Vision of the Heart of God

Vision of the Heart of God

In the light of the biblical promises

Sánchez, August 2001.

by Marc Plante, MSC

marc_plante@hotmail.com

Vocational centre built during the time of Father Émilien Tardif, superior

Above all, I want to welcome all the friends who are interested in Christian spirituality. These pages, written with our gaze fixed on Christ, intend to lead simply along the path of freedom and happiness to the Heart of God. To this end, the Bible presents a God who promises to walk with his people every day of their lives. These promises, which we will discover one after another as we study the Bible, will serve as landmarks throughout the spiritual journey that leads to the fullness of life.

The divine promises sustained the faith of God's people throughout biblical history. We need only read the story of the Patriarchs and the Prophets to be convinced of this. After them, the saints and believers of the Christian era drew their courage and inspiration from them. In the seventeenth century, Saint Margaret Mary saw the Sacred Heart reveal to her a path of faith drawn from the Bible and in keeping with the mentality of her time. These twelve promises, projected in the background of the text and reinterpreted in a new language, will guide us along the way of the spiritual life.

Let us remember that spirituality adapts, according to the ages, to the mentality of the times and of cultures. In this age of globalization, the challenges and the faith are quite different from those of the seventeenth century when Margaret Mary received the promises of the Sacred Heart. Adapting these twelve promises to the present times requires a new reading, in order to reveal the Heart of God to the humanity of the third millennium.

It is also important to keep in mind the recommendations of Vatican II concerning a more pronounced return to Sacred Scripture, and a social implication of faith in the building of the modern world. This is why, while preserving the essence of the old promises, the new version presents them in a more biblical and social language. If there are occasionally scientific words in the text, such as “structuralism” mentioned in the next paragraph, on the whole these words appear rarely, and the ideas expressed are always fairly simple.

You may always skip over the next seven lines if the structural method does not mean much to you. In itself, it serves as a simple instrument for organizing the Christian life along a spiritual itinerary. Structuralism favors the study of linguistics or even of exegesis, but I believe that spirituality is the discipline that can benefit most from it, since this method allows us to situate ourselves on the journey of the spiritual life.

Certain elements are retained as foundations of spirituality; afterward come the rudiments that make up the believer's journey toward freedom and happiness; and at the end of the road appears the objective or the crowning point of the spiritual itinerary, which is the fullness of happiness or the glory of God. The interdependence of the elements of spirituality will often surprise us in the whole of the process.

Monsignor Cuskelly defines spirituality as “a vision of Christian faith that leads to a response.” The believer structures his journey from this vision, which awakens in him a commitment toward God and toward the world. In the present essay, the vision that guides us is that of the Heart of God, as it shows through in the biblical promises. Monsignor Cuskelly continues his definition by saying: “By spirituality I mean the total sum of the comportments and actions of a person who believes in the Trinity, as the source of our being. It created us for eternal happiness and calls us, in this life, to believe in Jesus Christ, to follow his teachings, to appreciate his gifts, to love our neighbor and to work for the kingdom.”

The twelve promises of the Sacred Heart, which we have chosen as the framework of this study, trace an itinerary of spirituality that allows us to locate, in order, the stages of our spiritual life. Our personal challenge is to assimilate them and to live them in everyday life. In each of the promises, the mention of “persons consecrated to his Heart” is interpreted and received as “persons consecrated to divine love.” This consecration is rooted in the anointing of the Holy Spirit at baptism and is fulfilled according to the response of the baptized person to God's love.

The twofold movement — receiving divine love within us and the loving response of the human heart toward God and the world — constitutes the dynamism of consecration. In its ancient formulation, the first promise assures “to persons consecrated to the Heart of Christ the graces necessary for their state of life;” the new translation makes Christ say: “I will reveal to the persons consecrated to my Heart the divine love at work in their daily life.” The love of God is revealed as the primordial gift made to the human race from the beginning.

The second promise keeps the original version: “I will grant peace to the families and communities consecrated to my Heart.” The promised peace refers to the person of Christ, the Son incarnate in the human race, our definitive peace. Then comes the third promise, that of “consolation to the afflicted.” The new version identifies consolation with the Consoler, the Holy Spirit, promised five times by Christ in the Gospel of Saint John (14:16; 14:26; 15:26; 16:7; 16:12-15). “If I go away, I will send you the Consoler.” Jn 16:7.

The fourth promise, which deals with “refuge during life and at the moment of death,” corresponds to salvation in the trials of life, a salvation ratified by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “Abundant blessing on undertakings,” of the fifth promise, becomes “blessing for a free and happy life,” which flows from God's plan for his creation. He desires for all his creatures freedom and happiness throughout the great undertaking of human life.

The sixth promise keeps the same vocabulary of the “mercy of the Heart of God,” described as an immense ocean or an inexhaustible spring of mercy.

The expression of the seventh promise, “lukewarm persons will become fervent,” takes on a more social and more radical meaning. In these post-conciliar times, the person who is indifferent before humanitarian problems is considered lukewarm in faith. On the other hand, the fervent person is one who commits himself to justice.

The eighth promise assures perfection or holiness to fervent souls. The precious gift of divine life, which gives birth to holiness, becomes the wealth of persons committed to the coming of the kingdom of God. Holiness is indeed acquired in prayer and in devotion to the divine kingdom.

Homes united in marriage and base ecclesial communities receive, in the ninth promise, the blessing of the divine covenant consented to Moses at Sinai and, afterward, to Jesus Christ at the Passover. Christian marriage refers especially to this covenant, since it is its sign and its reality. The tenth promise gives value to the lay and ministerial priesthood of the People of God. Through his service, as priest, prophet and king, the believer receives the grace to touch the hardest hearts and, above all, to fight against unjust social structures.

In the dynamism of the eleventh promise, the person consecrated to the love of God inscribes his name in the Heart of Christ: indeed, divine glory accompanies his efforts in the spiritual evolution that underlies the fullness of joy. Finally, the twelfth promise is that of final perseverance granted to those who commune with the bread of life, since Christ establishes in them his permanent dwelling. After having studied this spiritual journey, I dare to say that the promises of the Sacred Heart form a wonderful synthesis or a condensed spirituality capable of structuring the spiritual life of believers.

Abbé Yves Rancourt in the company of Marc Plante, confrère of Father Émilien Tardif

FIRST PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

I will reveal to the persons who are consecrated to me

the divine love at work in their life. The first promise of the Sacred Heart surpasses and supports all the others, in the sense that it reveals a God who loves us with all his heart, with all his strength and with all his mind. “God is love,” repeats Saint John in his first letter. The spiritual master François Varillon writes: “A summit of divine revelation is the revelation of his love. ‘God is love’ must be understood: God is pure love and love alone. We have all known, from the beginning, that God is love. But it is not so certain that we are convinced that he is nothing other than love.” Monsignor Cuskelly tells us: “Of everything that is part of our faith, nothing finds its explanation apart from the love of God.”

Divine love is such that it constitutes the essence of the Holy Trinity. The three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, manifest three aspects of the same love. We can glimpse the trinitarian mystery by taking a comparison from nature: water is found in three states distinct from one another, according to whether it is liquid, ice or vapor. But water keeps its same composition in the three states; it always remains H2O. Likewise, divine love is revealed in three persons and it always remains the same love.

The Trinity can be pictured as a great Heart where the three persons live love in fullness, each according to its own trinitarian relationship, always open toward creation. The love that shows through in the Heart of the Father reveals his immense mercy, which has no equal except the goodness of the father of the parable who awaits impatiently the return of a son who abused his trust. Lk 15:11-32. A father who leaves complete freedom to his sons, with all the risk that entails. He wants sons who can face life with full freedom and initiative.

To the younger son he grants his share of the inheritance with no other condition than his request, which is, moreover, inappropriate. Guessing the misfortune that is easily foreseeable, his paternal heart suffers from the departure of this son. He hopes for his return and, every evening, he goes out on the road to watch whether he sees him coming in the distance. When he finally catches sight of him, he runs to meet him to embrace him and reconcile him with the family. God the Father lives a love given like that of a mother, who devotes herself to her children, entirely attentive to the happiness of her own.

In the heart of this Father-Mother shines a love always offered and a great respect for the freedom of his creatures. As if it mattered little to the Father that these be just or unjust, Jesus declares: “Your Father, who is in heaven, makes his sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” Mt 5:45. The Son shares the same divine love from all eternity, but when the times are finally fulfilled, he becomes incarnate in a human heart. We pray to him as such: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere!” He is the blessing of the Heart of God to humanity.

The first revelation of the Heart of Christ in the Gospel occurs at his baptism in the Jordan, when the voice from heaven proclaims: “This is my beloved Son in whom I contemplate all my love” Mk 1:11. The last word of this sentence, often translated as “my beloved” or “with whom I am well pleased,” is written in the Greek text as “o agaphtoV,” which means “the bearer or possessor of love.” He is the Heart of God in a human heart.

John affirms in the prologue of the Gospel: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; we have contemplated his glory, the glory he holds from his Father as the only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.” Jn 1:14. For John, the glory of the Son is the love and truth of his Father that show through in his human heart. The manifestations of the grandeur and humility of the Heart of Jesus in the Gospel are the reflections of divine love. “At that time Jesus prayed: I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for having hidden this mystery from the wise and the intelligent and for having revealed it to the humble.”

“Yes, Father, for such has been your good pleasure. All things have been given to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and the one to whom he reveals him. Learn from me that I am gentle and humble of heart.” Mt 11:25-27,29b. From the Heart of the Father and the Son proceeds the Holy Spirit, who is like the breath or the waft of the Heart of God. The divine breath, “ruah” in Hebrew, acts on behalf of humanity in the hearts of believers. The psalmist describes the action of the Spirit as giver of life: “If you withdraw your breath, they expire and return to dust.”

“You send forth your breath, you create them, and you renew the face of the earth.” Ps 104:29-30. “Wisdom is a breath of the power of God, a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; this is why nothing adulterated enters into her. She is an irradiation of eternal light, a spotless mirror of divine activity, an image of his goodness.” Wis 7:25-26. Wisdom and the Spirit come together in this poem of the Pseudo-Solomon, since the Spirit inspires wisdom. The crucified Jesus possesses this breath of the Spirit and, before dying, he communicates it to his own: “He gave up the Spirit.” Jn 19:30.

On the day of the Passover he appears to the disciples and confirms the same gift: “He breathed on them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jn 20:22. If the Son is revealed as the Word of God, we can say that the Spirit presents itself as the Action of God or the Action of love that proceeds from the Father and the Son. This action of the Spirit animates and sustains the presence of the Heart of God among the faithful. The angel Gabriel answers Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Lk 1:35.

Likewise, every believer who accepts the Spirit in his life receives the strength of the Most High to fulfill his vocation and mission on earth.

We have contemplated the three divine persons forming a single Heart, immense as the sea and full of life. A Heart that manifests itself threefold: either as a source of love welling up from the heart of the Father; or as the revelation and incarnation of the same love in the Son; or as the breath or strength of divine goodness in the Spirit.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, another friend of Father Émilien Tardif

This trinitarian Heart cannot remain imprisoned, within any limit whatsoever, for love is expansive. It overflows and gives itself to the universe it creates, until the end of the world, together with humanity associated with its work. The formation of the universe and its billions of galaxies began more than fourteen billion years ago. In this creation prepared with such care, the Trinity lovingly fashions man and woman in its image. In the image of its Heart. “God said: Now let us make man and woman in our image.” Gen 1:26.

This plural “our,” instead of “my image,” surprises the exegetes. Could this be a distant revelation of a God in three persons in the monotheistic climate of the Old Testament? Indeed, it is the Trinity that, at the beginning, creates man and woman in its likeness. The Creator did everything through his Word and he did nothing without it, cf. Jn 1:2, while the Spirit of God hovered over the waters at the beginning. Cf. Gen 1:2. If God is Love or a Heart in three persons, and if he fashions us in his image, we are, in a sense, embryos of this Heart. In us, as in his Son, the Father recognizes his love poured out.

The human heart finds the root of its being in the trinitarian heart of God, and this is why it expresses itself naturally in the act of loving. Such is the authentic response to the divine love that gives us being and life. The family, in this sense, reflects divine love wonderfully well. The father and the mother, in their mutual love, respect each other, give value to each other and make each other happy. Their love gives rise to a descent that they consider a part of their being and that they educate toward the freedom of life. Everywhere in the world, the family constitutes an expression of divine love.

I was able to verify this during my African mission, at Tambaga, Burkina Faso, where Christianity is little known. In the climate of traditional religion, the family reveals divine love. I remember a conversation with a young Protestant from the village of Tambaga. He used to come to converse about the Bible with me; perhaps he wanted my conversion! One evening, while speaking of the faith that saves, he told me: “You Catholics, you cannot save yourselves with your cult of images and of the Virgin.”

“It is not by praying to the Virgin or by worshipping images that one is saved.” I replied to him: “Then those who are not Protestants condemn themselves.” He answered me: “That's certain, only Jesus can save.” — “Tell me, Raymond, those of the traditional religion are not saved either? Your mother, who offers the sacrifices of chickens to the fetishes, will not be able to be saved.” — “She cannot be saved; that is why I want her to convert.” Then I pointed out to him: “Think carefully about what I am going to tell you.”

“Your mother, who gave you your body and who struggles so that you can study, she will have a better place than yours in God's house.” The young man lowered his head and said to me: “I believe you are right; she will have a better place. Why is this not taught in the biblical studies?” — “Possibly because they are not studied thoroughly.” The family becomes an educator in love, by virtue of the affection with which the members lavish one another. In reality, the person who loves his own and devotes himself to them becomes the favorite in the house of God.

There lies the essence of faith: to love. Likewise, the human community diffuses love when brothers and sisters love one another, quite simply for belonging to the same divine source. We are called to become, in community, the reflections of the Heart of God, that is, to create together with God a better world, the new earth and the new heaven that the Bible wishes for humanity (Rev 21:1; Is 65:17; 2 Pet 3:13). We are an integral part of the loving activity of the Trinity, which, desiring a better fate for creation, renews it every day.

Indeed, God creates the world with the cooperation of humanity, which he placed at the head of creation: “God blessed them, saying: Grow and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and all the animals that move on the earth.” Gen 1:28.

God completes the great promise of his love toward his creatures by integrating us into his work. With the apostle John, we can bear witness: “We have known and believed in the love that God has for us.” 1 Jn 4:16. Our response consists in accepting the love of God if indeed we know it, and in making it known to all creation if we truly believe in it.

Representation of the cult of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the wall of the presbytery

SECOND PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

I will grant peace to the families and communities that are consecrated to me.

With all its strength, humanity searches for peace. Since Cain and Abel, the world has suffered violence, wars, holocausts, exile and refugee camps. Every day the newspapers report the suffering of the victims of hatred. Humanity demands the peace that is slow in coming. God reproaches Cain: “Why are you so furious? Why do you walk with your head bowed? If you did good, you would hold your head high; but if you do evil, sin is crouching at your door like a lurking beast that covets you; still, you can always master it.” Gen 4:6-7. Peace is always possible. It depends on personal conversion and also on social justice, which guarantees the freedom and happiness of the human community.

Are our methods for obtaining peace out of date? The words of Caesar, the Roman emperor of the first century before Christ, have remained famous: “If you want peace, prepare for war.” Unfortunately, the great world powers still proclaim this impious dogma that promotes the arms race. Today, the poorest countries on the planet take part in the same race. All seek to possess the nuclear bomb to make a display of a shameful power. Peace cannot be conquered by weapons. They can only fill the cemeteries. Human history proves this to satiety to whoever wishes to open his eyes. Peace will come only with social justice, when humanity tears down the divisions between the rich and the poor and fills the abyss that separates them.

In reality, where does peace take root? True peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit; a gift of divine love. Such is the promise of Jesus. On the day of the Passover, the Risen One repeats three times: “Peace be with you.” Jn 20:19,21,26.

The peace that the Heart of Christ promises to families and nations surges from the very love of the Trinity. The prophet Jeremiah warns that peace can be lost if we do not change our ways and if we do not welcome the love of God into our hearts: “I withdraw from this people, oracle of the Lord, my peace, the mercy and the compassion” Jer 16:5. Sin has filled everything, and there is no longer any room for peace. Indeed, weapons, injustices and violences efface mercy and compassion in the human heart.

In the Letter to the Romans, Paul reveals his faith in the providence of God, author of peace. “May the God of hope give you joy and peace in fullness! May the God of peace be with you! Amen.” Rom 15:13,33. According to Paul, peace is born of the love of God and gives birth to hope when all hope dies. The conciliar document on the Church in the modern world tells us: “Peace is not the simple absence of war; it is, more exactly, the work of justice.”

“It is the fruit of the order implanted in human society by its divine founder, and which men, always thirsting for a more perfect justice, bring to maturity. This peace cannot be obtained without ensuring the dignity of persons and the equitable distribution of riches, whether material or spiritual. The firm resolve to respect the rights of man and of peoples, as well as their dignity, is absolutely necessary. The passionate exercise of fraternity in view of peace must be promoted. Thus peace is the fruit of love that surpasses the primordial design of justice.” GS 78a.

“Peace on earth, born of love for the neighbor, is the image and the effect of the peace of Christ, which proceeds from the Father. Indeed, the incarnate Son, Prince of peace, reconciled all men with God through the cross. By reforming into a single people and a single body the unity of the human race, he put death to hatred in his flesh and, after the resurrection, he infused his Spirit of love into the heart of humanity.” GS 78b.

In the prophecy of Micah concerning the coming of the messianic king, the Messiah is presented as the peace promised to the human race, the “shalom”: “He will stand firm and lead the flock with the strength of the Lord and with the majesty of the name of the Lord your God. The flock will live in security because his power will extend to the ends of the land. He himself will be the ‘shalom.’ He will deliver us.” Mic 5:3-4a,5c. According to the prophet, the “shalom” includes freedom from every servitude and living happily.

The promise of peace is made concrete in Jesus, the incarnate Son, dead and risen. His presence in our lives brings about peace. At Christmas, the angels sing among the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men whom he loves.” Lk 2:14. The birth of the Son of God brings peace to sinners, to the possessed, to the lepers, to all those who suffer. At his resurrection, he offers his Spirit of peace to humanity. The peace of homes is born of the welcome of the Lord. “Come, Lord Jesus!” “Maran atha!” The peace of nations depends on the justice of the kingdom of God, which is offered to us in the person of the risen Christ. In his farewell discourse, Jesus promises the disciples: “I leave you peace, I give you my peace. A peace that the world cannot give you.” Jn 14:27.

So how does the Lord offer peace, “the shalom,” which the world cannot transmit? “Christ himself is our peace. He has made of the two peoples a single nation, by destroying the wall of enmity that separated them. He reconciled the two peoples with God, by uniting them in a single body through the cross and by destroying the enmity. His coming brought the good news of peace: peace for those who are far away and peace, also, for those who are near; because, thanks to him, we all have, through the Spirit, free access to the Father.”

“Thus you are no longer strangers nor guests, but fellow citizens with those who form the people of God; you are of the household of God.” Eph 2:14-19. The “shalom” is the peace between brothers and sisters of the great universal family reconciled with the Father. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, proclaims the Messiah, light of the nations, a light on the path of peace: “Our God, in his great mercy, brings us from on high the sun of a new day, to illuminate those who dwell in darkness and to direct our steps on the path of peace.” Lk 1:78-79.

The light that shines in Jesus illuminates our road; he is the Sun that comes from on high. Christ illuminates with his peace the community of faith that he inhabits. Each baptized person embodies Christ, in as much as the Holy Spirit is poured into his heart. The Spirit of Christ, received at baptism, gives birth to peace in us. The same voice from heaven repeats over each man and each woman: “This one is my dear daughter, this one is my beloved son in whom I find my love.” The first incarnation of Christ was accomplished in the womb of the Virgin Mary; the second is accomplished in the heart or the mind of the one who receives baptism.

At Christmas one likes to sing in Spanish: “El niño Dios ha nacido en Belén y quiere nacer en nosotros también.” “The child God was born in Bethlehem and he also wants to be born in us.” In faith, we are the incarnation of Jesus Christ if, in truth, we welcome his Spirit of peace. The Dalai Lama is the incarnation of the Buddha in the region of Tibet. The followers of Buddhism venerate him greatly for this high dignity. It is remarkable that, in Christianity, every baptized person is an incarnation of Christ. What sublime dignity of the Christian!

This is not the privilege of a few; on the contrary, it is the lot of every baptized person. Whoever believes and is baptized becomes a son or daughter of the family of God through the incarnation of Christ. This incarnation entails a challenge. Embodying the Heart of Christ is equivalent to embodying his peace, the “shalom,” in the world. The role of the Christian who wants to embody the Heart of Christ in his life is to work for the peace of the world. The Heart of the Lord sustains him in his task and pushes him to transform a violent and unjust society into a peaceful and equitable world for all.

Just as Jesus commits himself to peace and embodies the peace of God by coming into the world, likewise the Christian inspires and stimulates peace. This latter becomes our response to the incarnation of the risen Christ in our mortal lives. The Lord supports us in the daily struggles and, at the same time, he gives us peace through his dynamic and life-giving presence. “Blessed are those who build peace, because God will call them his sons.” Mt 5:9. Sons of peace in the footsteps of the only-begotten Son. Speaking of the promise of peace, one must mention providence.

This also comes from the Trinity, which, in its love, assists us in our daily work and throughout our existence. However, some trust too blindly in the providence of the Lord and do not see the necessity of human participation in the achievement of peace in the world. It is important to place one's trust in divine providence, but it is even wiser to seek the remedy that providence has deposited, or still keeps hidden, in the power of nature.

God gives a certain autonomy to the created universe but, at the same time, he accompanies it in its evolution, thanks to the human race present at the heart of its daily development. The fact of building the world with the creator exalts human dignity. The psalmist sings his wonder: “Lord, our God, how admirable is your name throughout the earth! What is man that you remember him, the human being that you care for him? You have made him but little lower than a god; you crown him with glory and splendor; you have given him power over the works of your hands.” Ps 8:2-7.

As artisans in the work of creation, it falls to us to be providence by establishing peace. Together with the Lord, we work at the material and spiritual evolution of a new world.

The Trinity acts with us. First, in the act of providence there shows through the love of a Father who loves us like a mother attentive to her own; then, the Son becomes incarnate on earth, the Prince of peace who actualizes in us the divine love through his gestures and his words. Following the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit intervenes in our lives: he is the current of love received at baptism to face with determination the trials of life. The peace and providence of God are promises of trinitarian love for “a new earth and a new heaven.” The Heart of Christ, dwelling of the Trinity, becomes our peace and our providence. Peace for the families! Peace for the nations!

THIRD PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

I will console, in their afflictions, the persons who are consecrated to me.

Our world is filled with contradictions. When one thinks of resting in peace, perturbation and trouble arrive. It is then that sadness or depression reaches one's life following a family conflict, a period of unemployment or poor political management. Few people escape affliction at one time or another. All seek consolation: some in faith, others in the worldly life. Jesús invites us: “Come to me, all you who labour and are bowed down under the burden, and I will relieve you.”

“Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am humble and gentle of heart, and you will find consolation in your life.” Mt 11:28-29. At the last supper, he promises the Holy Spirit as the consolation of those who believe in him: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments; then I will pray to the Father and he will send you the other Consoler, to be always with you. He is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor recognizes him; you, however, know him, because he dwells with you.” Jn 14:15-17.

The Spirit is the promise par excellence; he is the active presence of Christ in those whom he loves. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. According to the word of Scripture: From his breast shall gush forth springs of living water. He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive.” Jn 7:37-39. In the Bible, the Spirit is presented as the wonderful gift, the river of the vision of Ezekiel, which comes out from the right side of the temple, purifies everything on its passage and produces the fruits of the trees planted on its banks.

In the book of Revelation, the same river comes out from the right side of the Lamb: “He showed me a river of life-giving water, transparent as crystal, that came from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the very middle of the square of the city, on each side of the river, a tree of life gave a crop every month, and its leaves served as a remedy for the nations.” Rev 22:1-2. This remedy symbolizes the consolation that the Spirit brings to the human race. His action on persons resembles the water of the miraculous pool that heals those who suffer affliction.

The Spirit wants to be a gentle breeze that refreshes the agitated, or a burning fire that warms those thirsting for justice and peace, or even a violent wind that strengthens the weak, giving them the courage to work for the coming of the kingdom of God. It is in hearts that the desire to possess the Holy Spirit is born, the Spirit who gives life in abundance. Jesus motivates us to desire this gift. He insists with the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you: Give me to drink; it is you who would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

“The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jn 4:10,14b. The afflicted find in him their support. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will enlighten them in all the truth, for he will not speak on his own, but he will reveal to you what he has received from me. All that the Father has is mine. This is why I said that the Spirit will reveal to you what he has received from me.” Jn 16:13-15. The personal or communal study of the Word of God helps us to perceive the loving action of the Holy Spirit.

We can define the divine Spirit as the personalized Action of God in creation. His primordial action is to consecrate us sons and daughters of God in the sacrament of baptism. Through the intermediary of the Spirit, the Heart of God acts in us and constitutes us children of his own family. “The proof that you are sons is that God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, who cries: Abba, Father! Thus you are no longer a slave but a son; a son, and therefore an heir of God.” Gal 4:6-7.

Paul recalls the same theme in another letter: “You are no longer given to the appetites of the flesh, but to the Spirit, since the divine Spirit dwells in you. And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus dwells in you, the one who raised Christ Jesus will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Indeed, all those animated by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. And you have not received a spirit of slaves to fall back into fear; you have received a spirit of adopted children, which makes us cry out: Abba! Father!”

“The Spirit himself joins our spirit to attest that we are sons and daughters of God. And also, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, since we suffer with him in order to be also glorified with him.” Rom 8:9,11,14-17. Often fears invade the human mind; in some cases, despair drives madness. It is important to recall this active presence of the Spirit in our lives.

He recognizes us with all our filial rights as heirs of God, whom we acclaim “Abba, that is to say, Father,” just as Jesus Christ does, since we are co-heirs with him of the glory of the Father. We can say with Mary: “The Lord works wonders in us.” In the whole world we know of no greater wonder than that of being recognized as sons or daughters of God.

Monsignor Cuskelly attests: “True spirituality begins when God enters our life and when we rejoice in being sons.” Through our condition as sons and daughters, the Spirit grants us, beyond simple consolation, the varied support of the seven gifts: wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of God, which open new perspectives of life. The gifts as well as the charisms, received gratuitously from the Lord, are given to us for the good temporal and spiritual order of our surroundings.

The gifts of the Spirit are the spiritual tools we need to build up personal life and that of society with enlightened intelligence, firm will and authentic freedom. In working at the building up of the kingdom of God, the divine Spirit acts as the Master who teaches the truth of the Scriptures, as the Counsellor who inspires our actions, or as the Advocate who defends us from the snares of evil; in short, he intervenes as the Soul of the Body of Christ, a body formed of the whole assembly of believers.

The loving action of the Consoler Spirit is not limited to the gifts; he wants to renew human existence in the family and in society, with all the goods of fraternal conviviality. Where the disordered appetites that Saint Paul enumerates in Galatians 5:19-21 often meet, the Holy Spirit produces the most wonderful fruits, gratifications of the Heart of God: “Love, joy, peace, tolerance, kindness, helpfulness, trust in others, gentleness and self-mastery.” Gal 5:22-23. The tree of life lavishly bestows in its seven branches abundant fruits of consolation and peace.

Prayer brings us to experience the presence of the Spirit who transforms the heart, illuminating it with joy and hope. The anxious and the despairing draw from it the strength to overcome their fear. The great mystics live, in the presence of the Spirit, a sublime state that resembles that of divine glory. Among the virtues of the Spirit is found the respect for the freedom of believers. The Spirit never imposes on us, not even in prayer. He always leaves the heart of the person free before his inspiration.

