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. First of all, I want to welcome all the friends, men and women, who are drawn to Christian spirituality. These pages, written with our gaze fixed on Christ, claim to lead simply along the path of freedom and happiness as far as 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 our signposts all along a spiritual journey that leads to fullness of life. The divine promises sustained the faith of the people of God throughout biblical history. We have only to read the history 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 suited to the mindset of her time. These twelve promises, projected in the background of the text and reinterpreted in a new language, will guide us on the way of spiritual life. Let us remember that spirituality adapts, according to the ages, to the mindset of each time and culture. In this age of globalisation, the challenges and the faith are very different from those of the seventeenth century, when Margaret Mary received the promises of the Sacred Heart.

Adapting these twelve promises to the present day calls for 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 Holy Scripture, and a social involvement of faith in the building of the modern world. That is why, while keeping the essential substance of the old promises, the new version presents them in a language that is more biblical and more social.

If words of a scientific flavour sometimes appear in the text, such as “structuralism”, mentioned in the next paragraph, on the whole these words occur rarely, and the ideas expressed are always fairly simple. You are welcome to skip the next seven lines if the structural method means little to you. In itself, it serves simply as an instrument for organising Christian life along a spiritual itinerary.

Structuralism lends itself to 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 along the course of spiritual life. Certain elements are retained as the foundations of spirituality; then come the rudiments that make up the believer's journey towards freedom and happiness; and at the end of the road appears the goal, or the crowning of the spiritual itinerary, which is fullness of happiness, or the glory of God.

The interdependence of the elements of spirituality will often surprise us throughout the whole process. Monsignor Cuskelly defines spirituality as “a vision of Christian faith that issues in a response”. The believer structures his journey from this vision, which awakens in him a commitment towards God and towards the world. In the present essay, the vision that guides us is that of the Heart of God, as it shines through the biblical promises.

Monsignor Cuskelly pursues his definition by saying: “By spirituality I mean the sum total of the behaviour 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 one's neighbour, and to work for the kingdom.” The twelve promises of the Sacred Heart, which we have chosen as the framework of this study, trace a spiritual itinerary that allows us to identify, in order, the stages of our spiritual life.

Our personal challenge is to assimilate them and to live them out in daily 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 realised through the baptised person's response to the love of God. The twofold movement — the welcoming of divine love within us, and the loving response of the human heart towards God and the world — constitutes the dynamic of consecration.

In its old formulation, the first promise assures “to persons consecrated to the Heart of Christ the graces necessary for their state of life”; the new translation has Christ say: “I will reveal, to the persons consecrated to my Heart, the divine love at work in their daily lives.” The love of God is revealed as the primordial gift made to the human race from the very 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 for the afflicted”. The new version identifies consolation with the Comforter, 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 Comforter.” Jn 16:7.

The fourth promise, which deals with the “refuge during life and at the moment of death”, meets up with that of salvation in the trials of life, a salvation ratified by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “The abundant blessing upon undertakings” of the fifth promise becomes “the blessing for a free and happy life”, which flows from God's design 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 wording of the seventh promise, “the lukewarm will become fervent”, takes on a more social and more radical meaning. In these post-conciliar times, a person indifferent to humanitarian problems is considered lukewarm in the faith. By contrast, the fervent person is one who commits to justice. The eighth promise assures perfection, or holiness, to fervent souls.

The precious gift of divine life, which engenders holiness, becomes the wealth of persons committed to the advent of the kingdom of God. Holiness is indeed acquired through prayer and devotion to the divine kingdom. Households united in marriage, and basic ecclesial communities, receive in the ninth promise the blessing of the divine covenant granted to Moses at Sinai and, subsequently, to Jesus Christ at Easter. 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 struggle against unjust social structures. In the dynamic of the eleventh promise, the person consecrated to the love of God writes his name in the Heart of Christ: indeed, divine glory accompanies his efforts in the spiritual development that underlies fullness of joy. Finally, the twelfth promise is that of final perseverance granted to those who communicate with the bread of life, since Christ makes his permanent dwelling within them.

After studying this spiritual journey, I venture to say that the promises of the Sacred Heart form a marvellous synthesis, or a compendium of spirituality, capable of structuring the spiritual life of believers. FIRST PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART: “I will reveal to the persons consecrated to me the divine love at work in their lives.” The first promise of the Sacred Heart surpasses and sustains 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 as: God is pure love and love alone. We have all known, from time immememoriam, 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 outside the love of God.” Divine love is such that it constitutes the very essence of the Holy Trinity.

The three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, manifest three aspects of the same love. We can get a glimpse of the Trinitarian mystery by taking a comparison from nature: water is found in three states, each distinct from the others, depending on whether it is liquid, ice or vapour. But water keeps the same composition in all three states; it always remains H2O. In the same way, divine love reveals itself in three persons and always remains the same love.

The Trinity can be pictured as one great Heart in which the three persons live love to the full, each according to its own Trinitarian relationship, always open to creation. The love that shines through in the Heart of the Father reveals his immense mercy, which is matched only by the goodness of the father in the parable, waiting impatiently for the return of a son who had abused his trust. Lk 15:11-32. A father who grants his sons complete freedom, with all the risk that this entails. He wants sons able to envisage life in full freedom and initiative.

To the younger son he concedes his share of the inheritance with no condition other than his request, which is, moreover, improper. Suspecting the misfortune that was all too easily foreseeable, his paternal heart suffers from the departure of this son. He hopes for his return and, every evening, he goes out onto the road, watching to see whether he can make him out 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 a mother's, devoting himself to his children, attentive to the happiness of his 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 whether they were just or unjust, Jesus declares: “Your Father, who is in heaven, makes his sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall on the just and on the unjust” Mt 5:45. The Son shares the same divine love from all eternity, but once the times were finally fulfilled, he became 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 takes place at the baptism in the Jordan, when the voice from heaven proclaims: “Here 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 “who has all my favour”, is written in the Greek text as “ἀγαπητός” (agapētos), which means “the bearer or possessor of love”. He is the Heart of God in a human heart.

John affirms in the prologue of his Gospel: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; we contemplated his glory, the glory he holds from his Father as the only 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 shine through in his human heart. The manifestations of stature and of humility of the Heart of Jesus in the Gospel are the reflections of divine love. “Then Jesus prayed: I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for having hidden this mystery from the wise and the clever, and for having revealed it to the humble.

Yes, Father, for such has been your will. Everything was entrusted 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 of the Son proceeds the Holy Spirit, who is like the breath, or the breathing, of the Heart of God. The divine breath, “ruah” in Hebrew, works 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 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; that is why nothing corrupted enters into it. It 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 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 Easter day he appears to the disciples and confirms the same gift: “He breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jn 20:22. If the Son is revealed as the Word of God, we can say that the Spirit presents himself 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 take you under its shadow.” Lk 1:35.

In the same way, every believer who accepts the Spirit into his life receives the strength of the Most High to carry out his vocation and his 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 spring 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 the strength of divine goodness in the Spirit. This Trinitarian Heart cannot remain imprisoned within any limit whatever, for love is expansive.

It overflows and gives itself to the universe that it creates, to the end of the world, together with the 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 so much 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 exegetes.

Could this be a distant revelation of a three-person God within the monotheistic atmosphere of the Old Testament? Indeed, it is the Trinity that, from the beginning, creates man and woman in its likeness. The Creator did everything by his Word, and he did nothing without it, cf. Jn 1:2, while the Spirit of God hovered over the initial waters. Cf. Gen 1:2. If God is Love, or Heart, in three persons, and if he shapes us in his image, then we are, in a way, embryos of this Heart. In us, as in his Son, the Father recognises his love poured out.

The human heart finds the root of its being in the Trinitarian heart of God, and that is why it naturally expresses itself in the act of loving. Such is the authentic response to the divine love that gives us our being and our life. The family, in this sense, reflects divine love marvellously well. The father and the mother, in their mutual love, respect each other, value each other, and make each other happy. Their love engenders a progeny that they consider a part of their very being, and they educate it for 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. Within the atmosphere of the traditional religion, the family reveals divine love. I remember a conversation with a young Protestant of the village of Tambaga. He used to come and converse about the Bible with me; perhaps he wanted my conversion! One evening, speaking about the faith that saves, he told me: “You Catholics cannot save yourselves with your devotion to images and to the Virgin.

