Post #6053

The Vicar of Christ, against the heresy of secularism or laicism, intended to protest “in the face of heaven and earth that there is no God but the Lord” (Cardinal A.I. Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum. Note storiche e liturgiche sul Messale Romano. Vol. V. Le nozze eterne dell'Agnello (La Sacra Liturgia dalla Domenica della Trinità all'Avvento), Turin, Marietti, 1930, pages 92-106). Pius XII lastly, on May 15, 1956, he dedicated the monumental Encyclical Haurietis aquas to the cult of the Sacred Heart. In this fundamental document the Supreme Pontiff masterfully taught on the relationship between the Sacred Heart and the Eucharist, Sacrament and Sacrifice: “Even before He ate the Last Supper with His disciples Christ Our Lord, since He knew He was about to institute the sacrament of His body and blood by the shedding of which the new covenant was to be consecrated, felt His heart roused by strong emotions, which He revealed to the Apostles in these words: "With desire have I desired to eat this Pasch with you before I suffer." (Lk. 22:15); And these emotions were doubtless even stronger when "taking bread, He gave thanks, and broke, and gave to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you, this do in commemoration of Me.” Likewise the chalice also, after He had supped, saying, “This chalice is the new testament in My blood, which shall be shed for you.” (Lk. 22:19-20.). It can therefore be declared that the divine Eucharist, both the sacrament which He gives to men and the sacrifice in which He unceasingly offers Himself from the rising of the sun till the going down thereof,"(Mal. 1:11) and likewise the priesthood, are indeed gifts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”. Coming after all the feasts of Christ, the solemnity of the Sacred Heart completes them by bringing them all together in a single object, which materially is the heart of flesh of a Man-God and formally is the immense charity, of which this Heart is a symbol. This feast does not refer to a particular mystery in the life of the Savior, but embraces them all. It is the feast of God's love for men, a love that made Jesus descend to earth with His Incarnation for all (Offertorium), who went up on the Cross for our Redemption for all (Gospel, II antiphon of Vespers) and which for all He descends every day on our altars with the Transubstantiation, to apply to us the fruits of His death on Golgotha (Communio). - These three mysteries show us more especially the divine charity of Jesus in the course of the centuries (Introit). "Thy love compelled thee to assume A mortal body, man to save" (Matins hymn). It is his love that wanted this heart to be pierced on the cross (Invitatory, Gospel) so that a torrent of mercy and graces (Preface) flowed through it that we go to draw with joy (Vespers verse); a water which in Baptism purifies us of our sins (Office of the Octave) and the blood which in the Eucharist nourishes our souls (Communio). And, as the Eucharist is the extension of the Incarnation and the memorial of Calvary, Jesus asked that this feast be placed immediately after the Octave of the Most Holy Sacrament. - The manifestations of Christ's love bring out more the ingratitude of men, who correspond to this love with an ever greater coldness and indifference, therefore this solemnity essentially presents a character of reparation, which demands detestation and indifference. atonement for all sins, the actual cause of the agony that Jesus endured two thousand years ago. - If He foresaw our sins then, he also knew in advance our participation in his sufferings and this consoled him in his pains (Offertorium). He saw above all the Holy Masses and Holy Communions, in which we make ourselves victims every day with the great Victim, offering to God, in the same dispositions of the Sacred Heart in all the acts of His life, at Calvary and now in Heaven, all our pains and all our sufferings, accepted with generosity.