11/06/2026
PREACHING ON THE FEAST OF
THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
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Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 11, 25-30
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“MY DIVINE HEART IS SO PASSIONATE
WITH LOVE FOR ALL HUMANKIND!”
(Jesus to saint Marguerite-Marie ALACOQUE)
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25 At that time, Jesus said in reply, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.
26 Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
28 "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
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In this most blessed month devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Church calls us to contemplate the unfathomable mystery of the divine Heart of our Savior.
WHY HAS THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART?
On December 27, 1673, the Sacred Heart of Jesus was revealed to a French nun, Saint Marguerite-Marie ALACOQUE, canonized by the Catholic Church on 13th of May 1920, and said to her:
"My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular that, being unable any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It needs to spread abroad by any means, and manifest Itself to them (mankind) in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition. I have chosen you as an abyss of unworthiness and ignorance for the accomplishment of this great design, in order that everything may be done by Me.”
This divine Heart represents the Love of Jesus towards all humankind, especially sinners. “Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us: "The Son of God... loved me and gave himself for me." He 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.” (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, n° 478). For this reason, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart was instituted by Pope Clement XIII in 1765 and extended to the whole Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX in 1856. A whole month was dedicated to celebrating and adoring this Sacred Heart, which loved us so much!
WHAT DOES THE TERM “HEART” MEAN IN CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY?
The heart is the most intimate place of each person, where the totality of one’s being sits. In the Syro-Aramaic language, it is called “Lebo” which means; everything that exists under the skin. Consequently, the heart of each humankind embraces four elements: his spirituality, his body or his physical dimension, his social relationships, in addition his soul or his "Psyche", his psychic dimension which encompasses his thoughts, his memory, the center of his will, all his strategies and projects , in addition to the source of his psychic, emotional and sentimental interactions.
Thus, if in our adoration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we repeat so many times, “O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like yours” means exactly: make our body, our spirituality, our societal momentum and our thoughts like yours.
HOW DID THIS SUBLIME AND DIVINE HEART LOVE US?
1. BY THE POWER OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT: The heart of Jesus Christ has been, from all eternity, a spiritual fire full of divine love which is dedicated to the salvation of all humankind. “He who was in the highest heaven and who participated as the divine Word in our Creation” (John 1, 10), loved us passionately. Since Abraham, the kings and the prophets, this divine Love has been the promise and the covenant between God the Father and his people. He was long awaited, impatiently, from one century to another because he was their eternal salvation. Saint Paul said: “I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” (Ga 2, 20). This spiritual power revives faith in the human heart, increases it and implants in it unshakeable hope, unfailing love and all spiritual and human virtues. From this point of view, it endorses the spiritual relationship of the faithful believer with his Creator through prayer and meditation on the divine Word, and he makes his spiritual life a source of holiness and deification for himself and for all mankind. The ardent spirit of Jesus sends us to be MISSIONARIES OF THE ARDENT LOVE OF HIS SACRED HEART IN THE WORLD.
2. IN HIS SACRED CORPUS: This divine heart did not want to remain a spiritual fire in the glory of the Kingdom, but Saint Paul said in his letter to the Philippians (2, 6-8); “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped He, of divine condition, did not jealously retain the rank which was equal to God. Rather, he emptied (εκένωσεν) himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross!” The love of this heart is an incarnate love. He became flesh (John 1, 14). Therefore, this heart clothed itself with our vulnerable body to save us through it. Through this divine incarnation, He granted our bodies a sublime value. Henceforth they were consecrated to Divine Love with all their limbs, manners, deeds, clothes and all their movements.
3. AT THE HEART OF OUR SOCIAL LIFE: This divine heart has been incarnated within our human society. He loved our traditions and our habits. He attended our weddings and ate from our meals. He walked on the ways of our villages. His love performed great miracles there in order to deify our world living in perdition. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves!” (Mt 11, 28-29). At every moment, Jesus by his divine love wants to set off a social revolution, which seeks to establish true merciful justice and lasting peace for all humankind. The “Magnificat” of Mary is the faithful witness (Luke 1, 46-55).
4. VIA HIS SOUL AND HIS DIVINITY: The will of the divine Heart of Jesus is to establish a perpetual dialogue with his creatures. A dialogue of love from which springs a source of divine Wisdom. His love always tends to deify our souls with all its thoughts, projects, strategies, culture and its intimate and apparent psychological, sentimental interactions. The four evangelists testify to this on many occasions. Jesus always asked multiple questions and answered them with intelligent love. By laying his head on the blazing Heart of Jesus, Saint John was the first to experience this rational love and wrote, under the great inspiration of the Holy Spirit, his Gospel with theological significance full of sublime and intimate sacred feelings. He testified by writing the words of his divine Master of love: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink, whoever believes in me! As the scripture says, “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, "Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: 'Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'" He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.” (John 7, 37b-39a). After him, Saint Paul confirmed: “For "who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?" But we have the mind of Christ!” (1Cor 2, 16).
THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF SACRED HEART OF JESUS’ DEVOTION?
In his encyclical “Haurietis aquas”, Pope Pius XII presents the cult of the Heart of Jesus by writing: “The cult of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is in substance the cult of love towards God and other humankind (...). Its purpose is to lead us to perfection and to the fullness of the love that unites us to God and to other men by following, ever more joyfully, the new commandment.”
Who was the first person to achieve this purpose in the history of humankind?
It is Mary! The mother of Jesus, whose heart became exactly like the heart of her son! Because "she kept everything in her heart!" (Luke 2, 51) and meditated on it deeply... Thus, gradually, she was totally impregnated with the totality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; her body became like the body of Christ, her mind to his mind, her faith to his faith, and her life to his life... She was entirely united to his perfect Love and became a sublime model of it for all humanity!
Immaculate Heart of Mary, be our salvation and always guide us to be filled with the Sacred Heart of Jesus! Amen!
THE PRAYER OF SAINT CLAUDE LA COLOMBIÈRE (The confessor and spiritual guide of Saint Marguerite-Marie):
“Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, teach me to forget myself so perfectly, since it is the only way through which one can enter into You. Since all I will do in the future will be Yours, please make sure I will not do anything unworthy of You. Teach me what I should do so as to reach the purity of Your love, since You inspired in me the desire. I feel within me a great will to please You, and a greater powerlessness to get there without a special light and help that only You can give. May Your will be done in me, Lord; I do oppose it, I know, but I would like not to oppose it: It is up to You to do everything, divine Heart of Jesus, only You will have the entire glory from my sanctification, if I become a saint; that seems to me lighter than day; but it will be for You a great glory, and this is the sole reason why I only want perfection. So be it. Amen!"
Father Fadi EL MIR, Maronite Lebanese Missionary.