BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD
A LECTIO DIVINA Approach to the Weekday Liturgy
THE SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
and Optional Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Solemnity of the Sacred Heart – Year A (n. 105) Solemnity of the Sacred Heart – Year B (n. 106) Solemnity of the Sacred Heart – Year C (n. 107) Optional Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the BVM (n. 108)
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM
*** Text of the Cover Page ends here. ***
A Lectio Divina Approach to the Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (n. 105) FRIDAY AFTER THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS, YEAR A “JESUS SAVIOR: He Is Meek and Humble of Heart”
BIBLE READINGS Dt 7:6-11 // I Jn 4:7-16 // Mt 11:25-30
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Mt 11:25-30): “Although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, you have revealed them to the childlike.”
The Gospel passage (Mt 11:25-30) proclaimed in today’s solemn feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is about the mystery of the Kingdom revealed to the “little ones” and the call of Jesus, the meek and humble of heart. With this reading, the Church reminds the faithful that Jesus, the meek and humble one, reigns over all by the light of his wisdom and the yoke of his love. He is the instrument of revelation of the Father’s love. With Jesus, the yoke of submission to God’s plan becomes easy and the burden demanded by the love of God and neighbor becomes light. Indeed, united with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we experience the immense peace and joy of the Kingdom. In heeding his invitation “Come to me …” we discover that, far from being burdened, we are spiritually liberated. Love makes every burden light.
B. First Reading (Dt 7:6-11): “The Lord set your heart on you and chose you.”
The Old Testament reading (Dt 7:6-11) underlines that the Lord God “has set his heart on us” and has chosen us. During this feast of the Sacred Heart, we are reminded that we belong to God who loves us unconditionally and takes the first initiative. As Israel has been set apart by God to be his treasured possession, each one of us is called to be holy and blessed by his saving love. Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, the recipient of the visions of the Sacred Heart and chosen as an apostle to manifest to the world the treasures of the Sacred Heart, testifies: “And Christ showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin that made him form the design of manifesting His heart to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and salvation which it contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure Him all the honor and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those divine treasure of which His heart is the source.”
C. Second Reading (I Jn 4:7-16): “If we love one another, God remains in us.”
Today’s Second Reading (I Jn 4:7-16) helps us to connect the cult of the Sacred Heart to God who is love. God has first loved us. He loves gratuitously, unmotivated by any worthiness on our part. He radically reveals his love by sending his Son Jesus as our Savior. God sends his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have eternal life. God loves us so much that we too must love one another. Whoever loves proves that he is born of God. The love revealed by God in Jesus is perceived by faith and must be responded to in faith. We “manifest” our communion with God by our love for each other. Indeed, by loving one another as brothers and sisters, God dwells in us and his love is made perfect in us. The Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Son of our merciful God, is the great symbol of divine love.
Today’s feast is very meaningful to me personally. I grew up in the Parish of the Sacred Heart in Manila, Philippines and promoted in my family the First Friday devotion. When I made my religious profession, I was given a new name – “Sr. Mary Margaret” - in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the disciple of the Eucharist and the apostle of the Sacred Heart. The following article helps us delve into the meaning of the Sacred Heart devotion (cf. Fr. William Saunders, “The Sacred Heart of Jesus” in October 1994 issue of The Arlington Catholic Herald).
During a recent visit to my parish church, my Protestant friend was interested in our Sacred Heart shrine and the meaning behind the devotion. I told her that the Sacred Heart was a sign of the love of Jesus for us. Is there anything else I should say? What about the history of the devotion? – A reader in Alexandria
Actually, your answer “hits the nail on the head”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting Pope Pius XII’s beautiful encyclical “Haurietes Aquas” (1956) states: “Jesus has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings without exception.”
To appreciate the rich symbolism of the heart, we must remember that in Judaism the word “heart” represented the core of the person. While recognized as the principle life organ, the heart was also considered the center of all spiritual activity. Here was the seat of all emotion, especially love. As the psalms express, God speaks to a person in his heart and there probes him. This notion of the heart is clear when we read the words of Deuteronomy 6:5-6: “Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.”
The heart has even greater depth when contemplated in light of the Incarnation. We believe that Jesus Christ, second person of the Holy Trinity and consubstantial with the Father, entered this world taking on our human flesh – true God became also true man. While Jesus’ heart obviously served a physiological function, spiritually His Sacred Heart represents love: the divine love our Lord shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity; the perfect, divine love which God has for us; and the genuine human love Christ felt in His human nature.
I think one of the most beautiful passages of the Gospels is our Lord saying, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will rest, for My yoke is easy and My burden light” (Mt 11:28-30). Therefore, while meditating on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are called to share in the love of the Lord and strive to express our own genuine love for God, ourselves and our neighbors.
Throughout the Gospel, we see the outpouring of Jesus’ love from His heart, whether in miracle stories, the reconciliation of sinners, or the compassion for the grieving. Even on the cross, our Lord poured out His love for us. There the soldier’s lance pierced his side and out flowed blood and water (Jn 19:34). St. Bonaventure said the Church was born from the wounded side of the Lord with the blood and water representing the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and baptism.
The early Church Fathers clearly cherished this meaning of the Sacred Heart of our Lord. St. Justin Martyr (d. 165), in his “Dialogue with the Jew Trypho” said, “We the Christians are the true Israel which springs from Christ, for we are carved out of His heart as from a rock”. Likewise, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (d. 202) said, “The Church is the fountain of the living water that flows to us from the Heart of Christ (“Adversus Haereses”). Paulinus of Nola (d. 431) added, “John, who rested blissfully on the breast of our Lord, was inebriated with the Holy Spirit, from the Heart of all creating Wisdom he quaffed an understanding which transcends that of any creature.” Although these are just a few brief examples from the times of the early Church, we find a profound respect for the Sacred Heart of our Lord as a font of His love which gave birth to the Church and continues to nourish its members.
The devotion continued to grow during the Middle Ages and in 1353 Pope Innocent VI instituted a Mass honoring the mystery of the Sacred Heart. During the age of the Protestant movement, devotion to the Sacred Heart was practiced in hope of restoring peace to a world shattered by political and religious persecution.
Shortly thereafter, the devotion escalated due to the fervor surrounding the apparitions of Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690). For example, on Dec. 27, 1673, Our Lord revealed, “My Divine Heart is so passionately inflamed with love … that, not being able any longer to contain within itself the flames of its ardent charity. It must let them spread abroad through your means, and manifest itself to man, that they may be enriched with its precious treasures which I unfold to you, and which contain the sanctifying and salutary graces that are necessary to hold them back from the abyss of ruin.” The four apparitions provided the catalyst for the promotion of the devotion to the Sacred Heart: a feast day in honor of the Sacred Heart and the offering of our Lord’s saving grace and friendship if the individual attended Mass and received holy Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays of the month.
In 1989 Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Since then, his successors have exhorted the faithful to turn to the Sacred Heart and make acts of personal consecration. They have also begged the faithful to offer prayers and penances to the Sacred Heart in reparation for the many sins of the world.
Considering our present day and age, the temptations and sins of the world, the growing apathy and secularism, we too should turn again in loving devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and ask Him to pour forth His grace. We must strive to make our hearts like His own, for He said, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8).
May we remember the words of the Preface of the Mass in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “Lifted high on the Cross, Christ gave His life for us, so much did He love us. From His wounded side flowed blood and water, the fountain of the sacramental life in the Church. To His open heart the Savior invites all men, to draw water in joy from the springs of salvation.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
What is our personal response to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and his burning love for us? Do we promote the cult of the Sacred Heart? How?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Prayer “Anima Christi” (by Pope John XXII, 1249-1334) Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within your wounds, hide me. Separated from you, let me never be. From the evil one, protect me. At the hour of my death, call me and close to you bid me that with your saints, I may be praising you forever and ever. Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the day. Please memorize it.
“I am meek and humble of heart.” (Mt 11:29)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By your acts of mercy and compassion to the needy, suffering and grieving, let the love of the Sacred Heart console them and give them the strength of salvation.
*** Text of the Sacred Heart, Year A, ends here. ***
A Lectio Divina Approach to the Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (n. 106) FRIDAY AFTER THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS, YEAR B “JESUS SAVIOR: From His Pierced Side Flowed Blood and Water”
BIBLE READINGS Hos 11:1,3-4,8c-9 // Eph 3:8-12, 14-19 // Jn 19:31-37
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Jn 19:31-37): “One soldier thrust his lance into his side and immediately blood and water flowed out. (Gospel Reflection by Sol Tiotuico, ASSOCIATION OF PAULINE COOPERATORS- Friends of the Divine Master, Antipolo Unit, Philippines; Illustrative Story provided by Sr. Mary Margaret, PDDM)
When we meditate on the Gospel of today’s feast of the Sacred Heart (Jn 19:31- 37), we see a story of deliverance and penance, redemption and atonement, pardon and freedom, justification and sanctification, and cleansing and expiation. But the greatest story of all is the story of LOVE.
In the busy-ness of their preparation day, there was an urgency to bury the bodies of those dying on the crosses, before the evening when the Passover was to begin, so as not to contaminate the festivities. Pilate ordered that their legs be broken and they be taken down. When the soldier saw that Jesus was already dead, he pierced Jesus' side with a lance to make sure he was indeed dead.
The blood and water that flowed out of the pierced side of Jesus were prophetic signs of the two things that benefit us all: blood for the atonement of our sins and water for our purification - to be worthy again of His love.
From our Redeemer on the cross flowed forth the great LOVE that caused Him to offer up His life for our everlasting and perfect salvation. This great LOVE should put to rest the doubts of some Christians, give them HOPE and inflame their FAITH in the just and forgiving Lord who, from His pierced side, flowed out WATER to cleanse our sins and BLOOD to expiate those very same sins. We are saved, we are sanctified, and we are loved!
Illustrative Story: The following account from “Stories of Eucharistic Miracles”, circulated on the Internet, illustrates the beautiful mission of being a missionary of the loving Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In Valpariso, Chile, at the beginning of the 20th century, Fr. Mateo Crawley- Boevey, SS.CC., well known as the great Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was a young priest. Fr. Mateo told this story wherever he preached and he found that where people were prepared to earn "three golden coins" with love, many graces were obtained and many conversions followed.
He relates that one day an 8 year old girl told him that Jesus spoke to her every time she received Holy Communion. Father was somewhat skeptical and requested her to ask Jesus to give him proof. The proof Father requested was the sudden conversion of a certain man who was a big sinner, a fallen away Catholic, and enemy of the Church ... and also that this man should come to him for Confession.
About a week later when Fr. Mateo was hearing confessions, the young girl told him that this sinner was coming up to the church. As the priest was leaving the confessional, the fallen away Catholic came into the church and walked over to Fr. Mateo and asked him to help him with his confession. He said that it was the first one since he was baptized. He did not know what came over him that morning but he suddenly understood the necessity of going to confession. Father realized that he had received the proof he requested.
The young girl told the priest that Our Lord revealed to her that He would give the graces to repent and mend his ways to this fallen away Catholic, and also to many other souls. He said, "Always ask Me for souls and I will give them to you, and tell Father Mateo to ask Me for souls. I will give them to him, too, but first you must become My missionary.”
She thought she was too young to be a missionary. Our Lord assured her that He would make her His missionary and that she would have to pay a certain price for souls. "I want you," said Jesus, "to earn three golden coins a day." Our Lord then explained what He meant by golden coins. - The first golden coin was her prayers to Him for souls. - The second golden coin was her little sacrifices, especially acts of obedience. - The third golden coin was a promise: "never to miss Mass or Holy Communion through your own fault and to visit Me often in the Blessed Sacrament.”
B. First Reading (Hos 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9): “My heart is overwhelmed.”
The reading (Hos 11:1-4, 8c-9) is a masterpiece of beauty and grace. It is most fitting for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, font of forgiveness and love. Hosea’s description of God as a doting parent is one of the highpoints of revelation of divine love in the Hebrew Scriptures. Israel can self-destruct by her evil choices, but God is a loving parent. He does not give up on a wayward child. God has cared for his people since he called them out of Egypt and continues to teach them to walk in his ways. God cares for Israel like a mother who tenderly draws her child with love and affection. Israel however is an ungrateful child who needs to be disciplined and brought to his senses. The disobedient people may be subjected to a rigorous divine pedagogy, but God’s basic and ultimate stance is loving mercy: “My heart is overwhelmed … my pity is stirred … I will not give vent to my blazing anger … I will not destroy Israel again … for I am God and not man.”
The following story illustrates a remarkable response to God’s forgiving and unmitigated love (cf. Anne Nolan, “Just When We Think All Is Lost” in Alive! June 2014, p. 6).
On 1st October 1957 Jacques Fesch, the son of a wealthy banker, was guillotined for killing a policeman in Paris. The police officer, aged 35, was a widower with a 4-year-old daughter. But in a strange twist, it’s the murderer who could end up being declared a saint.
Born in April 1930, the son of an atheist father and Catholic mother, Fesch idled his way through school, spent a short time in the army, then in a bank, before adopting a playboy lifestyle, living off his parents’ wealth.
At the age of 21, in a civil ceremony, he married a neighbor’s daughter who was expecting his daughter. Yet he continued to see other women. With one of these he had a son, whom he abandoned to state care. Soon after, he and his wife separated, but remained friends.
At this point he decided to buy a boat, sail off to the South Pacific and begin a new life in the sun. Tired of his antics, however, his parents refused to fund his venture. Fesch then came up with the idea of robbing a currency dealer, Alexander Silberstein. On 25 February he and a friend arrived at the dealer’s office. He pointed a gun at the dealer and demanded the cash from the till. His companion, meanwhile, had fled.
Silberstein tried to reason with him, but Fesch hit him twice across the head with the revolver butt, grabbed a small amount of cash and ran. Outside he tried to calmly mingle with the passers-by, but Silberstein arrived, shouting that he has been robbed.
Chased by the crowd Fesch was cornered. A policeman, Jean Vergne, drew his revolver and ordered him to raise his hands. Instead Fesch pulled out his own gun and shot the officer through the heart and wounded one of his pursuers in the neck. But the crowd overcame him. He knew he would face the guillotine.
Having abandoned his faith when he was 17, he mocked the many efforts to bring God back to his life. “No need to trouble yourself about me”, he told the prison chaplain. But one year after the murder, on the night of 28 February 1955, Fesch experienced a dramatic change of heart.
“I was in bed, eyes open, really suffering for the first time in my life”, he wrote shortly before his death. “Then a cry burst forth from my breast, an appeal for help, ‘My God’, and instantly, like a violent wind which passes over with nobody knowing where it comes from, the spirit of the Lord seized me by the throat. It was a feeling of infinite power and kindness and, from that moment, I believed with an unshakable conviction that never left me.”
The experience changed the remaining two and a half years of his life. He apologized for all the suffering he had caused and led a holy, prayerful life. To a young Benedictine he wrote: “In prison there are two possible ways: You can rebel against your situation, or you can regard yourself as a monk.”
In the journal which he now kept he wrote: “The last day of struggle, at this time tomorrow I shall be in heaven! May I die as the Lord wishes me to die … In five hours I shall see Jesus.”
When his journal and letters were published after his death they created widespread interest in France, touching young people especially. Not everyone, however, wants him to be canonized: “a patron saint for gunmen”, said one newspaper.
But in 1987, Cardinal Lustiger of Paris explained: “Nobody is ever lost in God’s eyes, even when society has condemned him.” He believed that Fesch as a saint would “give great hope to those who see themselves irredeemably lost.”
C. Second Reading: Eph 3:8-12, 14-19: “To know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.”
The reading (Eph 3:8-12, 14-18) underlines the divine grace received by Saint Paul to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ and to reveal the saving “mystery”, once hidden, but is now made known to Paul and to the apostles and prophet by the activity of the Holy Spirit. Paul is a minister of this “mystery” and an instrument to bring the infinite riches of Christ to all peoples. Like Paul, the Church has a mission in the breaking down of barriers and the coming together of people. In union with Christ and through our faith in him we have the boldness to go into God’s presence with all confidence.