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

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

There lies the essence of the faith: to love. Likewise, the human community diffuses love when brothers and sisters love one another 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 say, 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 form 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 help of the humanity that he placed at the head of creation: “God blessed them saying: Grow and multiply; fill and subdue the earth; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and all the animals that move upon the earth.” Gen 1:28. God completes the great promise of his love towards 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 holds in store for us.” 1 Jn 4:16.

Our response consists in accepting the love of God if we truly know it, and in making it known to all creation if we truly believe in it. 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 relate the suffering of the victims of hatred. Humanity cries out for a peace that is slow in coming. God reproaches Cain: “Why are you so furious?

“Why do you walk with your head low? If you did good, you would hold your head high; but if you do evil, sin remains at your door like a lurking beast that covets you; despite everything, 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 BC, have remained famous:

“If you want peace, prepare for war.” Unfortunately, the great world powers still proclaim this impious dogma, which favours the arms race. Today the poorest countries of the planet take part in the same race. All seek to possess the nuclear bomb in order to make a show of a shameful power. Peace cannot be conquered by arms. Weapons can only fill the cemeteries. Human history proves this to exhaustion, for whoever has eyes to see.

Peace will come only with social justice, when humanity tears down the divisions between rich and poor and bridges 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 Easter day, 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 to nations rises 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, my mercy and my compassion” Jer 16:5. Sin has filled everything and there is no longer any room for peace. Indeed, arms, injustices and violence erase mercy and compassion from 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 engenders hope when all hope is dying. The conciliar document on the Church in the Modern World tells us: “Peace is not the mere absence of war; it is, more precisely, the work of justice. It is the fruit of the order implanted in human society by its divine founder, and which men, ever 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 material and spiritual wealth. The firm resolve to respect the rights of man and of peoples, as well as their dignity, is absolutely necessary. We must promote the passionate exercise of fraternity with a view to peace. Thus peace is the fruit of love, which surpasses the primordial design of justice.” GS 78a. “Peace on earth, born of love for one's neighbour, 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. In reforming the unity of the human race into a single people and a single body, he put hatred to death 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 safety 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 the living of a happy life. The promise of peace is concretised in Jesus, the incarnate Son, who died and rose again. His presence in our lives awakens peace. At Christmas the angels sing among the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to the men he loves.” Lk 2:14.

The birth of the Son of God brings peace to sinners, to the possessed, to lepers, to all who suffer. At his resurrection he offers his Spirit of peace to humanity. The peace of households is born of the welcoming of the Lord. “Come, Lord Jesus!” “Maran atha!” The peace of nations depends on the justice of the kingdom of God that offers itself to us in the person of the risen Christ. In his farewell discourse, Jesus promises the disciples: “I leave you my peace, I give you my peace. A peace that the world cannot give you.” Jn 14:27.

Then how does the Lord offer the peace, the “shalom”, that the world cannot transmit? “Christ himself is our peace. He 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 by means of the cross, and destroying the enmity. His coming brought the good news of peace: peace for those far away and peace, too, for those near by; because, thanks to him, we all, through the Spirit, have free access to the Father.

Thus you are no longer strangers or 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 among 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 the heights of heaven the sun of a new day, to illuminate those who dwell in darkness and to guide 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. Every baptised person incarnates Christ in so far as the Holy Spirit is poured out in his heart. The Spirit of Christ, received at baptism, engenders peace within us. The same voice from heaven repeats over each man and each woman: “This is my cherished daughter, this is my beloved son in whom I find my love again.” The first incarnation of Christ took place in the womb of the Virgin Mary; the second takes place in the heart, or the mind, of one who receives baptism.

At Christmas we love 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 the 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 faithful of Buddhism venerate him greatly for this high dignity. It is remarkable that, in Christianity, every baptised person is an incarnation of Christ. What sublime dignity for the Christian!

It is not the privilege of a few; on the contrary, it is the lot of every baptised person. Whoever believes and is baptised becomes a son or daughter of the family of God through the incarnation of Christ. This incarnation entails a challenge. To incarnate the Heart of Christ is equivalent to incarnating his peace, the “shalom”, in the world. The role of the Christian who wishes to incarnate the Heart of Christ in his life is to work for the peace of the world. The Heart of the Lord supports him in his task and impels him to transform a violent and unjust society into a peaceful and equitable world for all.

Just as Jesus commits himself to peace and incarnates the peace of God by coming into the world, so too the Christian inspires and stimulates peace. This peace 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 thanks to 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, following the only Son. Speaking of the promise of peace, we must mention providence.

This also comes from the Trinity, which, in its love, assists us in the daily work and throughout our whole 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 placed, 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 together with the creator exalts human dignity. The psalmist sings his wonder: “Lord, our God, how admirable is your name throughout the earth! Who is man that you should remember him, the human being that you should take care of him? You made him little lower than a god, you crown him with glory and splendour; you gave him power over the works of your hands.” Ps 8:2-7.

Craftsmen 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 shines 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 actualises divine love in us 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 brave with determination the trials of life. Peace and the 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 families! Peace for 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, disturbance and trouble arrive. That is when sadness or depression strikes one's life following a family conflict, a period of unemployment, or bad political management. Few persons escape affliction at one moment or another. All seek consolation: some in the faith, others in worldly life. Jesus invites us: “Come to me, all you who labour and bend under the burden, and I will relieve you. Bear 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 consolation for 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 Comforter so that he may always be with you. He is the Spirit of truth that the world cannot receive, because it does not see him and does not recognise 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 he loves. “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

According to the word of Scripture: From his midst will gush springs of living water. He was speaking of the Spirit that those who believed in him were to receive.” Jn 7:37-39. In the Bible, the Spirit is presented as the marvellous gift, the river of the vision of Ezekiel, which flows from the right side of the temple, which purifies everything in its path and produces the fruits of the trees planted on its banks. In the book of Revelation, the same river flows from the right side of the Lamb: “He showed me a river of life-giving water, transparent as crystal, which flowed from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Right in the middle of the city square, on each side of the river, a tree of life gave a harvest every month, and its leaves served as a remedy for the nations.” Rev 22:1-2. This remedy symbolises the consolation that the Spirit brings to the human race. Its action on persons resembles the water of the miraculous pool that heals those who suffer affliction. The Spirit wants to be a light breeze that refreshes the agitated, or a burning fire that warms those thirsting for justice and peace, or again a violent wind that strengthens the weak, giving them the courage to work for the advent of the kingdom of God.

It is in the hearts that is born the desire to possess the Holy Spirit who gives life in abundance. Jesus motivates us to desire this gift. He insists to the Samaritan woman: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you: Give me to drink; it is you who would have prayed to him and he would have given you living water. The water I will give him will become in him a spring welling up into eternal life.” Jn 4:10,14b. The afflicted find in him their support.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will illuminate them in the whole truth, for he will not speak of himself, but he will reveal to you what he has received from me. Everything the Father has is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will reveal to you what he has received from me.” Jn 16:13-15. 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 God's personalised Action in creation. His primordial action is to consecrate us sons and daughters of God in the sacrament of baptism.

Through the mediation of the Spirit, the Heart of God acts within us and makes 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 by God.” Gal 4:6-7. Paul recalls the same theme in another letter: “You are no longer given over to carnal appetites, 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 dwelling in you. Indeed, all those whom the Spirit of God animates 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 sons, which makes us cry out: Abba! Father! The Spirit in person 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 glorified with him.” Rom 8:9,11,14-17. Fears often invade the human mind; in certain cases, despair provokes madness. It is important to recall this active presence of the Spirit in our lives. He recognises 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 marvels in us”.

We do not know in the whole world a greater marvel than that of being recognised 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 diversified support of the seven gifts: wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and the fear of God, which open new perspectives on life.

The gifts, like the charisms, received gratuitously from the Lord, are given to us for the good order, temporal and spiritual, of our living environment. The gifts of the Spirit are the spiritual tools we need to build up personal life and the life of society with illuminated 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 body of believers. The loving action of the Comforter 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.

