Reflection on Priesthood and the Sacred Heart of Jesus

“Priestly Identity and Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus”

Introduction

            From my childhood, my parents, parish priests, and the religious Sisters who taught me in elementary school introduced me to the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The image of the Sacred Heart was enthroned in our home, and the observance of the First Friday, the Morning Offering and the invocation of the Sacred Heart throughout the day were quickly learned as habits of prayer.  As a child, the devotion seemed to bring into focus all of the various aspects of my life in the Church.

            The account of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary has always strongly attracted me.  Each time I read the Promises made to Saint Margaret Mary, I am struck by the immense love of Our Lord Jesus Christ for all men, without boundary.[1]  Reflecting upon the Promises has been the occasion for me to continue to deepen my appreciation of the thirst which Christ has for souls, a thirst which truly knows neither measure nor end.

            Entering the minor seminary in 1962, I was introduced to the practice of renewing each year the Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was made by Saint Margaret Mary.[2]  With the maturing of my priestly vocation, over the years of seminary formation and the years of my ministry as a priest and Bishop, the Sacred Heart of Jesus has never ceased to attract me and to draw me into a deeper appreciation of the Sacraments, especially the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Penance, and to a fuller identification of myself with the reality of the priestly vocation which Saint John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars, so simply and powerfully described with these words: “The priesthood, it is the love of the Heart of Jesus.”[3]  The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has kept before my eyes the great wonder of being called to the priesthood, especially when I have faced temptations to doubt the reality of the priestly vocation or to treat the reality carelessly or callously.

            With these thoughts in mind, I offer some reflections on how the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has helped me to recognize my priestly vocation, to embrace the vocation to the priesthood, and to grow more solidly in my priestly identity.  While other devotions, for example, Eucharistic devotion and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, are an essential part of the spiritual life of the seminarian and priest, the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in a certain way, draws the whole devotional and prayer life of the seminarian and priest together in the cultivation of a union of heart with the Heart of Jesus, Head and Shepherd of the flock in every time and place through His ordained priests.  The words of Pope Pius XI, regarding the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have been verified in my life as both priest and seminarian:

[I]s not a summary of all our religion contained in this one devotion?  Indeed, it more easily leads our minds to know Christ the Lord intimately and more effectively turns our hearts to love Him more ardently and to imitate Him more perfectly.[4]

What follows are simple reflections.  They are certainly not exhaustive but are only meant to point to the substantial enrichment which devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus brings to the life of one called to the ordained priesthood.

Recognizing the Priestly Vocation in the Sacred Heart

            Growing up in a devout Catholic family, daily prayer with a particular emphasis on the Morning Offering, prayer before and after meals, the Angelus, the Rosary, and night prayer, especially the Examination of Conscience and Act of Contrition; frequent Confession, the Holy Mass, and parish devotions were the heart of my spiritual life.  Everything that I learned about my Catholic faith through the teaching of my parents and family members, the Sunday homily of the priest, and the study of the Catechism naturally led to a fuller and more attentive prayer life, and a singular appreciation of the great reality of the Sacraments as truly actions of Christ alive in the Church for my salvation and the salvation of the world.  It was in prayer and through the sacramental life, above all, that I came to know personally the infinite goodness of Christ, which, from my baptism, I have been called to imitate in my thoughts, words and deeds.  What impressed me as a child and continues to impress me as an adult is the great richness of our life in the Church, a richness which reflects the ceaseless and immeasurable love with which Christ loves us.  Gazing upon the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and having the Sacred Heart of Jesus gaze upon me, I am filled with both the knowledge that our life in the Church is ever new and the desire to know more fully Christ Who is ever giving Himself to us, as if for the first time.

            For me, the Sacred Heart of Jesus has always been the pre-eminent symbol of Christ’s love of us in the Church.  Having loved us “to the end” by dying for us on the Cross, Christ permitted His heart to be pierced, giving us an unmistakable sign of His unfailing love poured out upon us in the Church from His glorious pierced Heart.[5]  It was clear to me as a youngster  that the Holy Mass was the greatest gift given to me from the Heart of Jesus.  The care with which one prepared for participation in the Holy Mass by the regular confession of sins and even by the simple but significant gesture of dressing in “Sunday clothes” all pointed to Holy Mass and, above all, Holy Communion as the most privileged and most perfect meeting with Christ mysteriously and really present for us in the Church.  Serving the Holy Mass, from the time I was in the fourth grade, deepened greatly my appreciation of the greatest mystery of our faith.

