Monsignor Yennock's Homily June 10, 2018 - The Sacred Heart of Jesus

SACRED HEART OF JESUS

TENTH SUNDAY JUNE 10, 2018

IN THE BOOK OF GENESIS GOD SAYS TO THE DEVIL: I WILL PUT ENMITY BETWEEN YOU AND THE WOMAN, AND BETWEEN YOUR OFFSPRING AND HERS; HE WILL STRIKE AT YOUR HEAD, WHILE YOU STRIKE AT HIS HEEL.”

IN 1972, POPE PAUL VI MADE IT CLEAR HOW WE ARE TO CONCEIVE OF THE DEVIL. HE DESCRIBED HIM AS “A LIVING, SPIRITUAL BEING, PERVERTED AND PERVERTING. A TERRIBLE REALITY. MYSTERIOUS AND FRIGHTENING….HE IS THE ENEMY NUMBER ONE, A TEMPTER PAR EXCELLENCE. SO WE KNOW THAT THIS DARK AND DISTURBING SPIRIT REALLY EXISTS, AND THAT HE STILL ACTS WITH TREACHEROUS CUNNING; HE IS THE SECRET ENEMY THAT SOWS ERRORS AND MISFORTUNES IN HUMAN HISTORY.”

LAST WEEK POPE FRANCIS IN HIS DAILY MASS HOMILY SAID: “THE DEVIL IS BEHIND EVERY PERSECUTION, BOTH OF CHRISTIANS AND ALL HUMAN BEINGS. THE DEVIL TRIES TO DESTROY THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN CHRISTIANS, AND THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MEN AND WOMEN….”

 WHERE IS THE FOCUS OF EVIL?

WHEN WE SEE INHUMAN EVIL IN THE HEART OF MAN IT IS NOT HARD TO BELIEVE IN THE DEVIL. WHEN WE SEE INHUMAN EVIL IN THE HEART OF MAN WE SAY TO ONE ANOTHER THIS IS DIABOLIC. NO MAN COULD DO THIS ALONE. WHERE IS THE FOCUS OF EVIL?

 

NO ONE KNOWS THE HUMAN HEART AS WELL AS JESUS CHRIST. THIS IS WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT THE HUMAN HEART:

“OUT OF THE HEART OF MAN, COME EVIL THOUGHTS, SEXUAL IMMORALITY, THEFT, MURDER, ADULTERY, COVETING, WICKEDNESS, DECEIT, SENSUALITY, ENVY, SLANDER, PRIDE, FOOLISHNESS. ALL THESE EVIL THINGS COME FROM WITHIN, AND THEY DEFILE A PERSON.” (Mark 7:22-23)                                                                                                     

EVIDENCE OF THE DEVIL’S PRESENCE IS EVERYWHERE.

THE WORLD WITNESSED DIABOLIC EVIL WHEN 5 MILLION JEWS AND 3 MILLION CHRISTIANS WERE HAULED OFF TO THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN AUSHWITZ, DACHAU, TREBLINKA, BUCHENWALD AND ALL THE OTHER PLACES OF HORROR.

IN THE SOVIET GULAG, FROM 1918 TO 1936 THERE WERE 30 MILLION PRISONERS IN HUNDREDS OF DEATH CAMPS. 6 MILLION SURVIVED.

ONE OF THE WORST MASSACRES OF THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE TOOK PLACE IN 1994 AT A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, LOCATED ABOUT 60 MILES EAST OF KIGALI. HERE, THE MAYOR OF THE TOWN, A HUTU, ENCOURAGED TUTSIS TO SEEK SANCTUARY INSIDE THE CHURCH BY ASSURING THEM THEY WOULD BE SAFE THERE. THEN THE MAYOR BETRAYED THEM TO THE HUTU EXTREMISTS.

THE KILLING BEGAN WITH GRENADES AND GUNS BUT SOON CHANGED TO MACHETES CLUBS AND KNIVES. IT TOOK TWO DAYS TO KILL THE THOUSANDS OF TUTSI WHO WERE INSIDE.

THE MASSACRE IN RWANDA DESTROYED ALMOST 1 MILLION LIVES.

IS THERE EVIL IN THE HEART OF MAN. WHERE IS THE DEVIL IN ALL OF THIS?

