew 16:19; John 20:23; Acts 9:4-5).
How do we trust in the Sacred Heart of Jesus? The Lord Jesus Himself says “Believe in God; believe in Me as well” (John 14:1). While supernatural faith, belief, is greater than mere human trust, our friends at the Oxford University Press Dictionary remind us that to believe is to accept that something is true or someone is telling the truth and that belief is akin to trust or confidence, especially as regards religious faith. We trust in the Sacred Heart of Jesus be Jesus Christ is true God and true man. Without His Sacred Heart He is not human. With His pierced Sacred Heart He has redeemed us. We trust in Him and His Sacred Heart because He is the Lord in whom we trust (cf. Proverbs 3:5; Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:11). Saint Maria Faustyna Kowalska (+ 1938) had mystical experiences wherein the Lord Jesus revealed His Sacred Heart and mercy to her. An image which He directed her to have painted was to include a banner or “signature” with the words “Jesus, I trust in You” (Diary, 47, 327).
Trust the Heart of the Savior!
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr