Opening Prayer
Lord, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning is now and will be forever. Amen.
Reading
The Sacred Heart of Jesus, the burning furnace of charity, is the symbol and the expressed image of the eternal love by which “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,” Hence we are certain that the religious celebrations will add much to the deep penetration and understanding of the richness of divine love. We are equally confident that all the faithful will derive from them ever greater strength to conform their lives readily to the Gospel.
Pope Paul VI on the Second Centenary of the Institution of the Feast of the Sacred Heart February 6, 1965
Reflection – Sacred Heart of Jesus burning furnace of charity. Lord, help me to have a deeper openness to the burning furnace of love that is your heart, so that I may love you, myself, and my neighbor as you command.
Reading of the Word of God: John 19:31-34
Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down.
So, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.
An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may [come to] believe. This happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled:
“Not a bone of it will be broken.”
And again, another passage says:
“They will look upon him whom they have pierced.”
Adoration
Psalm 16 God the Supreme Good
Keep me safe, O God; in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, you are my Lord,
My happiness lies in you alone.
They multiply their sorrows who choose other gods.
Blood libations to them I will not pour out,
nor will I take their names upon my lips.
Lord, my allotted portion and my cup,
you have made my destiny secure.
Pleasant places were measured out for me;
fair to me indeed is my inheritance.
I bless the Lord who counsels me;
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord always before me;
with him at my right hand, I shall never be shaken.
And so my heart is glad, my soul rejoices;
my body also dwells secure,
for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
nor let your devout one see corruption.
You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
delights at your right hand forever.
Psalm 16 tells us that inner happiness comes only from trust in God and hope in his word.
Reflection/Adoration
Reading
Throughout my life, through my life, the world has little by little caught fire in my sight until, aflame all around me, it has become almost completely luminous from within—Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu.
Mystic and scientist Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) found cosmic meaning in the image of the fiery Sacred Heart of Jesus. David Richo writes:
The fire image of the mystics was expanded and enriched by Teilhard within his new cosmology.... There are indeed many precedents for this metaphor. The (apocryphal) Gospel of St. Thomas presents Jesus as saying: “He who nears me, nears the heart of the fire.” In the Litany of the Sacred Heart is the invocation “Glowing furnace of love.” Images of the Sacred Heart show a perpetual flame arising from its center. Fire burns away the selfish ego so that our basic goodness, our true nature as love, can shine through…. The fire in the heart of God is the same fire that burns in us once we have the interior vision that lets us acknowledge divinity within ourselves….
When St. Paul says that “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29), we see again a metaphor for the dismantling of ego-centeredness. Christ’s heart can become the fiery center of ourselves, and in that alchemical blaze the ego is transformed to the gold of humility and generosity. Our spiritual practice is thus to turn our ego energy into compassion for others, not at the cost of personal esteem, but as a fruit of it.... Fire is associated with hell but in the context of mystical revelations, fire is about love. The Sacred Heart is a divine pledge that the world will not end by fire but be reborn in it.
For the ancient Greeks and Egyptians healing was caused by light and fire. This may best resemble Teilhard’s mystical sense of the fire of the Sacred Heart that brings light and healing to the world.
Reflection/Adoration
Petitions
Our Father
Salve Regina
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