It is providential that we have the Mass of the Sick on the feast of the Sacred Heart. It gives us an opportunity to revisit this devotion which used to be so popular when I was growing up. That time there was a picture of the Sacred Heart over every mantelpiece – and there was a little oil lamp with a red globe – the Sacred Heart lamp burning before it. The picture of Jesus showed His heart crowned with thorns and surrounded by flame – symbolising His burning love for us.
Maybe those pictures overemphasised the physical heart, because when we talk about the heart of Jesus we’re not talking cardiology – we’re using the language of love. We’re using the symbols we see on the cards at St. Valentine’s day – or carved on trees in lonely woods. The heart of Jesus is the symbol of God’s boundless love that was revealed to us in the human life of Jesus and above all in His suffering and death. It’s summed up in the words of St. John in the second reading:”God’s love for us was revealed when he sent His Son into the world so that we could have life through Him”. St. John not only tells us THAT JESUS revealed God’s love for us in a way we could understand, he tells us WHY – SO THAT WE COULD HAVE LIFE THROUGH HIM.
Jesus said in the Gospel: “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full”.There is a deep desire in all our hearts to have life – to live life to the full. We long for life and the worst thing about sickness is that it threatens our life; it diminishes our life. Se we say: “Your health is your wealth”. If you heard the interview Marian Finucane did a while back with Nuala O’Faolain, you’ll remember she talked about her terminal illness. She was incredibly honest and courageous. She said when she learned the news that she had only months to live all the good went out of life. She loved reading, writing, travelling, music. She loved her friends – but she loved life most of all. She wanted to go on living – and she couldn’t. And she didn’t believe in life beyond death so there was no hope – just darkness and despair. Jesus came to give us hope. He came to fulfil our deep desire for life – not only here and now, but life forever. He spent His whole ministry giving life to people – healing the sick, forgiving sinners, welcoming outcasts, freeing people from fear and oppression. And even raising the dead to life. He spent His whole life – and ultimately gives His life to make good His promise: “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full”.
The words of Jesus in the Gospel we heard about God’s love and care for us must be the most comforting and reassuring ever spoken on this earth. God reveals His love, not to the learned or the sophisticated – but to those who are humble enough to listen. God reveals His love to people like Bernadette of Lourdes – He did so in a spectacular way when Our Lady appeared here 150 years ago. But Bernadette was a poor, illiterate child. She was humble. She was open. She was obedient. She is the kind of person Jesus is talking about:”I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, … for revealing these things to mere children”.
And the second thing in that gospel is Jesus’ wonderful invitation:”Come to me all you who labour and are burdened and I will give your rest”. Jesus never forces. He invites. Come! Come especially if you are burdened – whether it’s by sickness, sadness, grief, guilt, disappointment, pain, fear, depression, despair. Come! And I will give you rest. That’s His promise. Learn from me, He says. Learn humility from Jesus who is gentle and humble. And you will find rest for your souls. Peace of souls is the ultimate prize – the peace of Christ that passes all understanding – that’s what matters. Everyone who is sick wants to be cured. But most are not. But what many discover in Lourdes is that peace of soul that Christ promises: “Come to me ….”
I’m told there’s a statue on the pathway up the hill behind the Grotto. It commemorates an Italian pilgrim who came to Lourdes to be cured of his blindness. But he wasn’t cured. The inscription tells us that he didn’t find the cure he was looking for but he did find his faith. And he went home, still blind, but with peace in his soul.
Whether we realise it or not, the fact that we’re here in Lourdes means we have heard that invitation of Jesus. We come close to Mary in Lourdes and we come even closer to the heart of Jesus, her Son. His love is palpable here in so many ways – in the prayers and processions, in the Masses and the liturgies. But God’s love is palpable here above all in the care for each other that is the hallmark of Lourdes; in the myriad acts of kindness and service every day; in the wonderful dedication of all the helpers; in the patience and cheerfulness of the sick; in the generosity and lightheartedness of the young people; in the prayerful presence of the priests.
In this Jubilee Year we are invited to walk the pilgrim way. We’re reminded that a pilgrimage is a journey – a search – ultimately a journey to Jesus – a search for closeness to Him. I’ll finish with a story that one of our priests told me. He’s one of our priests who does weekend duty in a parish in a tough part of Dublin. When he came there a couple of years ago he was putting the finishing touches to his doctoral thesis and he had it all on a computer in the car. The car was broken into and the computer stolen and he was distraught – two years of intense work gone. He asked the people in the Church to pray and also to keep an eye out for it. When he came out an old lady came up to him – a real Dub. and said in a Dublin accent I’d love to be able to imitate. “Father aren’t you the innocent abroad, leaving anything in the car. But don’t worry I’ll say a prayer to the Sacred Heart and you’ll get it back. You know me and the Sacred Heart, we’re just like that!
The greatest fruit of visiting Lourdes is to come closer to Jesus. It’s to experience that familiar intimacy – me and the Sacred Heart, just like that. It’s to realise that we are closer to His heart than we could ever imagine. He invites us to an intimacy that is astonishing because he lives within us.
“Come to me all you who labour and are heavy burden and I will give you rest”.
