June - Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

By TOM DENNEHY

We associate the month of June with the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During this month, we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Sacred Heart and many other notable feast days such as those of St. Anthony, St. John the Baptist, The Irish Martyrs, St. John Fisher, Thomas Moore, the Immaculate Heart of Mary and many more.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French nun, revealed to the world the great love of Jesus for us. She had a series of apparitions between 1673 and 1675 when He appeared to her from the Blessed Sacrament and said,”Behold this Heart which loves so much and yet, is loved so little in return.” He explained that the thorns around His Heart are symbolic of the pain that He suffers because of the ingratitude and indifference of people towards His love in the Blessed Sacrament. Then, Jesus said that He suffers more now because of this indifference and ingratitude than He did during his entire Passion.

He appealed to her to make up for all their ingratitude by spending time with Him in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and told her, “I thirst with such a terrible thirst to be loved by you in this Most Blessed Sacrament”.

We know that the more one loves, the more one wants to be with the object of one’s affection. This explains the very mystery of our Catholic faith, the mystery of the Real Presence. Jesus stays with us day and night in the Blessed Sacrament simply because He loves each of us so much that He never wants to leave us.

This is why Jesus specifically requested, through St. Margaret Mary, that a feast in honour of His Sacred Heart be established in the Liturgical Calendar within the octave, eight days, of the feast of Corpus Christi. He wanted to make it unmistakably clear that devotion to His Sacred Heart is devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. The Blessed Sacrament is Jesus living in our midst today.

His appeal to St. Margaret Mary is more urgent today than it was then. “I thirst with such a terrible thirst to be loved in this most Blessed Sacrament.” His message is that the Eucharist is not a thing, but a person, the person of Jesus Himself. In the Blessed Sacrament, He said we would find the most loving of all fathers, our very best friend, with the tenderest of all hearts.

During this month of the Sacred Heart, let us contemplate the loving Heart of Jesus which suffered so much for us. Let us spend time in Adoration and attend Holy Mass and receive the Holy Eucharist. It is the living Heart of Jesus we receive in the Holy Mass. So many Eucharistic Miracles have been scientifically tested and have been proven to be the living Heart of Jesus.

As we contemplate His incredible love, we reflect on the mercy, compassion and love that God has bestowed upon us. We come to know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge. When we allow Christ to live in our hearts, when we know his love deeply in our minds and hearts, we are moved by The Holy Spirit to live the great commandments of love of God and neighbour. We are motivated by the Sacred Heart of Jesus to open our hearts to Him so that they are filled with love for our brothers and sisters. In this way we learn to live the commandment of Jesus; love one another as I have loved you.

The Church, born from the pierced heart of Jesus, has a great mission in the world to proclaim the redeeming love of God in Christ.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus is precisely the image that expresses our mission. It is the image of the infinite and merciful love which the Heavenly Father has poured out upon the world through his son Jesus. Only this love, the love of the Heart of Christ, can transform the human heart and bring true peace to our world.

Let us restore true devotion to His most Sacred Heart by returning to Holy Mass and volunteering to spend one hour per week in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us respond to the plea of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary, “Would you at least make amends for their indifference by spending time with me”

Let us pray often; Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place all our trust in thee. May the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus be praised, glorified, loved and adored throughout the world now and forever more. Amen