In Africa, I had to be careful in speaking of the Spirit because, in the Gourmanché culture of Tambaga, there exists a certain cult of the “genies” who act like spiritual beings or spirits. The genies cover the whole bush. They are located in many places, in the rivers or ponds, in the trees, especially the baobabs, and even in the rocks. Animals and humans are under their continual influence. Sometimes the spirits are beneficial; other times they bring bad luck. They always demand respect and can play nasty tricks.

In any case, it is better to keep them at a distance because they can subjugate those who entrust tasks to them. In general, the human being loses something of his freedom through contact with them. The Holy Spirit, on the contrary, always leaves the person free and never requests anything of him. The Spirit consoles, defends and inspires the person who invokes him; he scrupulously respects the freedom of those he protects, even if he is ignored. He leaves them free like the sailing ships that, on the sea, let themselves be carried along by the ocean currents.

Although, when the breeze of the Spirit blows, the vessel sails more joyfully. In turn, Paul presents the Holy Spirit, source of consolation, as the bond of communion. In the conclusion of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, he greets saying: “The grace of Jesus Christ the Lord, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Cor 13:13. The communion of the Spirit presents itself in three dimensions. The first is divine communion, the trinitarian unity. The Spirit is the current of love uniting the Father and the Son.

The second dimension is the communion sought by God, in his heart full of mercy and love, with the creation that he heaps with blessings. The third dimension refers to the union, among the multitude of believers, animated by the Consoler Spirit. This communion is essential to the life of the Church, which must show through as a sign of fraternity and peace, in a humanity divided by bellicose and ideological quarrels. This communion among believers never attains its fullness. Only the Spirit can give it its full dimension.

If the communion of the Spirit invades the heart of the believer only for inner enjoyment, that is merely a first step of divine action. An unavoidable second step lies in the commitment to the transformation of society. The strength or energy that surges from the Heart of God pushes us to perfect creation in view of a better earth, in accordance with the will of the Father. “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the common good.” 1 Cor 12:7. My contribution to the human community is indispensable.

“The eye cannot say to the hand: I have no need of you; nor can the head say to the feet: I have no need of you.” 1 Cor 12:21. Each member of the Body of Christ, according to the gift received from the Spirit, works at the construction of a society where all individuals are welcomed and respected. Certain believers work wonders in the human community because they do good, guided by the Spirit. The latter draws the person far from sin and makes him live in accordance with the will of God.

Through his inspiration, believers apply themselves to dismantling the structures of injustice and exclusion that envelop society in a net of misery. Let us conclude by keeping our eyes fixed on the scene of the open side of the crucified Jesus, from which flow the blood and the water. This scene illustrates the witness of the Gospel to the consolation of the Spirit for the universal Church: “One of the soldiers pierced his side with his lance and, at once, blood and water flowed from his heart. The one who saw these things bears witness, and his testimony is true.” Jn 19:34-35.

With the water and the blood, the Spirit surges from the Heart of the Crucified One for the building up of the people of God. Likewise, from my heart or from the heart of the Christian community must flow blood and water for the salvation of the world. In welcoming this witness, we dispense the consolation of the Spirit.

“Blessed are the afflicted, for they shall be consoled.” Mt 5:4.

[1] E.J. Cuskelly, Caminando el camino de Jesús, p.2.

[2] E.J. Cuskelly, ibid., p.2.

[3] François Varillon, Vivre le Christianisme, Editions du Centurion, 1992, p.35.

[4] E.J. Cuskelly, ibid., p.6.

[5] E.J. Cuskelly, ibid., p.1.

FOURTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

Because of their consecration to my Heart,

I will be their refuge during life and at the hour of death.

The fourth promise, dealing with the refuge assured during life and at the hour of death, brings us to contemplate the mystery of salvation accomplished in the death and resurrection of the Lord.

Through his cross and resurrection, Christ drank the cup of every painful situation and redeemed it. He questions us, in turn, as he does for John and James: “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” Mt 20:22. Salvation consists in delivering the human race from all oppression and all evil, so that it may obtain a life worthy of its divine filial condition. Salvation is, above all, a passage from death to resurrection in our situations of mortal life. Its culmination is eternal happiness beyond the resurrection.

The civil state organizes social security according to defined laws and with the help of bodies fighting against hunger, illness, violence, wars, cataclysms and accidents. These various organizations assure humanity a safer and more decent life. Could it be that one day the human being, freed from all adversity, will reach a perfectly worthy life?

Jesus presents himself as the saviour incarnate in our situations of life and death. He inaugurates the struggle against the evils of humanity through his miraculous activity and the defence of the weakest. “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” Lk 7:22. Note that his liberating activity will lead him to death on the cross. Since then, the cross has become the symbol and the instrument of salvation for the world.

The cross redeems because it puts into action the infinite love of God that frees from evil. Indeed, Jesus did not refuse death in order to give life to his people. Monsignor Romero preached thus: “If Christ is the representative of the whole people in its sufferings, in its humiliation, in its members nailed to a cross, we must discover the suffering of our people.”

“It is our tortured people, our crucified people, reviled, humiliated, that Jesus Christ represents, in order to give our situations of distress a sense of redemption.” Like Christ nailed to the cross, Monsignor Romero was assassinated because of his liberating activity. His example invites us to integrate ourselves into the plan of salvation undertaken by Jesus.

The first preaching of Jesus, after his baptism in the Jordan, is condensed in three brief propositions that summarize the plan of salvation: two warnings and one exhortation: “The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Mk 1:15. Let us analyse the first warning: “The time is fulfilled.” The long-awaited messianic time has just begun. The door of hope opens onto a new world.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has consecrated me by anointing, to bring the good news to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim deliverance to the captives and the return of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim a year of grace of the Lord” Lk 4:18. Jesus sees, in the help given to the poor and oppressed, the accomplishment of the loving will of his Father, the appointed time for his messianic task. His death on the cross recapitulates a life totally given in obedience to the will of God. His last words bear witness to this: “It is accomplished.” Jn 19:30a.

Jesus knows that on the cross he accomplishes the will of his Father for the salvation of the world and, so that it may be fully realized, the Crucified One communicates his Spirit: “Bowing his head, he gave up his Spirit.” Jn 19:30b. The Spirit continues the task of salvation undertaken by Jesus and leads the believer to accept the will of God for the salvation of the world. Jesus had said to the apostles after his messianic encounter with the Samaritan woman: “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, until I accomplish his work of salvation.” Jn 4:34.

Jesus warns us: “The kingdom of God is at hand.” The mission of Jesus consists in establishing a kingdom where God can reign as sovereign of the world. The kingdom of God, in the thought of Jesus, differs from the concept of the Jews. They hoped for a kingdom of peace for Israel, but at the same time a kingdom of domination over the nations, a victorious political empire. Jesus renounces this manner of reigning, which resembles too closely the temptations of the evil one. Lk 4:1-13 or Mt 4:1-11. Above all, Jesus announces a kingdom of justice, joy and peace.

A kingdom deployed in hearts and characterized by the service of the neighbour. This means that God reigns in the hearts of individuals and communities as in his dwelling, where every service is accomplished in an act of love in accordance with the divine will. To Pilate, who interrogates him, Jesus replies: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jn 18:36. It is a quite different kingdom, whose ambition is not power but the glory of a free and happy people.

Like the mustard seed, this kingdom grows in the small acts of salvation performed every day and is transformed into a tree where the destitute take shelter. Cf. Mt 13:32. The kingdom of God works within consciences and becomes the leaven of justice in the human community. Cf. Mt 13:33.

Jesus continues his liberating mission with all those who believe in him. To do this, he gives them the Holy Spirit: with him, the cross becomes less heavy, and it is easier to follow Jesús in order to save the world in adverse situations.

The following exhortation summarizes the requirement of the kingdom: “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Salvation does not happen despite us. Repenting and believing in the Gospel means dying with Jesus on the cross in order to rise with him. In dying with Jesus, we offer ourselves like him for the life of the world. “Drinking the cup that Jesus drinks” implies bearing the cross of humanity and working for its redemption.

It is never easy to drink from the cup of Jesus. During my years of mission at Tambaga, I had the occasion to live among people suffering from so many needs that one cannot write them all. Of the seven years lived in the mission, four of them were marked by famine. Sometimes the harvest was lost because of drought; other times, natural phenomena dried up the ears of wheat before their time. They were times of anguish when people sought their food. It was necessary to solicit the help of international bodies. One year, among others, we received sixty tons of sorghum.

At first glance, we thought: these sixty tons are going to save us. However, they had to be shared among the sixty villages of the parish. As the grain was distributed, each family's share was reduced to ten or twelve kilograms. It was a drop of water in the ocean of famine, and we had to keep searching for food... That is indeed the lot of the poor!

However, beyond suffering and death, there is the Passover that we share with the Risen One, a Passover that is realized also in this mortal life. To hunger must succeed well-being. It is the hope that animates every oppressed person. Jesus, risen to eternal life, lives among us and he gathers all believers in view of a new existence. All of life unfolds in the presence of the risen Jesus, who gives us his Spirit, vital strength in all our daily challenges.

These three sentences of the Gospel — “The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” — are the keys to the mission of Jesus, and they illuminate the mystery of salvation for a better world.

Paraphrasing the words of Saint John: “There are three witnesses to the coming of Jesus into the world: the water, the blood and the Spirit.” 1 Jn 5:6-8. We can say: “There are three witnesses to the salvation of Jesus Christ in the world: service, obedience, and the Spirit.” The first witness, service, characterizes the permanent activity of Jesus in the Gospel. He says to his disciples: “Whoever wants to be first must be the last of all and the servant of all the others.” Mk 9:35. He himself presents himself as the servant of humanity.

“I have not come to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for a multitude.” Mk 10:35. All of Jesus' life is assigned to the service of the kingdom of God. His devotion is total, even to giving his life and the last drop of his blood for the salvation of all. He invites us to the same renunciation: “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Mk 8:34. In this sense, every service rendered to brothers and sisters becomes an exercise of the common priesthood of the faithful, for, done out of love, this service saves the human race.

Our readiness toward the family, the human community and the people of God constitutes our response of faith as priests of the Lord.

Obedience to the will of the Father, the second witness of salvation, is also a command of Christ: “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, until the work of salvation is accomplished.” Jn 4:34. The Letter to the Hebrews comments on the obedience of Jesus: “Behold, I come to do your will. And it is by virtue of this will that we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ, once for all.” Heb 10:9-10.

“Christ, although he was Son, learned obedience from what he suffered; after being made perfect, he became, for all those who obey him, the source of eternal salvation.” Heb 5:8-9. The obedience of Christ saves the world; likewise, our obedience to the will of the Father is a source of salvation for our surrounding community. The spirituality of the vow of obedience takes root in this submission to the divine will.

The founding father of the MSC, Jules Chevalier, said to his religious: “Those who enter our Congregation may accept that others surpass them in science, in mortification, in poverty, but they will not allow themselves to be overcome in obedience and mutual charity.” The Spirit, always faithful, is the third witness. He stands at the door and works salvation in all those who confide in him. The action of the Spirit is liberating; it appears quite different from that of the spirits of sorcery or the other modern spiritisms that subjugate those who render them worship.

Our era has renewed these “spiritist” and even satanic doctrines. The films that take exorcism as their theme can convince us of this. One must indeed renounce all these demonic practices. The believer who lets himself be guided by the Holy Spirit walks in full freedom along paths of justice and peace. “To the person who follows the right path, I will show the salvation of God.” Ps 50:23. “The Spirit — who gives life — dwells in you.” Rom 8:9.

“If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus lives in you, the one who raised Christ will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” Rom 8:11. It is the Spirit who confirms salvation in us. “The indwelling of the Holy Spirit,” in the expression of Saint Basil, is the guarantee of the glory that God reserves for us. In taking up the cross in the footsteps of Jesus Christ the Saviour, we follow him in his paschal mystery, in his death and in his resurrection.

“If we contemplate the cross of Jesus united with the resurrection, it communicates to us a great strength to accept the inevitable pain and to unite it to the sufferings of Jesus, which make it fruitful.” We associate ourselves with his work of redemption in favour of the people of God. We know that we are saved in the Church, that is, in community with the brothers and sisters who intercede for us and who live with us the life of the Spirit. The example of intercession of the exquisite Marthe Robin is worthy of mention: she spent several years of her life with the Eucharist as her only food.

Every Friday, she suffered the pains of the crucifixion of Jesus and offered them for the holiness of the priests of the Church. A soul offered to the cross. May God fill her with glory! Like her, all our services offered in sacrifice redeem the world. These three witnesses, service, obedience and the Spirit, are signs of the paschal mystery, that is, symbols of the death and resurrection of humanity. Service, which is a sincere act of love, is the cross we carry on our shoulders and which saves. This cross consolidates the happiness of many marriages and brings the lives of children to blossom.

Work, an act of solidarity with the human community, helps the people to free themselves in order to taste joy.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to do the will of God, because they shall be satisfied.” Mt 5:6.

FIFTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

I will bless with freedom and happiness those who consecrate themselves to my Heart.

This promise corresponds to God's plan to convert the descent of Abraham into a free and happy people: “I will make of you a great people, I will bless you, and I will make your name famous, and it will be a blessing.” Gen 12:2. This blessing is, quite simply, that of the freedom and happiness promised to all nations: “Through you all the clans of the earth will be blessed.” Gen 12:3b.

The human race seeks happiness, an indispensable asset in the believer's programme of spirituality. Without happiness, we all become embittered and unbearable. This is why we must favour, as an objective of life, our personal happiness and that of others. In spirituality, joy and happiness are essential values. Monsignor Cuskelly affirms: “We truly enter into the intimacy of the Lord and we let the Lord penetrate into our lives, if joy enters into our hearts.” Now, we can say that only the person who is truly free is happy.

Without freedom, we are pure slaves. We suffer servitude. Many things can enslave us: drink, vices, injustice, our own and that of others. Sometimes our own character makes us prisoners of ourselves. Likewise, jealousies, pride and domination chain others. We recall the unfortunate experience of slavery in the history of humanity: a past, not so distant, still full of regrets. Modern society also maintains its slave practices. Political dictatorships and economic monopolies constantly give rise to them.

May God free humanity!

