Wounded Sacred Heart

As I begin this reflection on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I ask you to please try and read with an open heart. Try to take on the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

So often, when we discuss sensitive subjects, we immediately put on our boxing gloves, helmets, and mouth protectors before a word is said. We know what we believe, and we quickly get to our corners and come out swinging. We fear that if we listen, we might hear something that could change us, And so very often, we are so steeped and defensive of our truth, of our belief, that we don’t want to change. We don’t want to hear. Even if it is God speaking in our ear.

 Our church has the most beautiful mural of the Sacred Heart behind the altar. It is arresting. Most often, we talk about the eyes of the mural. The eyes seem to be looking straight into our hearts. No matter where one sits in the church, the eyes of Jesus are looking at us with love.  

This weekend, when we celebrate our patronal feast of the Sacred Heart, please look not just at the eyes of Jesus but at His heart. Jesus’ heart is pictured wrapped in a crown of thorns. There is a slash of a lance, and the Cross of His death is displayed. The glorious resurrected heart of Jesus is pictured as still suffering the pains of crucifixion today.

The crown of thorns continues to viciously pierce the heart of Jesus. We can name the thorns. We know them well. Their names are Sandy Hook, Los Vegas, Buffalo, Columbine, Parkland, Philadelphia, Virginia Tech, Santa Fe High School, Umpqua Community College, Oikus University, The Amish School, Pulse Orlando, Tree of Life Synagogue, West Freeway Church of Christ. There are too many more to list.

But those are not the only names of the thorns that pierce the heart of Jesus. They are named bigotry, poverty, domestic violence, child abuse, abandonment, selfishness, apathy, homelessness, ignorance, arrogance, “me first,” mental illness, judgment, fear, bullying, loneliness, and hate. Again the list could go on.

We are people of faith. Jesus sent us forth to do even greater works than he did. And yet we don’t. We don’t. We are people who believe in the message and the love of Jesus. We believe in the forgiveness of our God. Yet when we look at the many ills of our world, we stand paralyzed to stop them. Too often, our paralysis leads to apathy.

Instead of embracing the most significant issues of how to live the heart of Jesus, we hang our hats on labels that we allow to define us. Instead of looking for the way forward in our world together, we divide ourselves into camps. Yet, to build the Kingdom that God promised, we cannot refuse to move from our position.

We are all guilty. Whether the label we own is Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, gay or straight, privileged or wanting. If we are pro or anti-second amendment, pro-life or pro-choice, educated or ignorant, adult, child, or senior citizen. We are all responsible for the thorns that pierce the heart of Jesus.

Until we love our God more than our personal and political positions, we cannot solve the problems plaguing our society. It is that simple. We need to take off our boxing gloves and reach out and grasp the hand of the person we hold in the most tremendous disdain. We must recognize them as our brother and sister. We must find our way to love those who see the world differently. Then, we can together find the solutions to today’s problems.

On this Feast of the Sacred Heart, we can choose to stop pushing thorns into the heart of Jesus and begin healing our society and our world. We can be who Jesus called us to be. We can become a witness to the love of God. The question we are left with is, do we want to? Because if we do want to, we can change everything.  

A motley crew of 12 did it before us. If the Apostles did it, so can we. Are we willing to reach out in love? Are we ready to start plucking the thorns from the heart of Jesus? For all our sakes, I pray so.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen