In 2019, Pope Francis declared that, beginning in 2020, the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time each year was to be observed as the Sunday of the Word of God.  In instituting this celebration, the Holy Father noted the importance of the Word of God to our identity as Christians:

The relationship between the Risen Lord, the community of believers and sacred Scripture is essential to our identity as Christians. Without the Lord who opens our minds to them, it is impossible to understand the Scriptures in depth. Yet the contrary is equally true: without the Scriptures, the events of the mission of Jesus and of his Church in this world would remain incomprehensible. Hence, Saint Jerome could rightly claim: “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, Prologue: PL 24,17B). (Aperuit illis, 1)

As we continue our reflections on the various aspects of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we acknowledge that what we can say about His heart has been revealed to us through the written Word of God, which enables us to be united more closely with the Word of God, Jesus Christ, who is the second person of the Holy Trinity.  It is therefore fitting that we focus our reflection this week on the following invocation from the Litany of the Sacred Heart:

Heart of Jesus, substantially united to the Word of God, have mercy on us.

The use of the word substantial is key.  One of the definitions for substantial is to convey that something has a considerable importance, size, or worth.  A person who wins the lottery can be considered to have a substantial amount of money.  But this is not the definition that is being used here.  Rather, substantial in this case coneys that something belongs to the same substance of something, not just its accidents.  Those are philosophical terms, and we understand them best when we speak about the Eucharist.  After the consecration at Mass, the bread and wine undergo a change of substance.  They may look like bread and wine (accidents), but what they really are is the body and blood of Jesus.  The substance of the Eucharist, what it is, is Jesus.  So too with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The heart He had as a human being, while being fully human, was also fully divine, so it shares in the very same substance of the heart of the Word of God who has existed from all eternity in a communion of love with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

By extension, the words that Jesus spoke, which are given to us in the Gospels, are not merely human words.  Rather, they come forth from that humanity being substantially united with His divinity.  According to our Trinitatian theology, every action of God involved all three persons of the Trinity, so every word that we encounter in the Scriptures are not mere human words.  Sure, they have been communicated through the instruments of human authors, but God Himself is the source of all.  As such, the Word of God that we encounter when reading and listening to the Scriptures is substantially united to God Himself, so that we believe that when we hear His Word, He is truly speaking to us.  Since the image of the heart connotes the love of God for us, every word that He speaks to us is from that love, and it is in an invitation to receive it with love, so as to be more fully united to the One who is love.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we read, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (3:16). This command of St. Paul was directed toward those Christians at Colossae, but is a very timely message for every Christian for all time. It is perennially the task of the Christian to allow the Word of God to penetrate ever more deeply into the recesses of the soul. What this looks like is not some abstract “moving and coming” into the depth of the heart, but rather, a changed and transformed life. 

When the Word of Christ dwells in us richly, our actions take the mold of the life of Jesus and we begin to look like him. Our thoughts, feelings, and desires take on the shape of the thoughts, feelings, and desires of Jesus himself. We begin to want to serve others in the way he wants us to serve others. We begin to act in the way he acts in the world, and in doing so, we truly become what we are meant to be as “members of his body” (Ephesians 5:30). 

This transformation occurs in very concrete ways. When St. Paul calls the Colossians to “let the word of Christ dwell in [them] richly,” he isn’t simply asking them to think about Jesus coming inside of them. He is asking them to allow the life of Christ to be lived over again in them – in their actions, thoughts, and lives – by intentionally changing their lives. 

St. Paul mentions a few of the ways that Christ’s own life can begin to be lived in ours. He mentions “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” as one of the ways. Praying and singing the Psalms has always been a fundamental way for Christians to take on the mind of Christ. These are the prayers inspired by the Holy Spirit to lead us into the heart of God. Because of that, the more we repeat the words of the Psalms with our voices and in our minds, the more our minds and bodies take on the mind of God. We could say the same about any part of the scriptures, but for reaching the heart and mind of God, the Psalms and canticles of scripture truly hold the pride of place. The repetition of the Psalms teaches us to think like Jesus. 

St. Paul also mentions teaching and admonishing one another. As we teach our faith, whether to our children, our peers, our elders, or those entrusted to us, we become more attentive to the truths of our faith. As we admonish those who are doing wrong, it actually causes us to be more attentive to our own moral life. Living the moral life is a primary way that we take the Word of God into our lives and hearts. 

