Heart Of The Redeemer by Timothy O'Donnell

Author:Timothy O'Donnell [O'Donnell, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898703962
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2012-08-21T05:00:00+00:00

Figure 23: Pinucothèque Vannucci, Crucifix of German School from the second half of the fifteenth century.

Although Christ is now in glory and incapable of suffering he still is the same divine Person who suffered for us. Through offering a loving consolation to our Lord in appreciation for his past sufferings, we attempt a return of love for his infinite love which he manifested on the cross. If one were to refuse to return to the mortal life of Christ in a loving remembrance of his suffering, it would truly reveal a shocking lack of love. It is this horrible ingratitude and forgetfulness which caused our Lord to complain to various mystics. In seeking to console the Sacred Heart, we are not turning to events which no longer have any effect upon us. The effects of our Lord’s passion possess an eternal value which do not diminish with the passage of time; i.e., man’s reconciliation with God, the continual application of Christ’s sacrifice in Holy Mass, etc. Consoling our Lord for his past suffering leads to an ever more profound understanding of and participation in our Lord’s work of redemption. Those who console the Sacred Heart of Jesus are returning love for love at their particular time in salvation history, adding to the universal consolation which Christ accepted during his mortal life. This retrospective intention of compassionate love is true consolation. For Christ, now in glory, these acts of consolation become reparation which brings everlasting joyful satisfaction to him as he sees his Father honored by the faithful who appropriate the merits of redemption for their own salvation.

The Pope next speaks of a third aspect—the value of consoling Christ, who “suffers” in his mystical body, which is the Church:

To the above we may add that the expiatory passion of Jesus Christ is renewed and in a certain manner continued in His mystical body, the Church. To use again the words of St. Augustine, “Christ suffered all that He had to suffer: nothing at all is lacking to the number of His sufferings. Therefore His sufferings are complete, but in Him as in the head; there remain even now sufferings of Christ to be endured in the body.” In fact, Christ Himself made the same statement, for to Saul “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” he said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” By this He plainly affirmed that persecutions visited on the Church are in reality directed against the Head of the Church. Therefore, Christ, suffering in His mystical body, with reason desires to have us as companions in His own acts of expiation. He asks to be united with us for since we “are the body of Christ, and member for member,” in so far as the Head suffers so also should the members suffer with it.31

The Holy Father then turns his attention to the tremendous need in our present age for expiation or reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He speaks of the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.