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Third Sunday
after Pentecost
Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk
14th June 2015
On Devotion to the
Sacred Heart by Pope Pius XII
After our Lord had
ascended into Heaven with His body adorned with the splendours of eternal glory and took His place by the right
hand of the Father, He did not cease to remain with His
Spouse, the Church, by means of the burning love with which
His Heart beats. For He bears in His hands, feet and side
the glorious marks of the wounds which manifest the
threefold victory won over the devil, sin, and death.
He likewise keeps in
His Heart, locked as it were in a most precious shrine, the
unlimited treasures of His merits, the fruits of that same
threefold triumph, which He generously bestows on the
redeemed human race. This is a truth full of consolation,
which the Apostle of the Gentiles expresses in these words:
"Ascending on high, He led captivity captive; He gave gifts
to men".
The gift of the Holy
Spirit, sent upon His disciples, is the first notable sign
of His abounding charity after His triumphant ascent to the
right hand of His Father.
The infusion of this
divine charity also has its origin in the Heart of the
Saviour, "in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge". For this charity is the gift of Jesus Christ and
of His Spirit; for He is indeed the spirit of the Father and
the Son from whom the origin of the Church and its marvellous extension is revealed to all the pagan races
which had been defiled by idolatry, family hatred, corrupt
morals, and violence.
This divine charity
is the most precious gift of the Heart of Christ and of His
Spirit: It is this which imparted to the Apostles and
Martyrs that fortitude, by the strength of which they fought
their battles like heroes till death in order to preach the
truth of the Gospel and bear witness to it by the shedding
of their blood; it is this which implanted in the Doctors of
the Church their intense zeal for explaining and defending
the Catholic faith; this nourished the virtues of the
Confessors, and roused them to those marvellous works useful
for their own salvation and beneficial to the salvation of
others both in this life and in the next; this, finally,
moved the Virgins to a free and joyful withdrawal from the
pleasures of the senses and to the complete dedication of
themselves to the love of their heavenly Spouse.
Nothing therefore
prevents our adoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ as
having a part in and being the natural and expressive symbol
of the abiding love with which the divine Redeemer is still
on fire for mankind. Though it is no longer subject to the
varying emotions of this mortal life, yet it lives and beats
and is united inseparably with the Person of the divine Word
and, in Him and through Him, with the divine Will. Since
then the Heart of Christ is overflowing with love both human
and divine and rich with the treasure of all graces which
our Redeemer acquired by His life, sufferings and death, it
is therefore the enduring source of that charity which His
Spirit pours forth on all the members of His Mystical Body.
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