feast of the most sacred heart of jesus_homily carlos valencia

8/2/2019 Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus_homily Carlos Valencia

1/6

FEAST OF THE MOST SACRED

HEART OH JESUS

Saint John the Evangelist MajorSeminary - Camarillo, Ca. - 10/20/11

Dear brothers, in God's plan there

are no coincidences, because in thisplan everything is grace. For thisreason, I think a special grace of God, akairos in my life as a Eudist priest, tobe here today at the Major Seminary"St. John the Evangelist" of the

Archdiocese of Los Angeles, at theEudist Feast of the Sacred Heart ofJesus. The prophet Ezekiel put us in theenvironment of the Babylonian Exile.Ezekiel, was the prophet-priest whoaccompanied, motivated and

encouraged the God's people in thestrong, intense, rich and fruitful test ofexile. He had an extraordinaryexperience of God. So he could talk withall property and from his life experienceto all the people in exile. Ezekiel is a

man of profound hope in genuinely new:new people, new heart, new life, newcult, and new temple. Passing the test of


2/6

exile, everything has to be brand new.

Pure water flowing from the Sanctuary isprovided by God for the people tocompletely renew and purified him. Theprophet Ezekiel heralded the grandeurof the waters of Baptism, the waterscompletely transformed and purified,

human training believers to receive thelife everlasting. In this total novelty, themost important thing is the renewal ofthe heart. If the heart of the people wastightened and had to be softened bytests in exile, now it softens and

becomes a heart of flesh, thanks to thewonderful and powerful action of theSpirit. But that's not all. The Spirit of theLord, the powerful and transformativeruah blowing from the four winds, willbring together the people of Goddispersed, because the Spirit of God isunity, unifying force. In the same waythat divine spirit will be infused into theheart of each of the members of thePeople of God to transform and givethem the ability to respond now in otherserious and definitive way to God's

loving plan. It's people no longer have aheart of stone, but a heart of flesh, i.e., ithas become fully human, to feel the pain


3/6

of the brothers, but has also been

deified, because now they will be able todecide the will of God , who wants allmen to be saved and come to know thetruth. With the renewed heart, the manof all time is enabled to accept andreceive God's salvation.

The author of the fourth Gospelhas placed us in the heart of this Gospelof life. This heart is composed of theword agape that with joy andabundance, the author repeats in the

text we read for 9 times. The text doesnot use the term "eros", which meansthe passionate love, nor the term "phila"which points out the love of sympathy,which brings us to other persons by theirvirtues, values or qualities or their modeof being. Here is used the term "Agape",which drew perfectly love of donation,love without measure, love that expectsnothing in return. That love comes fromthe heart of God and heart of Christ, asseasoned and mature fruit. The Godmade flesh in the person of Jesus has

established the love as a rule of life (gr.entol). The love for the Christian isnot elective; it is an express


4/6

commandment, a categorical

imperative. The text also emphasizesthe verb "remain" (gr. mnein). Thisverb indicates stability, consistency andirreversibility. Therefore love, which isthe result of a heart decided to make thewill of God in personal and community

life, is a lasting, stable, irreversible, loveas a result of a genuine conversion. Thetext of St. John invites the listeners ofthe word and the believer of all time to aconstant, stable, irreversible and lastinglove. That love is necessarily agape

and of course, something which comesfrom the heart.

In these texts is the synthesis ofwhat the Church has taught us aboutthe hearts of Jesus and Mary. TheEudist spirituality is synthesized in thespirituality of the heart, i.e. thespirituality of the tenderness of God'sbeloved mercy. For St. John Eudes,Jesus loves with the heart of Mary; andMary love with the heart of Jesus. Hesaid that these two hearts are one heart.

Each Eudist and every believer arecalled to form one heart with the heartsof Jesus and Mary. Take tenderness,


5/6

compassion and mercy is to continue

and complete the merciful exercise ofGod and Jesus, which has not ceased,does not cease nor shall cease to loveever.

The universal Church is indebted

to St. John Eudes, who created andinaugurated the cult of the SacredHearts of Jesus and Mary. St. JohnEudes first celebrated the Feast of theImmaculate Heart of Mary, on February8th, 1648, and the feast of the Sacred

Heart of Jesus, on October 20

th

, 1670.The Popes Pius X and Pius XI calledFather John Eudes, doctor and apostleof the cult of the Sacred Hearts of Jesusand Mary.

The biblical spirituality has as themain center of interest to the mercylovely of our God that continuously visitsus from on high. The work of the FatherGod and his Son Jesus Christ was, isand shall be a constant exercise ofmercy. The invitation that in this feast

we receive all in a very particular way isthe same that Jesus did the doctor ofthe Law that he recognized as neighbor


6/6

to the man who fell into the hands of

bandits, that Good Samaritan. Theseare the words of Jesus will nowresonate in our hearts: "Go and dolikewise." "Makarioi hoi elemones hotiautoi eleethsontai" ("Blessed be themerciful, because they will reach mercy"

(Mt 5, 7).

Let us continue the Eucharist,constant demonstration of the belovedGod's mercy, and leave it to restart withnew enthusiasm the constant exercise

of mercy to all our brothers and sisters.

feast of the most sacred heart of jesus_homily carlos valencia

Documents