Friday of the week of the Solemnity of the Body and the Blood of Christ (Sollemnitas Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Christi) is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Sollemnitas Sacratissimi Cordis Iesu).
We have celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus for 50
days from Paschal Sunday to Pentecost Sunday, during which having commemorating
the Ascension on the 40th day from Paschal Sunday. Following the
Solemnity of Pentecost, we had celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy
Trinity, followed by the Solemnity of the Body and the Blood of Christ. We now come
to appreciate the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on this solemnity.
The Gospel Reading (John 19:31-37) is a part of the
Passion Gospel Reading for Good Friday (John 18:1-19:42), to remind us that the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was revealed to the world on the day that Jesus died
on the Cross. The Gospel narrative itself does not say the Most Sacred Heart of
Jesus. In fact, it does not say anything about the heart of Jesus at all. In fact, the Gospel narrative (John 19:31-37)
is a brief description of how Jesus was upon his death.
According to John, the Roman soldiers responsible to
the executions of Jesus and two other men had to make sure that the executions would
be completed and that the corpses of the executed would be removed by the time
of sundown. Everything had to be completed by sundown because Passover sabbath
would begin upon sundown of that day. For Passover sabbath, an unblemished male
a year-old lamb had to be slaughtered before sundown as Pesach Korban – Paschal Sacrifice (Exodus 12:5-6). Because of this,
the soldiers were ordered to ensure all of these three crucified, including
Jesus, were dead, as sundown was fast-approaching.
To fasten death of a crucified person, the Roman
authority broke the legs of the crucified. It was because the crucified could
use legs to move their bodies a bit to secure breathing to stay alive as their
remaining physical strengths would allow. By breaking the legs, the crucified
would no longer breathe. Therefore, breaking the legs of the crucified expedite
their death.
Jesus was found dead by the time Roman soldiers
tried to break his legs (John 19:33), as he expired upon saying, “It is finished” (John 19:30). So, the
soldier did not have to break Jesus’ legs.
This is not by accident.
Remember, Jesus died on the Cross as Pesach Korban – Paschal Sacrifide, which
John the Baptist called the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36). In the Passover
custom, the legs of the slaughtered Passover lamb should not be broken (Exodus
12:46; Numbers 9:12). And David wrote that God ensures that the legs of the righteous
are not broken (Psalm 34:21), implying that the legs of Jesus would be intact,
as he is righteous (Romans 3:25-26; 1 Peter 2:22).
But one soldier wanted to make sure that Jesus was
also dead. So, he thrust his lance into the body of Jesus from its side (John
19:34a). Then, the blood and the water came out (ἐξῆλθεν/ exelthen)
immediately
(εὐθὺς/euthys)(John 19:34b).
This phenomenon is quite intriguing from a
scientific point of view, because this gives an impression that Jesus was not
really dead. The blood tends to go down toward the toes due to gravity in a
corpse hung on the cross, as the heart stopped beating. When pierced, the blood
would not flow immediately upon being pierced.
In fact, the very focus on the Gospel Reading (John
19:31-37) for the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is the fact that
the blood and the water came out of the body of Jesus on the Cross immediately
upon being pierced (John 19:34). This gives an impression that the heart of
Jesus was still pumping the blood, though he was expired. And, the lance of the
soldier may have pierced all the way to the heart of Jesus from the side of his
body. Then, it was like the final blow to kill, by piercing the heart. In its immediate
response, the blood and the water came out, as the heart were still pumping, rather
than the blood and the water seeping out slowly.
The heart of Jesus was pierced by the sin of the
word, and his pierced heart is the Sacred Heart to symbolize the enduring love
of the Father for us through him, as addressed in the Catechism of the Catholic
Church, 478; cf. John 19:34).
From 1673-1675, Jesus made private apparitions to
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and revealed his Most Sacred Heart as the heart of
the flame of the eternal divine love.
This is how St. Margaret Mary described her first
encounter with Jesus, reveling his Most Sacred Heart for the first time on
December 27, 1673:
One
day, having a little more leisure-for occupations confided to me left me scarcely
any-I was praying before the Blessed Sacrament, when I felt myself wholly
penetrated with that Divine Presence, but to such a degree that I lost all
thought of myself and of the place where I was, and abandoned myself to this
Divine Spirit, yielding up my heart to the power of His Love. He made me repose
for a long time upon His Sacred Breast, where He disclosed to me the marvels of
His Love and the inexplicable secrets of His Sacred Heart, which so far He had
concealed from me. Then it was that, for the first time, He opened to me His
Divine Heart in a manner so real and sensible as to be beyond all doubt, by
reason of the effects which this favor produced in me, fearful, as I always am,
of deceiving myself in anything that I say of what passes in time. It seems to
me that this is what took place:
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 must needs spread them abroad by your 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.
