(Reflection on the Sacred Heart of Jesus)
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus, for us we are celebrating it from two major dimensions:
from the ecclesial dimension (as solemnity of and in the Church) and from the
Congregational dimension (as an intrinsic part of the Guanellian spirituality).
The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the sources of Don
Guanella’s inspiration of charity. Prof. Carlo Laudazi evidenced in his
reflections on the ‘Pillars of the Guanellian Spirituality’ that the
theological justification of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ,
singled out in the context of the mystery of the Incarnate Word as a full
manifestation of God’s love for man, helps us to comprehend why St. Luigi
Guanella found in the Heart of Christ the concretization of his spiritual
conception of the universal paternity of God[1]. In his work, “Caritas Christi Urget Nos”, C. Obiagba noted: “According Guanella
we are called to the charity of the heart of Jesus…It is an inalienable
conviction in Guanella that we cannot but unite ourselves to the Heart of Jesus
in order to make the work prosper”[2].
When we have to reflect or meditate on the
Sacred Heart of Jesus as spiritual sons and daughters of St. Luigi Guanella,
the literary piece that easily comes to mind is Don L. Guanella’s book
dedicated to the Sacred Heart: “In the month of fervor”. This book
was written by Don Guanella for the purpose of spreading and nourishing the devotion
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He perceived June as a special month of grace, a
month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the book, Don Guanella traced the effulgent grace of the Heart of
Jesus from the mysteries of his Incarnation, his Birth, his Life, his
Passion and Death, his Glorious Resurrection, his Ascension into heaven and
lastly, to the Sacred Heart in the Most Holy Sacrament. In his daily sermon on
the Sacred Heart which he was beginning always with a biblical quotation, he
was bent on demonstrating the tenderness of the divine Heart towards us.
For those of us who were graced to read in
these days of the month of June, Don Guanella’s daily reflections and
admonitions on the Sacred Heart, we
cannot but confess the immensity of the inexhaustible spiritual patrimony our
Founder left for us, his passionate
love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus and his creative charity that emerges from
that conviction. In fact, Don Attilio Beria in “Pagine Spirituali e Preghiere”, reaffirmed succinctly that “Il cuore
di Gesὺ è il cuore di padre” (The heart of Jesus is the heart of a father)[3].
To say it with St. Luigi Guanella, the Heart of Jesus is the heart of a father
who cannot leave his children in want, but He desires to bless them[4].
In his book, In the month of fervor, the
expression “the Heart of Jesus is the heart of a father” reoccurred several
times. This affirmation attributes to the Heart of Christ a more profound significance;
it expresses a strong realism not about
a generic love of God, but a salvific aspect of his love. As a matter of
fact, the Heart of Christ in the thought of St. Luigi Guanella is not a mere symbol
above, that refers only to the mystery of God’s love in itself, but it is a
symbol that represents a more concrete reality, that is, it demonstrates that
the human heart has become the heart of God, heart with which God loves as
Father, participates, rejoices and cries[5].
The Heart of Jesus is a heart of a loving father, full of tenderness and
affection[6].
As such, the characteristic of the divine
Heart invites us to the commitment of
fraternal charity to the point of becoming generous victims, because the
only thing necessary is to sanctify oneself in order to be able to sanctify
others. For St. Luigi Guanella as C. Obiagba asserts, the Sacred Heart is the
instrument of motivation for the actions of mercy towards the little ones. We
ought to draw strength and inspiration from the Heart of Jesus in order to
offer love and mercy to the poor and the abandoned[7].
Interestingly, many a times when Don Guanella
speaks of the Sacred Heart, he links it to the Eucharist, or rather sees it
present in the Eucharist, we see this connection in our Constitutions: “In the
Heart of Christ pierced on the cross and present in the Eucharist we
contemplate the supreme revelation of the love of God, and are able to
comprehend how true it is that we are children loved and saved. Since its
foundation, the Institute is consecrated to Christ, its Lord and teacher,
receiving from Him continuous proofs of assistance and blessing”[8].
Drawing the issue further, for St. Luigi Guanella to talk the Sacred Heart is
to talk about the love of God towards us, and the Sacred Heart is our source of
unstoppable blessing.
In the
immense thought and spirituality of St. Luigi Guanella, we discovered a great affinity and correlation between the Heart of
Jesus, the Priesthood and the Eucharist. He was able to make a synthesis of
these three elements in his spirituality. In that bid, when we talk about the
Sacred Heart two important moments in the life of Jesus come to mind: the Last
Supper and the Good Friday. At the Last Supper Jesus makes a gift to the Church
of the Eucharist and the Priesthood. Then Good Friday, is when that love is
actually realized and brought to fulfillment. Here, we contemplate the pierced
Heart of the Lord, as the most sublime manifestation of his love, as the source
that gives new life to his disciples. St. Luigi Guanella like many other saints
was inspired by these two moments in his spirituality, which takes two complementary strands: the mystical contemplation
of these mysteries, which made him capable of intimate union with the Lord, and
active charity that makes him a witness to the most needy, of the charity and
merciful goodness of the Heart of Christ. The Heart of Jesus, like the heart of
the priest, is the Father's Heart. The Heart of Christ, like that of the
priest, is the Eucharistic Heart. The Heart of Christ, like that of the
priest, is the Heart which pours out its spirit on the world.
