A MYSTERY OF ONE HEART
Fr. IRENEUSZ SKUBIŚ
The heart is a symbol of love, something which the most beautiful, the best, and also which characterizes a man the most. ‘Have heart and look into the heart’ – these are the words of a poet and a drama writer of Romanticism – Adam Mickiewicz. If we say about somebody that he has a good heart, it means he is good and will not hurt anybody – in contrary, that he will be helpful and support for somebody. The heart is a sign important for the world, has a significance in a family life, social and national life. Therefore the Holy Father Francis still emphasizes that we should build the world with the heart, that is, based on God’s love and love of a neighbor.
For, we live in the times of rapacious capitalism, whose feature is the fact that it is looking for a material benefit everywhere. For many contemporary capitalists, an employer is not treated as a man, in the best case, his problems are in the secondary matter. For example, let’s have a look at what happened in Poland after free elections in the year 1989. Rich men from the West entered our areas and started purchasing our resources for nothing. Indeed, we stayed in our country, without home production, banking, etc. New owners of our mines, steelworks, factories took over Polish plants not to develop them, but in order to take away our customers, and close down factories. It was possible to observe in nearly every sphere of life – in trade, in media, etc. And it is just the activity of a contemporary capitalist. We underwent cruel operations, which were causing unemployment, and also social problems and big poverty. Whereas every man has his own dignity and specific rights in relation to it, which should be respected.
So, we must return to the heart, the heart of mother and father, the heart in the family, to the heart in the social life, public and cultural life. June is a month devoted to the worship of the Blessed Heart of Jesus. During the interwar period, Poles were worshipping it in a special way, therefore, Polish Jesuits undertook work for the sake of the cult of the Heart of Jesus Christ. There were congresses devoted to His Sacred Heart, a great prayer, people entrusted Him their families and themselves. These were great experiences of the whole nation. Today the cult of God’s Heart may have a slightly different formula and is often connected with the divine service to Divine Mercifulness.
For, Lord Jesus showed sister Faustyna just his heart, from which the rays of love are flowing onto the world. We see how wide influence this cult has and how it touches the deepest layers of a man. Let’s worship God’s Heart, which is good, merciful and can save us. Let’s entrust ourselves to God’s Heart, let’s pray the Litany to the Heart of Lord Jesus, let’s celebrate divine services on the first Fridays every month – these are particular examples of available Divine Service for us, whose essence is bringing a man closer to Lord Jesus, His Love. The Divine Service to God’s Heart makes a man grow internally, grows somehow to the mystery of God’s love, which bears fruits of gifts of the Holy Spirit. A man full of love to God’s Heart, becomes a man of heart himself, behaving in a good way, following God’s love and love of a neighbor. So, when we feel a defeat because of lack of warm-hearted attitudes today, let’s resort to God’s Heart. It will form our hearts properly, suggest us how we should live, in order to build on love. This month, Divine Services of June are being celebrated in churches, at the crosses by roads. Thanks to its, we show our love to the Heart, which loves the world and the man so much that it allowed for being pierced for us. Blood and water started flowing out from it, symbolizing God’s mercifulness for the world.
So, let God’s Heart start reigning in our homes, in families, in workplaces, in schools. It - the sources of good life - will form and strengthen also us in this way. And then, Poland may be changed, maybe the world will be changed…
In the reflection before the Angelus Prayer on 2 July 2000 John Paul II said: ‘Christ’s heart includes a message to every man, speaks also to the contemporary world. In the society in which technology and computer science are developing quicker and quicker, in which we are engrossed in thousands of purely contradictory efforts, a man may lose the centre of himself. Showing us His Heart, Jesus reminds us, that just inside the man, there is a fate of everybody, a choice between death and life in the final dimension’. There is no better commentary.
(AA)
"Niedziela" 23/2013