            Essentially connected to my growing faith in the Holy Eucharist was faith in the Holy Priesthood, the Sacrament by which Christ Himself never fails to make present in the Church the offering of His life for us on the Cross, never fails to make new His Eucharistic Sacrifice.  As a child, I was filled with wonder at the priest who, in the person of Christ, offered the Holy Mass, and heard the confession of my sins and pronounced the words of absolution in the Sacrament of Penance.  All of the individual qualities of the various priests whom I was blessed to know over the years of my childhood and youth were, in the end, not important to me.  What stood out was a man given completely to Christ through priestly ordination.

            I think, for instance, of the priest who first inspired me to consider the vocation to the priesthood.  I was a little boy, and he seemed to me to be an old man, although I know now that he was not, in fact, so very old.  He was from Ireland and spoke with a fairly strong accent.  Although I did not understand how, I knew, in him, Christ’s deep love and care for me.  I think, too, of a parish priest who was beset with a pronounced stutter and how much he inspired me, especially because he struggled so valiantly to teach and preach.  I experienced directly 

the love from the Heart of Jesus in priests, especially when they were offering the Holy Mass, forgiving my sins in Confession, or hearing my dying father’s confession and bringing him Holy Communion.

            The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has helped me over the years to keep focusing on the essence of my life in the Church, namely knowing and loving Christ, and giving myself to Him totally.  For that reason, the devotion to the Sacred Heart helped me very much to recognize the call of Christ to follow Him as a true shepherd of the flock.  It has kept me focused on the essential place of the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Penance in my daily life, so that Christ could really speak to my heart and draw me to the Holy Priesthood.  There can be no question, that the most powerful helps to knowing the vocation to the priesthood and finding the courage to embrace the vocation are participation in the Holy Mass and prayer before the Most Blessed Sacrament, and frequent access to the Sacrament of Penance.

            Through devotion to the  Sacred Heart of Jesus, I was helped, in a particular way, to avoid the temptation to envision the priestly life as a job, a function or a profession in the Church, but, rather, to see the priesthood as my identity, the identity of Christ the Shepherd, of a man transformed by the mystery of Holy Orders to be truly the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus for all His brothers and sisters, especially those in most need.  In the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I came to understand that priestly ordination would change my life completely, that priestly ordination would consecrate every fiber of my being to Christ the High Priest for the sake of His pastoral charity, of His ceaseless and boundless care of the Father’s flock.

            In that way, during the years of seminary formation, devotion to the Sacred Heart helped me to get over the distraction of particular interests or desires which might have drawn me away from the priestly vocation.  The devotion also helped me to have the conviction and courage that Christ could really be calling me to the Holy Priesthood, and that the love from His Sacred Heart could reach others through me, despite my limitations and weaknesses, if only I would, each day, give my heart completely to Him.

Living the Priestly Vocation in the Sacred Heart of Jesus

            Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has helped me never to lose sight of the first place which prayer and the Sacraments must have in my life as a priest.  Entering into the mystery of the Heart of Jesus, first of all, uncovers the greatest gifts which flow unceasingly from His glorious pierced Heart, above all, the gift of His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus indicates to us the unfathomable mystery of the personal encounter with Him in the Sacraments and, above all, in the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.  Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has kept my liturgical piety correctly focused on the mystery of the meeting of Heaven and earth, which takes place at every celebration of the Sacred Liturgy.  Contemplating the mystery of the love of Christ, symbolized in the Sacred Heart, one hears addressed to himself the words of Our Lord to Martha: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, one thing is needful.”[6]

            Placing my heart anew into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have found a constant help in the battle with distraction in prayer.  In the Heart of Jesus, the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours has become more fully a communion with the universal Church, the whole Body of Christ, in her ceaseless prayer for the salvation of the world.  While the duties of my life as a priest may not always permit me to pray the Hours at their proper times, throughout the day, the momentary invocation of the mercy of the Heart of Jesus, at the various times of the day, unites me with those in monasteries and other privileged places who are observing the Hours for the sake of us all.  The devotion to the Sacred Heart has also confirmed for me the importance of the daily Holy Hour, the treasured time spent simply before the Eucharistic presence of Christ, giving my heart again and, I always hope, more completely, into His Heart.