On June 16, 1675, Jesus expressed his frustration
with our ingratitude to God’s love, which his Most Sacred Heart represents,
from which his blood and water flowed out immediately upon being pierced:
Behold
the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting
and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love; and in return, I receive
from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and
by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love. But
what I feel most keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me, that
treat Me thus. Therefore, I ask of you that the Friday after the Octave of
Corpus Christi be set apart for a special Feast to honor My Heart, by
communicating on that day, and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in
order to make amends for the indignities which It has received during the time
It has been exposed on the altars. I promise you that My Heart shall expand
Itself to shed in abundance the influence of Its Divine Love upon those who
shall thus honor It, and cause It to be honored.
Jesus really wants us to know God’s love, which
flows out of his inflaming Most Sacred Heart. So, he also instituted the
Solemnity of his Most Sacred Heart to be observed on the Friday after the
Octave of Sollemnitas Sanctissimi
Corporis et Sanguinis Christi. This reminds
us that the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is integral to the Body and the Blood of Jesus.
And, on his words above, Jesus promised the benefits
of the mercy and mighty love of God for our devotion to his Most Sacred Heart on
the first Fridays:
I
promise you, in the excess of the mercy of My Heart, that Its all-powerful love
will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the first Friday of nine
consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under My
displeasure nor without receiving the Sacraments, My Divine Heart becoming
their assured refuge at that last hour.
Jesus made clear that his Most Sacred Heart is
inseparable from the Divine Mercy. And this connection between the Most Sacred
Heart of Jesus to the Divine Mercy rooted in John 19:34 was spoken to St. Maria
Faustina that his Sacred Heart, which was pierced by the lance of a Roman
soldier, representing our sins, is the fount of the Divine Mercy, which is
represented with the blood and the water that flowed out of the pierced heart:
I
desire that you know more profoundly the love that burns in My Heart for souls,
and you will understand this when you meditate upon My Passion. Call upon My
mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer,
with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him
the grace of conversion. This is the prayer: “O Blood and Water, which gushed
forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You.”
(Diary of St. Faustina: 186/187)
The blood and the water, which gushed forth from the
Heart of Jesus, as a fount of the Divine Mercy for us, appeared in the image of
Jesus as appeared to St. Faustina, as the two rays: red and pale rays. And
Jesus himself explained that these rays represent the blood and the water of
his.
The
two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes
souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These
two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My agonized
Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross. These rays shield souls from the
wrath of My Father. Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the
just hand of God shall not lay hold of him. I desire that the first Sunday
after Easter be the Feast of Mercy (Ibid. : 298-299)
The blood that gushed forth from the pierced heart
of Jesus is the life of our soul, and this precious blood of Jesus is what
keeps us alive (John 6:53; cf. Leviticus 17:11). And this blood is the essence
of the New Covenant of Jesus to us (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25), built upon
the old covenants (Genesis 6:8; 9:9-17, with Noah; Genesis 15:18; 17:2-21, with
Abraham; Exodus 19:5; 24:7-8; 31:16; 34:10, 27, with Moses). This is why Jesus
said that his blood is the life of our souls. The water that gushed out of the
pierced heart of Jesus, on the other hand, makes our souls righteous, and this
also represents the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5; cf. John 7:37-39). And, this is
also about Baptism (cf. John 3:5).
Jesus revealed his Most Sacred Heart inflamed with
the Divine Love through St. Margaret Mary. And he revealed it to St. Maria Faustina
as the fount of the Divine Mercy. Jesus made these revelations to draw us to
him, turning away from sins and raising the spiritual temperature of our faith
in him, as he despises lukewarm souls (Diary of St. Faustina, 1228; Revelation
3:16). When we are away from Jesus, our souls would be lukewarm. That is why he
has revealed his heart, which was made open as being pierced, allowing the
Divine Mercy to gush out to us, through his blood and the water.
If this immeasurable love of God through the unfathomable suffering of Jesus is not good enough for us to turn to Jesus, to his Most Sacred Heart inflamed with the Divine Love, the fount of the Divine Mercy, what else?
So, the Gospel Reading for the Solemnity of the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus concludes with these words:
They
will look upon him whom they have pierced (John 19:37;
cf. 12:32).
Though our sins have pierced Jesus deep into his Most Sacred Heart, we will look upon him and come to him, as we come to know this pierced heart as the Most Sacred Heart inflamed with the Divine Love, as the fount of the Divine Mercy, with his blood and water gushing out to us to redeem our souls from sins and lukewarmness.
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