By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily at the annual Great Vigil of the Two Hearts, held on the feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and organized by the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The vigil was celebrated at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Doral on June 27, 2025.
Today is the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is associated with Saint Margaret Mary, just as devotion to the Divine Mercy is associated with Saint Faustina. These devotions add nothing to the revelation of faith, but they do foster a richer appreciation of the revelation about the God who is love, the God who, because he loves us, remains close to us.
El Corazón de Jesús fue atravesado por la lanza de un soldado en la crucifixión; al mismo tiempo, el corazón de María fue atravesado por una espada de dolores. En el Inmaculado Corazón de su madre se refleja el Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. El corazón humano tanto en las escrituras como en la literatura representa el centro personal de un individuo; el corazón simboliza el amor. En los corazones traspasados de Jesús y María, queremos reconocer su amor, un amor a través del cual Jesús y María quieren llevarnos al amor desinteresado de Dios y del prójimo. Es a través de este amor desinteresado que crecemos en la santidad a la que hemos sido llamados como seres humanos creados a imagen y semejanza de Dios que es amor.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is not sweet, sugary, sentimental piety. Yes, the heart throughout human history has symbolized love, and too often love, human love, has been reduced to the sentimental inanities found on a Valentine card and worse. But here, in speaking of the Sacred Heart, we are not talking about our discourse about love, but about the love of God revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. As Saint John writes in his first epistle: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins” (1Jn 4:10). In the pierced heart of the Crucified One, God’s love is laid bare for all to see. God is telling us that he loves us, not with a spoken word but a word carved out in the flesh of Jesus’ side by the soldier’s lance.
Jesus loves us with a human heart. The Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us of Jesus' humanity and the concreteness of his love. Love is not an abstraction, it is not a philosophical axiom; love is always an action, a deed. It is a “giving away” of oneself, even as Jesus gave away himself on the cross for our salvation. Today, on this Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, we do well to recall how Jesus’ love, in all its tenderness, is also mediated to us through the ministry of our priests, especially their ministry in the Sacrament of Penance through which our sins are forgiven.
San Juan Pablo II, el Papa Benedicto XVI y ahora el Papa Francisco han pedido que esta fiesta del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús se dedique también a un día de oración por la santificación de los sacerdotes. San Juan Vianney dijo una vez: “El sacerdocio es el amor del Corazón de Jesús”. Juan Vianney sirvió al Señor con una entrega sincera que todos los sacerdotes deben esforzarse por emular. Su regla de vida era: “Hagan solo lo que se pueda ofrecer al Señor”. Hoy, también nos proponemos apoyar a nuestros sacerdotes con nuestras oraciones. Que todo lo que digan, hagan o piensen sea una ofrenda digna al Señor".
In the Heart of Christ, man's heart learns to know the genuine and unique meaning of his life and his destiny, to understand the value of an authentically Christian life, to keep himself from certain perversions of the human heart, and to unite the filial love for God and the love of neighbor."
These words of Pope Saint John Paul II explain why we gather tonight to celebrate this Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. We gather so that we might “know the genuine and unique meaning of our life and our destiny.” For in the pierced heart of the Crucified God, God’s own heart is opened up. Heaven is no longer locked up, for through the incarnation of his Word made flesh, God has stepped out of his hiddenness. Saint Augustine prayed: “O Lord, our hearts were made for thee, and our hearts shall never rest until they rest in thee.” The Heart of Jesus speaks to our hearts, beckoning, “Come to me, all you who are wearied and burdened, and I will give you rest.”Alongside our sinfulness is the reality of Jesus’ brotherly compassion and mercy, and Mary’s maternal tenderness. God created us for bigger things than the sum of our sins and failures. He created us in his image and likeness, and he created us to know his love and his mercy. Only to the degree that we are willing to embrace the message of mercy revealed through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and live it by being merciful will we experience peace in our hearts and the world.
Today, as we gaze in silent wonder at the image of Jesus’ pierced heart – his Most Sacred Heart – and that of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, we can sense how God is offering us a “better way.” In acknowledging their love for us, represented by their pierced hearts, we wish to renew our hearts, so that we might think, speak, work, and love as they do.“
Oh, Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, al cual es imposible no sentir compasión por los infelices, ten piedad de nosotros pobres pecadores y concédenos las gracias que pedimos por medio del inmaculado Corazón de María, tu y nuestra tierna Madre”.
