We have liturgical seasons in the Church: Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. They are times in which we receive a grace from God appropriate for that season and honor God in a way particular to that season. We do the same with certain days: on Fridays we remember Jesus’ passion and death, and Saturdays are devoted to Our Lady. We also devote each month to some aspect of our Catholic devotion and piety: May is the month of Mary; October is the month of the Rosary; November is the month of the Holy Souls, and June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I would like to reflect today on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and our readings today link very nicely with this devotion. We are all familiar with images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in statues and pictures. There was devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus before the time of St. Margaret Mary but it was the revelations of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary in the 1670s that caused the devotion to blossom.
There are flames from the top of Jesus’ heart. These represent the love of Jesus for us. In December 1673, Jesus said to St. Margaret Mary:
My Divine Heart is so on fire with love for all mankind, and for you in particular, that, being no longer able to contain within itself the flames of this burning love, they must be spread abroad.
Jesus said his heart could no longer contain within itself the flames of his love. He is, so to speak, so much in love with us that he cannot help himself. In the Gospel today, Matthew tells us:
Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for [the crowds] because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matt 9:36)
There is a cross where the flames protrude from the top of Jesus’ heart. This reminds us that the flames of Jesus’ love for us caused him to pay the ultimate price and go all the way to Calvary and die on the cross for us. In 1675 Jesus said to St. Margaret Mary:
Behold this Heart, which has loved mankind so much, that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify to them its love.
In our second reading today, Paul wrote to the Romans:
God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)
Jesus’ Sacred Heart is surrounded by thorns. The thorns represent the pain caused to Jesus by the indifference Jesus receives from humanity and the pain caused to him by our sins. In 1674 Jesus said to St. Margaret Mary:
I feel this [ingratitude] more than all that I suffered during my Passion. If only they would make me some return for my love, I should think but little of all I have done for them and would wish, were it possible, to suffer still more. But the sole return they make for all my eagerness to do them good is to reject me and treat me with coldness. You at least console me by supplying for their ingratitude, as far as you are able.
The imagery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus sums up, I think, the devotion to Jesus’ Sacred Heart in a simple way: the flames of his love for us that he cannot contain leading to his passion and death for us, and unfortunately the thorns of ingratitude he receives from us and the thorns of pain caused him by our sins. The response to our Psalm today is, we could say, an antidote to the ingratitude Jesus receives from humanity, “We are his people, the sheep of his flock.”
Jesus indicated the type of response he wanted from us as part of this devotion. He asked for a feast day in honor of his Sacred Heart on the Friday concluding the octave of Corpus Christi. Pope Pius IX instituted that feast day which we celebrate annually. Having a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a prominent place in our homes is a very good thing. Priests and religious are consecrated to God but since the time of St. Margaret Mary, it became increasingly common for individuals to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart. Consecration means surrendering ourselves to God, surrendering our mind, our will, our thoughts, our heart and our body to God’s will. It means consciously and intentionally uniting ourselves with Jesus in living according to his will. Putting a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in our home and consecrating one’s home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will surely bring blessings and protection.
The Gospels today tells us Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for the crowds. The imagery of the Sacred Heart reminds us of the flames of Jesus’ love for us, and unfortunately the thorns of ingratitude he receives from us. The response to our Psalm today is, we could say, an antidote to the ingratitude Jesus receives from humanity, “We are his people, the sheep of his flock.”
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2026
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Eleventh Sunday Year A
One, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church 2023
The ministerial priesthood serving the priesthood of all the faithful 2008
Cure the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons
Related Homilies: Homilies on Priesthood; Homilies on Vocation
Second Reading Related: Love of God for us 2009
Excerpts of Homilies on the Sacred Heart of Jesus