Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
FRIDAY, June 11th Jn. 19: 31-37 Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. “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.”
Part 1: The Love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for Us… St. Peter Julian Eymard
Part 2: Our Spiritual Goldmine: Jesus in Our Hearts! By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
PART 1: The Love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for us… From the writings of St. Peter Julian Eymard as presented by Fr. John Hardon, S.J.
Of the virtues Our Lord in the Eucharist is now practicing in order to inspire us to follow His example, none is more basic than His poverty. Jesus wanted to be the poorest of the poor, in order to be able to stretch out His hand to the lowliest of men and say to them, “I am your brother.”
Consider… No man was ever born in more wretched conditions than the Word Incarnate, who had the trough of animals for His cradle, their shelter for His home. As a child, He fed on barley bread, the bread of the poor. In the hidden years He took up the awl and the hammer to earn bread by the sweat of His brow. During His apostolic life He lived on alms. He died in a state of destitution that will never be equaled… stripped of His garments, His honor, His Divinity hidden!
Now that He is risen and glorious, He still takes poverty for His companion… Jesus, dwelling in our midst in His Sacrament, is poorer than during the days of His mortal life! His home is often but a poor church, worse perhaps than the cave of Bethlehem, where His tabernacle may consist of nothing more than four boards, which themselves are worm-eaten! His priests or His faithful people must give Him everything: the matter of the Sacrament, the bread and the wine; the linen on which to place Him or with which to cover Him; the corporals, the altar cloths. He brings nothing from heaven except His adorable Person and His love! Silent, obedient, humbly waiting in the tabernacle for His faithful to come visit Him… for His ministers to take Him out for adoration, to visit the sick, to be viaticum for the dying.
What is Jesus teaching us? He’s teaching us that He is to be imitated twice over: once as the God-man who lived a mortal life in Palestine and once again as the same Incarnate God who is now living His glorified life in the Blessed Sacrament… in poverty, silence, humility, obedience, compassion, merciful forgiveness, love.
Christ is to be followed and His virtues imitated here and now as they are lived by Him in the Holy Eucharist in our midst! The Eucharistic Presence of Jesus is the Mystery of Faith that we are called upon not only to venerate and adore, but to model our lives on in this valley of tears as a condition of reaching our heavenly home.
PART 2: OUR SPIRITUAL GOLDMINE: JESUS IN OUR HEARTS! by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
Prime time of the greatest importance in our life, without doubt, is when we have the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus in our hearts. The Real Presence could not be a better descriptive term! Upon receiving the Eucharist, Holy Communion we truly have the Real Presence of Jesus in the depths of our heart, mind, and soul. Really and truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus, the Eternal Son of God the Father permeates, imbues and penetrates our whole being with His Real Presence.
Entering into the 35th year of my Priesthood, I am keenly aware of the sad fact that many people, after receiving Holy Communion—Jesus into their souls—all too often do not know what to do. Fumbling with their hands, picking at their fingernails, looking into their phone, staring at me, contemplating their watch are often the attitudes of many right after receiving Jesus in His Real Presence in Holy Communion.
This flippant, distracted, and bored bodily posture betrays the clear fact that many, all too many, practicing Catholics have lost belief and faith in the Real Presence of the Eucharistic Lord. Due to a diluted, overly sentimental catechesis perhaps many never learned what the Eucharist truly is! How else can we describe this except as a full-blown Catholic identity crisis! As Catholics, if we neither know nor believe in the Eucharist as the true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, then Catholics we are not!
The essential thrust and purpose of this brief essay is to help us to believe firmly in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Mass, in the Eucharist, in Holy Communion. Then consequently to strive with all the fiber of our being to receive Jesus with more faith, devotion and love. By far, there is no greater action underneath the sun that we can do than to receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. However, we must receive Him with increasing faith, confidence, purity of heart, devotion, hunger and love. One Holy Communion well-received could transform us into great saints.
DISPOSITIVE GRACE. The lack of fruits in the reception of Holy Communion is not due to the Sacrament we receive but due to the lack of a proper disposition in receiving the Lord of Lords and King of Kings! The better the disposition of our heart, the more abounding and copious the graces!
The following points consist of what we can do and how we should act upon receiving the most Holy Eucharist, the Real Presence— The Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Eucharistic Lord. Every Holy Communion that we receive should be received as if it were our first, our last, and even our only Holy Communion!
1. PRAISE THE LORD! The Eucharistic Jesus is truly God. Therefore, the highest form of prayer that we can offer to God is that of praise. Unite your whole being with the angels and saints in Heaven and praise the Lord with all of your heart. As a primer, you might even recite the Divine Praises: “Blessed be God; Blessed be His Holy Name; Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man; Blessed be the Name of Jesus; Blessed be His most Sacred Heart; Blessed be His most Precious Blood; Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar….” Beg the angels and saints to help you in your prayer of Eucharistic praise.