To be truly happy, one must conquer the freedom of the spirit, the one that makes us free from every attachment and every selfishness, even to the point of being able to give one's life for the brothers and sisters.

It is the path taught by Jesús in the beatitudes. Mt 5:3-12. Blessed are the poor, free from every material attachment, because they can give themselves entirely for the kingdom. Blessed are the afflicted, free from all indifference, because they know how to fight for the kingdom, despite the sacrifice that imposes itself. Blessed are the humble, free from all pride and domination, because they are not prevented from serving humanity. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to do the will of God, because they make themselves free for the redemption of the world.

Blessed are the merciful, who, freed from vengeances and rancours, can reconcile humanity. Blessed are the pure of heart, because they seek the common good, themselves free from corruption and vices. Blessed are those who build peace, because, free from racism, nationalism and selfishness, they can devote themselves to universal reconciliation. Blessed are the persecuted for doing the will of God, because, delivered from exclusively self-interested concerns, they give themselves for social justice.

“The first four beatitudes concern the freedoms of the person facing himself, and the last four relate to the same freedoms facing society.”

Too often, the ways that the world proposes to us for attaining happiness oppose the beatitudes. The most widespread opinion about happiness lies in the fact that only wealth can make it possible to build castles and satisfy all the desires that make one happy. However, happiness is not obtained through wealth, power, prestige or pleasures, but rather through freedom with regard to disordered appetites. Jesus tells us again: “I assure you: it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mt 19:23.

In this sense, asceticism is proposed, the stripping away of every material desire in order to be free as the wind. It is the happiness that several Oriental philosophies promise. The guru, spiritual master in India, customarily leads his disciples to the summit of the mountains and proposes to them the search for freedom. Through meditation, they must obtain complete mastery of material desires, in order to be content with what God provides in poverty. Some manage to live in continual thanksgiving toward the Creator; for them, it is illumination.

They are quite close to the beatitude of poverty for the kingdom of heaven. Other philosophies propose love as the only path to happiness. Here too, erroneous paths surge up, such as free love or hedonism, the satisfaction of the instincts that make the individual a slave of himself. We set aside these paths of alleged happiness, simply because they lead nowhere. Where, then, does true happiness lie? Happiness is rooted in love lived as a commitment of life.

By working out of love, one acquires personal freedom and that of others and, consequently, happiness. Love leads to freedom of the spirit and to happiness as on a stepped slope that must be climbed floor by floor. “The three stages of the growth of human love are: passion or desire, affection or friendship, election or commitment to spiritual evolution.” The first stage of the climb toward happiness is the amorous passion, love at first sight.

The psychologist Scott Peck tells us on this subject: “Of all the false ideas about love, the most widespread is the belief that falling in love is equivalent to loving. It is a false concept, because the fact of falling in love is a strong subjective experience.” From lovers is born the love commonly called romantic. Lovers easily convince themselves that they have met the unique and perfect being that heaven had reserved and predestined for them. For them, it is supreme happiness, ecstasy.

Unfortunately, this love so sweet customarily lasts only the space of a springtime, scarcely long enough to face with courage the adventure of married life. Certain psychologists affirm that it is better that this first time not last long, because amorous passion debilitates the freedom of lovers. They make themselves rather dependent on one another. Anthony de Mello comments on this subject: “Passion is the opposite of love. It is a contagious disease that tempts everyone.”

“I saw a film where a young girl said to a young man: I love you so much that I cannot live without you! Is that love? No, that is quite simply being hungry. When I feel passion for you, I no longer really see you. Where the positive or negative emotion is so powerful, I cannot see clearly. To love means, at least, to see the other clearly as he is.” Parallel to the passion of love, there is the stage of the amorous dependence of the child upon his parents. The child needs his mother to live and depends totally on her maternal attention.

As soon as he can, the child will go beyond this first step of the ladder of love and seek his personal freedom. What a drama to meet young people still totally dependent on their parents, or who seek in the husband or the wife the protection that the child finds in his mother or father! These are persons limited in the normal life of society.

With time, the adolescent reaches the second rung of the climb of love and prepares to conquer his freedom by opening himself to his surroundings. He continues to love his parents, but in a different way: he no longer wants to receive everything already prepared; on the contrary, he brings them his spontaneous collaboration and his help. Likewise, in the couple united for life, there develops a great friendship that solidifies the initial love, too idyllic to be lasting. At the awakening, after the romantic sleep, there surges before them the commitment of work to earn the livelihood of the home and that of the education of the children to guide along the path of life. The best support of the man and the woman will always remain the affection and friendship rooted in their hearts. United by this bond of love, they collaborate in view of the well-being of the family.

This blessed friendship opens their hearts to the needs of the surrounding community. The Acts of the Apostles recount the experience lived in the community of the first Christians, model of our base ecclesial communities: “Among them, everything was in common.” Acts 4:32c. The happiness of the Christian is obtained in sharing the friendship of Jesus Christ, sublime bond of the community of believers. By Christian vocation, we are called to live this friendship among brothers and sisters of a great family. Jesus, the first, tells us: “I no longer call you servants but my friends, because I share with you the secrets of my Father.” Jn 15:15.

Friendship favours freedom. The Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran writes: “Leave spaces of freedom in your mutual proximity and let the winds of heaven dance between you. Love one another, but make not of love a bond; let there be, rather, a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill one another's cup, but drink not from the same cup. Share your bread, but eat not the same slice.”

It is vital, finally, to climb a last rung in order to attain the full freedom that guarantees happiness; this last stage of the climb of love is called the evolution or spiritual perfection of the human person and of his surroundings. This spiritual fullness requires of the believer freedom and availability, so that others are formed with him, free and in solidarity.

The human being attains the freedom of the spirit as the culminating value of his life, in the image of the summit of the mountain climbed with effort and perseverance. Those who reach the high peaks know how necessary breath is to conquer the too-abrupt peaks, and yet there lies the freedom that makes the heart happy.

Perfection consists in loving like God, in the manner of the Heart of Christ, engaged in the material and spiritual evolution of the human race. “When we love someone, it is only through actions that we can demonstrate it; as, for example, when we are capable, for the benefit of the other, of walking one kilometre more or taking one step more. Love cannot be exempt from effort and, indeed, it must be said that it is indispensable.” Only those who free themselves through this love attentive to others succeed in being truly happy.

It is the victory of evolution or of spiritual fullness. Paul tells us: “May Christ dwell in your hearts! May you be rooted and grounded in love! Thus you will receive the strength to understand, with all the saints, what is its breadth, its length, its height and its depth; you will know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, and you will enter through your fullness into all the Fullness of God.” Eph 3:17-19.

Such are the requirements of the divine love that the human heart progressively experiences. The spouses, engaged in the ideal of marriage, fight all their life for the happiness of the spouse, even to making him or her totally free. At the same time, it is the struggle against every disordered desire, every selfishness, every violence, in order to give themselves entirely to the common good of the home and to the spiritual evolution of the couple. Freedom is also the plan of parents toward their children. Seeing the children able to face life with serenity, joy and freedom, becomes the great consolation of the parents.

These have the habit of giving themselves without reservation so that the children succeed in life and can, in turn, guide their offspring to freedom. The pastoral task of the people of God resembles that of parents who slake their children at the fountain of true freedom. To love the children of the human community consists in opening for them spaces of material and spiritual freedom. The apostolate of charity and of hope forges the happiness that God reserves for his creation.

In the social milieu, the community commits itself toward its brothers and sisters so that they may be free before life, without any hindrance. Monsignor Romero said: “It is necessary that the man and the woman who live under the sign of so many oppressions and slaveries — the fear that threatens hearts, the illness that oppresses freedom and life — break all these chains. One must begin there.” The objective of the ecclesial community is to make Christians free and happy by cultivating concord, solidarity and peace.

Inner freedom also becomes the ideal of the believer who takes Jesus Christ as his model, in the face of misunderstanding, accusations of every kind and even death itself. “Blessed are you if you are insulted and persecuted and evil is said against you of every kind because of me.” Mt 5:11-12. Indeed, we well know that happiness reserves not only moments of tranquillity, but also periods of intense struggle against the evil that debases the human being.

This journey, advocated in the evangelical beatitudes, represents a great challenge, but it is certainly the source of happiness. It consists essentially in surmounting the painful situation, until obtaining the liberation whose culmination is the spiritual victory.

SIXTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

I will open the inexhaustible spring of mercy to those who consecrate themselves to my Heart.

We acknowledge with the Publican of the Gospel, Lk 18:9-14, that we are sinners. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone! Christ continues to write his mercy in the sand. It is not in vain to implore at the beginning of the Mass: “Lord, have mercy on us.” This first liturgical rite is one of purification from sins. We confess that we are sinners, but at the same time we acknowledge that divine mercy forgives us.

At every Eucharist, the faithful participates in the assembly like the Publican whom Jesus declares purified: “I tell you that this one went back to his home reconciled with God” Lk 18:14. The Bible proclaims the mercy of God. All the history of salvation describes the merciful activity of the Lord toward his people, whom he delivers from servitude and educates in the freedom of the desert, in order to give them, at the end of the journey, the land promised to their father Abraham. The Psalms say it again: “They contaminated themselves with their actions and prostituted themselves by imitating the actions of the pagans.”

“This is why the Lord delivered them into the hands of the enemies who oppressed them and enslaved them under their power. But God looked upon their distress while he heard their cry. He remembered his covenant with them; he was moved according to his great love.” Ps 106:39,41,44-45.

Psalm 103 praises the mercy of God: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; he who forgives all your offences, who crowns you with love and tenderness. The Lord is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and full of love. He does not treat us according to our faults; he does not repay us according to our offences. Bless the Lord, O my soul.” Ps 103:2,3,8,10. The prayer of the Psalms educates the human heart toward the patience that overflows from the heart of God.

During his ministry, Jesús advocates two unavoidable attitudes: mercy and forgiveness. The sinners and the publicans hasten to him to listen to him, and he eats with them. “Seeing this, the Pharisees said to his disciples: Why does your master eat with the publicans and sinners? But he, who had heard, said to them: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Go then and learn what this means: It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice. Indeed, I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.” Mt 9:11-13.

“Jesus presents himself as the man who accepts every person, as he is, and makes him capable of coming out of his fetters and his limits by granting him, through a valorization that lightens the burdens and procures rest, the strength and the value of living and working for a new world.” In his mercy the Lord assures reconciliation to sinners. The sacraments are the channels that let this inexhaustible water of mercy flow, a water that has its source in the Heart of Christ.

One by one, from baptism to the viaticum carried to the dying, the sacraments forge the reconciliation of humanity with itself and with its God. The sacrament of reconciliation deserves a special mention. It is said that love reveals itself in forgiveness, since whoever loves forgives without reserve. Jesus lived forgiveness intensely on the cross: “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.” This sacrament of reconciliation is depicted in the parable of the merciful Father who grants full freedom to his two sons. Luke 15:11-32. The gestures of this father of a family reveal his spirit of reconciliation.

Every evening he goes out on the road to watch for the return of his son. The elder, who remained faithful to the house, misinterprets this gesture of the father, and above all his eagerness to welcome an individual who squandered his goods. Does the wretch not come back to claim more? The father acts thus because he loves this wretch of a son, with all his heart.

In finding the lost son, the father gives him the kiss of forgiveness, and even restores him to his dignity as a son, with all the family rights to which he had voluntarily renounced by claiming a false freedom. The father buys him a new garment, puts a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. He does not want the return of a slave but that of a son. All these objects symbolize the dignity of the legitimate son. Almost giving reason to the elder son, who judges his behaviour excessive, the father considers that he has still done too little, and he organizes a banquet with guests and musicians. This is indeed a reconciliation that goes further than simple forgiveness.

However, the elder does not see it that way. All this seems to him too much consideration for someone who has abused the family goods. Too concerned with his own affairs, he rejects a new sharing with this brother who squandered his father's goods and therefore, a little, his own goods. The final condition of the elder proves worse than that of the younger. He shows himself selfish and exclusive, toward his brother, with regard to family rights. He understands nothing of the reconciliation that the father celebrates with that other son.

To tell the truth, is this not the story of humanity in the majority of civil wars? One must hope that the elder will repent, one day, of his egocentrism and understand the love of his father, who forgets no one. He even forgives him his intolerance toward his little brother. Is reconciliation not the sacrament of human conviviality? Jesus tells us: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Mt 5:44. He well knows that the forgiveness and the love of enemies constitute the price to pay for universal reconciliation.

The peoples of the earth easily compare themselves to the two sons of the parable who despise each other and reject cohabitation in the same paternal house. The elder denies the younger his rights as son and brother. From there to declaring war on each other, there is only one step, since everything seems to them abuse and contempt on the part of the other. Is this not the portrait of the war situation of the Balkans or of Ethiopia, or even of the Latin-American guerrilla movements, where the love of enemies seems impossible?

Jesus advises the one who is going to present his offering at the altar: “If you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there and go first to be reconciled with your brother. Then you can come back to the altar to present your offering.” Mt 5:23-24. The worship of God and the love of the brother cannot be separated. If the eternal Father is so merciful toward us, who are reflections of his image, then living mercy must be the spiritual quality of those who worship him.

Saint Paul exhorts the Colossians to live this attitude: “As elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with sentiments of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience; bear with one another and forgive one another mutually, if one has any cause of complaint against another. The Lord has forgiven you; do likewise in turn. And, above all, clothe yourselves with love, which is the bond of perfection.” Col 3:12-14. Reconciliation pushes us to go further than simple tolerance; it supposes conviviality in a climate of peace and joy.

Reconciliation includes the gesture of welcoming a brother or sister of the same planet. Globalization draws us closer by abolishing borders; let us know how to behave as brothers of the earth. Racial conflicts cannot be resolved by mere tolerance, for they are wounds of humanity whose only remedies are the love of enemies, mercy and reconciliation.

Following the example of the Samaritan who, discovering an injured Jew at the side of the road, carries him on his mount, treats his wounds and leads him to the inn, so too every man is called to gather up his enemy, wounded or despised by misfortune. He recognizes in his enemy brother the same blood of his veins. Jesus ends his parable by saying: “Go, and do likewise yourself.” Lk 10:30-37.