There, where the disordered appetites that Saint Paul lists in Galatians 5:19-21 are often found, the Holy Spirit produces the most marvellous fruits, gratifications of the Heart of God: “Love, joy, peace, tolerance, amiability, helpfulness, trust in others, gentleness and self-mastery.” Gal 5:22-23. The tree of life, prodigal in its seven branches, offers abundant fruits of consolation and peace. Prayer brings us to experience the presence of the Spirit, which 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 respect for the freedom of believers. The Spirit never obliges us, not even to 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 Gourmantché culture of Tambaga, there exists a certain cult of the “genies” that act as 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 undergo their continual influence. Sometimes the spirits are beneficent; at other times they bring bad luck. Always they demand respect and can play dirty tricks. In any case, it is better to keep them at a distance, because they can subject those who entrust them with tasks. In general, the human being loses something of his freedom in their contact.

The Holy Spirit, on the contrary, always leaves the person free and never demands anything from him. The Spirit consoles, defends and inspires the person who invokes him; he scrupulously respects the freedom of his protégés even if he is ignored. He leaves them as free as the sailing ships that, on the sea, let themselves be carried by the ocean currents. Although, when the breeze of the Spirit blows, the small boat sails more cheerfully. In turn, Paul presents the Holy Spirit, source of consolation, as a bond of communion.

In conclusion of the second letter to the Corinthians, he greets us saying: “May 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 fills with blessings.

The third dimension refers to the union, among the multitude of believers, animated by the Comforter Spirit. This communion is essential to the life of the Church, which must shine through as a sign of fraternity and of peace, in a humanity divided by bellicose and ideological quarrels. This communion among believers never reaches its fullness. Only the Spirit can give it its full dimension. If the communion of the Spirit invades the heart of the believer merely for inner enjoyment, that is only a first step of divine action.

A second indispensable step lies in commitment to the transformation of society. The force, or the energy, that springs from the Heart of God impels us to perfect creation with a view to a better earth, in accordance with the will of the Father. “The manifestation of the Spirit is given in 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 perform marvels in the human community, because they do good, guided by the Spirit. The Spirit draws the person away from sin and makes him live in accordance with the will of God. Through his inspiration, believers set themselves to dismantling the structures of injustice and exclusion that envelop society in a net of misery.

Let us conclude, keeping our eyes fixed on the scene of the open side of the crucified Jesus, from which blood and water flow. This scene illustrates the Gospel's testimony on the consolation of the Spirit to the universal Church: “One of the soldiers pierced his side with his lance and, immediately, blood and water flowed from the heart. The one who saw these things bears witness, and his witness is true.” Jn 19:34-35. With the water and the blood, the Spirit rises 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, blood and water must flow for the salvation of the world.

In welcoming this testimony, we dispense the consolation of the Spirit. “Blessed are the afflicted, for they will be consoled.” Mt 5:4. 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 assured refuge during life and at the hour of death, leads us to contemplate the mystery of salvation realised in the death and resurrection of the Lord. Through his cross and resurrection, Christ drank the chalice of every trying situation and redeemed it.

He questions us in turn, as he does for John and James: “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” Mt 20:22. Salvation consists in delivering the human race from all oppression and from 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 mortal life situations. The outcome is eternal happiness beyond the resurrection.

Civil government organises social security according to defined laws and with the help of agencies fighting against hunger, disease, violence, wars, cataclysms and accidents. These various organisations assure humanity of a more secure and decent life. Could it be that one day the human being, freed from all adversity, will attain 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 purified, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the good news is announced to the poor.” Lk 7:22. Note that his liberating activity would 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 operation 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 in this way: “If Christ is the representative of the whole people in their suffering, in their humiliation, in their limbs nailed to a cross, we must discover the suffering of our people. It is our tortured people, our crucified people, spat upon, humiliated, that Jesus Christ represents, in order to give to 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 into three brief propositions that summarise the plan of salvation: two warnings and one exhortation: “The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is very near. Repent and believe 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 upon a new world.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he consecrated me by anointing, to carry the good news to the poor; he sent me to announce 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 brought to the poor and the oppressed the fulfilment 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 is accomplishing the will of his Father for the salvation of the world, and so that it may be fully realised, the crucified one communicates his Spirit: “Bowing his head, he gave up the Spirit.” Jn 19:30b. The Spirit continues the work 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 very near.” Jesus's mission consists in establishing a kingdom where God can reign as sovereign of the world. The kingdom of God, in Jesus's thought, 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, of joy and of peace.

A kingdom unfolded in hearts and characterised by the service of one's neighbour. This means that God reigns in the hearts of individuals and of communities as in his dwelling, where every service is accomplished in an act of love in accordance with the divine will. To Pilate, who questions him, Jesus replies: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jn 18:36. It is a very 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 accomplished 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 a leaven of justice in the human community. Cf. Mt 13:33. Jesus pursues his liberating mission with all those who believe in him. To that end, he gives them the Holy Spirit: with it, the cross grows lighter, and it is easier to follow Jesus to save the world in adverse situations.

The following exhortation summarises the demand of the kingdom: “Repent and believe the Gospel.” Salvation does not happen in spite of us. To repent and believe the Gospel means to die with Jesus on the cross in order to rise again with him. In dying with Jesus we offer ourselves, like him, for the life of the world. “To drink the chalice that Jesus drinks” implies bearing the cross of humanity and working at its redemption. It is never easy to drink from the chalice of Jesus. During my years of mission at Tambaga, I had occasion to come across people suffering so many hardships that one cannot write them all down.

Of seven years lived at the mission, four of them were marked by famine. Sometimes the harvest was lost because of drought; at other times natural phenomena dried the ears of grain before their time. These were times of anguish, when people sought their food. We had to call upon the help of international organisations. One year in particular, we received sixty tonnes of sorghum. At first glance, we thought: these sixty tonnes are going to save us. However, we had to share them among the sixty villages of the parish.

As the grain was distributed, each family's share was reduced to ten or twelve kilogrammes. It was a drop of water in the ocean of famine, and we had to go on searching for food... Such is the lot of the poor! Yet, beyond suffering and death, there is the Easter that we share with the Risen One, an Easter that is also realised in this mortal life. Hunger must give way to well-being. That is the hope that animates every oppressed person. Jesus, resurrected to eternal life, lives among us, and he gathers all believers together with a view to a new existence.

All of life unfolds in the presence of the risen Jesus, who gives us his Spirit, a vital force in all our daily challenges. These three phrases of the Gospel — “The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is very near. Repent and believe 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: “Three are the witnesses of the coming of Jesus into the world: the water, the blood and the Spirit.” 1 Jn 5:6-8.

We can say: “Three are the witnesses of the salvation of Jesus Christ in the world: service, obedience, and the Spirit.” The first witness, service, characterises 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 one who serves all the others.” Mk 9:35. He presents himself as the servant of humanity. “I did 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's life is assigned to the service of the kingdom of God.

His devotion is total, to the point of 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 in my footsteps, 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 availability to the family, to the human community and to 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 an injunction 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 by the oblation of the body of Christ, once and for all.” Heb 10:9-10.

“Christ, for all that he was the Son, learned obedience from what he suffered; after being made perfect, he became, for all those who obey him, the principle of eternal salvation.” Heb 5:8-9. The obedience of Christ saves the world; likewise, our obedience to the will of the Father is the principle of salvation for those around us. 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 learning, in mortification, in poverty, but they will not let themselves be overcome in obedience and in mutual charity.” The Spirit, ever faithful, is the third witness. He stands at the door and works salvation in all those who entrust themselves to him. The action of the Spirit is liberating; it appears very different from that of the spirits of sorcery or of the other modern spiritisms, which subject those who devote a cult to them.

Our age has renewed these “spiritist” and even satanic doctrines. The films whose theme is exorcism can convince us of this. We must firmly 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 — which 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 dwelling in you” Rom 8:11. It is the Spirit who confirms salvation within us. “The inhabitation of the Holy Spirit”, in the expression of Saint Basil, is the guarantee of the glory that God holds in store 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 to the resurrection, it communicates to us a great strength for accepting the inevitable pain and uniting it with the sufferings of Jesus, which render it fruitful.” We associate ourselves with his work of redemption on behalf of the people of God. We know that we save ourselves ecclesially, that is to say, in community with the brothers and sisters who intercede for us and 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 to say, 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 makes the lives of children flourish.

