THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS BIBLICAL REFLECTIONS [FOR THE PRIVATE USE OF STUDENTS] Rev. Joseph Henchey, CSS 2005 SACRED HEART 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Opening reflections: If the lord his set His heart … [cf. Dt 7:7; Mt 11:19, f.] 4 EARLY BIBLICAL Uses – Ps 119 6 A. A Rapid Survey – Biblical Reflections 15 Presentation 15 1. Divine Heart in OT 16 2. Revelation in NT 19 3. The Pierced One 26 4. The Heart of Christ, of the Church 32 B. Trinitarian Reflections 39 [I] The Eternal Father 39 Introduction 39 1. The Sacred Heart and Trinitarian Love 43 2. Ad Intra 47 3. Ad Extra 53 4. The Sacred Heart and the Divine Indwelling 61 5. The Sacred Heart and Eschatology 68 6. Sacred Heart and Missionary Spirituality 72 7. The Sacred Heart and Mercy 77 8. The Sacred Heart and the Divine Hesed 87 [II] The Divine Son 103 1. The Sacred Heart and the “Mind of Christ Jesus” 103 Premise 104 a. The Context of the Preceding Chapter 104 b. Ph 2:1 106 c. Ph 2:2 111 d. Ph 2:3 116 e. Ph 2:4 123 Summary 124 Conclusion 125 2. The Sacred Heart and the kenosis [Ph 2; 5, ff.] 126 Introduction 126 a. The Subject of this Hymn 131 b. Pre-Existence 131 c. Incarnate 132 d. Jesus Reveals His Own Divine “Disinterest”, 135 Life-long Self-Emptying, Giving Summary 139 3. The Sacred Heart and the “Pierced One” 140 1.] Dogmatic Contemplation 140 2.] Philological Contemplation 142 3.] Kerygmatic Contemplation 144 4.] Reflective Contemplation 146 5.] Prayerful Contemplation 147 6.] Eucharistic Adoration 149 7.] Apostolic Missionary Contemplation 156 SACRED HEART 3 [III] The Sacred Heart and the Holy Spirit 159 Premise 159 1. The Gift of Living Water 160 2. Christ the Spiritual Rock 162 3. The Living Water 165 4. Paschal Action of the Holy Spirit 169 Conclusion: Sacred Heart and Trinity 177 a. CCC 177 1.] A Human Heart 179 2.] The Battle for Purity 180 3.] Prayer as a Covenant 180 4.] Forgive those who trespass against us 181 b. New Evangelization 181 Concluding Doctrinal Reflections on the Sacred Heart of Jesus 183 [I] Three Dimensions of the Interior Passion of Jesus Christ 183 1.] Its Reality 183 2.] Its Beginning 186 3.] Its Permanence 189 [II] Consecration 191 1.] Jesus, the First Consecrated 192 2.] Baptismal Consecration 192 3.] Religious Consecration 193 4.] Priestly Consecration 193 5.] Consecration 194 a.] Biblical Development 194 b.] Juridical Aspects 195 c.] Theological Analysis 195 d.] The “Essence” of Consecration 196 [III] Reparation 198 1.] A Spiritual Experience 198 2.] The Historical Figure of Reparation 199 3.] Jesus, the Prime “Repairer” 202 4.] The Offended Heart of Jesus Christ 203 5.] Modern Appeals for Reparation 204 6.] Practices of Reparation 205 7.] A Spirituality of Redemption 208 [IV] Ecclesial Pardon 208 Introduction 208 1.] Biblical Approach 210 a.] The OT 210 b.] The NT 211 2.] The Biblical Jubilee 212 3.] The Problem 213 4.] Theology 213 Conclusion: The New Evangelization 215 Bibliography 217 ††† SACRED HEART 4 Opening Reflections on the SACRED HEART of JESUS ... If the Lord set His heart on you and chose you... it was for love of you... [Dt. 7:7]. ... learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart... [Mt 11:29]. *** 1 Premise : [1] In the entire divine mystery, ad extra, there is no necessity, but endless realities that might be called “most fitting”, even “hypothetical necessities”. If God would like us to know even some of the “natural” truths about Him more certainly, more quickly and more commonly [cf. Vatican I, D-S 3005], He has to reveal. Since the Lord wants all to be saved [1 Tm 2:4], He has to help. God is infinitely free, except for His love, which is His very being: God is love [cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16] - which is also the very foundation of His entire Being and Freedom. As a result, within the works of God there is a perfect interior coherence, a simplicity of development. The person of prayer, as well as the theologian, marvels at this simplicity. “Wonder” should be the very first reaction in theology as a science. [2] The fourth Evangelist alone - and the only one to do so - has given major importance to the Piercing of the Side of Jesus Christ [cf. Jn 21:24]. He backs up his account telling us that the one who has seen these things gives witness to it, and we know that his testimony is true [cf. Jn 21:24]. Through