Conversion does not consist only in saying: “I love God with all my heart and my neighbor as myself”; but in being merciful and in repairing the evil done to the neighbor by injustice. “If your justice does not surpass that of the Pharisees and scribes, you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.” Mt 5:20.

Reconciliation, which encompasses the love of enemies, claims to be the only remedy for the evils of our time. Violence, omnipresent on the planet, will never be able to settle conflicts. The killings engender vengeance, and the latter leads to new crimes. From the height of the cross, Jesus cries out to us: “Look where violence leads: to the cross and to death.” “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” I had the same vision when I was told of the assassination of the companion and friend, Father José Tineo, MSC, and how he was found on the autopsy table with his abdomen open: “Look at what violence produces: massacre, pain and death.” Universal reconciliation and human conviviality will become a reality when the love of enemies and mercy replace vengeances, indifference, and the personal interests of each one at the expense of those of the human community.

The parable of the employee forgiven by his boss of a large debt, and who refuses to do the same for the companion who owes him an insignificant sum, is the replica of what our society lives. Mt 18:21-35. Whoever experiences the mercy of the Lord cannot be sparing in the forgiveness to grant to his brother or his enemy. Thanks to the sacrament of reconciliation, the forgiven sinner allows his human community to live fraternity better. Reconciliation forges a new conviviality of humanity, which Christ inaugurates by his death on the cross and by his resurrection.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.” Mt 5:7.

SEVENTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

Thanks to their consecration to my Heart, lukewarm persons will become fervent.

The fervor promised to the person consecrated to the Heart of Jesus emerges from the commitment in view of the kingdom of God. This promise coincides with the announcement of the kingdom of God of the synoptic Gospels, the kingdom so long awaited in the Old Testament. Now, in the New Testament, this kingdom demands persons engaged in the building up of a better world where justice and right reign. “After the imprisonment of John, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. He said: ‘The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.’” Mk 1:14.

The lukewarm do nothing to raise up the kingdom of God. They have not converted to the values of the kingdom; they live carefree in the face of the social situation of misery and exclusion that affects their fellow beings. In contemplating the abnegation of the Heart of Christ, who gave his life for the kingdom of God, these lukewarm persons become fervent, because they observe that Christ shed his blood for them themselves.

“Today, it is uncommon to speak of a fervent Christian; we prefer to say an engaged Christian. However, for a long time one used the adjective ‘fervent,’ which means ‘intense heat.’ This is why the expression ‘fervent Christian’ could refer to a warm faith, a faith that is situated not only in the head but truly in the heart.” [13]

The kingdom of God is a kingdom of love that is built upon justice and peace. The Jews of the time of Jesus awaited a Messiah, a king descended from David who would re-establish Israel as an independent and powerful nation. They even hoped to set up an empire over the other nations that, until then, dominated them relentlessly. It seemed right to them to await the support of their God in order to establish this political power over the nations. These are common ideas often heard by Jesus. The doctors of the law propagated them among those who worshipped the God of Abraham.

Jesus will be tempted to respond to the hopes of the people in a spectacular way. All this danced in his head. The best method of domination could be to use his miraculous strength by changing stones into loaves. Everyone would applaud his gesture, for the people have more need of bread than of anything else. According to the Roman adage, with bread and games, the problems of the population disappear. But, under the inspiration of the Spirit, Jesus answers the devil: “Man does not live by bread alone.” Lk 4:4. Humanity must free itself from every slavery.

Then the devil recommends that Jesus present himself before the people as a powerful king who can gather a great army and undertake the conquest of the nations. In this way, through domination, he could found an empire totally subject to the divine will. Jesus rejects this violent method again, since it has no value of true liberation. Doing the will of God is a question of personal freedom. The contrary is to worship and legitimize the tactics of Satan. Jesus answers him: “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.” Lk 4:8.

The devil leads him, again, to Jerusalem, onto the highest part of the temple, and suggests that he throw himself down. “God will give orders to his angels to protect you.” Lk 4:10. Jesus would thus appear as the great prophet descended from heaven, with the authority of the prophet Elijah, who went up to heaven on a chariot of fire. A wonderful and triumphalist messianism that does not respect the dignity and the initiative of the human being. Jesus sees that this behaviour would lead him to take the place of God by setting him aside.

He answers the devil by citing a phrase from Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Lk 4:12. In summary, Jesus, during his retreat of forty days in the desert, opts for a kingdom without temporal or military power, one that does not covet the riches of the nations and does not use celebrity or renown. He decides to preach a more interior kingdom where God respects the freedom, the humility, the solidarity of the citizens. The beatitudes, as much those of Matthew 5:3-12 as those of Luke 6:20-26, define the values of the kingdom.

Luke laments over those who choose wealth, selfishness, indifference in the face of social situations of misery. “Woe to you, the rich...” Lk 6:24-26. At the beginning of his preaching at Nazareth, Jesus cites the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to announce the good news to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim liberation to the captives, to give sight to the blind, to free the oppressed and to proclaim a year of grace of the Lord.” Lk 4:18-19.

Everything that opposes justice, human dignity and peace remains excluded from the kingdom of God; it cannot tolerate evil, lukewarmness or indolence before the human situations of exclusion at the banquet of life. When the final judgment comes and the Messiah gathers the nations in the definitive kingdom, he will say to those on one side: “Come, you blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

“Because I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger and you lodged me; I was naked and you clothed me; sick and you visited me; in prison and you came to see me.” Mt 25:34-36. In the kingdom governed by the Lord, solidarity, love and peace prevail. This kingdom is like “the smallest of seeds, but, when it grows, it becomes almost a tree and, in its branches, the birds of the sky can make their nest.” Mt 13:32.

There surges, among the citizens of the kingdom, a force of spiritual and temporal transformation that takes account of the destitute. These latter thus succeed in making their nest, in full confidence, in the branches of the tree. The kingdom is situated in the human heart. It is not imposed by force, but it is born freely from the will of the believer. It is like “the leaven that a woman takes and mingles in three measures of flour until all the dough ferments.” Mt 13:33. The kingdom grows with time and when it spreads throughout the community, it produces there the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy and peace.

When the believer or the Christian community discovers, in fraternal communion, the transforming force of the kingdom, they perceive it as the finest pearl or the treasure of true life: “Full of joy, he goes to sell all that he has and buys that field.” Mt 13:44-45. Once engraved in the heart, the kingdom of love requires all the energy of the believer. Jesus warns: “The law and the prophets extend until John; since then, the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone strives to enter it by violence.” Lk 16:16.

Great efforts are demanded because the kingdom must face many enemies. All the forces of evil unite in opposition to the coming of the kingdom. Jesus recommends the sagacity of the believer in the face of the malice of the enemy, like the astute administrator of the parable. Lk 16:1-8. At the heart of the adverse forces are found political oppressions, social inequalities, immoralities of every kind that make humanity a slave of itself. These are the spear thrusts that God receives full in the Heart, like the lance planted in the side of Christ on the cross.

It is imperative to arouse human solidarity against the kingdom of evil. The remedy for universal evil is the love of enemies as advocated in the kingdom governed by the Holy Spirit of God. In reaction, the community of the kingdom, united to the redeeming sacrifice of Christ, fights for the salvation of the world. The mission of going throughout the whole world to preach the kingdom of God is still current. Those who welcome it in truth, save themselves.

I remember an anecdote that happened ten years ago, when I left for Africa with two other missionaries sent from the Dominican Republic. Before leaving, a member of my village, who had abandoned religious practice, wanted to teach me a lesson: “Why go off to Africa to say Mass to people who have more need of food than of hosts? Leave them in their beliefs. They were happy until you went to teach them doctrines foreign to their culture.” I answered him: “Precisely, they can live more happily.”

“That is why I go to their homes to accompany them.” On arriving at Tambaga, the elders of several villages demanded our visit. The young people, especially, no longer saw any salvation in the cult of the fetishes. Before they became completely atheist, it was urgent that they know the path of Jesus. He, indeed, spoke to their hearts.

It is from the wounded side of Christ that universal solidarity is born, above all toward the most destitute. According to the Fathers of the Church, it is from the heart opened by the soldier's lance that the Church is born, engaged for the kingdom of love in justice and peace. The biblical text of the death on the cross reveals to us the deep commitment of Christ for humanity. “The soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals crucified with Jesus.”

“Coming to him, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers, with his lance, pierced his side, and immediately blood and water came out.” Jn 19:32-34. The water and the blood symbolize all the sacramental life that nourishes the believers. Strong in the life of the sacraments, the baptized take seriously their evangelical commitment and obtain the promise of Jesus concerning the justice of the kingdom. The latter is a force of salvation for those who commit themselves to the liberation of the human community.

Father Manuel Soler writes on this subject: “The gaze toward the open Heart of Christ can be a call to hope, so that, in international relations, there may be a little human heart, which may be translated into windows of hope, in questions so urgent as the external debt or so macabre as the arms trade or so subtle as the coincidence of the battlefields in the countries of the Third World.”

EIGHTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

Fervent persons will rise to the perfection of the life of God, through their consecration to my Heart.

This promise is that of the divine life that gives birth to holiness in fervent persons. Living holiness means entering, through prayer, into the intimacy of trinitarian life, like a fish swimming in the immense ocean of divine love. At the same time, it is important not to lose oneself in a spiritual “intimism” but to keep one's eyes fixed on the necessities of a world anxious for justice, peace and fraternity. One must work, as John Paul II often repeats, to build the new civilization of love. The Heart of Jesus symbolizes the source of the life that the Spirit nourishes.

In the culture of the Old Testament, the heart is recognized as the organ of life and is identified with life. This is why the heart is often mentioned there. The psalmist prays the Lord to purify and direct his life: “Search me, test me, put my reins and my heart through the fire.” Ps 26:2. “Sound me, O God, know my heart, search me, know my concern; see that my path be not fatal, lead me on the path of eternity.” Ps 139:23-24.

Saint Paul preaches Christ as author of the true life: “Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, to announce the promise of life that Jesus Christ has made us.” 1 Tim 1:1. In another letter, Paul explains to the Galatians how to attain the life of holiness: “I am crucified with Christ, but it is no longer I who live; it is Christ who lives in me.” Gal 2:20a. Christ sanctifies us through his presence at the heart of our human situations. “Now in my earthly life, I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20b.

Christ, through his spiritual presence in the heart of the believer, communicates the life of holiness: “Christ will be glorified in my body, whether I live or whether I die. For me, of course, life is Christ, and to die represents a gain.” Phil 1:20-21. If Christ dwells in us, he guides us even into the intimacy of the Trinity, in its life of love. Saint John the Evangelist speaks much of the life of Christ in us, as the basis or springboard of the holiness of the believer. “This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life and that this life is in the Son.”

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life.” 1 Jn 5:11-12. In the Gospel, Jesus presents himself to Martha as being life itself. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Jn 11:25-26. After these words, Jesus brings Lazarus back to life and makes him come out of the tomb where he had been resting for four days. Life in Christ is stronger than death, even if the latter seems to triumph. Beyond natural death, Christ procures for us eternal life.

Éloi Leclerc writes: “In Jesus, life is intimately linked to his being. It radiates from his person to such a point that one receives it only if one welcomes Jesus in an act of unreserved faith. Faced with this gift, only one thing is necessary: faith in his person as the one sent by the Father. To believe in him is to welcome the gift of God, is to receive the life of God. Whoever believes in him is born to eternal life.”

“‘Such is the will of the Father that whoever sees the Son and believes in him has eternal life.’ Jn 6:40.” Using the comparison of the vine, of which his Father is the vinedresser, Jesus explains to us the mystery of the life that he shares with the believer. It is like the sap that circulates in the plant: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever dwells in me, and I in him, that one bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not dwell in me, he is thrown out like the branch and dries up; they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they burn.” Jn 15:5-6.

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Dwell in my love. I tell you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” Jn 15:9,11. The comparison of the vine splendidly illustrates the life that leads to divine intimacy in the Spirit. It is obtained through union with the Heart of Christ, its life running in our veins like the sap that gives life to the plant. This life of Christ is not independent of the mortal life that God breathes into our bodies. Mortal life is often threatened by illness, by natural phenomena, by conflicts and wars.

The life of God, infused in bodily life, sustains the latter in hope and gives it a sense of fullness. Even an unhappy life can regain its meaning in the hope that surges from divine life. How many misfortunes of our society need to be redeemed by this hope! For example, the marriages that do not manage to be consolidated in love and, like crystal vases, break through lack of vigilance. There are the situations of poorly paid work or chronic unemployment that, like illness, ruin family life.

One must also fight the drugs that ruin life, the injustices and the wrongs caused by selfishness, ambition and personal interests. Divine life assumes these situations and opens the door to hope in the one who suffers. Then, those who leave to the Lord spaces of faith in their existence become men and women of hope. If they keep their eyes fixed on a better life, the Lord will inspire their actions, animate them not to yield to depression, urge them to overcome their misfortunes and orient their efforts toward peace.

Prayer, by allowing the believer to enter into the Heart of God, sanctuary of the Trinity, is the soul of this life of hope. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “the life of prayer is to be habitually in the presence of God, thrice holy, and in communion with him.” “The spiritual life begins in confident faith in a God who loves us.” Prayer nourishes this confident faith. We can distinguish three dimensions of prayer linked to the encounter with God.

The first is lived when the words of the prayer catch fire like a camp fire, thanks to the believing heart that animates them. As long as one does not light the twigs, the camp fire does not exist. Likewise, the recited words remain simple formulas if one does not put into them the fire of the heart that directs the praise or the request to the Lord. The psalm recited by the assembly, during the Sunday liturgy, may be very beautiful and very poetic, but if the heart does not pray it, it lacks a soul.

The second dimension of prayer effects the passage from the prayer of the heart, as a punctual act of the day, to a heart of prayer, as a permanent state. Following the counsel of the Lord in the parable of the widow: “It is necessary to always pray without ever tiring.” Lk 18:1. The one who prays develops in his heart a life that feeds on prayer: whether he is kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament or working in his field or his office, his life unfolds in intimate union of will with his Father. The spiritual master Jean Lafrance tells us of the one who prays: “In passing from the act of prayer to the state of prayer, he has made himself capable of making of his life, his relationships and his activity, a spiritual worship.”

Lord, “we have been created for adoration. It is necessary to be seduced, carried away and captured by the face of the Lord, above all, to let oneself be possessed by him.” The Spirit invites us to this mystical union by giving us his presence. It is in this sense that Paul tells us: “Pray without ceasing. In every circumstance, be in thanksgiving. It is the will of God for you as Christians.” 1 Thess 5:17-18.

The third dimension of prayer projects the needs of the neighbor, like the light that illuminates the life of the earthly city. When God has established his dwelling in the heart of the believer, one can no longer distinguish in him the love of God and the love of the neighbor. Like Jesus, his model, he sees the face of God in all his brothers and sisters, sinners, destitute, simply brothers or even enemies. The document of Puebla raises our awareness of the situation of extreme poverty, an indigence that often stems from dishonest ambitions and abusive dominations.

“This situation acquires, in real life, concrete faces on which we can recognize the suffering features of the Lord who interpellates us: Faces of children, struck by poverty before being born, who wander in the streets and are often abused; Faces of young men and women, disoriented for not finding their place in society; Faces of indigenous people or Afro-Americans, who can be considered the poorest because of marginality; Faces of country people subjected to commercialization systems that exploit them and, sometimes, deprive them of their lands; Faces of badly paid workers, incapable of defending their rights.” To this list we can add the faces of exploited women, struck, abused, and also those of men living a similar contempt.

As neighbors of all these brothers and sisters, we read on their faces the suffering caused by the painful conditions of their life, and we offer them to the Lord in prayer. In many cases, the gesture of solidarity and help to the neighbor will effectively follow the prayer. In the Gospels, Jesus identifies with the cause of sinners. “Go then and learn what this means: It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice. Indeed, I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.” Mt 9:13. With the sincere desire to be in the presence of God in prayer, we open a window on trinitarian life, where we discover holiness, and another window on human life, which we want to be decent and worthy for all, according to the divine plan. This is why the believer, attentive to the necessities of humanity, becomes a man or woman of prayer.

“The Spirit who gives life” Jn 6:63 is also the one who leads us to prayer. In him lies the salvation of all our human situations. In the eighth chapter of the Letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of the action of the Spirit in our hearts and ends by saying: “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know what to ask for in prayer as we should; the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings, and he who searches the hearts knows what the desire of the Spirit is, and that his intercession for the saints corresponds to the views of God.”

“And we know that with those who love him, God cooperates in everything for their good, according to his design. For those whom he foreknew, he predestined to conform to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn of a multitude of brothers. Those whom he predestined, he also called; those whom he called, he also justified; those whom he justified, he also glorified.” Rom 8:26-30.

In the great priestly prayer of the last supper, Jesus reveals the secret of holiness, which is the life of shared glory: “Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you and that, according to the power you have given him over all flesh, he may give eternal life to all those you have given him! Now, eternal life is that they know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent, Jesus Christ.” Jn 17:1-3. “Holy Father, keep them in your glory that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.” Jn 17:11. “I pray that they may all be one.”

“As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me, so that they may be perfect in unity, and that the world may recognize that you have sent me and that you have loved them as you have loved me. Father, those you have given me, I want that where I am, they also may be with me, so that they may contemplate the glory that you have given me, because you have loved me before the foundation of the world.” Jn 17:21-24.

In conclusion, the life of holiness, which is promised to us, takes root in and leads to the life of glory that the believer shares with the Trinity. This divine life does not aim at simple personal spiritual enjoyment but at the transformation of the world. May the world know too, through the intermediary of the believer, divine holiness, the great love of God toward all humanity!

We understand better the prologue of Saint John in recognizing the life and the glory that God reserves for us. “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. In it was life, and the life was the light of the world.” Jn 1:1,4. Christ illuminates the path of every human being toward the holiness of God. “The light has shone in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. We have contemplated his glory, glory that he holds from his Father as only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.” Jn 1:5,14b.

“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.” Mt 5:8.

NINTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

The homes and communities of faith will live the Covenant in fullness, thanks to their consecration to my Heart.

This promise reveals a great blessing of the people of God, “the divine covenant,” of which the family is the privileged symbol. This special blessing takes root in the biblical covenant, concluded with the chosen people, from Abraham and Moses, and which finally Jesus Christ assumes through his death and resurrection.

The covenant is lived in an excellent manner in the sacraments of the Church. Among these, the sacrament of marriage excels, which founds and consolidates the domestic Church while figuring the covenant of Christ with his Church.

Since the origins, God wants to ally himself with creation to share with it his glory. In the earthly paradise, there existed a deep friendship between God and man. Taking advantage of the evening breeze, God walked with Adam among the trees of the garden. When sin came to break these good relations, God did not want to renounce his friendship with his dear creatures.

With Abraham, he makes a pact, somewhat surprising for us, in the style of the kings of Canaan. At his departure from Chaldea, God promises Abraham a descent as numerous as the stars of heaven, on a land where milk and honey were to flow. He then invites him to sacrifice a young heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon. Abraham divides the animals in half and places each half opposite the other.

To confirm the covenant, Abraham walks between the quarters of the animals, signifying that he accepts to be cut in two, through the middle, like these sacrificed animals, if he is not faithful to his God. Only the confirmation of God was missing. “When the sun had set, darkness spread; behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between the divided animals. That day the Lord concluded a covenant with Abraham.” Gen 15:17-18. “God promises to the posterity of Abraham the land that extends from the river of Egypt to the Great River.” Gen 15:18b.

“Abraham believed the Lord, who counted it to him as righteousness.” Gen 15:6. Later, in the desert of Sinai, God renews the covenant with his people, freed from Egypt through the intermediary of Moses. The covenant supposes a commitment on both sides. God offers his protection as father of the nation; the people, for its part, submits to his authority and promises to obey his commandments. Commandments that are there above all to favour peaceful cohabitation among all and justice toward the weakest.

“Moses went up to meet God, and the Lord called him from the top of the mountain and said to him: You shall speak thus to the sons of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you listen to my voice and keep my covenant, I will hold you as my special possession among all the peoples, for the whole earth is mine. I will hold you as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. These are the words you shall say to the Israelites.”

“Moses went and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all that the Lord had commanded him, and the whole people, with one accord, answered: All that the Lord has said, we will do.” Ex 19:3-8. “From covenant to covenant, the relationship between God and man deepens and becomes more and more intimate. This movement reaches its culmination in the new covenant with Christ.”

Then the relationship is situated at the level of the divine mystery: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Mt 11:27. Thus, the covenant relationship that structures the whole history of salvation appears finally as the revelation of the intimate mystery of God: the eternal relations between the Father and the Son. Each year, the Jewish people renewed its covenant with the Lord by offering the paschal lamb.”

“The lamb that the people had eaten upon coming out of the slavery of Egypt, and that symbolized the passage to freedom guided by the Lord. Annually Jesus celebrated this Jewish covenant but, at the last Passover, he gave it a new turn in favour of his intimate relationship with his Father and with humanity. In Jesus, the covenant is realized in all its fullness.”

“God and man in a single person, Christ represents, on one side, God in his relations of friendship with humanity and, on the other, humanity in its reconciliation with God through his sacrifice.” Jesus Christ offers himself for sins, as the new paschal Lamb, in order to restore freedom to the people of God. “During the supper, while they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them, saying: ‘Take, this is my body.’ Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and gave it to them, and they all drank of it.”

“And he said to them: ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is going to be shed for a multitude.’” Mk 14:22-24. The Eucharist has remained since then the memorial of the covenant between the Trinity and its people. The covenant concluded in Jesus Christ, through his immolated body and his blood shed on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, redeems humanity. The forgiven people walks in a new freedom acquired through the sacrifice of Christ. It is the journey of a free and happy human life that leads to the glory of God. Jesus tells us: “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jn 8:32.

Elsewhere he says again: “I am the Truth.” Jn 14:6. During the Eucharistic Prayer, after the consecration of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, Jesus adds: “Do this in memory of me.” The Eucharistic Prayer # II continues by saying: “This is why, Father, in celebrating this memorial of the death and resurrection of your Son, we offer you the bread of life and the cup of salvation.” A memorial, that is, a renewal of the new covenant, not only that of the last supper, but also that of the present time, which is lived in Jesus Christ.

He saves us and frees us in the concrete situations of our human lives. It belongs to us to live anew the march through the desert, where freedom is acquired in suffering because of the difficult conditions of the desert. But, with us, walks the Lord Jesus Christ, the Risen One, who perpetuates the covenant between God and us. We can affirm that the covenant of the Lord with us is the foundation of divine providence in the life of the people. Thanks to the covenant with the Lord, the family lives freedom and happiness in the couple, together with the children.

Saint Paul gives the key to this blessing: “No one has ever hated his own body; on the contrary, he nourishes it and takes care of it. That is precisely what Christ procures for the Church: Are we not the members of his Body? This is why a man will leave his father and mother to be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is of great import; I mean that it applies to Christ and the Church” Eph 5:29-32. Marriage lived by the grace of God appears as an admirable sign of God's covenant with his own.

In this choice of life, there is a diversity of persons, and each one is called to realize himself in freedom. The love that feeds the life of the home engages each of the partners to favour the spiritual evolution of the spouse and of the offspring. This is why the married couple opens itself to happiness by taking the path of freedom. This produces joy by freeing the heart of all selfishness and making it attentive to the needs of the other. Many times, this will be at the price of a personal sacrifice.

Love lived in matrimonial covenant remains faithful until death, for one cannot imagine such a sublime love, figure of the divine covenant, without perseverance in this union. The love between the spouses flows back onto the children, fruits of their love. These, thanks to the loving climate of the home, grow physically and spiritually in harmony with their surroundings. Accompanying the children in their apprenticeship and making them free for life constitutes, at the same time, the joy and the challenge of the parents.

Like Jesus, growing in stature and in wisdom before God and before society, the children develop their qualities and educate themselves in order to be useful to society.

In society, the Christian spouses who live their vocation as signs of the divine covenant become exceptional witnesses. In the midst of their fellow citizens, the spouses recall that God, in his love, desires the freedom of all individuals. A freedom that gives value to the dignity of the human being, man or woman without servitude, proud to walk with head held high while seeking the common good. Manifestly, in the matrimonial covenant, the love of God consecrates common life and creates a climate favourable to happiness. The mutual trust that love awakens in the members of the family makes it possible to attain happiness and to communicate it to the fellow citizens of the city. In truth, the latter carries in its bosom a marvel of God, the Christian home.

TENTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

The persons consecrated to my heart will have the gift of touching the hardest hearts.

This gift corresponds to the mission of the people of God as “spiritual temple dedicated to a consecrated priesthood.” The First Letter of Peter declares on this subject: “Draw near to him, the living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and precious in the sight of God. You yourselves, as living stones, let yourself be built into a spiritual temple, for a holy priesthood, in view of offering spiritual sacrifices, pleasing to God through Jesus Christ” 1 Pet 2:4-5. The priestly function includes that of king, of prophet and of priest of the people of God, and constitutes the spiritual sacrifice pleasing to the Lord.

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired, to proclaim the praises of the One who called you from darkness to his admirable light” 1 Pet 2:9. The Lord had already promised it at Sinai: “Now, if you listen to my voice and keep my covenant, I will hold you as my special possession among all the peoples, for the whole earth is mine. I will hold you as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” Ex 19:5-6.

In catechism courses, the dynamic of the baptized person, who is anointed as king, prophet and priest, is repeated to raise awareness of the tasks of the lay person in the community. This truth, taken up in liturgical preaching, has become a conviction of the Christian community. Today, every lay person, conscious of his faith, recognizes his mission of king or responsible one of the people of God, of prophet in the formation of the human community, and also of priest in order to save humanity through the services rendered with love.

Being a king entails a great challenge, since it means assuring the human community its freedom in justice and peace. In comparison, the mission of a neighbourhood lay person is not the same as that of the Pope, who reaches the universal Church; but it falls to the lay person the task of animating the faithful of his Christian community in justice and peace. It is a very diversified animation according to the needs of the destitute in all their diversity: the sick, the unemployed, the illegal aliens, those excluded from society and the miserable of every kind.

In Christian history, many works bear witness to the accomplishment of this mission: the hospitals for the sick, the schools for children and the illiterate, the charitable movements for the homeless. History will recognize the labour of all these lay people and religious who gave their life to preserve the health, the dignity and the freedom of all fellow citizens. Certain lay people, by virtue of their specific vocation to promote the temporal order, have contributed much to the building of the human community through their social and humanitarian work.

Taking into account the social character of their profession, they promoted justice in an excellent manner and they gave value to human dignity by sharing their goods, their abilities and their knowledge.

Biblical history recalls the vocation of a king according to the heart of God: King David. He and Salomon, his son, were recognized for their wisdom in governing the kingdom. The principal function of the wise king is to assure justice and right among the governed. The Bible praises the labour of King David, who, during his reign, had restored peace throughout his territory.

Jesus is acclaimed: “Son of David who brings peace.” The people recognizes him as Messiah King at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, according to the words of the prophet Zechariah: “Behold, your king comes to you; modest, he rides a donkey, and a colt, the young of a beast of burden. Then the people, in a very great crowd, spread their cloaks on the road; others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds that walked before him and those that followed cried: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’” Mt 21:5,8-9.

Before Pilate, Jesus accepts the title of king because he comes to work, indeed, in the line of the great kings, for the peace and dignity of humanity; but he adds: “My reign is not of this world” Jn 18:36-37. As disciples of Christ, we share his title of king; a title that entails the immense task of serving or working for justice and peace. One must recognize that, through baptism and confirmation, we have been anointed with the Spirit, as kings, like Jesus the Messiah, for the salvation of the world.

In addition to being kings, still under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are called to be prophets of the people of God. Being a prophet, in the world of today, proves to be a high-risk mission. We know great modern prophets, such as Gandhi in India, Martin Luther King in the United States of America, Mother Teresa among the poor of the Indian shantytowns, Monsignor Romero in El Salvador. Some still live, such as Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Rigoberta Menchú and Bishop Samuel Ruiz among the indigenous people, as well as many others more humble, whose names are not mentioned and who give their life for the marginalized.

