Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus- Matthew 11: 25- 30

The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus goes back to the 11th century and presents the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus. This feast was first celebrated liturgically in France in 1670 as a consequence of the revelations to St Mary Margaret Alacoque.

In 1856, Pope Pius IX established the feast and added an octave which was later dropped during the 1955 liturgical reforms of the Church. Since 2002, this feast has also been celebrated as a day of prayer for the sanctification of priests, and in 2009 the ‘year of the priesthood’ began.

The heart is traditionally accepted as the seat of love. In celebrating Jesus’ Sacred Heart, we are celebrating the great love that Jesus had; a love that He received from His Father and for which He gave thanks for. It is this love that Jesus shares with us and willing walks to the cross out of love for us.

When we look at heart of Jesus we see that it is a heart of thanksgiving. The opening lines of today’s gospel reflect that gratitude for God, for He has revealed Jesus to the simple of heart. However, wise and intelligent people like the Pharisees, are shut out from such a revelation; not because God chose to, but more because they chose to rather rely on their learning.