            In His Sacred Heart, Our Lord has also taught me the urgency of the teaching office of the priest.  Our culture is confused or in error about the most fundamental truths, the truth about the inviolable dignity of every human life, about the integrity of marriage and the family, and about the sanctity of conscience.  So pervasive is the confusion and error that it has also entered into the life of the Church.  The Gospel tells us that, when Our Lord saw the crowds, “he opened his mouth and taught them.”[7]  It has always been true but is dramatically evident in our time that pastoral charity is first expressed by teaching the faith and the moral life.  The very image of the Sacred Heart is one of Christ teaching by showing us His glorious pierced Heart.  If I am frequently led to wonder about the loss of faith, for instance, the faith in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, I am reminded of the words of Saint Paul: “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.”[8]

            It is true that the very confusion and error so prevalent in our culture makes it all the more challenging to teach and preach.  There is the temptation to offer pleasing words without offering the solid doctrine which is often difficult to hear, or to remain silent, as if having nothing to say.  In reading the Gospels, there is no question that the Heart of God, the Heart of Jesus, is moved with pity for us, and expresses Divine Mercy, first, by teaching us: “As he landed he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” [9]  From the Heart of Jesus, I have drawn the confidence and the courage to teach and preach; prayer before the image of the Heart of Jesus has often led me to examine my conscience on how well I have announced the Word of Christ through which faith is quickened and given growth.  I often think of these words of Saint Paul:

For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.  For necessity is laid upon me.  Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel![10]

            In the priestly life, I have also found, in the Heart of Jesus, the courage to speak the truth with love in a culture which prefers “politically correct” language, whether it corresponds to the truth or not, and to live my Catholic faith with integrity in a society whose standard is “getting along”, whether it corresponds to the demands of the Catholic faith or not.  When I have failed, it is also in the Heart of Jesus that I have found mercy and the courage to begin again on His Way which is Truth and Life.  In the Heart of Jesus, I have found the “charity of Christ” which must be the driving force of my priestly life.[11]

            Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has helped me, in particular, to understand the nature of the call to priestly celibacy.  In the Heart of Jesus, I have found the wisdom and strength to embrace the demands of celibate priestly love not only as a renunciation of the great good of marriage but as the offering of an undivided heart to the Lord for the shepherding of His flock.  To the degree that I have put my priestly heart into the Sacred Heart of Jesus, my heart has been purified of the selfishness and disordered affections which hinder celibate love, and my heart has been enflamed with pure and selfless love of those entrusted to my priestly care.  In the Heart of Jesus, I have understood that the first and greatest reason for priestly celibacy is the example of Christ the High Priest to Whom I have been conformed through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

            Loving others with the Priestly Heart of Jesus is loving them with an undivided heart, a celibate heart.  I do not question the purity and greatness of the pastoral love of priests who are married, but I give testimony to the great gift which the call to celibacy has been for the formation of my priestly heart.  Over the years, I have deepened greatly my appreciation of the discipline of the Latin Church regarding the celibacy of her clergy.[12]  I hope to exemplify more and more in my priestly life the truth of the words with which the Venerable Pope John Paul II described the beauty of the call to priestly celibacy:

Celibacy, then, is to be welcomed and continually renewed with a free and loving decision as a priceless gift from God, as an “incentive to pastoral charity”, as a singular sharing in God’s fatherhood and in the fruitfulness of the Church, and as a witness to the world of the eschatological Kingdom.[13]

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has uncovered for me, in a particular way, the great beauty of priestly celibacy and has helped me to verify in my priestly life the profound meaning of Christ’s celibate and priestly love.

            In the priestly life and ministry, I frequently experience the temptation to be impatient with members of the flock in my care or with the flock, in general.  Often enough, too, the pastoral needs of the faithful do not coincide with the plans which I have made or the schedule that I have devised.  In other words, the call for my priestly ministration is frequently not convenient for me.  I also suffer the temptation to discount the importance of taking extra care with my teaching and preaching, or with my celebrating of the Holy Mass and the other sacred rites, or with my giving pastoral counsel and direction, doubting that the extra attention I give to sacred offices will really make a difference for those whom I am called to be a true shepherd.  There is also the temptation to ruminate on the inadequacies with which I have fulfilled the office of pastoral charity in the past, whether in teaching, or celebrating the Sacraments, or giving pastoral direction and administering the Church’s discipline, and, as a result, to become discouraged.

