The Heart of Jesus, High Priest and
Victim:
Living Revelation of Divine Mercy
Audio
series
Lenten Holy Hours to Pray for Priests
with Reflections Based on the Letter to the Hebrews
and the Encyclical “Rich in Mercy” by Venerable Pope John Paul II
in the “Year for Priests”
Presentations by Father Joseph E. Rogers
Archdiocese of Washington D.C.
given at:
St. Patrick Catholic Church
4101 Norbeck Road
Rockville, MD 20853
Listen to the
Reflections
“The main point in all that has been said is this: we have such a high
priest.”
-- Heb 8:1
“Dear brothers and sisters, let us
pause together to contemplate the pierced Heart of the Crucified
One. We have heard again, just now, in the brief reading from the
Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians, that ‘God who is rich in mercy,
out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead
through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ [. . .]
and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph 2:4-6). To be in Jesus Christ, is to be
already seated in heaven. The essential nucleus of Christianity is
expressed in the Heart of Jesus; in Christ the whole of the
revolutionary newness of the Gospel was revealed and given to us:
the Love that saves us and already makes us live in God’s eternity.
[. . .] His divine Heart therefore calls to our hearts, inviting us
to come out of ourselves, to abandon our human certainties to trust
in him and, following his example, to make of ourselves a gift of
love without reserve. [. . .] Only in this way will we be able to
cooperate effectively in the mysterious ‘plan of the Father’ that
consists in ‘making Christ the Heart of the world’! This plan is
brought about in history, as Jesus gradually becomes the Heart of
human hearts, starting with those who are called to be closest to
him: priests, precisely.”
– Pope Benedict XVI,
Homily to Begin the Year for Priests