The prophet, inspired by the Spirit of God, denounces the situations of violence, selfishness, class struggle, social marginality at national or world level. In reality, the prophet does not only denounce injustice; he announces above all a hope. The hope of the kingdom of God, which favours the most humble and the most destitute. To them, a Saviour is announced, Jesus, the great Hope, who, through his death on the cross, abolishes all selfishness, violence and injustice, by opening a path of freedom and happiness for all.

One day, in his prayer of praise, Jesus rejoiced that the poor welcomed his message of hope better than the wise. Mt 11:25-30. The Old Testament recounts the vocation of the prophets who raised their people's awareness of the urgency of doing the will of God. We know the courage of Elijah, who makes himself the conscience of his people by reminding them of the worship of the true God. He reproaches King Ahab, who claims to be master of the land and even of the life of his subjects, for being unjust and idolatrous. The latter asks Naboth to cede his property, adjacent to the royal palace, to enlarge his garden.

Faced with Naboth's negative response, the king becomes sad and irritated. Queen Jezebel resolves the conflict; she has Naboth killed and hands the vineyard over to King Ahab. On the day Ahab goes down to take possession of the vineyard, the prophet Elijah confronts him, saying: “You have murdered, and, on top of that, you expropriate. This is what the Lord says: ‘Where the dogs have licked the blood of Naboth, they will lick yours too.’” 1 Kings 21:18b-19. At the risk of their life, the prophets denounce sin and favour the return to the true God, the only hope that does not deceive.

Jesus appears, following the great prophets, as the prophet par excellence, denouncing every servitude and announcing the kingdom of God, thanks to the presence of the Spirit at the heart of all human efforts. He stimulates our hope with the aim of creating a new earth and a new heaven. In the same line, the priestly office of the lay person consists in offering his services, his life, for the salvation of the human community. Christ, in the Letter to the Hebrews, prays his Father in this sense: “Father, you have desired neither sacrifice nor offering, but you have fashioned for me a body.”

“You have accepted neither holocausts nor sacrifices for sins. Then I said: Behold, I come to do, O God, your will” Heb 10:5-7. It is not so much the sacred things or the animals offered in sacrifice that God expects of us, but rather that we say like Jesus: “Father, I offer you my life in doing your will.” Doing the will of God is the path of salvation traced by Jesus on the cross, the only path to take in order to overcome all evil. “If anyone wants to come after me, let him renounce himself, take up his cross and follow me” Mt 16:24.

Since the will of God is to love and serve the most humble, every loving service, every charity becomes a priestly act of the disciple of Jesus, his spiritual sacrifice, his eucharist. Jesus teaches us thus, on Holy Thursday, by washing the feet of his disciples. “Do you understand what I have done for you? It is an example that I have given you, so that you also may do as I have done for you” Jn 13:12b,15. The priestly actions of the baptized people reside in the small and great services lovingly offered.

A mother or a father who takes care of his children, feeds them and educates them, accomplishes a priestly task; a worker, earning the livelihood of his family or rendering service to the human community through his work, likewise accomplishes his priesthood. Others exercise their priesthood through their profession placed in the service of humanity. Social pastoral ministry stimulates the exercise of the common priesthood of the faithful, which finds in it its full realization. These are the sacrifices that the priestly people offers to the Father by uniting itself to the eucharistic sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They are the life offered for universal redemption.

Being a king or a prophet requires a particular charism, but the priesthood of the lay person, with its humble services, is accessible to all. On this subject, the Letter to the Hebrews enlightens us: “As for you, beloved, we are persuaded that you are in a better and favourable situation for salvation. For God is not unjust, so as to forget what you have done and the charity you have shown for his name, you who have served and who serve the saints.”

“We only desire that each of you show the same zeal for the full flowering of hope until the end; so that you may imitate those who, through faith and perseverance, inherit the promises” Heb 6:9-12. Christian hope manifests itself in Jesus, the only priest, prophet and king for the world.

In conclusion, our priestly dignity makes us like Christ, Servant of God and of humanity. With him, anointed with the Holy Spirit, we are a hope of salvation for a world desirous of freedom and happiness.

ELEVENTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

The faithful consecrated to my Heart will have their name inscribed in my Heart.

Full personal and communal spiritual evolution constitutes the ultimate end of love and coincides with the objective of Christian spirituality, which resides in the fullness of happiness in this life and in the glory of God. The Bible sometimes translates the fullness of happiness by complete joy. This fullness of joy comes to us from the incarnation of Christ in our personal or communal life: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we have contemplated his glory, the glory the Christ holds from his Father as only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.”

“Yes, from his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” Jn 1:14,16. The love that dwells in the Heart of Jesus leads him, in his mortal life, to the highest spiritual perfection. Thus, even nailed to the cross, he feels that the glory of his Father accompanies him and does not abandon him in torment. Christ reserves the same glory for the fullness of life for all those who believe in him. This joyful fullness comes from the Heart of God, from his shared glory.

Rightly, the person consecrated to the love of Christ sees his name inscribed in the divine Heart, and it will never be erased, since he participates in divine fullness. In the fifth promise, we specified that love leads to the freedom of the spirit, to complete joy or to the fullness of happiness. The psychologist Scott Peck writes: “The efforts to explain love have led to dividing love into several categories: eros, philia, agape, perfect love, imperfect love, etc.”

“I propose to give, rather, a single definition of love, without ceasing, for all that, to be fully conscious that, probably, it will not be the most appropriate. I define love as the will to extend the limits of the ego, in order to promote the spiritual evolution of the person.” The same author also says: “We can define spiritual development as the full evolution of consciousness. Consciousness develops when our conscious perceives a knowledge that the unconscious already possesses. It is a process of making conscious what lies in the unconscious.”

“But this does not yet explain how the unconscious possesses all these knowledges that the conscious ignores. We cannot give a scientific answer; we can only plant hypotheses, and I know of no hypothesis as satisfactory as that of a God so intimately associated with us that he is part of our being.”

What a seductive hypothesis for the one who believes in a God of love who created us in his image and his likeness! God is love, a love that blossoms in the creation of the universe. We know that, through baptism, the Father bathes us in the water of the Jordan, a bath of the love and the Spirit of Christ, the gift promised to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The Father recognizes, in the baptized person, the love that he contemplates in his Son. These are the words of Paul: “Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have access to this grace in which we are established, and we glory in the hope of the glory of God. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Rom 5:2,5.

We recognize with Scott Peck that divine love has been deposited in our consciousness as a hidden treasure. As a psychologist, he divides consciousness into two extreme parts: a part where knowledge gradually becomes conscious of the treasure it possesses, and the other part, which possesses all the knowledge of this treasure but in a still unconscious manner. The love that God has deposited in our hearts is found buried first in this part called unconscious. Our daily task is to recover this treasure of divine love in the conscious part of the consciousness or of the heart.

Paul invites us to reflect the image of Christ as in a mirror: “We all, who with unveiled face reflect as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into this same image, each time more glorious, under the action of the Spirit.” 2 Cor 3:18. Throughout my mission in Africa, I was greatly interested in the Gourmanché culture of Burkina Faso. According to the wisdom of this African ethnic group, the human being is not only composed of body and soul; he even admits six components.”

“All that the human being can possess is contained in these six notions.” In addition to the body “ti gbannandi” and the soul “o naano,” the individual receives a guiding spirit “ke ciciliga” that characterizes him in his social relations. A fourth component is the mould “li haali” inherited from one of the ancestors, who communicates to him, at the same time as the physical resemblance, his personal abilities. Also part of his being is the consciousness of God, “u yienu” his creator, which is like the desire for God and his benefits.

Finally, there appears in the human being the destiny “li cabili” that God has deposited in the soul of the baby at his birth. A destiny that will influence all his life. Wanting to imitate Saint Paul, who spoke to the Athenians of the unknown god, I wanted to reveal to them the provenance of this destiny. It comes, indeed, from God or, more precisely, from his image printed in the heart of the child, an image that the latter must reproduce in his life.

If the child adjusts his life to the image of God deposited in his consciousness, his destiny will be divine glory; if he departs from the will of the Most High, his destiny will suffer the harmful consequences of this choice. Invited to reproduce, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, which is full participation in the joy or the trinitarian happiness, this ideal requires being conscious of the love that God has deposited in our unconscious while forging our destiny. The Gospel of John unveils the dynamism of divine love, which arouses in us the overflowing joy of the possession of God.

The farewell discourse of the last supper speaks of the joy that Jesus wants to communicate to the disciples: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever dwells in me, and I in him, that one bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Dwell in my love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” Jn 15:5,9,11.

The itinerary toward the fullness of happiness requires, in return, all the effort of the believer. Jesus, by personal experience, compares this time of effort to the suffering and the joy of childbirth: “Truly, I tell you, you will weep and lament, and the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sadness will be turned into joy. A woman, about to give birth, is sad because her hour has come; but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the pains, in the joy that a man has come into the world.”

“You too, now, you are sad; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” Jn 16:20-22,24. “If I say these things now while I am in the world, it is so that you may participate fully in my joy.” Jn 17:13b.

Jesus Christ desires that we be entirely happy, not only in the glorious eternity, but also in daily life. Salvation begins with happiness lived in the family and in the human community. Paul and John invite us to conquer spiritual fullness in Jesus Christ. This entails blessings in abundance and reflects the happiness and the glory of God. In these charismatic times, we preach that the glory of God dwells in our hearts through the action of the divine Spirit.

This glory is transformed into an active presence that animates us and comforts us with its multiple gifts, each time we call upon its action. We cannot forget that the glory of God is shared, in community, with the smallest and the victims of injustice, by forming with them a people in solidarity. Just as the glory of the Lord accompanied the Hebrew people in the desert of Sinai, Ex 16:10, and afterward in exile in Babylon, Is 35:2, the Holy Spirit goes before us in this glorious enterprise of fullness of joy.

Piet van Breemen says: “Whoever seeks the glory of God can meet it only by walking with and toward the poor; in them God reveals his ‘Kabod,’ that is to say, his glory, and with even more clarity, in his Son, who makes himself one of them.” The same presence of glory accompanies us permanently when we cross difficulties or when we brave the contradictions of life. It is important to make ourselves attentive to this glorious presence. Jesus, nailed to the cross, draws his strength from the divine glory that accompanies him even into his ultimate sacrifice.

We cannot present this promise of the fullness of life and of the glory of God that accompanies it without mentioning the saints who live it with excellence in their mortal existence. Thanks to their faith, they strongly feel the glorious presence of God, who carries them like the eagle, on its wings, in joy and peace. The mother of Jesus, to whom we attribute the title of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, remains the model of those who attain the fullness of happiness.

From the beginning, the Virgin Mary remains attentive to the divine will. When the angel Gabriel proposes that she become the mother of the Saviour and reveals to her that “the Spirit of the Lord will come upon her and the power of the Most High will cover her with his shadow,” she answers him: “Here is the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your will!” Two permanent dispositions that show through throughout her whole life. Mary gives herself entirely in sacrifice like Jesus: “Here I am”; and she proclaims her obedience: “May your will be done in me!” The young Mary offers herself for the salvation of the human race.

She offers her body, which will be the first incarnation of the Son of God, by making him present to humanity. She affirms her submission to the divine will. The old man Simeon warns her that “a sword will pierce her heart, for her Son will be a sign that meets with contradiction.” Lk 2:34-35.

Throughout her life, Mary will accompany Jesus as mother, and she will grow in faith through her intimate contact with him. At the foot of the cross, she will be able to bear, standing, this painful moment, with the conviction that the glory of God accompanies them both in their sorrow. For having passed through the harsh ordeal, she will sing forever the Magnificat: “My soul glorifies the Lord, for the Almighty in love has done wonderful things for me.” Lk 1:47,49. With Jesus, Mary lives the mystery of salvation, her faith adjusted to the glory of God that protects her.

At the moment of the death of Jesus on the cross, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart appears in the fullness of faith: the divine glory, which has covered her with its shadow since the Annunciation, procures for her serenity by revealing to her that her Son, tortured and still hanging on the cross, is risen to eternal life. Mary is, in truth, the model given to humanity that suffers and struggles for the justice and peace of the family and of the oppressed people. She brings hope in difficult causes. She, the first with Jesus, conquered death and its consequences in order to open the heart of humanity to the hope of divine glory.

TWELFTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART

I will grant the grace of final perseverance to all those who commune with the bread of life.

All the biblical promises, from the love promised at the beginning to the glory of the divine inheritance, converge in this last promise, which makes mention of the Eucharist. This promise, in its original version, places the emphasis on the number nine. In the spirit of the novena, if the Christian communes on the first Fridays of nine consecutive months, he secures final perseverance. However, perseverance is not linked to the number of communions, but to the quality of the communion with Christ. If I am in the habit of communing with the bread of life, I must not fear missing the rendezvous of the glory of God, since the Lord dwells in me and he opens for me the door of the house of the Father. Jesus himself says it: “I am the door of the sheep.” Jn 10:7b.

The act of communion closes the rite of the Eucharist and, in this gesture, all the richness of the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ is recapitulated. Before offering his life on the cross for the salvation of the world, at the last supper, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and shared it with the disciples, saying: “Take and eat, this is my body. Then, taking the cup, he gave thanks and gave it, saying: Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is going to be shed for the multitude for the remission of sins.” Mt 26:26-28. He then added: “Do this in memory of me.”

To commune means to follow or to ally oneself with Jesus in his death on the cross. “Whoever wants to come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me.” Mt 16:24. To take up the cross every day means our involvement in the process of salvation of the world. Thus, communing with the body of Christ stimulates us in the fight against violence, selfishness, injustice, contempt and hatred, all these abominations that engender the misery and exclusion of many humans. This fight against evil and the structures of sin must lead to the new civilization of love.

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us: “Consider the one who endured from sinners such contradiction, so as not to faint through weariness. You have not yet resisted to the point of blood in the struggle against sin.” Heb 12:3-4. To commune is also to ally oneself with Jesus in his resurrection. The risen Christ lives among the believers. He continues his incarnation in us, by communicating his Spirit.

Before his death, Jesus exhorted his disciples: “For the moment, you are sad; but I will come back to see you, and again you will rejoice with a joy that no one will be able to take from you.” Jn 16:22.

At the moment of communion, we become conscious of the presence of the Risen One, whom we receive as the bread of life, bread for life. The Eucharist allows us to live in God, since the risen Christ lives in us.

The eucharistic sacrifice makes the Lord present in the Christian assembly, which cries out to him: “Come, Lord Jesus!” This cry wants to awaken us to the presence of the Risen One in our human lives. This is why the assembly proclaims the kerygma: “We announce your death; we proclaim your resurrection. Come Lord, come Lord Jesus!” Is there, for the Christian, a greater proof of the presence of the Lord in him than that of his eucharistic presence? Conscious of the reality of the risen Christ, the Christian has in no way need of a physical apparition to be convinced of it.

If Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection, it is because they are frustrated because of his death and do not remember his words “that he would be put to death and, on the third day, would rise.” Mt 16:21b. It must be noted that Jesus does not appear to his mother in the Gospels, because she never doubted, despite his death on the cross, that he was going to rise. She had believed the prophecy made to the apostles. After the burial of Jesus, the Virgin Mary returns to the house and, with the eyes of faith, she sees the risen Son, living with her his new spiritual presence.

For the rest of her existence, she will hold him more present in her life than when he was physically present. We too, like Mary, see, with the eyes of faith, the risen Jesus who struggles with us for the dignity of all humans. With the risen Jesus, we participate in the banquet of the Lord. The Eucharist represents the sacrifice of communion that we share with the Risen One and with the whole ecclesial assembly. The sacrifice of communion is common in the Old Testament.

The most memorable is the sacrifice of the paschal lamb: “Tell the whole assembly of Israel: On the tenth of this month, let each one take a head of small livestock per family. If the family is too small to eat it entirely, one will join with the nearest neighbor of the house, according to the number of persons.” Ex 12:3-4.

The Eucharist preserves much of the symbolism of this paschal sacrifice, so that the offered bread signifies the immolated body of Christ, the new paschal Lamb.

God shares with us two tables: that of the Word and that of the new paschal Lamb. First the assembly listens to and tastes the message of the Lord, while bringing its communal response through prayer and songs. This is why the liturgical rule of the assembly demands the participation of all in the singing and the prayer. No one can content himself with being a mere spectator; each member of the assembly participates in the liturgical action with all the faith he carries in his heart.

Then, the one who presides over the assembly prepares the table of the Eucharist with the offering of the bread and the wine, to which all are invited to participate. He who refuses the union with the risen Lord or with the assembly of believers separates himself voluntarily from eucharistic communion. The kiss of peace that the participants give one another becomes a beautiful gesture of fraternal communion, precisely, before receiving communion in the body of Christ. In truly living the sacrifice of communion that is the Eucharist, we encourage the solidarity and the peace of the kingdom of God.

The eucharistic banquet actualizes the words of Jesus: “It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God comes from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger; whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Jn 6:32-35. As a crowning point of the whole set of promises, Christ celebrates with his own the new Passover, memorial of the liberation of a people that walks toward the house of the Father. He is the new paschal Lamb offered for the forgiveness of sins, thus alluding to the paschal lamb that the Jews offered every year.

Before participating in communion, the assembly prays: “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.” Thanks to the Lamb, we renew the covenant sealed on the cross; we share it by uniting ourselves to the great Thanksgiving of Christ made to the Father, who forgives us and welcomes us in his eternal love. With Jesus, we thank the Father for all his blessings and for the privilege of sharing his divine life.

Accepting the new covenant is accepting to live it in the manner of Jesus, being decided to work for the coming of the kingdom of love, which can be built only on justice and peace. The Eucharist is the memorial of the Passover and of the New Covenant, because it actualizes them in the history of the people of God. The shared Eucharist awakens us to the mission of the priestly people, of the kingdom of priests consecrated to the creation of a new earth. This whole set of graces founds the final perseverance of the one who remains faithful to the Heart of God, in view of sharing his glory.

CONCLUSION

The spirituality of the heart entails the desire to conform our heart to that of Christ and, with the help of the Spirit, to transform the world according to the Heart of God. The command engages us to: “Be on Earth the Heart of God.”

This essay brings out the notions of Christian spirituality that intermingle and enter into relationship with the love or the Heart of God. They revolve around the active presence of the love of God in creation or the spiritual fullness of the human heart that reproduces the image of the divine Heart in its consciousness.

If we study spirituality personally or communally, we find in the promises of the Sacred Heart a certain distribution of all the foundations of Christian spirituality. The basic element consists in recognizing the love of God and letting oneself be captivated by him. We know that God loved us from the beginning, even before we knew him. In letting ourselves be loved by him, we discover that we are part of his plan of love. Since the creation of the universe, he had predestined us, as creatures formed in his image, to create with him a free and happy world.

A world that, unfortunately, has been disfigured throughout history. Sin entered it and, with it, the enmities, the abuses and the social conflicts. It is important to rediscover the freedom and the happiness of the world as conceived at the origin. In his initial plan, God desired a world without servitude and without misery. Seeing his project obscured by the violences, the jealousies, the injustices and the misery of his people, God decides to commit himself with sinful humanity. The divine love became incarnate in human nature in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The sublime mystery of the incarnation, which Saint Paul describes in the famous hymn of the primitive community: “He, of divine condition, did not jealously retain the rank that made him equal to God. But he emptied himself, taking the condition of a slave and becoming like every human being.” Phil 2:6-7. Beyond his death on the cross, the incarnation of Jesus continues in those whom he loves. “I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you.” Jn 14:18. Once risen, Christ lives forever and communicates his Spirit to us. Thus, by the Spirit, every Christian relives the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

By becoming incarnate in us, Jesus enlists us in the work of salvation. The believer commits himself to save the world with him, making effective and actual the mystery of his death on the cross and of his resurrection from the dead. When we proclaim the kerygma — “We announce your death, we proclaim your resurrection. Come, Lord Jesus!” — we involve ourselves in his paschal mystery. We announce that Jesus died for us on the cross and that we die with him, each time we offer our life for the redemption of the world.

We die to sin within us, and we battle against the structures of sin that enslave humanity. We proclaim that Christ is risen, that he lives and becomes incarnate in all those who accept his spiritual presence. The Risen One makes himself present at the heart of our sorrows and our joys. He supports all the efforts deployed for a better world. Let us pray to him: “Come, Lord Jesus! We count on your Spirit, Lord, for the salvation of this people.” Let us open the door of all hearts to the Saviour!

The effective means of salvation remain obedience to the will of God and our loving service to humanity. Jesus invites us to this when he says: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him renounce himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Mt 16:24. It is thus that we accompany him in his death and resurrection, “completing in our flesh what is lacking in the trials of Christ,” as Saint Paul says. Col 1:24. Or is it not rather Christ himself who completes in us what is lacking in our death and our resurrection as a human race?

The Spirit confirms, through his power, our service and our obedience to the will of God. This is why Christ becomes our definitive peace and, thanks to his providence, we commit ourselves to the achievement of a new earth.

Throughout the path of salvation that leads to holiness, that is, to full joy in God, prayer remains indispensable. There is no effective liberation without intimate union and communication with the source of life. Prayer establishes this communion with the Trinity. Prayer is addressed to God the Father, in the name of the Son and in union with the Spirit, who prays in us.

The Eucharist remains the most accomplished prayer concerning the three degrees of communion of the baptized person with his God: At the beginning of the liturgical celebration, the believer implores forgiveness for the purification of the people gathered in assembly; then comes the illumination, thanks to the proclamation of the Word welcomed in the hearts; finally, the eucharistic celebration reaches its summit in the intimate union of God with those who commune at the banquet of the Eucharist. Celebrating the Eucharist means progress in the personal communion with the Holy Trinity: purification, illumination and perfect union.

“May all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me, so that they may be perfect in unity. Father, I want that where I am, they also may be with me, so that they may contemplate the glory that you have given me.” Jn 17:21-23a,24. The Trinity opens us to hope when all hopes vanish.

In a world filled with contradictions, it is necessary to keep our eyes fixed on the eternal glory that is reserved for us: to it are attached all the efforts of redemption. Saint Irenaeus tells us: the glory of God is the human being standing, that is, free and happy; the glory of the human being is communion with God. Such is the journey that we are called to travel by the grace of God. We can structure or trace this journey in our personal life or in the life of the Christian community.

Some see the importance of taking the path of Jesus to give a meaning to human life in its struggles and its contradictions; others want to situate themselves all along the journey marked by the glory of God. It is not only a personal journey, but an itinerary to travel together with humanity. Indeed, if we are in solidarity for the good, we are also in it for the evil to be eliminated. Come, Lord Jesus! This path is yours and also ours. It is arduous, but filled with light and hope. You died on a cross, but you rose on the third day.

With you, we die; with you we rise. Long live Jesus, our Passover!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

E. J. Cuskelly, MSC, Caminando el camino de Jesús, Ediciones Amigo del Hogar, 2000. François Varillon, Vivre le Christianisme, Éditions du Centurion, 1992. Jan G. Bovenmars, MSC, Una Espiritualidad Bíblica del Corazón, Ediciones MSC, Amigo del Hogar, Sto. Domingo, 1992. Carlos Ignacio Gonzalez, S.J. El Espíritu del Señor que santifica. Ante el Tercer Milenio. Yves Saint Arnaud, J'aime, Éditions de l'Homme, Montréal, 1975. Plinio Valentín Reynoso, MSC, Experiencia de Jesús, Ediciones MSC, Amigo del Hogar, Sto. Domingo, 1993. Piet van Breemen, Transparentar su gloria, Sal Terrae, 1994.

Scott Peck, La nueva psicología del amor, Emecé, Editores España, 1997. Anthony de Mello, ¿Es posible el amor? Editorial Lumen, Argentina. Khalil Gibrán, El Profeta, Éditions Casterman. Joaquín Herrera, MSC, La Iniciativa de Dios y la Respuesta del Hombre, Narcea, S.A. de Ediciones, 1994. Patxi Loidi, Cristiano comprometido, Cuadernos Fe y Justicia, Ediciones EGA, Bilbao, 1987. Manuel Soler, MSSCC, Mirarán al que traspasaron, Ediciones MSC, 1990, Sto. Domingo, R. D. Eloi Leclerc, Le Maître du désir, Desclée de Brouwer, 1997. Jean Lafrance, La Oración del Corazón, Narcea, N.A. de Ediciones, Madrid.

Jean Richard, MSC, Dieu, Éditions Novalis, Québec, 1990. Richard Alan Swanson, Gourmantche Ethnoanthropology, University Press of America.

TABLE OF BIBLICAL PROMISES

Introduction ............................................................................................. First Promise

Divine Love ......................................... Second Promise

Peace ..................................................... Third Promise

The Consoler Spirit ................................ Fourth Promise

The Salvation of the world .................................... Fifth Promise

Freedom and Happiness ........................... Sixth Promise

Mercy .......................................... Seventh Promise

The Kingdom of God .................................. Eighth Promise

Divine Life .............................................. Ninth Promise

The New Covenant ..................................... Tenth Promise

The Priesthood of the People of God ................ Eleventh Promise

The Glory of God ....................................... Twelfth Promise

Final perseverance ................................

Conclusion ...............................................................................................

At the end of this reading, I want to thank sincerely the MSC confrères Pierre Brault and Paul Eugène Chabot. Pierre suggested to me several authors of spirituality who had marked him, and Paul Eugène made the final correction of the work. I also want to thank my sister-in-law Carole Lavallée and my brother Réal Plante, who wanted to collaborate voluntarily in the correction of the style and the grammar of the text, first written in Spanish.

May God fill you with all his blessings!

[1] Homily of Monsignor Romero of 24 March 1978.

[2] Jules Chevalier, Formula of the Institute, 1869.

[3] Piet van Breemen, Transparentar su gloria, Sal Terrae, 1994, p.199.

[4] E.J. Cuskelly, ibid., p.

[5] Marcel Dumais, OMI, Course at Saint Paul University of Ottawa. Personal notes.

[6] Yves Saint Arnaud, J'aime, Éditions de l'Homme, Montréal, 1975, p.20.

[7] Scott Peck, La nueva psicología del amor, Emecé Editores España, 1997, p.84.

[8] Anthony de Mello, ¿Es posible el amor? Editorial Lumen, Argentina, p.13.

[9] Khalil Gibran, Le Prophète, Éditions Casterman, p.17.

[10] Scott Peck, ibid., p.83.

[11] Monseñor Romero, Homilía del 9 de septiembre de 1979.

[12] Joaquín Herrera, La Iniciativa de Dios y la Respuesta del Hombre, Narcea, S.A. de Editores, 1994, p.109.

[13] Patxi Loidi, Cristianos Comprometidos, p.

[14] Manuel Soler, MSSCC, Mirarán al que traspasaron, Ediciones MSC, -Santo Domingo. 1990, p.139.

[15] Eloi Leclerc, Le Maître du Désir, Desclée de Brouwer, 1997, p.115.

[16] Monsignor Cuskelly, ibid., p.

[17] Jean Lafrance, La oración del corazón, Narcea, S.A. de Ediciones, Madrid, p.35.

[18] Jean Lafrance, ibid., p.35.

[19] Tercera Conferencia del Episcopado Latinoamericano Puebla, #31-36.

[20] Jean Richard, MSC, Dieu, Editions Novalis, Québec 1990, p.178.

[21] Eucaristía, Sacramento de vida Nueva, Comité para el Jubileo del año 2000, Biblioteca de autores cristianos, Madrid, 1999 p.52.

[22] Scott Peck, La nueva psicología del amor, Emecé, Editores España, S.A. 1997, p.81.

[23] Scott Peck, ibid., p.279-280.

[24] Richard Alan Swanson, Gourmantche Ethnoanthropology, University Press of America, p.38.

[25] Piet van Breemen, Transparentar la gloria de Dios, Santander, 1994, p.187.

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