by Msgr. John Vesey
In his last encyclical letter, “Dilexit Nos: On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ,” Pope Francis wrote to remind us of the centrality of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the prayer life of the Church.
He wrote: “It is only by starting from the heart that our communities will succeed in uniting and reconciling differing minds and wills, so that the Spirit can guide us in unity as brothers and sisters. Reconciliation and peace are also born of the heart. The heart of Christ is ‘ecstasy,’ openness, gift, and encounter. In that heart, we learn to relate to one another in wholesome and happy ways, and to build up in this world God’s kingdom of love and justice. Our hearts, united with the heart of Christ, are capable of working this social miracle” (n. 28).
On June 11, the U.S. Bishops will formally consecrate our country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country. The bishops said there are three essential reasons for this consecration.
The first is to place our nation under the Kingship of Christ; to place ourselves under God’s providence and care.
Second, part of the Consecration is to make reparations for offenses against God; against the Heart of Christ. Some of these offenses are part of American history.
Finally, there is this desire that through this consecration, we will be called to have a greater heart for the poor and the suffering, as we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Some might be tempted to see this consecration as an avoidance of our commitment to stand up now against the suffering of so many of our immigrant brothers and sisters today. But if one looks to the heart of Jesus and the promises he made to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, one will come to realize that it is in the Heart of Jesus that we become instruments of God’s love for others.
I lived as a missionary in Guatemala for 13 years during the country’s 36-year civil war.
In my Diocese of Sololá-Chimaltenango, it is estimated that over 20,000 people were murdered during that time. When I was appointed pastor of the parish of San Pedro La Laguna (today it is three parishes with four mountain communities), 44 people had been murdered by the military, and according to the religious sisters that I worked with, we averaged 30 abortions a month.
Deeply aware of the violence and the nightly curfew that governed us, I was afraid that I would not be able to protect my parish family against this violence. I remembered the promises of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, so I began adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after our Thursday evening Mass, until Friday, asking our parish community to ask the Sacred Heart’s protection during that time of civil war.
Three years later, when my Bishop Eduardo Fuentes moved me to his residence as his pastoral vicar, he told me that in the previous three years there was only one parish community where there had not been any kidnappings, tortures, or murders, and that was the parish of San Pedro La Laguna — because of the protection and prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
As our Church consecrates our country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on its 250th anniversary, let us kneel together before our Lord, asking him to renew our commitment of love and to ask for His mercy.
Father Vesey is a semi-retired priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn who is in residence at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where he remains active in ministry.