SACRED HEART TALK 2020: Priests of the Sacred Heart (3)

Hello and welcome to the third and last of these talks concerning the Sacred Heart in which I want to consider how we’re called to be Priests of the Sacred Heart.

One of the important purposes of the priesthood, of course, is to share with others something of the love of God – to help them consider that Love and to grow in their free gift of themselves to that Love, and to do that we need to be growing in that love.  In his gospel St. John records, of course, that triple question Jesus asked Peter: “Do you love me – love me more than these?”  (Jn. 21:15).  He wasn’t speaking of sentimental love, but agape love, love which is costly. He wanted to get Peter to consider in depth – in the depths of his heart – that love which the image of the Sacred Heart reveals.  It’s this love which needs to animate the vocation of every priest and we need to hear Jesus saying to us: “Do you love me – more than these?”  It’s the question that needs to refresh our vocation and to which we need to constantly return.

It’s the question reflected in the image of the Sacred Heart and is one of the reasons why it can be of great benefit to everyone, not least to priest.  We all know the importance of images – how they can speak more powerfully than words – and, as we know, the image of the heart speaks across religions, cultures and ages.  Whether on a heart on a Valentine’s card or one made with our hands, it has a warm sentimental feel; which is the difference between those romantic hearts and the Sacred Heart.  For the Sacred Heart portrays the cost of Jesus’ love shown in the way this Heart is illustrated with symbols of the Passion, so let’s consider them for they reveal the depths of Christ’ love, a love which is of far greater importance than the fuzzy glow that can come with a Valentine.

THE BLOOD-FILLED HEART

Firstly, it is a heart pumping with blood, the one organ which enables the whole body to live.  Unseen, but not unheard, it works away 24/7 for the whole of our time on earth – we could manage without many of our body parts, but not without our heart and it’s that unseen beat of the heart which needs to animate our vocation.

THE PIERCED HEART

Then there’s that matter of the blood with is shown, dripping from a wound. That makes it clear how the Heart of Jesus, like that of His Mother, was pierced; hers by a sword, his by a lance – the holy lance of the soldier, St. Longinus – as he hung on the Cross.  The lance pierced through His side into His Heart, into what this drawing by St. Margaret Mary made clear was a reservoir of caritas, love, from which flowed blood and water, the water of Baptism and the blood of the Eucharist, Sacraments of the Love of God.  In the past the Holy Blood was revered for the way it was that ‘ocean of love’ which could cleanse and renew our own –

Wash thou my wounds in that dear Blood
Which forth from thee doth flow,
New grace, new hope inspire, a new
And better heart bestow.

As Jesus said about the German mystic, St. Gertrude: ‘The proximity of her heart to the wound in my side means that I have so joined her heart to mine that she is able to receive, directly and at all times, the flow of my divinity.’  So we’re also to be priests of the wounded Christ, realising that the wounds of those with whom we minister are reflected in the Wounded Heart of Jesus.

THE CROWNED HEART

To underline the connection between the Sacred Heart and the Passion of Christ, the Heart is encircled by the Crown of Thorns.  Firstly, that reminds us how it wasn’t just His body which reveals the cost of love, His mind also paid the price.  But just as the Holy Lance which pierced the side of Jesus symbolises those ‘darts of longing love’ which gain us entry into Christ’s heart, so we can meditate on the way this Crown of love pierces him.

THE CROSS-CROWNED HEART

‘Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness’ (Phi. 2:1f).  It also reminds us that, whilst we may not find ourselves having to physically suffer for our faith, there will be many times when we’re pierced and humbled and all we can do is hold on to our consecration as priests of the Sacred Heart.  No wonder, then, that the Heart is surmounted by the Cross.  Or, perhaps we might consider how the Cross rests on the Sacred Heart reminding us that when we gaze on it, we must always contemplate it as the sign of God’s love.  Priestly ministry will always be under this sign of our Master and reminding us that we should never be surprised that we’re called to suffer with Him.  St. Teresa of Avila said: ‘the important thing is not to think much but to love much and do that which stirs us to love.’  How often do we place our mind in our heart?  Where is the centre of our being – in the head or the heart?

THE FLAMING HEART

Again, that consideration is informed by the way the Cross is enflamed – the fire of God’s love by which so many have said we must be consumed.  ‘May the power of your love’, prayed St. Francis of Assisi, ‘fiery and sweet as honey, so absorb our hearts as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven.  Grant that we may be ready to die for love of your love, as you died for love of our love.’  That prayer should take us back to that triple question posed to St. Peter, a prayer which might be one every priest should pray daily.   The Sacred Heart is a warm, glowing heart, radiating compassionate love; a hurt, open heart which is the gate of heaven and needs to inform our priesthood.

THE NON-DUALISTIC HEART

But there’s an aspect of some Sacred Heart imagery many find off-putting – the way they show Jesus in an androgynous way – he seems partly male and partly female, certainly not a man’s man!   There’s a femininity about many images which can be challenging, but which fits with the classic symbolism of the heart as feminine and the mind as masculine; the softness and approachability of Jesus in such images is revealed by artists who, perhaps unconsciously, knew the Sacred Heart was meant to open us to the feminine in the divine and is meant to answer the false dualism pictures can inevitably portray.   For we know that in Christ there is neither male nor female, we are all one in Him (Gal. 3:28), something we need to realise in ourselves.   Our priesthood needs to incarnate both the feminine and masculine in God.

THE COSMIC HEART

Finally, I want to acknowledge that the Sacred Heart is not only a universal symbol, it’s also a symbol of the universe. ‘We know’, wrote St. Paul, ‘that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now’ (Roms. 8:22) and can rightly believe that, at the heart of the universe is the Heart of Christ, the Creator.  Within the Cosmic Christ is a cosmic intimacy; the Creator we proclaim isn’t some majestic deus ex machina, but a power of Love, a love whose nature is constantly creative.  The universe is like a woman struggling in giving birth to an infant conceived in love. 

One of the reasons why devotion to the Sacred Heart is so important is that it declares that we were made in that image and if you want to understand what this human-being is all about, look at the Sacred Heart.  As Teilhard de Chardin wrote in The Heart of the Matter, this devotion gave him a sense of the ‘solidity of Christ … the immersion of the divine in the corporeal … a glowing core of fire … able to insinuate itself everywhere … to make love of the cosmic milieu.’  Such a realisation lies behind eucharistic living, living with a constant realisation of the loving, compassionate presence of God in all things.  As priests, we are not only those who preside at the sacraments, we need to enable others to live sacramentally as we deepen our own awareness of God’s loving presence in all things.

CONCLUSION

So as we come to the end of this meditation, let’s keep a few minutes of silence at the end of which I’ll read a reflection by the late Mother Osyth of Malling Abbey.

(Silence)

Wind, fire and flame

   the outward sign 

   but in the heart

   breath of the spirit

        love and light

   heavenly dew

of sanctifying grace

   God’s very presence hallowing the place

   restoring to his image

        the souls face

DENY YOURSELF AND TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

Sermon preached at the Church of All Saints, Blackheath

at Parish Mass on Lent 2

(March 1st, 2015)

__________________________________________________

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves

and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)

+

INTRODUCTION

Some of us have probably been enjoying ‘Wolf Hall’, the story of how Thomas Cromwell’s navigated the corridors of power in the Tudor court to become Henry VIII's chief minister. 

Fifty years ago Paul Schofield starred as S. Thomas More in another account of that turbulent period.  Amongst all the memorable lines he uttered, one always stood out for me.  It was during More’s trial and his old protégé Richard Rich, now Attorney- General for Wales, was testifying against him.  More spotted the gold chain of that office, which he had gained by devious means, and uttered the haunting observation: “Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?”

Now I apologise to any Welsh people here at that slight on the Principality, especially on this day, but the gospel reading we've just heard concerns the call to live with integrity.  And for us Christians in particular it concerns the cost of discipleship: how we let go of our old self so that Jesus’ identity gradually shapes our own.

DISCIPLESHIP AND THE PASSION OF CHRIST

Jesus’ observation that anyone who wants to follow Him will need to take up their cross is the first mention in Mark’s gospel of that terrible symbol of Roman execution.  So Jesus has to teach His disciples that the Son of Man must undergo suffering and death, a prediction that clearly shocked Peter and the others who may have been in danger of believing that following Jesus would lead to one success after another.  That’s understandable; few of us would want to join a group that courted failure but Jesus clearly needs to point them beyond this superficial approach to discipleship.  So He makes it plain that following Him will involve self-denial and taking up ‘the cross’. 

This stark choice is one that we all need reminding of from time to time.  Being a Christian mustn’t be equated with success.  There is a cost to discipleship, a cost that will often involve choices in the way we act.  Sometimes it will be stark, as it is for many Christians in the Middle East right now.  But each day we are faced with choices about how to act in hundreds of different ways. 