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, for they will 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 descendants 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 the 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 programme of the believer's spirituality. Without happiness, we all become bitter and unbearable. That is why we must favour, as an aim 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 enter into our lives, if joy enters into our hearts.” Now, we can say that only the truly free person is happy. Without freedom, we are pure slaves. We undergo 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 up others.

We recall the unhappy experience of slavery in the history of humanity: a past, not very distant, still full of regrets. Modern society also maintains its slaveholding 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 freedom that makes us free of every attachment and of all selfishness, to the point of being able to give one's life for one's brothers and sisters. That is the path taught by Jesus in the Beatitudes. Mt 5:3-12.

Blessed are the poor, free of every material attachment, because they can give themselves entirely for the kingdom. Blessed are the afflicted, free of all indifference, because they know how to struggle for the kingdom, despite the sacrifice that it entails. Blessed are the humble, free of all pride and all 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 vengeance and resentment, can reconcile humanity.

Blessed are the pure of heart, because they seek the common good, themselves free of corruption and vices. Blessed are those who build peace, because, free of racism, nationalism and selfishness, they can devote themselves to universal reconciliation. Blessed are those persecuted for doing the will of God, because, delivered from purely personal interests, they give themselves for social justice. “The first four Beatitudes concern the liberties of the person facing himself, and the last four relate to the same liberties facing society.”

Too often, the paths that the world proposes to us for reaching happiness are opposed to the Beatitudes. The most widespread opinion about happiness resides in the fact that only wealth can allow one 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 in the face of 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. That is the happiness that several Eastern philosophies promise. The guru, the spiritual master in India, habitually 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 continuous thanksgiving towards the Creator; for them, it is enlightenment.

They are very 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 arise, such as free love or hedonism, the satisfaction of instincts that makes the individual a slave to himself. We set aside these paths of supposed happiness, simply because they lead nowhere. Where, then, does true happiness lie? Happiness is rooted in love lived as a commitment of life. In working out of love, one acquires personal freedom and that of others and, as a consequence, happiness.

Love leads to the freedom of the spirit and to happiness as along a graded slope that must be climbed storey by storey. “The three stages of the growth of human love are: passion or desire, affection or friendship, and election or commitment to spiritual evolution.” The first stage of the climb to happiness is 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.

“This is a false concept, because falling in love is a strong subjective experience.” Between 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 the supreme happiness, ecstasy. Unfortunately, this so sweet love usually lasts only the space of a spring, barely enough time to face with courage the adventure of married life.

Some psychologists affirm that it is better that this first period does not last long, because amorous passion weakens the freedom of the lovers. They become 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 in which 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 simply being hungry. When I feel passionate about you, I no longer really see you.

“Where the positive or negative emotion is so powerful, I cannot see clearly. To love means, at the 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 upon her maternal attention. As soon as he can, the child will go beyond this first rung of the ladder of love and will seek his personal freedom.

What a drama, then, to meet young people still totally dependent upon their parents, or who seek in their husband or wife the protection that the child finds in his mother or father! These are persons limited in normal life in society. With time, the adolescent reaches the second rung of the amorous climb 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 served up for him; on the contrary, he brings them his spontaneous collaboration and his help.

Likewise, in the couple united for life, a great friendship develops that solidifies the initial love, too idyllic to be lasting. At waking, after the romantic sleep, there rises before them the commitment of work to earn the household living, 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 with a view to 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, a model for our basic ecclesial communities: “Among them, everything was held in common.” Acts 4:32c. The happiness of the Christian is obtained by sharing the friendship of Jesus Christ, the sublime bond of the community of believers. By virtue of the Christian vocation, we are called to live this friendship between brothers and sisters of a great family. Jesus, first of all, says to 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: “Let there be spaces of freedom in your mutual proximity, and let the winds of heaven dance between you. Love one another, but do not make of love a bond; rather, let there be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill one another's cup, but do not drink from the same cup.

“Share your bread, but do not eat the same slice.” It is vital, finally, to climb one last rung to reach the full freedom that guarantees happiness; this last stage of the amorous climb is called the spiritual evolution, or perfection, of the human person and of his surroundings. This spiritual fullness demands of the believer freedom and availability, so that others may be formed with him, free and in solidarity. The human being reaches 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 much breath is necessary to conquer the too-steep summits and, yet, there lies the freedom that makes the heart happy. Perfection consists in loving as God loves, in the manner of the Heart of Christ, committed to the material and spiritual evolution of the human race. “When we love someone, it is only through acts that we can demonstrate it; as, for example, when we are able, for the benefit of the other, to walk one more kilometre or to take one more step.

“Love cannot be exempt from effort and, indeed, it must be said that effort is indispensable.” Only those who free themselves through this love attentive to others obtain the good fortune of being truly happy. That 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, which surpasses all knowledge, and you will enter, through your fullness, into the whole Fullness of God.” Eph 3:17-19. Such are the demands of divine love that the human heart progressively experiences. Spouses, committed to the matrimonial ideal, struggle all their lives for the happiness of their partner, to the point of 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 oneself entirely to the common good of the household and to the spiritual evolution of the couple. Freedom is also the project of parents towards their children. Seeing the children capable of facing life with serenity, joy and freedom becomes the great consolation of the parents. Parents habitually give of themselves without restraint so that the children succeed in life and can, in turn, guide their own offspring to freedom.

The pastoral task of the people of God resembles that of parents who water their children at the fountain of true freedom. Loving the children of the human community consists in opening to them spaces of material and spiritual freedom. The apostolate of charity and of hope forges the happiness that God holds in store for his creation. In the social milieu, the community commits itself to its brothers and sisters so that they may be free in the face of life, without any impediment.

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. We must begin with that.” 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 a model, in the face of misunderstanding, of accusations of every kind, and even in the face of death itself.

“Blessed will you be if you are insulted and persecuted, and if all sorts of calumnies are said against you because of me.” Mt 5:11-12. Indeed, we know well that happiness holds in store not only moments of tranquillity but also periods of intense struggle against the evil that degrades the human being. This path, advocated in the evangelical Beatitudes, represents a great challenge, but it is surely the source of happiness. It consists essentially in overcoming the trying situation, up to obtaining the liberation whose culminating point is 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 recognise, 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 that we 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 recognise that divine mercy forgives us.

At every Eucharist the faithful person takes part in the assembly like the Publican whom Jesus declares purified: “I tell you that he returned home reconciled with God” Lk 18:14. The Bible proclaims the mercy of God. The whole history of salvation describes the merciful activity of the Lord towards his people, whom he delivers from servitude and educates in the freedom of the desert, to give them, at the end of the journey, the promised land granted to his father Abraham. The psalms repeat it: “They contaminated themselves with their actions and prostituted themselves by imitating the actions of the pagans.

“That is why the Lord delivered them into the hands of the enemies who oppressed them and enslaved them under their power. But God gave a look to their distress while he heard their cry. He remembered his covenant with them, and he was moved according to his great love.” Ps 106:39,41,44-45. Psalm 103 praises the mercy of God: “Bless the Lord, 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, my soul.” Ps 103:2,3,8,10. Prayer of the psalms educates the human heart in the patience with which the heart of God overflows. During his ministry, Jesus advocates two indispensable attitudes: mercy and forgiveness. Sinners and publicans rush 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 the sinners? But he, who had heard, said to them: It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick.

“Go then and learn what this means: It is mercy that I want, and not sacrifice. Indeed, I did not come to call the just, 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 emerging from his shackles and limits by granting him, through a valorisation that lightens burdens and brings rest, the strength and the worth of living and of 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, 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 the one who loves forgives without reserve.

Jesus lives 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 total freedom to his two sons. Lk 15:11-32. The gestures of this father of a family reveal his spirit of reconciliation. Every evening he goes out on the road, watching for the return of his son. The elder son, who remained faithful to the household, misinterprets this gesture of his father, and above all his eagerness to welcome an individual who squandered his goods. Does the good-for-nothing not come back to claim more?

