SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART
Dear Brothers and Sisters, St Alphonus Ligouri was right, when he said
years ago – “That God is crazy about us”, meaning that he has given us His divine Heart, and
given us all of his fulness.
Sixty years ago today, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus , our
Fr Raymond (of happy memory) gave a beautiful, powerful Homily on the Sacred Heart – here in our Chapter Room. It was based on the Encyclical Haurieatis Aquas (“You Will Draw Waters”)that had recently been published by Pope Pius XII, to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Feast of the Sacred Heart established by Pope Pius IX. The Encyclical spelled out in length the abundance of supernatural graces which flow from the heart of Christ . This Feast (now a Solemnity) made the whole Church, and not merely the Jesuits recognize the Sacred Heart as an important dimension, to say the least, of Christian spirituality.
Fr Raymond had been a Jesuit (and remained one!). That homily here, sixty
years ago, reflected
thefact that both he and Pius XII were excellent theologians. So the
Homily that morning, though
very moving, was a bit ‘heady’ for me at the time, ‘spelling out in length
all the super- natural
graces’.Within a few days of that homily I came across a translation of the
poems of St John of the
Cross, who was also quite a theologian and Doctor of the Church..and, of
course, a poet. John,
likened the heart of Jesus to a rich, deep wine cellar! He said, more than
once , that all his
theology, and he wrote extensively, was contained in his poetry. Among his
poems I read the
following lines, memorized them and they have been with me ever since:
“Deep-cellared are the caverns of my Loves’ Heart. I drank of him alive.
And now, stumbling
from the tavern, not a thought of mine survives…of the flock I used to
drive (or was driven by)”.
That ’stumbling’ from the tavern’ line, some of us can identify with
initially. “ Drunk” is the
word that comes spontaneously to mind. “Inebriated’, however, is a much
more fitting term and is
John’s real meaning. This same word means : Exhilerating, enlivened,
refreshed, stimulated,
gladdened, made cheerful. What more could one ask! If one wants to be
inebriated , that is the
most rewarding and God-intended way to go.
God, who – as God – is absolutely inaccessible to us, has made himself,
in becoming one of us –
imitable. Imitable!
“Learn of Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Amen.