This morning, as I am in York, Fr Lawrence will be presiding and preaching at the Masses at St Stephen’s, and I am very grateful to him for doing so. As I do not wish to repeat what he (might) be saying, I instead offer a few thoughts on this month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in which we celebrate the very great love that Jesus has for us. This month we find ourselves faced with the Holy truth of His great love for us and finding ourselves the object of this love, we try to return it, ever asking that our own hearts may become more and more like His, part of His.
No one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. The world and the news is full of terrorists, from Palestine to Isreal, Iran to North Korea, the USA to Northern Ireland. Many of these people believe themselves to be devoutly religious. But certainly they have no knowledge of the Son, and clearly their understanding of God is seriously distorted. They think they serve the Lord of Heaven and earth by spreading terror or hate in his name. As an expression of their religious zeal, they carry out sectarian killings; they train suicide bombers who will target innocent civilians; they intimidate, kidnap, enslave and destroy.
The contrast with Jesus, meek and humble in heart, could scarcely be more complete but unfortunately there are quite strong secularist forces in our society who want to bracket all religions together. They would restrict the liberty of Christians to practise or teach their faith. For them, religion, of itself, is a threat to society, and to the common good.
We may start our comparison by accepting a degree of common ground held by in principle by Christianity and Islam. Christians and Muslims agree that it’s the duty of every human being to give due honour and worship to Almighty God.
With all Muslims, including the Islamic terrorists, we hold that God is Great, a belief we also share with Christian terrorists and Jewish terrorists. We differ though in our conception of God’s greatness. As we see it, the terrorists especially fall far short. They seem to think that God needs the protection of their guns and their bombs; that he is somehow harmed by blasphemers or non-believers; that without the help of his militant warriors he would be lacking in glory and honour.
But we know that God needs nothing from us; certainly not our protection; certainly not our acts of violence in his name. We agree that blasphemy is a bad thing, but not because it could somehow harm God. Blasphemy is bad because it must harm the blasphemer, and those influenced by him.
But of course there’s more. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is wounded. On Mount Calvary a spear was thrust through it. That spear somehow summed up all the sins of the world, my sins and your sins, as well as the sins of the avowed enemies of Jesus.
This month we contemplate that wound in the Heart of Jesus with deep sorrow and profound awe. We understand that it calls us to repentance and conversion, to replace any acts of un-love with acts of love.
As we do this, we come to understand ever more clearly that the meaning of Christ’s wounded Heart is above all Mercy. Jesus, who was pierced through for our sins, does not call for revenge. He does not seek to assign blame or impose guilt. He does not ask us to wage holy war on his behalf – either a Crusade or a Jihad or a Milḥemet Mitzvah. Instead he gently issues his invitation: Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. The yoke I offer is a yoke of goodness and mercy and love. Yes, this yoke must appear threatening to those whose lives are immoral, or godless, or even just self-centred and comfort loving. Those who accept it will spread not indifference, and not terror or war around the world, but only peace.
But the yoke of Christ is not one of an oppressor, and it is one that binds us to Him, therefore we must never be asked to relinquish it, for it is worth more to us than life itself.