Attentive readers of this bulletin will recall the series that Father Daniel wrote last summer on the various stanzas of the Sequence for Pentecost, so I do not need to go into great detail to explain what the Sequence is, but rather to jump right into focusing our attention on one of those stanzas this week for our reflection. It fits well with the invocation from the Litany of the Sacred Heart that I have chosen for this Pentecost Sunday. Here is the stanza from the Sequence, followed by the invocation:
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us
The final line of the stanza is often translated with the phrase “sweet consolation”, and it speaks to how the Holy Spirit brings us peace in the midst of the difficulties we face in our lives. In fact, peace is listed by St. Paul as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, or characteristics we can find in our lives when the Holy Spirit is present in our souls through God’s grace.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart fits well in this regard, as we know how, through His humanity, Jesus experienced so many of the emotions that we face in our humanity as well – sorrow, rejection, abandonment, physical suffering. As a result of that, He is truly able to have empathy with us. We know the experience of finding consolation from a friend who is willing to enter into suffering with us (the meaning of compassion), not in a cold, detached way, but in a way that knows suffering as well. When we bring our burdens to His Heart, He receives us not as a burden, but as a guest, and He pours into our hearts His loving consolation that brings us peace.
St. John Henry Newman had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and reflected on how the Eucharist is that constant presence of that beating Heart of Jesus, inviting us to find in this gift the relief for which our souls long. It is a beautiful image to think of, and one that can really help us as we come to receive the Eucharist at Mass. In those moments of quiet right after receiving Him, we can ask Him to enter those places of anxiety, fear, sorrow, or suffering. We can expect to find the gift of His consolation when we invite Him in this way in this moment of deep intimacy. While we can and should use our own words for this prayer, we could also use the following from Newman, as it summarizes this theme so beautifully:
O most Sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, Thou art concealed in the Holy Eucharist, and Thou beatest for us still. Now as then Thou savest, Desiderio desideravi—”With desire I have desired.” I worship Thee then with all my best love and awe, with my fervent affection, with my most subdued, most resolved will. O my God, when Thou dost condescend to suffer me to receive Thee, to eat and drink Thee, and Thou for a while takest up Thy abode within me, O make my heart beat with Thy Heart. Purify it of all that is earthly, all that is proud and sensual, all that is hard and cruel, of all perversity, of all disorder, of all deadness. So fill it with Thee, that neither the events of the day nor the circumstances of the time may have power to ruffle it, but that in Thy love and Thy fear it may have peace.