Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 11, 2021
Since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately blood and water flowed out.
An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true;
he knows that he is speaking the truth,
so that you also may come to believe.
For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled:
Not a bone of it will be broken.
And again another passage says:
They will look upon him whom they have pierced.
She was sobbing uncontrollably next to the hospital bed. They had been high school sweethearts before getting married over 40 years ago. After a tragic accident, he was gone. Trying to be present to her, past personal griefs also flooded my emotions. I remembered someone saying that the first heart that breaks is Jesus’ heart.
As Jesus hung on the cross, his heart both literally and figuratively broke for us. He hung there out of infinite love for us so that we may have the gift of salvation. Blood and water flowed from his pierced side. Early church writers interpreted this flowing stream sacramentally, symbolic of the life-giving waters of baptism and the Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.
This saving stream comes from an act of infinite self-sacrificial love. The physical stream stopped on Calvary. In contrast, the stream of grace continues to inundate the world, flooding especially where hearts break. For the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a heart of infinite love, and a heart that breaks for us.
Back in the hospital room, the situation my friend found herself in was not OK. However, the graces that flow from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, broken and opened wide for us, for her, allowed her to make it through that terrible day. Indeed, the graces flowing from His Sacred Heart will always carry us through.
Prayer
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we offer thanks for the great gift of your love, a love to transform our hearts and bring us closer to you. Give us vision to see our shortcomings, grace to do your will, and love to make our hearts like yours. In your sacred name, we pray. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today’s feast, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is a moveable feast, which means that it depends on the date of Easter Sunday. It is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost Sunday, which falls on the 50th day of Easter.
Jesus’ Sacred Heart is a special image for the brothers and priests of Holy Cross, who founded the University of Notre Dame. Blessed Basil Moreau, founder of Holy Cross, saw the heart as an image of God’s love for humanity and of humanity’s love for God. In the Sacred Heart, he saw the encounter between these two loves, so he consecrated the priests and seminarians of Holy Cross to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1841.
“One of the principal goals of this devotion,” preached Moreau in one of his sermons, “is to present us a model for imitation. The sight of the Savior’s adorable heart should say to each one of us … ‘Look at this example and make a faithful copy.’ This is the heart of the One given to you as master; your duty is to conform your heart to his.”
For Moreau, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was intimately and essentially tied to the Eucharist, which he saw as both the principal gift to flow out of Jesus’ heart as well as the greatest manifestation of that heart’s love for us:
“It is at the altar that … Jesus offers us a manna more appealing than that of the desert; there that he gives us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink; there that he becomes present in such a way within our soul, his heart speaking to us with all of its affection and bringing our own hearts to beat with his.”
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted in several places on campus and in the Basilica, but perhaps nowhere on campus more prominently than in the famous Sacred Heart of Jesus statue that stands in front of the Dome (pictured above). Several relics of Jesus rest in the reliquary chapel, including a part of his scarlet robe, a portion of his crown of thorns, and a sliver from the true cross. Learn more about the priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross here.
On this feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us look upon this image of Jesus’ love and make a faithful copy of it in our own lives!