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| Sacred Heart of Jesus by Mexican artist Jose Maria Ibarraran y Ponce |
We are, as people, are always looking for creative ways to
express our reality. We may observe a sunset and become inspired to paint it,
write about it, or put a melody together that allows us to relive that
experience; the simple ending of a day.
Today our Catholic Church gathers to celebrate the Sacred Heart
of Jesus. Many of us are familiar with the iconic image of this devotion. Depending
on the artist’s rendition, the image can be very grotesquely literal, very
folksy or very mystical. Many churches
are named after Jesus’ Sacred Heart. Visiting Paris some years ago, I marveled
from a distance the Sacre Coeur church on the top of Monte Mart hill. This
name, which in french means, "Sacred Heart" fit so well with the colossal structure. This structure seemed to announce to the
entire city even from miles away … the love of Jesus’ is an overwhelming concept!
Christian believers are challenged and compelled to express
how much God loves us. In our limited vernacular we struggle with what we are
given. Ultimately, those religious places or images are created in order to
provoke us to love deeply or to stop us in our tracks and remind of us our
smallness in comparison to God’s profound love; always it should inspire us to love
others as Jesus loves us. Can we open OUR hearts to this reality?
Like when I listen to Vivaldi’s well organized notes, it
puts me in awe of the fierceness of a storm or the gentleness of springtime; as
when I contemplate a Van Gogh’s starry night, I am left in wonderment of a
night sky; I can reflect on the image of Jesus’ heart as depicted by one of
many artists or through experiencing a magnificent temple dedicated to Jesus
Sacred Heart. I am exposed to this
reality: that everything in this world has at its center the love of God, through
his son, Jesus Christ. It is a love so mysterious, so alive, and so profound
that no art, no building, no song can truly capture this reality; all we can do
is celebrate that it is so.
How do we celebrate it? Through the Mass, we come together as one, we are transformed through the Eucharist and through God's Word. We are challenged to open our hearts to accept this truth:
The great secret, the great mystery, is this: there is a heart of the world...And this heart is the heart of Christ.
Teilhard de Chardin S.J
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