By Mac Donald Lyngdoh, s.j.
As we are entering further into the
Holy Week, we are getting closer into the darkest hour of Jesus, his agony, his
suffering, and his death. After he had died, the soldier pierced his side with
a lance and there flowed water and blood. I tried to search for some more
references to this passage but found nowhere else but in John’s alone. I
wondered why only John mentioned this scene and not the other gospel writers.
One of the reasons might be because he was the only one present from among the
gospel writers. The other reason, which I personally feel to be true, might be
because John was the one who recline at the breast of Christ at the Last
Supper. May be he heard those tender heart beat of Christ, beating with love
for us. May be he heard the fearful palpitations of Christ as he neared his
death. At Calvary, the soldier pierced his
side with a lance and from there flowed water and blood. John later reminds us:
“They will look on the one whom they have pierced.” St Thomas Aquinas said that through that
pierced side, we all now have a door to enter from. He further said, “Your
purification is that water and your redemption is that blood.”
I find that there is a very deep
connection between the Pierced Side and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Pierced
Side has been a subject of contemplation for many people. This eventually led
them to the Heart of Jesus. Even before the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus became widely accepted, St. Gertrude and St. Peter Canisius were already
devoted to the Heart of Jesus. It was only with the coming of St. Margaret Mary
Alacouqe that the Devotion to the Sacred Heart gained ground. With the three
main apparitions she received from Jesus: first, like St. Gertrude, Margaret Mary too reclined at the breast of
Jesus and she heard those tender beatings of love of humanity; second, Jesus
revealed to her the ingratitude he received from men; and finally, he wanted
his Heart to be adored, and the world be consecrated to himself. A Jesuit, name
Claude de la Columbierre, Margaret Mary’s spiritual father, assisted in
propagating this devotion. With the 26th General Congregation of
1915, the propagation of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus became the
mission of the whole Society.
This devotion has been a great aid
to many Jesuits. In the 50th anniversary of the papal document Horiatis
Aquas, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that our life takes its meaning from
“fixing our gaze on our pierced Redeemer.” This Sacred Heart shows us the
physical heart of Jesus representing the divine love of Christ for humanity. It
lays an emphasis on the love, the compassion and the suffering heart of Christ
for us humans. This Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is an act of
reparation to the heart of Jesus represented as a heart pierced by a lance,
encircled by a crown of thorns, surmounted by a cross and blazing with fire and
divine light.
Whenever we speak of the heart,
don’t you think that we are dealing with something very deep and personal,
something very sentimental and touching us at our core? On the one hand,
physically speaking, the heart purifies the blood and pumps it all over the
body. On the other hand, the heart is like the source of every virtue and vice;
the core generator of the attitude of man. It looks like the content of the
whole person is concentrated in the heart. St.
John de Brebeuf, a missionary to the Huron, was a man of virtue and a man of
mission. He was a courageous man. He was loyal and faithful to Christ even to
the point of death. When he was killed, the Red Indians took out his heart and
ate it. He was a brave man they said. They believed that if the ate his heart,
they would be as brave as he was. Jesus calls us to communion with him and his
Father invites us to be like him who is meek and humble at heart. He is loving,
compassionate, merciful and forgiving. What else can we ask of him more
valuable than his heart? I personally find that our every grace that we
beseech, every blessing, every desire, and every prayer of petition is condensed
in this one sentenced: ‘Make our hearts like unto Yours.’
However, our desire should not be
only in asking for his Heart but also in giving our own. Swami Vivekananda,
when speaking about Christianity, he said, “If I meet this man Jesus, I’ll wash
his feet with the blood of my heart.” What else could a mortal man give God
more valuable than his heart? What we give God is only a glass of water; He
gives us a spring of water. We give God only our short lifetime; He gives us
eternity. We ask of him for pardon; He gives us both his pardon and friendship.
Let us be generous in giving our hearts to Jesus in exchange with His Sacred
Heart. Let us beg him like Teilhard de Chardin did by asking Jesus to take us
into his heart and when he has us there, to burn and purify us for his pleasure
till the total annihilation of ourselves.
Let me conclude with a story from a
movie called ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ A woman wanted to divorce her
husband and marry another man. She forced her husband to sign the divorce
papers. On the day of her second marriage, her lawyer came and informed her
that her husband had finally signed the papers. “It’s good news but there’s a
problem. You haven’t signed it yet,” the lawyer told her. There she realized
and felt that there was something missing in her. After a while, she turned to
her supposed-to-be-husband and said, “I have given my heart to somebody else a
long time ago and I never got it back.” Then she ran back to her husband.
I wish that we too would be able to
say something like this, “I have given my heart to Jesus and I never got it
back.”