contemplation, study, heeding the Magisterium and the lived experience [cf. DV 8], every believer, each person of prayer and theologian are invited to fathom this mystery, beyond the cruel act that took place on a Friday afternoon long ago. [3] In the most sublime sense of the word, the piercing of the sacred side of the Man-God is, in the highest sense of the term, a “mystery” This is an act of God Who reveals Himself, making the treasures of His divinity more intimately known and shared: “...The phrase, ‘heart of Christ’ can refer to Sacred Scripture which makes known His heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be 2 interpreted...” . The revelation of this opening of the side of Christ has led the Church of the centuries to a higher regard and grasp of the reality of God and His Plan of Salvation. [4] This “Death in the Afternoon” - this “Man”, exposed on the Cross, a graphic illustration of what human sin produces - is, at the same time, the divine answer to 1 cf. Philippe Ferlay, Coeur du Christ, mystère de Dieu. Paris/Montreal: Mediaspaul 1995, pp. 9, ff. passim. 2 cf. CCC # 112; St. Thomas Aquinas, Expos. in Ps 21: 11 ; cf. Ps 22:15. SACRED HEART 5 the human question: Where is God? This is the Only-Begotten, the Most Beloved, the response of the deepest love of God for us all. Thanks to this cruel blow of the Roman javelin, reveals the most sublime mystery for anyone who wants to fathom more deeply the infinite love of God Himself: this is the ICON of the Invisible God [cf. Col 1:15]; this is the emanation, the “character” of the hidden divine nature [cf. Heb 1:1, f.] - whoever looks on the Pierced One will see God [cf. Jn 12:44, f; Rv 1:5]. God so loved the world that He did not spare His Only Son, but gave up His Most Beloved [cf. Rm 8:32; Jn 3:16]. [5] It is precisely due to the omnipotence of God that the power of this Sacred Heart even in Jesus’ physical death does not remain inert. This divine Heart is the Fountain of New Life - the streams of blood and water that were seen by the eye- witness to flow from it have been understood in the tradition of the Church as the Sacraments of Initiation, Baptism and Eucharist. These are sources of life through the Holy Spirit of the Risen Lord leading recipients back to the Father. The entire mystery of the Incarnation was directed toward this “Hour... in accord with the Scriptures”; the divine will manifested through the revealed Word. The reason for the coming of the son of Man was to diffuse, pour-out over the entire universe the Spirit of the Heavenly Father, with Whom the Risen Lord is filled. He had not yet sent the Spirit until He got to this Hour of His glorification [cf. Jn 7:39]. This is the greatest glory of God: this “Man”, covered with blood, with His head bowed in human death, pouring forth the love in the Person of the Spirit through His Sacred Heart. This is the Glory for the “Anawim”, for the little of the Lord, much beloved to Him. this is “Self-giving” the model of all the baptized, sharing the energy of the new life of the resurrection. The God, who is love, does not wish for, nor could He accept any love on a lesser level - the “Principle of Totality” has its paradigm here, a Model which shares its own life. [6] The glorious reign of the Divine Son began at that precise hour. His “glory” is not to receive any empty praise, but that human beings come to share in His joy through a lived faith in Him, by putting on His mind [cf. Ph 2:5, ff.]. The coming of the Holy Spirit manifests the joy that prevails in the Father giving His love through the Revealed, Incarnate, Paschal, Eucharistic Word - embodied in the symbolism of the Sacred Heart. This is the joy that human beings receive - beyond all psychological realization of it - when they receive God’s Word in their hearts and minds; His grace in their souls, and Holy Communion in their lives. This share on earth leads to an eternal sharing in the abundance of the love manifested in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. [7] In order that the Holy Spirit issue from the Father through the Only-Begotten, Most Loved Divine Son, in accord with the divine Plan, it was necessary for that Sacred Heart not only to be bruised, or wounded - but it had to be pierced: all SACRED HEART 6 believers, from Zechariah on down, are reminded: they will look on the one they have pierced [cf.