2. THANK THE LORD. Eucharist actually means Thanksgiving. What do we have that we have not received from our Divine Benefactor, God Himself? All the good that we have in our total person is a generous and bountiful manifestation of God’s love for us. The only thing that God did not give us is our sins; we chose those! May the prayer of the Psalmist resound in the depths of our hearts after receiving Holy Communion: “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever.” (Ps. 136:1)
3. BEG PARDON OF THE LORD. How true Sacred Scripture: “The just man falls seven times a day.” Due to our many sins, we have fallen short of the glory of God in many times, places and circumstances. With David, who committed adultery and murder of an innocent man, with heartfelt compunction let us beg for mercy for ourselves and the whole world, praying part of Psalm 51: “Lord have mercy on me, have mercy on me. My sin is always before my eyes… A humble and contrite heart you will not spurn… send forth your spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew he face of the earth.”
4. BECOME BARTIMEUS THE BEGGAR. The great Saint Augustine asserted: “We are all beggars before the Lord.” Let us imitate Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, and implore the Lord to help us in our desperate need. Holy Communion is truly Jesus the Light of the world; beg Jesus to take the scales from your eyes so you can contemplate His Face with ever greater clarity.
5. BEG FOR OTHERS THE GRACES THEY NEED. Our reception of Holy Communion should be Catholic—meaning universal! Saint Paul states: “The love of God compels us.” This love should be both universal and all-embracing such that we beg and pray for the many graces that so many people stand in desperate need of! Now that the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus beats in your heart, heed the words of Jesus Himself: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.” (Mt. 7:7)
6. INTERCEDE FOR DEATH-BED SINNERS. A category of persons who often stand in desperate need of prayers are those individuals who are in their last moments, in their last and ultimate agony. By far the most important moment in our life is the moment of our death. That will determine our eternal destiny— either Heaven or Hell and forever and ever and ever! In your thanksgiving after receiving the Eucharistic Lord Jesus, who said from the cross: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34), beg for the conversion and salvation of deathbed sinners. Who knows how many souls will be saved by praying fervent Eucharistic prayers for them after receiving our Eucharistic Lord and Merciful Savior!
7. REST ON THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. Jesus said: “Come to me all of you who find life burdensome and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy and my burden, light.” (Mt 11:28-30) After receiving Holy Communion, you can imitate Saint John the Evangelist, the Best Friend of Jesus, and simply rest lovingly and peacefully on His Sacred Heart—the best resting Place.
8. CAST YOUR CARES UPON THE LORD… Saint Peter expresses a very important human sentiment and situation that we all experience during the course of our lives, every week and perhaps even every day—problems, worries, anxieties and confusion. Saint Peter expresses this state of soul in this short but clear concept: “Cast your cares upon the Lord because He cares for you.” (1Pt. 5:7) As the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus beats in your heart, He will come to alleviate your worries, to remove them or at least to help you carry your crosses! Jesus is your Best Friend who will never fail you!
9. BEG FOR A HEART-TRANSPLANT! Our heart, mind, and soul can be compared to a Garden. Amidst the roses, tulips and daffodils flourish the ugly but all too-prevalent weeds! If the weeds are given permission to grow, to flourish and spread then in a matter of time they will suffocate the beautiful flowers! The Garden analogy applies to virtues and sins. The flowers are our virtues; the weeds, our sins. If not uprooted, the vices will dominate our lives and sin will reign! Upon reception of Holy Communion, we should beg the Lord Jesus to uproot and exterminate the weeds in our soul, so that the flowers of virtues can flourish and blossom. May the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus transplant our hearts and make us saints!
10. OUR LADY OF THE EUCHARIST AND THANKSGIVING. Finally, beg the Immaculate Heart of Mary to speak to the Heart of Jesus to praise Him, to love Him, to worship Him. Saint Louis de Montfort suggests praying Mary’s canticle of praise, the Magnificat, in thanksgiving for the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus beating in the depths of our soul. May Mary’s words echo in our hearts after we receive Jesus in Holy Communion: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior….” (Lk. 1: 46-55)
In conclusion, the most important gesture and moment in our lives is when we receive the Eucharistic Jesus in the depths of our heart and our soul in Holy Communion. Then the moments, the minutes after Holy Communion must be the most precious moments in our whole human existence. Let us strive with all the fiber of our being to prepare properly to receive the Eucharist, but also strive to improve our THANKSGIVING after the reception of Holy Communion. Our sanctification, our growth in grace, our growth in virtue and overcoming vice, and our final perseverance can truly depend on the manner in which we treat the Lord Jesus after receiving Him in Holy Communion. May Our Lady of the Eucharist, the angels and saints come to our help!