The father acts thus because he loves that good-for-nothing son with all his heart. In finding the lost son again, the father gives him the kiss of forgiveness, and even restores him to his dignity as a son, with all the family rights that he had voluntarily renounced in 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 symbolise the dignity of the legitimate son.

Almost giving reason to the elder son who judges his behaviour exaggerated, the father considers that he has still done far too little, and he organises a banquet with guests and musicians. This indeed is a reconciliation that goes further than simple forgiveness. However, the elder son does not see it that way. All this seems to him too much consideration for someone who has abused the family goods. Too interested in his own affairs, he rejects a new sharing with this brother who squandered his father's goods and, therefore, a little of his own goods as well. The final condition of the elder proves worse than that of the younger.

He shows himself selfish and exclusive towards 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 history of humanity in the majority of civil wars? One must hope that the elder will one day repent of his egocentrism and understand the love of his father, who forgets no one. He even forgives him his intolerance towards 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 knows well that 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 one another and reject cohabitation in the same paternal house. The elder denies the younger his rights as son and as brother. From there to declaring war 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 in the Balkans, or in Ethiopia, or again of the Latin American guerrilla wars, where the love of enemies seems impossible?

Jesus advises the one who is about 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 reconcile with your brother. Then you can return to the altar to present your offering.” Mt 5:23-24. The adoration of God and the love of one's brother cannot be separated. If the eternal Father is so merciful towards us, who are reflections of his image, it follows that living mercy must be the spiritual quality of those who adore him.

Saint Paul exhorts the Colossians to live this attitude: “Like God's elect, his saints and his beloved, clothe yourselves with sentiments of compassion, of benevolence, of humility, of gentleness, of patience; bear with one another and forgive one another mutually, if one has against the other some subject of complaint. The Lord has forgiven you; do likewise in your 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 presupposes conviviality in an atmosphere of peace and joy.

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

Following the example of the Samaritan who, finding a wounded Jew at the roadside, carries him on his mount, tends his wounds and leads him to the inn, so every man is called to gather up his enemy wounded or scorned by bad luck. He recognises in his brother-enemy the same blood of his veins. Jesus ends his parable by saying: “Go, and you too, do the same.” Lk 10:30-37. Conversion does not consist merely in saying: “I love God with all my heart and my neighbour as myself”; but in being merciful and in repairing the wrong done to one's neighbour 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 embraces the love of enemies, intends to be the only remedy for the evils of our time. Violence, omnipresent on the planet, will never be able to settle conflicts. Killings engender vengeance, and vengeance gives rise to new crimes.

From the height of the cross, Jesus cries out to us: “See where violence leads: to the cross and to death.” “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” I had the same vision when I was told of the assassination of my companion and friend, Father José Tineo, MSC, and of how he was found on the autopsy table with his belly open: “See what violence produces: massacre, pain and death.” Universal reconciliation and human conviviality will become a reality when the love of enemies and mercy replace the vengeance, the indifference, the personal interests of each at the expense of those of the human community.

The parable of the employee forgiven by his boss of a large debt, who does not want to reciprocate towards 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 be granted 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 fervour promised to the person consecrated to the Heart of Jesus springs from commitment to the kingdom of God. This promise coincides with the announcement of the kingdom of God in the synoptic Gospels, the kingdom so long awaited in the Old Testament. Now, in the New Testament, this kingdom calls for persons engaged in building a better world where justice and right reign.

“After the imprisonment of John, Jesus went to Galilee proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. He said: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is very near. Repent and believe the Gospel.” Mk 1:14. The lukewarm do nothing to erect 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 human beings.

In contemplating the abnegation of the Heart of Christ, who gave his life for the kingdom of God, these lukewarm persons become fervent, for they realise that Christ shed his blood for them. “Today it is uncommon to speak of a fervent Christian; we prefer to say an engaged Christian. However, for a long time the adjective ‘fervent’ was used, which means ‘intense warmth’.

“That is why the expression ‘fervent Christian’ could refer to warm faith, to the faith that is not situated only in the head but well in the heart.” The kingdom of God is a kingdom of love built on justice and peace. The Jews of Jesus's time awaited a Messiah, a king descended from David who would restore Israel as an independent and powerful nation. They even hoped to establish an empire over the other nations that, until then, dominated them mercilessly. It seemed just to them to await the support of their God in order to establish this political power over the nations.

These were common ideas that Jesus heard many times. The doctors of the law propagated them among those who adored the God of Abraham. Jesus would be tempted to respond to the hopes of the people in a spectacular way. All of that danced in his head. The best method of domination could be to use his miraculous power by changing stones into loaves of bread. Everyone would applaud his gesture, for the people need bread more than anything else. According to the Roman adage, with bread and games, the problems of the people 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 assemble a great army and undertake the conquest of the nations. In this way, by domination, he could found an empire totally submitted to the divine will. Jesus rejects this violent method again, since it has no value as true liberation. Doing the will of God is a matter of personal freedom.

The contrary is to adore and legitimate the tactics of Satan. Jesus answers him: “You shall adore the Lord your God, and to him alone you shall render worship.” Lk 4:8. The devil leads him, again, to Jerusalem, to the highest part of the temple, and proposes that he throw himself off. “God will give orders to his angels so that they protect you.” Lk 4:10. Jesus would thus appear as the great prophet come down from heaven, with the authority of the prophet Elijah, who went up to heaven on a chariot of fire. A marvellous 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 short, Jesus, during his forty-day retreat in the desert, opts for a kingdom without temporal or military power, which does not covet the riches of the nations and does not use celebrity or renown. He decides to preach a more inward kingdom, where God respects the freedom, the humility, the solidarity of the citizens.

The Beatitudes, both those of Matthew 5:3-12 and those of Luke 6:20-26, define the values of the kingdom. Luke laments 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 anointed me to announce the good news to the poor; he sent me to proclaim liberation to the captives, to restore sight to the blind, to free the oppressed, and to proclaim a year of grace of the Lord.” Lk 4:18-19.

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

“For 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 reign. This kingdom is like “the smallest of seeds, but, when it grows, it becomes almost a tree and, in its branches, the birds of heaven can make their nest.” Mt 13:32.

There arises, among the citizens of the kingdom, a force of spiritual and temporal transformation that takes account of the destitute. The latter thus manage to make 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; it is born freely from the will of the believer. It is like “the leaven that a woman takes and throws into three measures of flour until the whole dough ferments.” Mt 13:33. The kingdom grows with time, and when it spreads through 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 transformative force of the kingdom, they perceive it as the finest pearl or the treasure of true life: “Full of joy, he goes to sell everything 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 come up to John; since then, the kingdom of God is announced, and all strive 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 enemy's wiles, like the astute administrator of the parable. Lk 16:1-8. At the heart of the adverse forces are the political oppressions, the social inequalities, the immoralities of all kinds that make humanity a slave to itself. These are the lance blows 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 to 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 with the redeeming sacrifice of Christ, struggles for the salvation of the world. The mission of going through the whole world to preach the kingdom of God is still timely. Those who welcome it in truth save themselves. I remember an anecdote that occurred ten years ago, at my departure for Africa with two other missionaries sent from the Dominican Republic.

Before leaving, a member of my village, who had given up religious practice, wanted to teach me a lesson: “Why go to Africa to say Mass to people who need food more than 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 happier. That is why I am going to their midst, to accompany them.” On arriving in Tambaga, the elders of several villages were demanding our visit.

The young people, especially, could no longer see any salvation in the cult of the fetishes. Before they became completely atheistic, it was urgent that they know the way of Jesus. He, truly, spoke to their hearts. It is from the wounded side of Christ that universal solidarity is born, especially towards the most deprived. According to the Fathers of the Church, it is from the heart opened by the soldier's lance that is born the Church 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 symbolise the whole sacramental life that nourishes the believers. Strengthened by the life of the sacraments, the baptised take seriously their evangelical commitment and obtain Jesus's promise on the justice of the kingdom. The latter is a force of salvation for those who commit to the liberation of the human community.

Father Manuel Soler writes on this subject: “The gaze towards the open Heart of Christ can be a call to hope, so that, in international relations, there be a little human heart, which translates into windows of hope, on questions as urgent as the external debt or as macabre as the arms trade, or as subtle as the coincidence of 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, by their consecration to my Heart.”

This promise is that of the divine life that engenders holiness in fervent persons. To live holiness is to enter, through prayer, into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life, like a fish swimming in the immense ocean of divine love. It is important, at the same time, not to lose oneself in a spiritual “intimism”, but to keep one's eyes fixed on the needs of a world anxious for justice, peace and fraternity. One must work, as John Paul II often repeats, to build the new civilisation of love. The Heart of Jesus symbolises the source of life that the Spirit nourishes.

In the culture of the Old Testament, the heart is recognised as the organ of life and is identified with life. That is why the heart is so often mentioned there. The psalmist prays to the Lord to purify and direct his life: “Search me, test me, pass through fire my loins and my heart.” 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 true life: “Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, to announce the promise of life that Jesus Christ made to 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 not I who live; it is Christ who lives in me.” Gal 2:20a. Christ sanctifies us by 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, by 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, indeed, life is Christ, and to die represents a gain.” Phil 1:20-21. If Christ dwells in us, he guides us as far as 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 base or springboard of the believer's holiness. “Here is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and 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 takes him out of the tomb where he had rested for four days. Life in Christ is stronger than death, even if the latter seems to triumph. Beyond natural death, Christ procures eternal life for us.

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 faith without reserve. Faced with this gift, only one thing is necessary: faith in his person as one sent by the Father. To believe in him is to welcome the gift of God, it 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 will have 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 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 outside of me you can do nothing. If someone does not dwell in me, he is thrown out like the branch, and he dries up; they gather them and throw them in the fire, and they burn.” Jn 15:5-6.

“Just as the Father loved me, so too have I loved you. Dwell in my love. I tell you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Jn 15:9,11. The comparison of the vine illustrates in a splendid way the life that leads to divine intimacy in the Spirit. It is obtained through union with the Heart of Christ, his 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 into 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 springs from divine life. How many misfortunes of our society need to be redeemed by this hope! For example, marriages that do not manage to consolidate themselves in love and, like crystal vases, shatter for lack of vigilance. There are the situations of poorly paid work or chronic unemployment which, like illness, ruin family life.

We must also combat the drugs that ruin life, the injustices and the wrongs provoked 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 give in to depression, urge them to overcome their misfortunes, and orient their efforts towards 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, three times holy, and in communion with him”. “Spiritual life begins in the trusting faith in a God who loves us.” Prayer nourishes this trusting 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 campfire, thanks to the believing heart that animates them. As long as one does not light the twigs, the campfire does not exist. Likewise, recited words remain simple formulas if one does not set to 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 can be very beautiful and very poetic, but if the heart does not pray it, it lacks a soul.

The second dimension of prayer accomplishes 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 Lord's advice in the parable of the widow: “It is necessary to pray always, without ever tiring.” Lk 18:1. The person at prayer develops in his heart a life that feeds on prayer: whether he kneels before the Blessed Sacrament or works 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 person at prayer: “In passing from the act of prayer to the state of prayer, he made himself capable of making of his life, of his relationships and of his activity, a spiritual worship.” “We were created for adoration. It is necessary to be seduced, carried away and captured by the face of the Lord, and above all, to let oneself be possessed by him.” The Lord invites us to this mystical union by giving us his Spirit. It is in this sense that Paul tells us: “Pray without ceasing. On every occasion, be in thanksgiving. That is the will of God for you as Christians.” 1 Thess 5:17-18.

The third dimension of prayer projects the needs of one's neighbour, 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 one's neighbour. Like Jesus, his model, he sees the face of God in all his brothers and sisters: sinners, the destitute, simply brothers, or even enemies. The Puebla document makes us sensitive to the situation of extreme poverty, an indigence that often flows from dishonest ambitions and abusive dominations.

“This situation takes on, in real life, concrete faces in which we can recognise the suffering features of the Lord who calls out to 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 marketing systems that exploit them and, sometimes, deprive them of their lands; Faces of poorly 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 fellow humans of all these brothers and sisters, we read on their faces the suffering caused by the trying conditions of their life, and we offer them to the Lord in prayer. In many cases, the gesture of solidarity and of help to one's neighbour will effectively follow the prayer. In the Gospels, Jesus identifies himself with the cause of sinners. “Go then and learn what this means: It is mercy that I want, and not sacrifice. Indeed, I did not come to call the just, but the sinners.” Mt 9:13.

With the sincere desire of being in the presence of God in prayer, we open one window upon the Trinitarian life, where we discover holiness, and another window upon human life, which we want decent and dignified for all, according to the divine plan. That is why the believer, attentive to the needs of humanity, becomes a man or a woman of prayer. “The Spirit that 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 in order to pray as we should; the Spirit himself intercedes for us in ineffable groans, and the one who sounds the hearts knows what is the desire of the Spirit and that his intercession for the saints corresponds to the views of God. And we know that with those who love him, God collaborates in everything for their good, according to his design.

“For those whom he has known in advance, he has destined to reproduce the image of his Son, so that he may be the elder of a multitude of brothers. Those whom he has predestined, he has also called; those whom he has called, he has also justified; those whom he has justified, he has 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 consists in this: that they know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.” Jn 17:1-3. “Holy Father, keep them in your glory, which you gave me, so that they be one, as we are one.” Jn 17:11. “I beg you that all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they too be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.

“I gave them the glory you gave me, so that they be one as we are one: I in them and you in me, so that they be perfect in unity, and that the world may recognise that you sent me and that you loved them as you loved me. Father, those you have given me, I want that where I am, they too be with me, so that they may contemplate the glory you gave me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Jn 17:21-24. In conclusion, the life of holiness that is promised to us takes root in, and issues into, 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 also come to know, through the intermediary of the believer, divine holiness, the great love of God for all humanity! We understand better the prologue of Saint John by recognising the life and the glory that God holds in store for us. “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. In it was life, and life was the light of the world.” Jn 1:1,4. Christ illuminates the path of every human being towards the holiness of God.

“The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not hold it. We contemplated his glory, glory that he holds from his Father as the only 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: “Households 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 onwards, and finally assumed by Jesus Christ 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. From the origins, God wants to covenant with creation in order to share his glory with it. 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 the friendship with his dear creatures. With Abraham he makes a pact, somewhat surprising for us, in the style of the kings of Canaan. On his departure from Chaldea, God promises Abraham a progeny as numerous as the stars of the sky, on a land where milk and honey would flow. Then he invites him to sacrifice a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.

Abraham divides the animals down the middle and places each half facing the other. To confirm the covenant, Abraham walks between the animal halves, signifying that he accepts being divided in two, down the middle, like these slaughtered animals, if he is not faithful to his God. Only God's confirmation was lacking. “When the sun had set and darkness spread, behold, a smoking brazier and a firebrand passed between the divided animals. On that day the Lord concluded a covenant with Abraham.” Gen 15:17-18.

“God promises to the descendants of Abraham the land that extends from the river of Egypt to the Great River.” Gen 15:18b. “Abraham believed in the Lord, who counted it as righteousness for him.” Gen 15:6. Later, in the desert of Sinai, God renews the covenant with his people, freed from Egypt through the mediation of Moses. The covenant presupposes a commitment on both sides. God offers his protection as father of the nation; the people, for their part, submit to his authority and promise to obey his commandments.

Commandments that are there above all to favour peaceful cohabitation among all and justice towards the weakest. “Moses went up to meet God, and the Lord called him from the summit of the mountain and said to him: You will thus speak to the sons of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to me. Now, if you listen to my voice and keep my covenant, I will hold you as my very own among all 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 convened the elders of the people and set before them everything that the Lord had commanded him, and the whole people, with one accord, answered: Everything the Lord has said, we will do.” Ex 19:3-8. “From covenant to covenant, the relation between God and man deepens and becomes more and more intimate. This movement reaches its culminating point in the new covenant with Christ.

“Then the relation 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 wishes to reveal him.” Mt 11:27. Thus, the relation of the covenant 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.” Every year, the Jewish people renewed their covenant with the Lord by offering the paschal lamb.

The lamb that the people had eaten on coming out of the slavery of Egypt, and which symbolised the passage to freedom guided by the Lord. Every year Jesus celebrated this Jewish covenant, but at the last Passover he gave it a new turn, by virtue of his intimate relation with his Father and with humanity. In Jesus, the covenant is realised in all its full scope.

“God and man in a single person, Christ represents, on the one hand, 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 ate, 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 from 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 walk in a new freedom acquired through the sacrifice of Christ. It is the journey of a free and happy human life that issues into 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 the wine into the body and blood of Christ, Jesus adds: “Do this in memory of me.” Eucharistic Prayer II continues by saying: “That 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 to say, 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 falls to us to live anew the march in 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 feeds it and takes care of it. That is precisely what Christ procures for the Church: Are we not the members of his Body? Behold then, man will leave his father and his mother to cleave to his wife, and the two will make only one flesh. This mystery is of great import; I mean that it applies to Christ and to 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 realise himself in freedom. The love that feeds the life of the household commits each of the partners to favouring the spiritual evolution of the spouse and of the offspring. That is why the married couple open themselves to happiness by taking the path of freedom. The latter 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 unto death, for one cannot imagine such a sublime love, figure of the divine covenant, without perseverance in this union. The love between the spouses reflects upon the children, fruits of their love. Thanks to the loving atmosphere of the household, these grow physically and spiritually in harmony with their surroundings. Accompanying the children in their learning, 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 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 among the members of the family allows happiness to be attained and communicated to the fellow citizens of the city. In truth, the latter bears within itself a marvel of God: the Christian household. 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: “Approach him, the living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and precious in the sight of God. Yourselves, as living stones, lend yourselves to the building of a spiritual temple, for a holy priesthood, with a view to 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, an acquired people, to proclaim the praises of the One who called you from the darkness to his admirable light” 1 Pet 2:9. The Lord had already promised this at Sinai: “Now, if you listen to my voice and keep my covenant, I will hold you as my very own among all peoples, for the whole earth is mine. I will hold you as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” Ex 19:5-6.

In catechesis classes, the dynamic of the baptised person, who is anointed as king, prophet and priest, is repeated to make people sensitive to the tasks of the lay person in the community. This truth, taken up in the liturgical preaching, has become a conviction of the Christian community. Today, every lay person aware of his faith recognises his mission as king, or head of the people of God, as prophet in the formation of the human community, and also as priest, to save humanity by services done with love.

To be king entails a great challenge, since it means assuring the human community of 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 touches the universal Church, but the task falls to the lay person 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 illegals, those excluded from society, and the destitute 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 charity movements for the homeless. History will recognise the labour of all those lay people and religious who gave their lives to preserve the health, the dignity and the freedom of all their fellow citizens. Certain lay persons, by virtue of their specific vocation to promote the temporal order, have contributed greatly to the building of the human community through their social and humanitarian work.

Taking account of the social character of their profession, they have promoted justice in an excellent manner and have given value to human dignity by sharing their goods, their skills and their knowledge. Biblical history recalls the vocation of a king after the heart of God: King David. He and his son Solomon were recognised 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 whole territory.

Jesus is acclaimed: “Son of David who brings peace”. The people recognise him as the Messiah king on 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 young donkey, the foal 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 carpeted the road with them. The crowds that walked before him and those that followed cried out: “Hosanna to the son of David!” Mt 21:5,8-9.

Before Pilate, Jesus accepts the title of king, because he comes to work, effectively, in the line of the great kings, for the peace and the 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 carries the immense task of serving, or working, for justice and peace. One must recognise that, through baptism and confirmation, we have been anointed with the Spirit, in the quality of kings, like Jesus, the Messiah, for the salvation of the world.

In addition to being kings, always under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are called to be prophets of the people of God. To be a prophet, in today's world, 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 are still alive, such as Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Rigoberta Menchú and Bishop Samuel Ruiz among the indigenous peoples, as well as many others, more humble, whose names are not mentioned and who give their lives for the marginals. The prophet, inspired by the Spirit of God, denounces the situations of violence, of selfishness, of class struggle, of social marginality at national or world level. In reality, the prophet does not only denounce injustice; above all he announces a hope. The hope of the kingdom of God, which favours the humblest and the most deprived.

To them, a Saviour is announced: Jesus, the great Hope, who, through his death on the cross, abolishes all selfishness, violence and injustice, 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 relates the vocation of the prophets who made their people sensitive to the urgency of doing the will of God. We know the courage of Elijah, who becomes 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 yield him his property, adjacent to the royal palace, in order to enlarge his garden. In the face of Naboth's negative answer, the king becomes sad and irritated. Queen Jezebel resolves the conflict; she has Naboth killed and gives the vineyard 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 also lick yours.” 1 Kgs 21:18b-19. At the risk of their lives, the prophets denounce sin and favour the return to the true God, the only hope that never deceives. Jesus appears, in the wake of 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 in order to create 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 to his Father in this sense: “Father, you wanted neither sacrifice nor offering, but you fashioned a body for me. You accepted neither holocaust 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 every evil. “If anyone wants to come after me, let him renounce himself, take up his cross and follow me” Mt 16:24. As the will of God is to love and serve the humblest, every loving service, every charity, becomes a priestly act of the disciple of Jesus, his spiritual sacrifice, his eucharist.

Jesus teaches us this on Holy Thursday, by washing the feet of his disciples. “Do you understand what I have done to you? It is an example that I have given you, so that you too do as I have done for you” Jn 13:12b,15. The priestly actions of the baptised 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, carries out a priestly task; a worker, earning the living of his family or rendering service to the human community through his work, also accomplishes his priesthood.

Others exercise their priesthood through their profession placed at the service of humanity. Social pastoral care stimulates the exercise of the common priesthood of the faithful, which finds in it its full realisation. These are the sacrifices that the priestly people offer to the Father by uniting themselves to the eucharistic sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They are the life offered for universal redemption. To be king or 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, my beloved, we are persuaded that you are in a better situation, favourable to salvation. For God is not unjust, 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 desire only that each of you shows the same zeal for the full blossoming of hope to the end; so that you imitate those who, by faith and perseverance, inherit the promises” Heb 6:9-12.

Christian hope is manifested in Jesus, unique 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 contemplated his glory, the glory that Christ holds from his Father as the only 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 inhabits 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 the 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 so, 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 the 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, rather, to give a single definition of love, without, for all that, ceasing to be fully aware 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 says again: “We can define spiritual development as the full evolution of consciousness. Consciousness develops when our conscious mind 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 this knowledge that the conscious mind ignores. We cannot give a scientific answer; we can only plant hypotheses, and I know no hypothesis as satisfactory as that of a God so intimately associated with us that he forms part of our being.” What an attractive hypothesis for the one who believes in a God of love who created us in his image and 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 of the Spirit of Christ, the gift promised to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The Father recognises, in the baptised 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 deceive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.” Rom 5:2,5.

We recognise, with Scott Peck, that divine love has been deposited in our consciousness like a hidden treasure. As a psychologist, he divides consciousness into two extreme parts: one part where knowledge gradually becomes conscious of the treasure it possesses, and the other part which possesses all the knowledge of this treasure but still in an unconscious manner. The love that God has deposited in our hearts is found first buried in that part called the unconscious. Our daily task is to recover this treasure of divine love in the conscious part of 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 took a great interest in the Gourmantché culture of Burkina Faso. According to the wisdom of this African ethnic group, the human being is not only composed of body and soul; it even admits of six components.

“Everything 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 guide-spirit “ke ciciliga” that characterises him in his social relations. A fourth component is the mould “li ḥaali”, inherited from one of the ancestors, which communicates to him, at the same time as physical resemblance, his personal skills. Also forming part of his being is the consciousness of God, “u yienu”, his creator, which is like the desire of God and his blessings.

Finally, there appears in the human being the destiny “li cabili” that God has deposited in the soul of the baby at its birth. A destiny that will influence his whole life. Wanting to imitate Saint Paul, who spoke to the Athenians of the unknown God, I wanted to reveal to them the origin of this destiny. It comes, indeed, from God, or more precisely from his image imprinted 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 undergo the harmful consequences of that choice. Invited to reproduce, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, which is full participation in the joy, or the happiness, of the Trinity, this ideal requires being conscious of the love that God has deposited in our unconscious by 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, bears much fruit, for outside of me you can do nothing. As the Father loved me, so too have I loved you. Dwell in my love. I told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Jn 15:5,9,11. The itinerary to the fullness of happiness demands, 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: “In truth, I tell you, you will weep and you will lament, and the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy. The woman about to give birth is saddened 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 be in joy, and your joy, no one will take it 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 that 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 fullness brings 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 manifold gifts, each time we call upon its action. We must not forget that the glory of God is shared, in community, with the smallest and the victims of injustice, 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 later in exile in Babylon, Is 35:2, so the Holy Spirit goes before us in this glorious enterprise of fullness of joy. Piet van Breemen says: “The one who seeks the glory of God can meet it only by walking with and towards 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 that we become attentive to this glorious presence. Jesus, nailed to the cross, draws his strength from the divine glory that accompanies him even in 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 his 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 very 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 its shadow”, she answers him: “Here is the servant of the Lord; may it befall me according to your will!” Two permanent dispositions that shine 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, 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 exposed to contradiction.” Lk 2:34-35. All 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 endure standing this trying moment, with the conviction that the glory of God accompanies them both in their suffering. For having crossed the harsh trial, she will sing for ever the Magnificat: “My soul glorifies the Lord, for the Almighty in love has done marvels 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 that has covered her with its shadow since the Annunciation procures her serenity, by revealing to her that her son, tortured, still hanging on the cross, has risen to eternal life. Mary is, in truth, the model given to humanity that suffers and struggles for the justice and the peace of the family and of the oppressed people. She brings hope in difficult causes. She, the first with Jesus, has conquered death and its consequences, to open the heart of humanity to the hope of divine glory.

TWELFTH PROMISE OF THE SACRED HEART: “I will concede the grace of final perseverance to all those who communicate with the bread of life.” All the biblical promises, from the love promised at the origin 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 accent on the number nine. In the spirit of the novena, if the Christian communicates on nine consecutive first Fridays, he assures himself of final perseverance.

However, perseverance is not linked to the number of communions, but to the quality of the communion with Christ. If I have the habit of communicating with the bread of life, I must not fear missing the rendezvous of the glory of God, since the Lord dwells in me and opens for me the door of the house of the Father. Jesus himself says it: “I am the gate 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 the 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 in remission of sins.” Mt 26:26-28. He added then: “Do this in memory of me.” To communicate 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 implication in the process of salvation of the world. Thus, communicating with the body of Christ stimulates us in the fight against violence, selfishness, injustice, contempt and hatred, all those abominations that engender misery and the exclusion of many humans. This fight against evil and against the structures of sin must issue into the new civilisation of love. The letter to the Hebrews tells us: “Think of the one who endured from sinners such a contradiction, so as not to fail through weariness.

“You have not yet resisted unto blood in the fight against sin.” Heb 12:3-4. To communicate is also to ally oneself with Jesus in his resurrection. The risen Christ lives among 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 steal from you.” Jn 16:22. At the moment of communion, we become aware of the presence of the Risen One, whom we receive as bread of life, bread for life.

The Eucharist allows us to live in God, since the risen Christ lives in us. The eucharistic sacrifice renders 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. That is why the assembly proclaims the kerygma: “We announce your death; we proclaim your resurrection. Come, Lord, come, Lord Jesus!” Does there exist 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 recall his words “that he would be killed and that, on the third day, he was going to rise again.” 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 again. She had believed the prophecy made to the apostles.

After the burial of Jesus, the Virgin Mary returns home 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 there. We too, like Mary, see with the eyes of faith the risen Jesus, who struggles with us for the dignity of all human beings. With the risen Jesus, we take part 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 neighbour 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 bread offered 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 hymns. That is why the liturgical rule of the assembly calls for the participation of all in the song and the prayer. No one can be content to be a simple observer; each member of the assembly takes part 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. Those who voluntarily separate themselves from eucharistic communion are those who refuse union with the risen Lord or with the assembly of believers. The kiss of peace that the participants exchange becomes a beautiful gesture of fraternal communion, precisely before receiving communion in the body of Christ. In truly living the sacrifice of communion that the Eucharist is, we encourage the solidarity and the peace of the kingdom of God.

The eucharistic banquet actualises the words of Jesus: “It is my Father who gives you the true bread of 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 be hungry; whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jn 6:32-35. As the crowning of the whole set of promises, Christ celebrates with his own the new Passover, memorial of the liberation of the people who walk towards the house of the Father. He is the new paschal Lamb offered for the forgiveness of sins, alluding thus to the paschal lamb that the Jews offered every year.

Before taking part in the 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 Act of Thanksgiving that Christ makes to the Father, who forgives us and welcomes us into his eternal love. With Jesus, we thank the Father for all his blessings and for the privilege of sharing his divine life.

To accept the new covenant is to accept living it in the manner of Jesus, being resolved to work for the advent 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 actualises 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, with a view to 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 directive commits us to: “Be on Earth the Heart of God”. This essay brings out the notions of Christian spirituality that interweave and enter into relation 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, which reproduces the image of the divine Heart in its consciousness.

If we study spirituality personally or in community, we find in the promises of the Sacred Heart a certain distribution of all the foundations of Christian spirituality. The basic element consists in recognising the love of God and in letting oneself be overcome by it. We know that God loved us from the origin, even before we knew him. In letting ourselves be loved by him, we discover that we form 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 seen itself disfigured throughout history. Sin entered there and, with it, the enmities, the abuses and the social conflicts. It is important to find again 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 violence, the jealousies, the injustices and the misery of his people, God decides to commit himself with sinful humanity. Divine love became incarnate in human nature in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The sublime mystery of the incarnation that Saint Paul describes in the famous hymn of the primitive community: “He, of divine condition, did not jealously hold back the rank that made him equal to God. But he annihilated himself, taking on 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 he loves. “I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you.” Jn 14:18. Once risen, Christ lives for ever and communicates his Spirit to us. Thus, every Christian, through the Spirit, relives the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

In 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 current the mystery of his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. When we proclaim the kerygma – “We announce your death, we proclaim your resurrection. Come, Lord Jesus!” – we implicate 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 the 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 pains and our joys. He supports all the efforts made 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 to 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 to our death and resurrection as the human race?

The Spirit confirms, by his power, our service and our obedience to the will of God. That is why Christ becomes our definitive peace and, thanks to his providence, we commit ourselves to the achievement of a new earth. Throughout the whole path of salvation that leads to holiness, that is to say, 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 within us.

The Eucharist remains the most accomplished prayer concerning the three degrees of communion of the baptised 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 apogee in the intimate union of God with those who communicate at the banquet of the Eucharist. To celebrate the Eucharist means progress in 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 too be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. I gave them the glory you gave me, so that they be one as we are one: I in them and you in me, so that they be perfect in unity. Father, I want that, where I am, they too be with me, so that they may contemplate the glory you gave me.” Jn 17:21-23a,24. The Trinity opens us to hope when all hopes fade away.

In a world filled with contradictions, it is necessary to keep one's 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 to say, free and happy; the glory of the human being is communion with God. Such is the path that we are called to tread by the grace of God. We can structure or trace this course in our personal life or in the life of the Christian community.

Some see the importance of taking the way of Jesus to give meaning to human life in its struggles and its contradictions; others want to situate themselves all along the course marked by the glory of God. It is not only a personal path, but an itinerary to be travelled together with humanity. Indeed, if we are in solidarity for the good, we are also in solidarity in the evil to be eradicated. 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 again on the third day.

With you, we die; with you, we rise again. 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 González, 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 Gibran, 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, S.A. de Ediciones, Madrid. Jean Richard, MSC, Dieu, Éditions Novalis, Québec, 1990. Richard Alan Swanson, Gourmantché Ethnoanthropology, University Press of America. TABLE OF THE BIBLICAL PROMISES. Introduction ............... First Promise, Divine Love ............... Second Promise, Peace ............... Third Promise, the Comforting 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 my MSC confreres Pierre Brault and Paul Eugène Chabot. Pierre suggested to me several spiritual writers who had left a mark on 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 drafted in Spanish.

May God fill you with all his blessings!