Word to the Wise
Friday, June 19, 2020 - Friday after the Second Sunday after Pentecost: The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - A
[Deut 7:6-11; 1 John 4:7-16; Matt 11:25-30,61]In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. [1 John]
One might wonder why this feast does not happen on February 14th when our entire world seems to be focused on the heart and love!! As it is, this celebration occurs in summer and during the week. Nevertheless, it has the rank of a "solemnity" which puts it on a par with other very important celebrations in the liturgical calendar. It is the basis for the First Friday devotional observance. This is a testimony to the popularity of the devotion to the heart of Jesus, which really began to gain prominence in the 17th century with the private revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque which included a promise that anyone who attended Mass and received communion worthily for seven straight First Fridays would not die without the final sacraments of the Church. That is a powerful incentive, but achieving that number of First Friday observances alone may cloud over the real meaning of the feast.
The second scripture assigned for the feast makes it clear that God's love for us carries an imperative to love one another. If we go to confession and receive communion on seven straight First Fridays without gaining in love for our neighbor, we frustrate the whole purpose of the devotion. I would encourage the Beloved Congregation to read the exhaustive Wikipedia article online about the feast to see how rich and diverse the history of the feast is, but to remember the principal goal. The feast celebrates God's love for us which must "overflow" to our neighbor. AMEN