Finally, St. Paul counsels the Colossians to let the Word of God dwell in them richly by living in thanksgiving. Gratitude is that attitude of the heart that recognizes that all we have received is a gift, and it becomes a prayer when we recognize that it is a gift from God. This recognition leads us to speak out in prayer, whether out loud or in our hearts, to God himself and thank him. Entering into this relationship with God our Father is a way of joining Jesus in his eternal thanksgiving to the Father for the gift of his very being (an eternal gift in the relations of the Trinity that we share through adoption). 

On this Word of God Sunday, we remember that that Word has come and dwelt among us. He teaches us the way to the Father, and he desires to dwell in us richly. We see that this indwelling is no abstract reality, but a very real and concrete transformation of our lives from a life lived outside of a relationship with the Father to one where we begin to think, feel, desire, and act as the Word of God himself does, as a member of his body on earth. May the Lord strengthen us in our union with him, and may he dwell in us ever more richly. Amen!

As we begin our reflections on the various invocations of the Litany of the Sacred Heart, we do so having spent the past several weeks reflecting on the mystery of the Word becoming flesh in the Incarnation.  For that reason, it seems that a good place to start is with the second invocation of the litany: 

Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, have mercy on us.

This invocation expresses what the Angel Garbiel reveals to both Mary and Joseph, that the child in Mary’s womb was to be conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Mt. 1:20, Lk 1:35) From Mary’s womb, Jesus, the Word made flesh, receives His human nature.  But this humanity in Jesus is united consubstantially with His divine nature, such that we can speak of Jesus as true God and true man.  Mary’s “yes” to God makes this union possible, as she gives her permission to have her womb be the very place where God joins Himself with our humanity.

As Jesus’s humanity develops in the womb of Mary, it follows the same pattern of every human life, including the development of organs, including the heart.  One of the most exciting moments for a woman who is pregnant is to hear the heartbeat of the child in her womb for the first time.  Unfortunately, there was no ultrasound technology at the time of Mary’s pregnancy, but we know that Jesus’s heart was indeed beating.  Unlike an embryo who is not yet conscious, the beating Sacred Heart of Jesus was already an expression of the love He has for each of us, for the divinity of God, who is love, is constantly loving all whom He has created from all eternity.  As that heart would grow and develop, inside and outside of the womb of Mary, it remained a human heart, while always united with the divine heart of God.  

Trying to understand the mystery of what is called the hypostatic union – that in Jesus, there is one divine Person, who has two complete natures, human and divine – is beyond what we can consider in this brief article.  Yet, it is a mystery that is central to our faith, and central to the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  In the last major document that he wrote before his death, Pope Francis offers the following explanation that makes this point:

Since the heart continues to be seen in the popular mind as the affective centre of each human being, it remains the best means of signifying the divine love of Christ, united forever and inseparably to his wholly human love. Pius XII observed that the Gospel, in referring to the love of Christ’s heart, speaks “not only of divine charity but also human affection”. Indeed, “the heart of Jesus Christ, hypostatically united to the divine Person of the Word, beyond doubt throbbed with love and every other tender affection” (Dilexit nos, 61)

Of all human beings, Mary’s Immaculate Heart was most in union with the Sacred Heart of her son, both physically and spiritually.  We can ask her to help us to better appreciate the gift of the Sacred Heart, and that by our union with Him through grace, our hearts will beat more consistently with His with love for Him and for our brothers and sisters.

Every year as the Church comes back into Ordinary Time after the Christmas season, or later on after the Easter Season, it can feel a bit like letting out a long breath after a strenuous exercise. We’ve just finished celebrating a lot of major feast days right in a row: The Immaculate Conception, Christmas, Holy Family, Mary Mother of God, Epiphany, and the Baptism of the Lord. These are incredibly meaningful feasts and are deep mines of truth for reflection. They console us with their simplicity and reveal to us the humility of God, who came among us as a child born from the pure womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Still, despite the beauty of these feasts and the joy we experience celebrating them, it can be a real spiritual “exercise,” in every sense of the word, to reflect in a profound way, feast after feast on the mystery of God’s love. There is thus a certain sigh of relief given by the Church in the liturgical rites as we come back into a simpler season. It is with peace and readiness that we enter back into Ordinary Time.

As we breathe this sigh of relief, I think we’re due also for the yearly reminder of the exact meaning of that term, “Ordinary.” Does it mean plain, boring, and monotonous? No! 

