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 thirtieth of the thirty-three invocations: Heart of Jesus, victim, for our sins.
How is the Sacred Heart of Jesus “victim for our sins”? Our friends at Oxford University Press in their Dictionary point out that there are three sorts of victims: one who is harmed, injured or killed as a result of crime or accident; a person who is tricked or duped; an animal or person killed as a religious sacrifice. The third sense is like the Greek terms sphage / sphagion meaning butchery for sacrifice and the victim for slaughter. This helps us to interpret both the Litany and Sacred Scripture: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
There are various sorts of sacrificial offerings, victims, treated in all of Sacred Scripture. Leviticus 1:1-14 treats different forms of “burnt offerings” including bulls, sheep, goats, birds. The grain offerings of old (cf. Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 6:15; 29:6, 33, 37; Nehemiah 13:5; Amos 5:22; Joshua 22:23; Ezekiel 45:17…) prepare for the Eucharistic Sacrifice which makes present the Victim who dies no more. Even before the Magi brought their precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (cf. Matthew 2:1-12) we see similar offerings, victims, in the Old Testament (cf. Exodus 30:7-8; 35:15; Leviticus 2:15; 16:13; 24:7; Numbers 16:17). The priest king Melchizedk offered bread and wine as his sacrificial victims (cf. Genesis 14:18; Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6, 10; 7:1). These all prepare for the one only sacrifice of Christ the Lord on Good Friday when His heart was pierced (cf. John 19:34; Romans 6:10; Hebrews 9:28; 10:10; 1 John 5:6). Part of the mystery of the Holy Mass is that it makes present, throughout time and around the world, the one only sacrifice of Good Friday and our Lord victim for our sins. Worshiping the Lord present in the Eucharist by adoration, worthy communions, visits consoles His wounded Heart from which He pours out countless graces and blessings.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr