Why the Church Celebrates the Sacred Heart (Not a Brain)
Every June, the Church celebrates the Sacred Heart of Jesus — and this Sunday's Gospel shows us Jesus moved with compassion for the crowds, like sheep without a shepherd. But why the heart? Why not the Sacred Intellect or the Sacred Will? In this Sunday reflection, we unpack why the Church's devotion to the Sacred Heart isn't sentimentalism; it's a profound invitation to be fully human and fully alive...
They're great words and so true. But can one nuance them slightly? Haven't we always honoured Christ's wisdom as the foundation for his Sacred Heart? Doesn't St John prioritise the Logos in his Prologue, before describing the Heart against which he rested? The English School-teacher mystic Teresa Higginson was described by her priest-director after her death (1905) as possibly one of the greatest saints that ever lived. There have certainly been some dramatic miracles. The English bishops took her cause to Rome in 2018. Teresa claimed that Our Lord wished precisely to have his sacred wisdom honoured as an antidote to the crisis of our times, not as a replacement to the Sacred Heart, but as its crowning. Isn't there something in that - the full, human emotion of Christ's love is all the more wondrous, perfect and powerful precisely because it is ordered by his Divine and sinless human Wisdom?
Yes. Full-hearted. But not mere feelings or emotions...but deep emotions. Not the superficial or tantrum feelings of an unruly child, but the deep awe of spousal love, parental love...
They're great words and so true.
ReplyDeleteBut can one nuance them slightly? Haven't we always honoured Christ's wisdom as the foundation for his Sacred Heart? Doesn't St John prioritise the Logos in his Prologue, before describing the Heart against which he rested?
The English School-teacher mystic Teresa Higginson was described by her priest-director after her death (1905) as possibly one of the greatest saints that ever lived. There have certainly been some dramatic miracles. The English bishops took her cause to Rome in 2018.
Teresa claimed that Our Lord wished precisely to have his sacred wisdom honoured as an antidote to the crisis of our times, not as a replacement to the Sacred Heart, but as its crowning.
Isn't there something in that - the full, human emotion of Christ's love is all the more wondrous, perfect and powerful precisely because it is ordered by his Divine and sinless human Wisdom?
Yes. Full-hearted. But not mere feelings or emotions...but deep emotions. Not the superficial or tantrum feelings of an unruly child, but the deep awe of spousal love, parental love...
ReplyDeleteChris, please pray for the health of Wayne, Betty, & Brad, and for the conversion of hearts within family members. VJ
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