By Sister Regina Marie, O.C.D.
Jesus is pointing to His pierced Heart. The Scriptures say: “They looked on Him whom they had pierced.” They pierced His heart after He died. What does the pierced Heart say? It says that after the mouth of Jesus fell silent in death, there remained only the word of love in the pierced Heart – the lasting word. The ultimate word of the Love of God continued on when His lips were still in death. Our God was a Person, we can relate with Him. He is a shepherd, He calls us by name, washes our feet, He has a heart easily moved to compassion. He is a Son that would descend into the depths of hell, who understands the extremity of our loss and our sorrow, and who will walk with us the entire way. In the face of a world that is defined by unspeakable terror and horror, our God does not show Himself in prodigious power and spectacular events. He shows Himself through the Cross. His refusal to come down from the cross is an expression of His faithfulness that He will stay with us and walk with us.
His hand points to a heart that is pierced. This is why it is rejected. It is too good to be true. In this world nothing is free, everything has a cost. Conditions are put on us before we even know it. Few of us have been touched by selfless love. Usually we encounter “I desire you because you satisfy a need I have, and if you fill my need, I will fill yours.” We find it hard to believe that there could be a love so freely given, so gratuitous.
It is in kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, where Jesus is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, that we encounter unconditional, selfless love. We are invited to look at this Heart, not with a passing glance of someone merely passing by, but to look at that Heart with the love of someone who has been utterly conquered by love. We are invited and no one is excluded. If we accept this love as it is given, truly love, unconditional love, we must accept it on the terms of love. Love is always a gift, never contrived nor forced nor earned. This is important because faith can be private: in Eucharistic Prayer IV, we ask the Lord “to remember those whose faith is known to You alone.” Hope can be private, whether it is the hope of the Church or of an individual. Love can never be private. By its very nature love is always shared, given, must be received in order for it to be full and fruitful love.