While there is a sense in which this season is filled with a simplicity not found in other seasons, that is not the reason this word is used to describe the seasons. 

“Ordinary” refers not to the “feeling” or “vibe” of the season, but rather to the simple fact that the weekends of Ordinary Time are numbered in a way we call “Ordinal.” This is a seldom used word. Its antonym is “Cardinal.” An ordinal number is listed in reference to a list and the number’s place in the list, whereas a cardinal number is simply the number as such. A list of ordinal numbers, for example, looks like: First, Second, Third, etc., and a list of cardinal numbers looks like: One, Two, Three, etc.. 

As we move through ordinary time, then, our weekends are numbered as “The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time,” “The Third Sunday of Ordinary Time,” etc. What we reflect on in this time is deeply profound and exciting yet so varied that it doesn’t fall into its own seasonal designation. We delve deeply into the mystery of the life of Jesus Christ in his public ministry. We hear stories of his miracles, his teaching, his parables, his disciples, and his encounters with the Jewish people and authorities. 

We reflect, in other words, on every action of the life of God made man. There is nothing more exciting than this; there is nothing more extraordinary than this. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us! The evangelists were excited men, and present to us in writing the exciting message of salvation. 

True, the Lord does so often come to us precisely in the ordinary moments of everyday life. True, the life of Jesus was overwhelmingly filled with ordinary human moments. Yet, Ordinary Time is not named so because of that. We enter an ordered time in which to reflect on the most extraordinary occurrence known to man. Rejoice and be glad! Breathe deeply – we have met the Lord at his baptism and now we enter his public ministry. We walk with him toward the cross and receive God’s steadfast love. Jesus, lead us in your love. Teach us your humility!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been asked by a few people if I had plans for the next series for my bulletin articles.  I answered that nothing specific had come up, but I was certainly open to being nudged by the Holy Spirit, as happened with the last two series.  Well, that nudge came the week after Christmas while I was with our seminarians for their annual Christmas gathering.  It has been our practice to have Bishop Paprocki meet with them as a group the morning before they depart.  This year, he brought up a few different topics, one of which piqued my interest.  He shared with the men that at November’s gathering of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the bishops voted to consecrate our country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 2026 as a part of our country’s 250^th anniversary.  This will likely take place in June, which is the month of the Sacred Heart.  The idea that formed in my mind as Bishop mentioned this was to focus on the Sacred Heart for the next several months as a way of preparing ourselves for this important moment in the life of the Church here in the United States.

In 1846, the Bishops of the United States had approved the decision to place our country under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, which was approved by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1847.  In this most recent decision to consecrate our country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the bishops do not see any conflict, for Mary is intimately united with Jesus, and it was in light of the Incarnation of Jesus that she was given the special privilege of the Immaculate Conception.  This mystery only makes sense in light of Christ, the Word made flesh, who came to us through the humanity of Mary.  Therefore there is no problem with this proposed consecration.

Personally, in addition to devotion to Mary, especially in the Rosary, my other favorite devotion is to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so I was very excited to hear about this decision.  I have always been fascinated by the heart, having grown up making regular visits to the cardiologist to check on my heart which had been affected by a congenital defect to my aorta, the major artery that delivers oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.  When I discovered devotion to the Sacred Heart in my mid-twenties, it was something I immediately was drawn to and has continued to be a rich source of reflection for my spiritual life.

In particular, I love the Litany of the Sacred Heart, a prayer which includes 33 invocations that describe various qualities of the Heart of Jesus.  The number 33 is intentional as it corresponds to the 33 years in which Jesus lived among us from His birth in Bethlehem to His Ascension into Heaven following His Resurrection.  Each of these invocations offer an image that invite us to reflect more deeply on the gift of Jesus’s love for us.  

Here is what I am proposing.  Each week, I would like to reflect on one of the invocations from the Litany of the Sacred Heart.  The number of Sundays between now and the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart (June 12) is less than 33, so I will not be able to touch on all of them.  I need to do some more praying about which ones to include, to see if there is a pattern I want to follow, or if I want to just choose the ones that I like the best.  We will see what the Holy Spirit has in mind, but in the meantime, we can pray the final invocation, which is technically not part of the 33, but which, in some ways, summarizes the whole prayer, and it just happens to be my favorite part of the prayer:

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Thine!