Today’s reading also contains the apostle’s beautiful prayer of adoration and intercession. In a contemplative mood, Saint Paul prays that the faithful may be strengthened inwardly by the Spirit, that Christ dwell in their hearts through faith, that they be rooted in love so that they may have insight into the full extent of Christ’s love that surpasses all understanding. He prays that they may be filled with the fullness of God, who by nature is “love”.
On this feast of the Sacred Heart, we are called to be like Paul in manifesting to the world the infinite riches of God’s love. We need to prove our grateful love. The following story gives insight into how to incarnate the love of God (Anthony De Mello, Taking Flight: A Book of Story Meditations, New York: Image Books, 1988, p. 160).
It was time for monsoon rains to begin and a very old man was digging holes in his garden. “What are you doing?” his neighbor asked. “Planting mango trees” was the reply.
“Do you expect to eat mangoes from those trees?”
“No. I won’t live long enough for that. But others will. It occurred to me the other day that all my life I have enjoyed mangoes planted by other people. This is my way of showing them my gratitude.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
How does the image of the “blood and water” flowing from the pierced side of Christ impinge on us? What is our personal response to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and his burning love for us?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
Prayer to the Sacred Heart (by Blessed James Alberione) Jesus, Divine Master, I thank and bless your most meek heart, which led you to give your life for me. Your blood, your wounds, the scourges, the thorns, the cross, your bowed head tell my heart: “No one loves more than he who gives his life for the loved one.” The Shepherd died to give his life for the sheep. I too want to spend my life for you. Grant that you may always, everywhere, and in all things dispose of me for your greater glory and that I may always repeat: “Your will be done.” Inflame my heart with holy love for you and for souls. Sacred Heart of Jesus, make me love you more and more.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“One soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” (Jn 19:32)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
By your acts of mercy and compassion to the needy, suffering and grieving persons, let the love of the Sacred Heart console them and give them the strength of salvation.
*** Text of the Sacred Heart, Year B, ends here. ***
A Lectio Divina Approach to the Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (n. 107) FRIDAY AFTER THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS, YEAR C “JESUS SAVIOR: With Tender Heart, He Tends the Sheep”
BIBLE READINGS Ez 34:11-16 // Rom 5:5b-11 // Lk 15:3-7
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
A. Gospel Reading (Lk 15:3-7): “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.”
This story took place when I was a teenager. My father, who was seriously ill, emotionally vulnerable and exceedingly sensitive, had an argument with my brother who was going through the pains of a teenage crisis. I do not remember what the conflict was about, but the mutual hurt it generated is forever etched in my memory. My weeping brother packed up his clothes and, before running away from home, advised me to take care of our beloved father and mother. A sense of sadness pervaded each family member. In the afternoon, my mother went to look for my brother. After many moments of anxious searching, my mother finally found him. She pleaded and prevailed upon him to come home. My father was very relieved to see him again safe and sound. My brother was equally happy to be home. It was a moment of joy for all. Indeed, the grace of reconciliation is a cause for rejoicing.
Today’s Gospel reading (Lk 15:3-7) highlights the joy of finding the lost one and assures us that God is eager to find, to forgive and to save. Indeed, these parables of mercy reveal that God’s love is wider and deeper than anyone could ever imagine. Jesus, with his most compassionate Sacred Heart, challenges us to share in the task of finding the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost children. As his beloved disciples, it is our pastoral ministry to make sure that no sheep in Christ’s sheepfold be lost. In case a precious brother or sister is lost, we must diligently seek and find him/her, and thus celebrate as Church the joy of salvation.
