Whenever someone begins with: Let’s face it, you can expect the worst. The determined tone of voice, and the serious face, warn that there would be no escaping the dreadful consequences which must inevitably follow. The last time someone used the phrase, it was to assure me that religion had no future. I would not say they took any pleasure in the prospect, but they did take satisfaction in pointing out that given the way things were going, there could be no argument about it, it would inevitably die out. I could have reminded them that this prediction had been made many times in the past, yet it did not come to pass. Christ had too much to lose to allow that to happen.
He came to bring life not death. The Spirit sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to set the downtrodden free asserted Christ, and he wasn’t taking any nonsense about let’s face it, you won’t be able to do it. There were plenty of Pharisees around almost joyfully telling him he could not do it, especially if he thought of doing it on the Sabbath. They could countenance stoning a woman taken in adultery because Moses had ordered them to do it and they challenged him to try and save her. He called their bluff on that occasion, but their inhumanity angered him. Man was not made for the Sabbath, he warned them. They must have felt they had him finally when he was dying nailed to a cross and they taunted him: come down from the cross now and we will believe you. As if they were saying: Let’s face it there is no way of avoiding death once you are nailed to the cross. And didn’t he have the last laugh on them on the morning of his resurrection?
The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is our recognition that Jesus has a heart. We remember a long day in Capernaum when even into the night they brought the sick to him and he cured them all. The feast is a recognition that the Sacred Heart continues into our day and times to cure and restore our humanity, even sometimes when the pundits say let’s face it; there is nothing that can be done for you. Daily we get many letters from people writing in thanksgiving for they believe he has restored them. They witness that sometimes he has done an even more wonderful thing: out of situations that seem to be hopeless he has brought life and hope again.
Sacred Heart of Jesus I place all my trust in you.
John Looby, S.J.
Editor