Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

 Lectionary: 170

It was not because you are the largest of all nations
that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,
for you are really the smallest of all nations.
It was because the LORD loved you....

The above passage from Deuteronomy 7 sounds familiar because Saint Paul referred to it in his letter to his gentile converts in Corinth. He reminded them that they had been grafted into the tree of Abraham despite the protests of Jews, pagan friends and family, and Jewish-Christians. But he never thought of them as "second class Christians;" they shared the same faith in Jesus and there would be no class distinctions of Jew or gentile, male or female, slave or free in his Church. 

But neither would they win much respect from Jews and pagans. During that first century, no one could imagine that the Roman empire might someday declare itself a Christian empire, and state-sponsored Christiandom might become dominant and repressive. During the first century our spiritual ancestors might have been secretly admired for their courage; but they were outwardly despised, persecuted, ostracized, jailed, and sometimes tortured and martyred. 

They were treated as Jesus had been treated:

He was spurned and avoided by men,
a man of suffering, knowing pain,
Like one from whom you turn your face,
spurned, and we held him in no esteem. (Is 53:3)

That ill usage would end in the fourth century and the Church would suppose the "Age of Martyrdom" had ended. But the cynical optimism of the Enlightenment has brought the world into a violently "post-Christian" age. 

Fortunately, the Church has long memories of many ages, nations, and cultures; and we're not entirely surprised by the world's rejection. The Old and New Testaments teach us how to respond. We know we must turn, and turn again, to the Lord. If we ever thought that we had it made in the shade and could take it from here, the violence of the world and the apparent indifference of our own children remind us of our spiritual helplessness. 

The Sacred Heart of Jesus fortifies us. The man of sorrows who was born in a stable and exiled in Egypt knows our confusion and anxiety. The homeless man who marched resolutely to Jerusalem and Calvary assures us this is the way; and we join a merry company of the blind, lame, burnt-out, confused, addicted, obsessed, and empoverished people on His one-way pilgrimage. 

Christians may not be literally sheep, but they often act as foolishly! And that's okay. We belong among them; we know it; and are glad of it. 

And always, we keep our attention fixed on the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)