Christ’s heart of love bears our pain to save us from ruin and hell
(Editor’s note: June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Solemnity is on 24 June)
“May you live in interesting times.” I learnt from a book on the history in China that this sentence is considered a curse in Chinese culture. Just because peace is boring, and war is interesting. Indeed, the heart of every story is a conflict between the protagonist and someone or something else.
In which case, I suppose modern Chinese must feel rather unfortunate to be living in an age with wars, plagues and other tragic events. And, as in many other epochs of history, the Apocalypse industry is back up again: pray, tell me, which COVID variant is God’s Divine Punishment, or are there different variants because each is meant to punish a different sin?
In the midst of all this chaos, it is important for Christians to refocus on the fact that our God is a God of Love, not a God of Judgement. In fact, as the Gospel of John teaches us, God loved the world so much that He sent His Only Son to die for mankind’s sins. The keyword here is “mankind”. Christ didn’t only die for Jews. He died for gentiles, including the Chinese people.
In such times, it is a huge temptation for us to lapse into conspiracy-theory mode. With COVID-19, we might ask whether the virus came from Communist bioweapons. Or was it planted by the Pentagon, James-Bond style? For the other major event, the Russia-Ukraine War, the theories may swing around whether the Russians are really brutal, or Ukraine is making use of liberal Western propaganda machines to paint themselves as more saintly than they actually are.
Conspiracy theories are instruments of the Devil. The Lord sees mankind as mankind, and not in our various nations. As Scripture teaches us, He takes on the burdens of our sins onto Himself. He is the Lord who cares for the widows of Ukraine and the unwilling soldiers of Russia. He cares as much for the Texan veteran who has COVID Beta as He does for the teenager in Shanghai who is down with Omicron. God does not do Real Politick.
One of the best ways to focus on the love of God is by meditating on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is a devotion that was developed by the French saint, Bernard of Clairveaux. The devotion gained prominence in the Catholic Church after the apparitions to Saint Margaret Alacoque more than a few centuries later.
This virtuous nun was given the privilege of lying against the Heart of Christ and told to spread the message of His love around the world. Her position allowed her to hear Christ’s heartbeat.
When interviewed about her apparitions, she said:
And He [Christ] showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin that made Him want to manifest His Heart to men,
This demonstrates how close Christ wants to be to each and every one of us. And in the Gospel, he demonstrated this closeness and love by sacrificing Himself on the Cross at Cavalry. This heart of Love is a heart of pain as well, the heart that bears all our pains so that we can be saved from the path of ruin that leads to Hell.
To get a real sense, imagine a stream of blood flowing out from the centre of the Sacred Heart. The Precious blood of Christ that purifies, cleanses and heals all our wounds from sin. As you meditate on the Sacred Heart, cast your pains onto him and imagine all the pains that dissolve in His Precious Blood.
Let us all remember then that Christ is the Prince of Peace that rescues us from the burden of “Interesting Times”.
