Hosea 11:1,3-4, 8-9; Is 12 You will draw water from the springs of salvation; Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19; John 19:31-37
"Thus says the Lord: when Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though I stopped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer...I will not let the flames consume you." Prophet Hosea
"Brothers and sisters: To me, the very least of the holy ones, this grace was given, to preach to the gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the Church." St. Paul in letter of Ephesians
"But a soldier thrust a lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An Eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe. For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: 'Not a bone will be broken' and again another passage, 'they will look upon him whom they have pierced.' " Gospel of John
The prophet Hosea speaks of God who will not let the flames consume his children. St. Paul reminds us that in the inscrutable riches of Christ God' s plan is laid bare for all to see the wisdom from eternity. There is no longer any guess work but the blueprints are drawn and made ready for us to spy.
St. John tell us in the gospel that all this happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
When you put all this together we realize that Jesus did not accidentally die on the cross. Rather, it was all deliberate. It was all part of the plan. God wanted to lay his heart bare for all to see, and thus the lance becomes the deliberate key in unlocking for all the immense love God reveals for us his children. It is a deliberate, pre-planned love that shines forth for all.
To celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus is to celebrate a heart that deliberately dedicated itself fully to love.
The scandal of the Incarnation is the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In His Heart we understand that the glory of God is man alive. To be Sacred means to be fully alive.
Prayer:
Most sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, you are concealed in the holy eucharist. I worship you with all my best love and awe, with deep affection, and with my most resolved will. For a while you take up your home within me. O make my heart beat with your heart! Purify it of all that is earthly, all that is proud, of all perversity, and of all disorder. So fill it with you,t hat neither the events of the day nor the circumstances of the time may have the power to ruffle it, but that in your love and your fear, it may have peace. Amen.
3 comments:
"When you put all this together we realize that Jesus did not accidentally die on the cross. Rather, it was all deliberate. It was all part of the plan."
I understand that the purpose of the Incarnation was to fully illustrate God's love and that Jesus' witness of and on the cross ultimately and timelessly expresses this.
Does the above quote mean that the plan was to fully express God's love and the cross accidentally served this plan OR that the plan necessarily, specifically involved the cross itself?
I've heard/read different perspectives but nothing definitive. Just curious. Thanks, Padre!
Actually, if you follow John' s understanding of scripture that he quotes in today's gospel it would be fitting to think that the cross was necessary in order for "those to look upon him whom they had pierced" which then fulfills the prophetic utterance of the prophet in the OT.
The gospel tells us what happened, therefore, it is better to assume its necessity then to live in the hypothetical of what might have or could have happen otherwise.
because, Faith is rooted in reality, what happened, that is to say, Faith respond to God's action in reality, not in what might have or could have happened otherwise.
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