Above all else, however, the celebration
of this Solemnity for us, should not just be a matter of chronicle, as a
periodical celebration, rather the tenderness of the love of the divine Heart
as revealed by St. Luigi Guanella should propel us to ask ourselves various
questions: does our heart resemble the Heart of Jesus? Do we imitate the
merciful and loving heart of Jesus? Do we behave as recipients of graces from
this Heart? Maybe like John the beloved, we need to lean on the Heart of Jesus-
to discover the truth about ourselves, about others and the truth about the
future (cf. Jn. 13:25). We need to
lean on His Sacred Heart to listen, to contemplate and to be transformed by the
Heart of Jesus. Probably, John the Beloved is trying to teach us that as sons
and daughters of Sacred Heart, in order to be in the Heart of Jesus, we need to
establish an intimate connection and link with the Heart of our Saviour that is
beating every minute for love of us! At the beginning of his Gospel St. John
tells us that Jesus is close to the Father’s heart (Jn. 1:18) and later John the Beloved leaned on the Heart of Jesus,
a wonderful sign of intimacy (Father and Jesus, Jesus and John), and when we
too lean on this Heart we enter into the economy of this intimacy, it becomes ‘Cor
ad cor loquitur’. For this Don Guanella proposes and our Constitutions
suggest to us thus: “Nothing therefore, can be preferred to the love of Christ.
With ever greater resolve, each one of us should learn to draw inspiration from
him, the meek and humble one, striving to have the Redeemer enter everyone’s
heart to awaken in him the clear sense of his divine calling”[9].
As don F. Bordoni rightly puts in his book, Lo Specifico Guanelliano: “Don Guanella
has received from the Holy spirit, from birth, a heart that is particularly
filial and merciful, heart that resembles that of Christ. His devotion to the
Heart of Jesus was pushing him to make his heart a “photocopy” of the Heart of
Christ”[10].
We too are called to make our hearts a “photocopy” of the Heart of Christ, a
loving and merciful Heart.
As we celebrate the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, we remember also the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification
of Priests. It was Pope Benedict XVI who explained the meaning of this term: sanctification is "the giving over of a person to God" (Homily, April 9, 2009). This consecration also defines the essence of the priesthood: "it is a transfer of ownership, a being taken out of the world and given to God" (Homily, April 9, 2009). In the same vein, particularly for us guanellians, today a gracious opportunity is offered to us, to devotionally renew our vows as desired by our Founder. Remember, the
first name given to us by our Founder was Sons of Sacred Heart, even though the
name was later changed, we are still sons of the Sacred Heart because of the
strong affinity and unwavering devotion of Fr. Luigi to the Sacred Heart. As we
renew our consecration today, we ask Jesus to fill our hearts with joy, peace
and love. May the Blood and Water gushing forth from His pierced side be for us an ocean of favour and continued renewal! May the affection, the love and the tenderness oozing out of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus renew us and make us whole. Amen!
Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus draw all men to your Heart!!
Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus heal our continent Africa and transform hatred and
violence to love and peace!!
Most
Sacred Heart of Jesus renew in us our commitment to You and to the poor!!!
O
Merciful Saviour, open to us the effulgent grace and treasures of your Sacred
Heart!!!
Happy
Feast to Us all!!!
Fr. Vitus Chigozie
From the
Guanellian Study Centre
(House of
Providence, Yemetu Ibadan)
[1] Alejandro Dieguez, La
spiritualità di Don Luigi
Guanella, p. 98.
[2] Christopher I. Obiagba, Caritas
Christi Urget Nos. L’esigenza di ispirazione Cristiana del servizio della carità. P. 35.
[3] Attilio Beria, Pagine Spirituali e Preghiere, p. 39.
[4] Don Luigi Guanella, In the
month of fervor, p.44.
[5] Alejandro Dieguez, La
spiritualità di Don Luigi
Guanella, p. 98.
[6] Ibidem
[7] Christopher I. Obiagba, Caritas
Christi Urget Nos. L’esigenza di ispirazione Cristiana del servizio della carità. P. 38.
[8] Constitutions, n. 11
[9] Constitutions,
n. 11
[10] Don Felice Bordoni, Lo
Specifico Guanelliano. Quardeni di formazione, p. 9.
Nice
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