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-fourth of the thirty-three invocations: Heart of Jesus, bruised for our offenses.
When the Litany of the Sacred Heart reminds us that He was “bruised for our offenses” we should consider two things, first that His Sacred Heart was bruised and second, that His Sacred Heart was bruised for our offenses.
How was the Sacred Heart bruised? In being pierced with a lance the Sacred Heart was clearly bruised, with blood and water (cf. John 19:34) gushing, pouring forth for our salvation. Some years ago (1953) the French physician Pierre Barbet examined the sufferings and bruises which are depicted in the Gospels and on the Shroud of Turin and published his findings under the title A Doctor at Calvary. Barbet treats haematological issues, such as, how at death blood becomes concentrated in the veins and empty into the capillaries (p. 12). The wound of the Sacred Heart left a large clot on the Shroud (p. 31). Barbet identifies the wound of the Heart as that of a corpse struck with a lance (p. 66). Pope Francis invites us to contemplate the Shroud with awe (30 March, 2013). Benedict XVI recognized the Lord Jesus in the Shroud’s iconography of Holy Saturday, depicting in blood “a man who was scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified and whose right side was pierced” (2 May, 2010). The bruise of the Sacred Heart was not merely physical. The spiritual wounds caused by our sins and those of all people of all times are no less serious.
The Litany reminds us that is was for our offenses that the Sacred Heart was bruised. This is the great realism of our faith and devotion. If we say we have no sin, the truth is not within us (cf. 2 John 1:2). The Lord Jesus, whose Sacred Heart was bruised for our offense (cf. Isaiah 53:5), our sins, is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). The renunciation of our sins is a part of our faith in Him.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr