On the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Friday, June 19, 2020

In today’s Gospel (Matthew 11:25-30), Jesus invites us to receive his revelation of God and the joy it brings: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” The Lord’s call, “Come to me” has the same meaning as “Come after me.” It is an invitation to discipleship, to being with Jesus, to sharing his life. And what is the reward for going to Jesus? REST! The rest that Jesus promises us should not be mistaken to mean “laying on your couch, watching TV, eating potato chips and enjoying a drink after a day of labor.” The “rest” here has the same theological meaning with “Shalom,” (Peace)— which is Jesus first utterance to his disciples when he appeared to them after his resurrection. Rest or peace was God’s original intention for the human race. And it means well-being in every aspect of life. It is wellbeing in your spiritual life, wellbeing in your emotional life, wellbeing in your social life, wellbeing in your relationships, wellbeing in every facet of life. 

Sisters and brothers, everything that Jesus accomplished for us flows from his Heart that is spotlessly Sacred. His heart is the Ocean of Mercy— unimaginable mercy; mercy that is, so to speak, “reckless.” Lavished mercy. Boundless mercy. His entire ministry on earth was defined by mercy. He offered mercy to those who deserved it and to those who didn’t. He offered mercy to those who asked for it and to those who didn’t. At the zenith of his pains, anguish and humiliation on the cross, what did Jesus do? Unleash mayhem and terror to his haters? No! As Jesus hung on the cross, writhed in pains, what were his executioners doing? They were jeering him, mocking him, teasing him, ridiculing him. They were doubling down his humiliation and basically saying to all: look at the one you believe in. Look at your savior. If he cannot save himself, how can he save you? The public ridicule of Jesus was meant to shame him to the highest degree and to the highest degree discourage anyone who would dare believe in his name. It was meant to portray him as a total failure, as someone that should be cursed and then forgotten. It was all part of the ploy to relegate him to a mere footnote in the world history. 

But as all these were playing out, Jesus’ ability and mastery over the forces of nature was not damaged. With a spoken word, he could order all the soldiers and everyone mocking him to drop dead or disappear and it would have happened. But he never took that route, instead he took the way of mercy: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” 

Only a heart filled with pure love could have done such. Only a heart deeply sacred, profoundly spotless, and essentially compassionate could have offered mercy at the pinnacle of excruciating pain and disgrace. No wonder in the 17th Century, Jesus appeared to a French Nun, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and asked us to celebrate a feast in honor of his Sacred Heart. The Heart of Jesus is the heart of mercy. He invites us to come to him, to adore him, to be with him, to be refreshed by him, to be nourished by him, to be strengthened by him, to be changed and transformed by him, and to be saved by himself.

What are your burdens? What troubles you the most? What is it that keeps you awake at night? Even as we are in church right now, what is it that makes you absent minded? Your body is here but your mind is elsewhere. What are those things that burden you? Is your ego so elevated and so puffed up? Are you trapped in habitual sin and it seems you don’t know how to break the chain and the cycle of falling into sin and falling deeper into sin? Learn to spend time with Jesus. He has a heart that is indescribably sacred, patient, merciful and compassionate. He will welcome you and also listen to you. His “Yoke is easy, and burden light.”