JUNE 10, 2018
12:00 PM EXTRAORDINARY FORM (LATIN) MASS
During the Octave of Corpus Christi in the year 1675, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque – a Visitation nun in the French town of Paray-le-Monial – had what is called the “great apparition.” She had a vision of Jesus holding out His pierced heart toward her and said:
Behold this Heart which has so loved men, that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself in order to testify to its love. In return, I have received from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and their sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this sacrament of Love.I was once asked to represent the Catholic position on “The Atonement.” I wasn’t familiar with this term, because it is perhaps one of the only theological terms that originates in the English language. In a sense, it relates to redemption, righteousness, and relationship.
When I arrived (late) at this theological “free for all,” someone from a mainstream denomination was carrying on with the theme of “What kind of Father kills his own Son,” and “Wearing a Crucifix is like wearing an electric chair, or wearing a noose.” In effect, mocking the Trinity and mocking the Cross.
After this enthralling discourse, it was my turn.
I began by speaking of the infinite Love of the Most Holy Trinity, traveling at an infinite speed, in an infinite quantity, with infinite force – and when this infinite … infinite … infinite … infinite Love meets the immoveable free will of humanity … it’s like a train wreck … like a high speed train being driven into a brick wall.
And then I pulled out my crucifix from under my shirt, and held it up, saying: “God didn’t do this. We did. We’re the ones who tell God, ‘No,’ or ‘Not now,’ or ‘Not yet.’ We are the ones who reject the infinite Love of God. And this is what that train wreck looks like.”
Today, I have chosen to offer the Mass of the Sacred Heart as an External Solemnity. This is allowed in the Extraordinary Form for this feast as well as in October for the Most Holy Rosary.
The Gospel provides us with an understanding of how the world looks at the “train wreck” that I described above. That is, what is the world’s response to the devastation caused by its rejection … our rejection … when the infinite, high speed, enormous Love of God … crashes into the brick wall of an immoveable, unrepentant human heart.
In the first place, God's love is inconvenient. Our Lord hung dead from his cross, but because it was the day before an important Sabbath, something had to be done with these bodies.
Secondly, the world is impatient to move beyond God's love. While Our Lord was dead, the thieves were not. So, the Romans broke their legs, hastening their deaths by asphyxiation.
Thirdly, the world is cruel in the face of God's love. Our Lord was already dead. His Blessed Mother standing by the Cross had to watch as a soldier desecrated His precious Body by piercing His side with a lance.
And despite the world’s response – Blood and Water poured forth. Signs of Baptism and the Eucharist – the entry into the Sacraments, and the Source and Summit of our Christian life.
The world does not comprehend the immensity, the abundance, the intensity of the Love of God for all humanity. And perhaps, neither do we. But today, we can pray the prayer of reparation, as Our Lord requested nearly 350 years ago.
+ + + + + + +
Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
O sweet Jesus, Whose overflowing charity for me is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Your altar (in Your presence) eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries, to which Your loving Heart is everywhere subject.
Mindful alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Your pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying for from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow You, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the vows of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Your Law. We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against You; we are determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holidays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against You and Your Saints. We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Your Vicar on earth and Your priest are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of Your Divine Love; and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which You have founded. Would, O divine Jesus, we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Your divine honor, the satisfaction You once made to Your eternal Father on the cross and which You continue to renews daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Your Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Your grace, for all neglect of Your great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth we will live a life of unwavering faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent other from offending You and to bring as many as possible to follow You.
O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowing gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to You, so that we may one day come to that happy home, where You with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, world without end.
– Amen.
