It is an exciting week! We move from the Solemnity of Corpus Christi this past Sunday to the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus today. The Scripture readings from Mass this week have been beautiful. We saw Elijah the prophet being providentially fed by the Lord with bread from a raven and water from the stream and his victorious battle on Mount Carmel over the false prophets of Baal. These readings foreshadow our drinking from the stream of the Eucharist, which flows from the pierced Heart of Jesus. Indeed, the Sacred Heart is profoundly united to the Eucharist, as St. John Paul II teaches us:
“The entire devotion to the Heart of Jesus in its every manifestation is profoundly Eucharistic: it is expressed in religious practices which stir the faithful to live in harmony with Christ, “meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29), and it is intensified in adoration. It is rooted and finds its summit in participation in Holy Mass, especially Sunday Mass…”1
The fire and light emanating from the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus illumines our hearts—even our weaknesses. St. John of the Cross stated that “[persons] feel these darknesses inasmuch as the light shines on them, for it is impossible to perceive one’s darkness without the divine light focusing on them. Once they are driven out a soul is illumined and, being transformed, beholds the light within itself, since the spiritual eye was cleansed and fortified by the divine light.” 2 This wonderful light of grace and mercy helps us to trust ever more in Jesus in spite of our sins and failings, and to enter into the spiritual battles of this world, especially against the discouragement and lack of peace which can arise within ourselves, our family life, our daily work, and in our interactions with others. Let’s gaze at His Heart, receive His Heart in the gift of Himself in the Eucharist, and be filled with peace and encouragement.
I wish to thank His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis, and Episcopal Advisor of the Image of God Institute, for his pastoral charity in spreading devotion and enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He consecrated the entire Archdiocese of St. Louis to the Sacred Heart nineteen years ago and placed the beautiful image in this post in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Thank you, Your Eminence, for your profound love of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, your spiritual fatherhood, and your encouragement!
- Pope St. John Paul II, Letter on the 100th Anniversary of the Human Race to the Divine Heart of Jesus, June 11, 1999 ↩︎
- St. John of the Cross. The Living Flame of Love, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1991, p. 649-650 ↩︎
