The Sisters Of the Visitation of Tyringham

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DEVOTION TO THE HEART OF CHRIST

by Sister Mary Ruth

October 2007

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Dear Friends of the Sacred Heart

Today I would like to speak about devotion to the Sacred Heart as being a particular grace for our own times.

The characterization of any decade or century is often subjective. Charles Dickens in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, characterizes late eighteenth century England and France, (the year, 1775, to be exact), in this way:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way  in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." 

Every era has had its own "best of times" and its own "worst of times." We might be tempted to look back on the twentieth century (yes, we've been in the 21 Century for some time now!) and think that it exhibited a kind of innocence compared to the evils that we hear about on the news or read in the headlines of our daily newspapers. The element of terrorism striking anywhere and without warning is a relatively new form of warfare... a troublesome aspect of this phenomenon is the invoking of religious conviction as justification for these ruthless actions. It is said that, "Terrorists hold that the truth in which they believe or the suffering that they have undergone are so absolute that their reaction by destroying even innocent lives is justified."

From the moment of the Fall of Man, good and evil have stood side by side. Our Catholic Faith teaches us that Christ conquered sin and death by his own death and resurrection. However, it is up to each individual to totally accept the grace of Christ's redemption. Our beloved, late Holy Father, John Paul II, tells us in one of his earliest encyclicals, "Dives et Misericordia", "Rich in Mercy", that "Jesus on the cross came to give the final witness to the wonderful covenant of God with humanity and with every human being... Yet the cross is not yet the final word of the God of the covenant. The final word is spoken when first the women and then the apostles hear at the empty tomb the message:

He is risen!" The cross and resurrection reveal the love that the Father has for Christ and in him for all people. Our faith and hope are for that reason centered on the risen Lord... Here is the one, who in his resurrection experienced the love of the Father, revealing himself as the inexhaustible source of mercy." (Dives et Misericordia)

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a most fitting way to "Look on Him Whom they have pierced". By looking upon the pierced side of our Lord Jesus, we contemplate the preeminent sign of God's immeasurable and ever faithful love of us. We are drawn to the Heart of Jesus which pours out upon us the healing grace of forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance. From the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus flow the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ for our spiritual nourishment during the days of our earthly pilgrimage home to God the Father.

We know that the one who reveals himself as the inexhaustible source of mercy, is Jesus who, while showing us his wounded Heart, tells us: "I am the door, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved..." (John 10:9) The Heart of Jesus teaches us that we do not only receive mercy but that we also must extend mercy. To practice mercy is a lifestyle and is characteristic of the Christian vocation. We show mercy primarily by forgiving offenses.

"We all need forgiveness. There is not one of us who can say that we have carried out to the letter all the directions that God has given us. Not one of us can say that we deserve God's love because of our own virtue and goodness. No, we are all sinners, and we all need to be forgiven.

"But why do we have to forgive our neighbor? Couldn't we just deal with God on our own and leave our neighbor out of it? That's not the way God intended things to work. God wants us to be holy, and being holy means being like God, and God's nature is a forgiving nature. So if we are going to be what God wants us to be we have to be like God, merciful and forgiving

"There are two more fundamental elements that we need to be aware of in this context of forgiving our neighbor. The first is that forgiveness does not mean pretending that nothing happened, that there are no wounds that need to heal, no reparation to be made by the person who has offended us. Forgiveness doesn't mean simply forgetting about the offense. Rather, forgiveness means loving the person in spite of the offense that was done to us. It means acknowledging that the offender is precious to the Lord and for that reason has to be precious to us. Forgiveness means wanting and doing good to the person who may have done bad to us.

"The other fundamental element in forgiveness is that God does not forgive because the sinner deserves forgiveness. God forgives simply because God is a forgiving God. It must be the same with us. We are not called to forgive because the offender deserves forgiveness, but because God calls us to forgive, to express His love even to those who may not deserve that love.

"Forgiving is not particularly easy. But it is always important for those who want to be like God."  Lessons in Forgiveness by Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk  Catholic Telegraph"  Cincinnati, Ohio.

Perhaps those toward whom forgiveness is the most difficult are those who are closest to us and who have hurt us: an unfaithful spouse, a parent, a close friend who turned out not to be the best of friends after all, a child who is estranged from us, a coworker whom we trained and who has been promoted instead of us and who tends to "lord" it over us. All of these relationships make forgiveness more difficult at times. Growing older sometimes leads us to be "put on the shelf" as it were, and we find others doing the work we once did. This is painful but necessary so that the next generation can have all of the opportunities for advancement that we once enjoyed. During the following Examination of Conscience on Forgiveness let us recall one of these persons for whom it is at this time most difficult for us to forgive.

An Examination of Conscience on Forgiveness

Do I find it easy to forgive?  How do I forgive offenses?  Do I pay lip service to forgiveness by assuring the one who has offended us while at the same time holding the hurt in my heart?  Do I forgive but not forget?  Do I ostensibly forgive a person but still hold a grudge against him or her?  Do I continue to relate to the person who has offended me or do I distance myself from him or her?  While seeming to extend my forgiveness do I tell all of my friends (not just ONE, trusted and reliable friend) how a person has offended me?  Do I gossip about the person who has offended me?  Do I allow persons to start over again or do I force them to remain forever shut up in their own mistakes and guilt?  Do I pray for all those who have hurt me and surround them with the love and mercy of Jesus?

Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, tells us that "Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil... Why not do towards others what we want them to do towards us? All human beings cherish the hope of being able to start all over again, and not remain forever shut up in their own mistakes and guilt. They all want to raise their eyes to the future and to discover new possibilities of trust and commitment." 

This presentation was given at the Monastery of the Visitation of Tyringham, MA on Monday October 1, 2007

God be Praised