MALCOM MUGGERIDGE WAS A FAMOUS ENGLISH JOURNALIST WHO IS DESCRIBED AS ONE OF THE FINEST MINDS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. HE CAME LATE IN LIFE TO JESUS CHRIST AND ENTERED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. THIS IS WHAT MALCOM MUGGERIDGE SAID ABOUT THE HUMAN HEART IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

 "...IT HAS BECOME ABUNDANTLY CLEAR IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THAT WESTERN MAN HAS DECIDED TO ABOLISH HIMSELF. HAVING WEARIED OF THE STRUGGLE TO BE HIMSELF, HE HAS CREATED HIS OWN BOREDOM OUT OF HIS OWN AFFLUENCE, HIS OWN IMPOTENCE OUT OF HIS OWN EROTOMANIA, HIS OWN VULNERABILITY OUT OF HIS OWN STRENGTH; HIMSELF BLOWING THE TRUMPET THAT BRINGS THE WALLS OF HIS OWN CITY TUMBLING DOWN, AND, IN A PROCESS OF AUTO-GENOCIDE, CONVINCING HIMSELF THAT HE IS TOO NUMEROUS, AND LABOURING ACCORDINGLY WITH PILL AND SCALPEL AND SYRINGE TO MAKE HIMSELF FEWER IN ORDER TO BE AN EASIER PREY FOR HIS ENEMIES; UNTIL AT LAST, HAVING EDUCATED HIMSELF INTO IMBECILITY, AND POLLUTED AND DRUGGED HIMSELF INTO STUPEFACTION, HE KEELS OVER A WEARY, BATTERED OLD BRONTOSAURUS AND BECOMES EXTINCT.”

THERE IS THE POTENTIAL OF DIABOLIC EVIL IN EVERY HUMAN HEART. THAT DIABOLIC EVIL IS CAPABLE OF DESTROYING THE HUMAN RACE? THE MEETING IN SINGAPORE NEXT WEEK IS AN ATTEMPT TO PREVENT THAT DESTRUCTION. PRAY FOR ITS SUCCESS.

RECENTLY POPE FRANCIS MADE THIS OBSERVATION: HE SAID:

 “THE HEART OF JESUS IS THE ULTIMATE SYMBOL OF GOD’S MERCY, BUT IT IS NOT AN IMAGINARY SYMBOL; IT IS A REAL SYMBOL WHICH REPRESENTS THE CENTER, THE SOURCE FROM WHICH SALVATION FOR ALL HUMANITY GUSHED FORTH.”

DURING THIS MONTH OF JUNE DEDICATED TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, SURRENDER YOUR HEART TO JESUS CHRIST. HE KNOWS YOUR HEART. HE UNDERSTANDS YOUR WEAKNESSES; HE WALKS WITH YOU IN YOUR SUFFERING. HE CONQUERED THE DEVIL IN THE DESERT AND ON THE CROSS.

  1. JOHN PAUL II SAID: “WELCOME THE PRESENCE OF THE HEART OF CHRIST. ENTRUST YOUR HOME TO HIM…SEEK TO DRAW FROM THIS OPEN HEART THE SAVING AND HEALING LOVE THAT IS SO NECESSARY FOR FAMILIES TODAY… IN ORDER TO BUILD A CIVILIZATION OF LOVE.”

YOU MAY BE FEELING SOME PAIN TODAY. IT MAY BE A BROKEN RELATIONSHIP. IT MAY BE LINES YOU HAVE CROSSED. IT MAY BE FINANCIAL STRUGGLES. IT MAY BE PHYSICAL ILLNESS. YOU MAY BE LOOKING FOR HEALING IN YOUR MARRIAGE AND IN YOUR HOME. HE AONE HAS THE ANSWERS TO THE LONGING OF YOUR HEART. HE ALONE HAS THE POWER TO TRANSFORM YOUR HEART.

SUFFERING IS A REAL PART OF EVERY PERSON’S LIFE. ONE MUST BE REALISTIC AND ACKNOWLEDGE WITH DEEP PAIN THAT A GREAT NUMBER OF TODAY'S CHRISTIANS FEEL LOST, CONFUSED, PERPLEXED, AND EVEN DISILLUSIONED: IDEAS CONTRADICTING THE REVEALED AND UNCHANGING TRUTH HAVE BEEN SPREAD FAR AND WIDE; OUTRIGHT HERESIES IN THE DOGMATIC AND MORAL FIELDS HAVE BEEN DISSEMINATED, CREATING DOUBT, CONFUSION, AND REBELLION; CHRISTIANS ARE TEMPTED BY ATHEISM, AGNOSTICISM, FALSE RELIGIONS AND MORAL RELATIVISM. OBJECTIVE MORALITY HAS BEEN RELEGATED TO THE DUST BIN OF HISTORY.

YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY ARE LOOKING FOR ANSWERS TO LIFE’S DEEPEST QUESTIONS. WHERE DID I COME FROM? WHERE AM I GOING? WHAT AM I DOING HERE AT ALL?  ONE OF THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS IN THE MINDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE IS: WHY DO PEOPLE SUFFER. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF SUFFERING? THEY WANT TO KNOW IF GOD UNDERSTANDS HEARTBREAK, BETRAYAL, ABANDONMENT, LONELINESS, PAIN, DEATH AND SORROW.

THE JEWISH PSYCHIATRIST KARL STERN LOST MOST OF HIS FAMILY DURING THE HOLOCAUST. HE WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO ESCAPE TO CANADA BY WAY OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA. IN A BOOK CALLED “THE PILLAR OF FIRE” HE GIVES US THE REASON FOR HIS CONVERSION TO THE CRUCIFIED AND RISEN CHRIST AND TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

KARL STERN WAS MENTALLY TORTURED BY THE THOUGHT OF THE MINDLESS AGONY BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE HOLOCAUST. HE COULD NOT MAKE SENSE OF IT. WITH ALL HIS PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE THERE WAS NO WAY TO ANALYZE THIS HORROR WITH HIS REASON. HE COULD NOT GET HIS MIND AROUND IT.

WHEN HE LOOKED AT THE CROSS SUDDENLY EVIL, JUSTICE, MADNESS, CRUELTY, LOVE, FORGIVENESS AND REDEMPTION, ALL MERGED IN THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST.  DOES GOD KNOW WHAT A MIGRAINE HEADACHE IS? DOES HE KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE INSULTED, LAUGHED AT, MOCKED AND SPIT UPON? THE CROSS WAS THE ONLY PLACE, THE ONLY PLACE, WHERE THE SUFFERING OF ALL HUMANITY CAME TOGETHER LIKE A VORTEX IN THE HEART OF THE INCARNATE SON OF GOD. ONLY THERE COULD KARL STERN FIND A MEANING FOR EVIL.

NOT ONLY DOES GOD KNOW ABOUT HUMAN SUFFERING HE FREELY SUBMITTED TO TORTURE AND PAIN. SUFFERING WAS THE DOOR THAT HE WALKED THROUGH TO SAVE THE HUMAN RACE FROM EVERLASTING DEATH.

THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST WAS THE ONLY WAY KARL STERN COULD MAKE ANY SENSE OUT OF THE MADNESS THAT WAS ENGULFING ALL OF EUROPE. HE WAS LOOKING FOR ANSWERS AND HE FOUND THE ANSWER IN THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS BLEEDING FOR LOVE OF US.

 

PAIN AND SUFFERING BRINGS US TO OUR KNEES. PAIN AND SUFFERING CONVINCES US HOW FINITE WE ARE—HOW LIMITED WE ARE—HOW HELPLESS WE ARE. WE NEED THE HEALING POWER OF JESUS CHRIST. WHEN WE CRY OUT IN DESPARATION HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL ANSWER.

IN 1967 A SPANISH COMPOSER REFLECTED ON THE EVILS OF THE 20TH CENTURY, NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST, WAR, DIVORCE, DRUG ADDICTION AND SUICIDE.  WHEN CRIES GO UP WHO WILL ANSWER?

 

From the canyons of the mind
We wander on and stumble blindly
Through the often tangled maze
Of starless nights and sunless days
While asking for some kind of clue
Or road to lead us to the truth
But who will answer

Side by side two people stand
Together vowing, hand in hand
That love`s imbedded in their hearts
But soon an empty feeling starts
To overwhelm their hollow lives
And when we seek the hows and whys
Who will answer

On a strange and distant hill
A young man`s lying very still
His arms will never hold his child
Because a bullet running wild
Has cut him down

And now we cry, Dear God
OH, why, oh, why
But who will answer

High upon a lonely ledge
A figure teeters near the edge
And jeering crowds collect below
To egg him on with, go, man, go
But who will ask what led him
To his private day of doom
And who will answer

In the rooms of dark and shades
The scent of sandalwood pervades
The colored thoughts in muddled heads
Reclining in rumpled beds of
Unmade dreams that can`t come true
And when we ask what we should do
Who, who will answer

Neath the spreading mushroom tree
The world revolves in apathy
As overhead, a row of specks
Roars on, drowned out by discotheques
And if a secret button`s pressed
Because one man has been outguessed
Who will answer

Is our hope in walnut shells
Worn round the neck with temple bells
Or deep within some cloistered walls
Where hooded figures pray in halls
Or crumbled books on dusty shelves
Or in our stars, or in ourselves
Who will answer

If the soul is darkened
By a fear it cannot name
If the mind is baffled when
The rules don`t fit the game
Who will answer, who will answer
Who will answer