Of course, we know that we shouldn’t do anything that is evil, but there are so many subtle choices we are faced with and the question is, which ones will keep us on the path to life?  Sometimes the choice is clear, but at other times it isn’t.  What we are called to do is to seek to have the eye of our heart fixed on the Lord.  To practice the discipline of desiring to be moulded in His image and likeness so that our desires are, gradually, at one with His. 

DENY YOURSELF

This is what lies behind Jesus’ call to disciples that they should ‘deny themselves’.  Now that phrase, or others like ‘self-denial’, are meant to alert us to the way in which the ‘self’ – the overblown-self – needs to be kept in check else it may get out of control. 

At the beginning of Lent, when ash was smeared on our foreheads, it was accompanied with the words: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel”.  So often it is that dominating-self which controls our lives.  Of course, it’s important to have a healthy sense of ‘self’ for once we do then we don’t have to engage in that constant need to dominate others – to always be right, for example.  What it doesn’t mean is to adopt an attitude that is abusive towards our-self.  That would be quite wrong.  Before ever we can begin on a healthy self-denial we have to have a healthy sense of self which comes, for us, from knowing that we are God’s beloved children.

And lying behind the movement towards denying ourselves must be faithful to the gospel – to that call to live out of the goodness of God. 

LIFE THROUGH LAW OR GRACE

S. Paul, in that extract we heard from his letter to the Romans, teaches us that this way of discipleship which leads to fullness of life, cannot be determined by any law but only by living in the grace – the mercy – of God.  God’s promise of eternal life (and that isn’t just about some future paradise but something that is lived now) does not depend on slavishly following a religious code – Paul was no fundamentalist – but by living through faith in God.  ‘Thy will be done.’ 

And how do we know when we are doing God’s will?  By seeking to make Him the centre of our lives.  One of the simplest and most profound means of doing this was devised by Ignatius Loyola.  It’s a practice he called the Examen which many Christians are turning to in their desire to live out the gospel.  It’s an exercise of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God's presence and discern how we can ‘flow’ into His desire – His will – for us.  Ignatius recommended that we should constantly reflect on the movements that are directing our lives: not how I can be good, but on the way I have responded to those movements as I seek to freely give myself to God.   

One of the simplest ways of practicing this exercise is by placing your hand on your heart and asking the Lord to bring to your heart the moment today for which you are most grateful.  When were you most able to give and receive love today?  Then ask yourself what was said and done in the moment that made it so special and breathe in the gratitude you feel.   Next ask God to bring to your heart the moment today for which you are least grateful.  When were you least able to give and receive love?  Ask yourself what was said and done in that moment that made it so difficult.  Then, finally, take deep breaths and let God’s love fill you just as you are.

This daily prayerful exercise is designed to consciously re-direct the heart towards giving itself to God’s gracious call to life so that we can give ourselves to living out of the will of God with greater freedom. 

TAKING UP THE CROSS

Of course, living out of His will means letting go of ours which, in turn, means that we are learning to take up our cross and follow Christ.  To lose, or let go of, our life to be open to the life He offers us.  The Examen can help us reflect on that process and so can seeking to be constantly present to God by letting go of the self. 

There are many practices to aid this desire which work with inkling the heart towards God.  From the practice of the Jesus Prayer – that constant repetition in the heart of the phrase: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner” – to just being present to our breathing or to a sacred word: “Jesus” or “Abba” or “Maranatha” for example.  In all of this we are not responding to a demand of God but, rather, an invitation into eternal life – or life in all its fullness.  God does not demand that we discipline ourselves in order to achieve some state of higher moral existence; but He does, graciously, invite us to share in His life by letting go of our over- bearing ego-self and letting His life become ours.

CONCLUSION

Satan – or the force of evil – is constantly at work in the world seeking someone to devour.  Thankfully we don’t face the stark choice of denying Christ or being crucified for our faith.  But we are called to deny ourselves.  As Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher, once said in a sermon: “I have now concentrated all my prayers into one, and that one prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to Him.”  

Today we have a chance of reflecting on a set of readings that have this in common: that we are called into a new relationship with God.  One not based on keeping a set of rules but of learning to freely give myself into a relationship with Him so that His life becomes my life. 

Perhaps that’s what Lent is all about.

Amen.