Our Response to the Love of the Sacred Heart
1. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is adorable in itself not only as the living symbol of His human-divine love, but also as part of His most holy humanity, in so far as it is hypostatically united to the divinity of the Word.We should, therefore, pay very special homage to the Sacred Heart. It is the Heart of the God-Man and as such is worthy of our highest adoration. Its sentiments harmonised mysteriously with the human will and at the same time with the divine Will of the incarnate Word of God. Every throb was a token of an infinite love which we could never fully understand, for we cannot properly “know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge.” (Eph. 3, 19) But we should adore this love as represented by the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The adoration is not an act of idolatry. On the contrary, it is a fitting act of worship, because its object is the Heart of the God-Man and of the human-divine love of which it is the symbol. Moreover, we owe the Sacred Heart of Jesus all our gratitude and a return of love.
Let us reflect on how much Jesus has done for us and how much He has loved us. Let us consider not only the general work of Redemption and the supernatural gifts and graces connected with it, but also the particular favours which we have received from our childhood up to the present moment. He has bound us to His Heart by a loving chain of graces and of mercies. How could we dare to break this chain or to ignore such love? Love demands love in return. Favours demand gratitude. It would be disastrous for us to display indifference and coldness or, worse still, to respond to such great love by committing new offences.
2. We owe an enormous debt of satisfaction and expiation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the many sins with which we have repaid His graces. Let us picture the divine Redeemer kneeling in the garden of Gethsemane, while His divine vision pierces the centuries and sees the sins and atrocities of men. He sees the offences of each one of us. He groans and perspires blood, then He offers Himself as an innocent victim for us all. This was an act of infinite love which cost the life of the God-Man.
What must our reaction be? Shall we continue to sin and remain cold and unaffected? The passion of Jesus demands our participation in His sufferings, not only in reparation for our own sins, but also in expiation of the sins of others. Let us look around us and see how many men are so indifferent and wicked, as if Jesus had never come to save us, had never shed His blood for us, and had never loved us with an infinite love. At this spectacle the Saints inflicted penances on themselves in order to offer to Jesus a return of love and reparation for sin.
3. What are we doing? If we really love the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we should offer penances and sacrifices in order to make reparation for our sins and the sins of others and to propitiate this adorable Heart, Which ardently desires to bestow new favours upon us.
Ejaculation: All for You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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