B. First Reading (Ez 34:11-16): “As a shepherd tends his flock, so will I tend my sheep.”
The prophet-priest Ezekiel lives in Babylon during the period before and after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. His message is addressed both to his disheartened co-exiles in Babylon and to the distraught people left in Jerusalem. Ezekiel emphasizes the need for inner renewal of the heart and spirit, and the responsibility of each individual for his own sins. Moreover, he also proclaims hope for the renewal of the life of the nation. God himself would shepherd Israel and heal the wounds and misery inflicted on his people by bad rulers and foreign invaders. Under the staff of God, the benevolent Shepherd, a happy future is possible for the distressed and grieving people! Ezekiel’s prophecy of God himself tending his sheep is radically fulfilled in Jesus Christ. With tender heart, the Son of God seeks out the lost, brings back the stray, binds up the injured and heals the sick.
The pastoral ministry of Christ and his compassionate “sacred heart” are exemplified today by Pope Francis (cf. “LA Prisoners Write to the Pope” in ALIVE! May 2013, p. 6).
In washing the feet of young prisoners on Holy Thursday Pope Francis showed his love for young people. In a tiny chapel in the detention center in Rome, Francis celebrated the Mass with 40 young offenders. Among those whose feet he washed were two young women, one a Catholic, the other a Serbian Muslim. He wants to reach out with love to everybody.
In a simple homily the Pope asked the young people to help each other. “This is what Jesus teaches us”, he said. “This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty. As a priest and bishop I must be at your service.” But he added, “it is a duty that comes from my heart and a duty I love. I love doing it because this is what the Lord has taught me. But you too must help us and help each other always.”
When the young men in a detention facility in Los Angeles heard what the Pope was doing, many of them expressed a desire to share in it from afar. Some of these youth will spend the rest of their lives in prison. Others, after release, will be back there in a short time. But they have been touched by the Pope’s love. And have written to him to say so, to assure him of their prayers and to ask that he pray for them.
A number of these prayers were read out at the Holy Thursday Mass in the LA juvenile prison. Here are some passages from them.
• Dear Pope Francis, thank you for washing the feet of youth like us in Italy. We also are young and make mistakes. Society has given up on us; thank you that you have not given up on us. (…)
• Dear Pope Francis, I have grown up in a jungle of gangs and drugs and violence. I have seen people killed. I have been hurt. It is hard to be young and surrounded by darkness. Pray for me that one day I will be free and be able to help other youth like you do.
• Dear Pope Francis, I do not know if Rome is near Los Angeles because all my youth I have only known my neighborhood. I hope one day I will be given a second chance and receive a blessing from you and maybe even have my feet washed on Holy Thursday.
• Dear Pope Francis, drugs have been part of my life for so long. We all struggle to be sober. But you inspire me and I promise to be sober and help others with the cruel addiction of crystal meth.
C. Second Reading (Rom 5:5b-11): “God proves his love for us.”
The Second Reading (Rom 5:5-11) is a meditation on God’s gratuitous and ineffable love for us. God has shown how much he loves us by the death and rising of his Son Jesus Christ. It is God’s love that is poured out “through the Spirit” and is now radically revealed in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. The death of Jesus brings about reconciliation, which is the restoration of estranged and sinful man to union and companionship with God. We were God’s enemies, but God has made us his friends through the death of his Son. The Heart of Jesus is the font of reconciliation. The love of God, moreover, enables us to share in the risen life of Christ and to experience the gift of salvation. Reconciled and redeemed through the death and rising of Jesus Christ, we can rejoice at the very thought of God – for all what he has done for us!
The martyrdom of persecuted Christians is not a tragedy. The modern day Christian martyrs continue to manifest that the blood of Christ brings about reconciliation and salvation. The following article is insightful (cf. Manuel Nin, “An Ecumenism of Blood: The Power of the Name” in L’Osservatore Romano, February 27, 2015, p. 1).
One afternoon, strolling through Rome, I was searching for a flower vender. I have always loved the cactus, that lovely sober plant; adapted to an ascetic life on the desert. This plant is austere even in its flowering, which is few and far between but whose flowers are uniquely beautiful. The search led me to a florist from the Middle East. A tattoo on the back of his hand caught my attention. It was a small cross. So I asked him if he was a Christian. He told me he was an Orthodox Copt and his name was Shenute.