            Uniting my priestly heart to the Sacred Heart of Christ the High Priest, I have discovered resources of patience which I never imagined that I could have.  Christ invites priests, in a most particular way, to accept the yoke of His love and to learn from Him Who is, in His own words, “gentle and lowly in heart,” and to find in Him alone “rest for [their] souls.”[14]  To the degree that I can give my heart to Christ, He exercises through me that remarkable patience with sin, incomprehension and hardness of heart, which He unfailingly manifested during His public ministry.  His thirst for souls, which is learned in His Eucharistic Heart, overcomes any human inclination to be short with or to dismiss any soul.  I think, for instance, of His prayer for the forgiveness of those who were the ministers of His cruel Passion and Death: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”[15]  In the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have also found the energy to respond to the unexpected demands upon my priestly heart which I had thought to have exhausted, for the moment, its resources of love.

            In the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I have also come to a deeper understanding of my priestly vocation as spiritual fatherhood.  I have come to understand that the renunciation of the good of marriage is not the renunciation of my manhood but rather the giving of my distinct gifts as a man to Christ, so that He can be Head and Shepherd of the flock.  In the Heart of Jesus, I have come to know both the tenderness of the love of the Shepherd and also its steadfastness.  In the Heart of Jesus, I have learned the importance of the guidance and correction which are an essential part of loving the flock.  “For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”[16]

            When the demands of the priestly ministry have seemed too great for me, or I have been tempted to the vice of self-pity, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has helped me to reflect upon the unconditional love of a father for his children.  In this regard, the friendship of families has meant so much to me as a priest.  Witnessing the unconditional love of husband and wife for each other, and for their children has inspired in me the same unconditional love for the souls placed in my priestly care.  When I have been called out in the middle of the night to minister to the sick and dying, or am called to give extended time to a soul going through particular troubles, I think of parents who get up so often in the night to care for an infant or a sick child, and who give countless hours to a child, young or old, who is in trouble.  At the same time, the couples with whom I have become a close friend, over the years, have often expressed to me what inspiration and strength they draw from knowing more deeply the heart of a priest.

Conclusion

            Finally, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has led me to an intimate spiritual bond with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, under whose Immaculate Heart, as the Venerable Pope John Paul II reminded us, God the Son took a human heart, and with the whole company of saints.  The Blessed Virgin Mary, in her maternal love, has drawn me to her Immaculate Heart, so that she might lead me to the Heart of her Son, as she led the wine stewards at the Wedding Feast of Cana to Jesus with the instruction: “Do whatever he tells you.”[17]  Through her message and apparitions, under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a title which is particularly dear to priests of the continent of America, she had led me into an ever deeper understanding of the mercy and love of God, made flesh for us in her Divine Son.

            The saints have taught me the many and rich dimensions of the mystery of Divine Mercy and Love, symbolized in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  So many saints, my own patron saints, the patron saints of the places in which I have served as a priest and Bishop, the priest saints, like Saint John Mary Vianney and Saint Maximilian Kolbe; the great doctors of the Church, those saints who helped me greatly in the spiritual life, like Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and Saint Faustina Kowalska, and many others have helped me and continue to help me to be “the love of the Heart of Jesus.”

            As a priest, I have wanted to be with Mary at the foot of the Cross, as Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist was, and to lift up my heart, with her Immaculate Heart, to the pierced Heart of Jesus.  With Mary, I have wanted to bear my portion of the burden of the sufferings of Christ for the sake of the salvation of all.  I sincerely want to be able to say with Saint Paul:

            Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints.[18]

            I have sensed Mary’s unfailing company, giving example and encouragement, and interceding for so many graces, throughout my years in the seminary and in the priestly ministry, especially in the times when I have been severely tried and tempted.  I have sensed, too, the help of so many saints, especially my patron saints, all one with me in the Heart of Jesus.

            It is my hope that these reflections express, in some small way, my profound gratitude to God our Father for the call to the ordained priesthood, the vocation to be “the love of the Heart of Jesus,” His only-begotten Son, for the salvation of my brothers and sisters, and of our world.  The reality of the ordained priesthood is indeed a mystery beyond all our comprehending.  The saintly Curé of Ars reminds us that the priest will only comprehend the greatness of the priesthood in heaven, declaring: “If one would understand it on earth, he would die not of fright but of love.”[19]  It is my prayer that seminarians and priests who read these simple and poor reflections may be inspired, through the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to an ever deeper understanding of the great reality of the priesthood and thereby to a more ardent love of Christ, in Whose very person, they are called to shepherd the Father’s flock.

+ Raymond Leo Burke

Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis

Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura

11 June 2010 – Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus