Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ Solemnity ~ 27 June, 2014

The Scared Heart of Jesus

a flaming heart shining with divine light, 

pierced by the lance-wound, 

encircled by the crown of thorns, 

surmounted by a cross and bleeding.

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a moveable feast and is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost Sunday (Pentecost Sunday which is celebrated on 50th day of Easter). On 16 June 1675 our Lord, Jesus Christ appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in a vision as she was praying before the Blessed Sacrament and requested that the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the Friday after the octave (eighth day) of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. Jesus promised that, in response to those who consecrate themselves and make reparations to His Sacred Heart, that: 

1. He will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2. He will establish peace in their homes.
3. He will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4. He will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
5. He will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
6. Sinners will find in His Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9. He will bless every place in which an image of His Heart is exposed and honoured.
10. He will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in His Heart.
12. In the excessive mercy of His Heart that His all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in His disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. His divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

On 25 August 1856, Blessed Pope Pius IX inscribed the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart to be celebrated on the octave of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi  in the Calendar of the Catholic Church. Our Lord, Jesus Christ expressed that this day to be a day of reparation, not for sins in general, but specifically for sins against the Eucharist.

“Being before the Blessed Sacrament one day of Its octave, I received from my God signal tokens of His love, and felt urged with the desire of making Him some return, and of rendering Him love for love. “ Thou canst not make Me a greater return of love, “He said, “than by doing what I have so often asked of thee.” Then, discovering to me His Divine Heart, He said “Behold this Heart, Which has loved men so much, that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify to them Its love; and in return I receive from the greater number nothing but ingratitude by reason of their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show Me in this Sacrament of Love. But what I feel most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me, that treat Me thus. Therefore I ask of thee that the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special day to honour My Heart, by communicating on that day and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in order to make amends for the indignities which It has received during the time It has been exposed on the altars. I promise thee that My Heart shall expand Itself to shed in abundance the influence of Its divine love upon those who shall thus honour It, and cause It to be honoured.” ~ from the autobiography of St Margaret Mary Alacoque as she wrote about the event on 16 June 1675. 

St. Thomas Aquinas also marvelled at how the institution of the Eucharist was a source of great joy to the Sacred Heart; “His Heart overflowed with love and joy at being completely one with us and filling our hearts with joy and jubilation”.

Friday, 27 June, 2014
Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Reading 1

Deuteronomy 7:6-11

Moses said to the people:
"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;
he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth
to be a people peculiarly his own.
It was not because you are the largest of all nations
that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,
for you are really the smallest of all nations.
It was because the LORD loved you
and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,
that he brought you out with his strong hand
from the place of slavery,
and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed,
the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant
down to the thousandth generation
toward those who love him and keep his commandments,
but who repays with destruction a person who hates him;
he does not dally with such a one,
but makes them personally pay for it.
You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments,
the statutes and the decrees that I enjoin on you today."

Responsorial Psalm 

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10
R/ The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits.
R/ The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R/ The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R/ The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

Reading 2

1 John 4:7-16

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.

God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.

Gospel 

Matthew 11:25-30
At that time Jesus exclaimed:
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."