After the martyrdom of the 21 Copts in Libya, the Pope has once again raised his voice to proclaim, almost as it were a profession of faith, the ecumenism of blood: “They said only: ‘Jesus help me’. They were assassinated for the sole fact of being Christian.” In this way Francis has again set forth the path of Christians of different confessions, not centered around one bread and one chalice but on the blood poured out for Christ, in order to bear witness to the one Lord.
The Pope recalled that the only words on the martyrs’ lips, at the moment of their witness, were “Jesus, help me”. These words echo the prayer that stands at the heart of many traditions, a prayer that has been repeated ceaselessly through the centuries and is continued by Christian men and women, nuns and monks, pilgrims and martyrs: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”. (…)
And new martyrs like these, from Iraq and from Syria, from Asia to Africa, write their names with blood in the Synaxarium and martyrology of all who invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the life and salvation of martyrs.
A few days after the attack in Libya, having finished Lenten Matins at the Greek College, I went to find that florist Shenute to tell him that I was close to him in spirit. Sharing with him the ecumenism of blood, I gave him the words of Pope Francis: “blood is one” and “it bears witness to Christ”.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we open ourselves to the saving love of the Good Shepherd and allow ourselves to find home in the most sacred heart of Jesus?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO (Cf. Opening Prayer, Mass of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus)
Father, we have wounded the heart of Jesus your Son, but he brings us forgiveness and grace. Help us to prove our grateful love and make amends for our sins. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“I myself will look after and tend my sheep.” (Ez 34:11)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
With material, moral and spiritual help and with the compassionate Sacred Heart of Jesus the Good Shepherd, assist the poor, the marginalized and the victims of today’s economic depression.
*** Text of the Sacred Heart, Year C, ends here. ***
A Lectio Divina Approach to the Weekday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (n. 108) SATURDAY AFTER THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY “JESUS SAVIOR: A Sword Pierced His Mother’s Heart”
BIBLE READINGS Gospel Reading: Lk 2:41-51
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS: A Pastoral Tool for the LECTIO
When I was in India, I gained an insight into the “sword” that pierced Mary’s heart as indicated in the reading (Lk 2:41-51). I came into contact with the pain and anxiety of a parent who lost a child. The Italian lady, Sarah, and her adopted girl, Saraji, the six-year old daughter of a leper couple, were guests at our convent in Bangalore, India. One afternoon, they went downtown to shop. An hour later a very distraught Sarah came back. Saraji had wandered away and was lost. We prayed in earnest for her return. The deeply anxious Sarah, accompanied by some Sisters, searched for her. They found Saraji at the police station calmly eating an ice cream cone. Sarah was overjoyed to find her again.
The first words of Jesus ever recorded in Luke’s Gospel are full of meaning. To his mother Mary’s legitimate reproach: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety?” the boy Jesus responds: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” With these astonishing words Jesus makes a pronouncement about the meaning of his life and mission. He declares that the heavenly Father’s will is his priority. His life and mission transcend the relationship of his human family. This episode confirms Simeon’s prophecy of a sword piercing Mary’s heart. The bible scholar Carrol Stuhlmueller reflects on this Gospel episode: “Mary finds Jesus at his work; he is not simply her son, but the heavenly Father’s Son, sent on a mission in which she finds him totally involved; at this she sorrows for it means separation.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: A Pastoral Tool for the MEDITATIO
Do we truly appreciate the vital role of Mary in salvation history? Do we treasure her immense love for Jesus and for us? Do we have devotion for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and imitate her loving compassion?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the ORATIO
A Prayer to the Blessed Mother (by Mother Teresa of Calcutta) Mary, mother of Jesus, be a mother to each of us, that we, like you, may be pure in heart, that we, like you, love Jesus; that we, like you, serve the poorest for we are all poor. First let us love our neighbors and so fulfill God’s desire that we become carriers of his love and compassion. Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD: A Pastoral Tool for the CONTEMPLATIO
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“His mother kept all these things in her heart.” (Lk 2:51)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION: A Pastoral Tool for the ACTIO
When you experience some trials and difficulties, present them to Mary and unite them with her most Immaculate Heart for the salvation of souls.
*** Text of the Immaculate Heart of Mary ends here. ***