His Heart an open wound with love

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

St. John of the Cross, known for his great works of mystical theology (especially “Dark Night of the Soul” and “Ascent of Mount Carmel”), was in fact more interested in poetry than in theological treatises. Indeed, much of his theological writing was given as a commentary or quasi-commentary on his poetry.

On this Solemnity, we do well to consider the following poem of St. John of the Cross in which he calls to mind the Most Sacred Heart of our Savior under the metaphor of a shepherd wounded by love.

Stanzas applied spiritually to Christ and the Soul

1. Un pastorcico solo está penado, ajeno de placer y de contento, y en su pastora puesto el pensamiento, y el pecho del amor muy lastimado. 2. No llora por haberle amor llagado, que no le pena verse así afligido, aunque en el corazón está herido; mas llora por pensar que está olvidado. 3. Que sólo de pensar que está olvidado de su bella pastora, con gran pena se deja maltratar en tierra ajena, el pecho del amor muy lastimado. 4. Y dice el pastorcito: ¡Ay, desdichado de aquel que de mi amor ha hecho ausencia y no quiere gozar la mi presencia, y el pecho por su amor muy lastimado! 5. Y a cabo de un gran rato se ha encumbrado sobre un árbol, do abrió sus brazos bellos, y muerto se ha quedado asido dellos, el pecho del amor muy lastimado

A lone young shepherd lived in pain withdrawn from pleasure and contentment, his thoughts fixed on a shepherd-girl his heart an open wound with love. He weeps, but not from the wound of love, there is no pain in such affliction, even though the heart is pierced; he weeps in knowing he’s been forgotten. That one thought: his shining one has forgotten him, is such great pain that he bows to brutal handling in a foreign land, his heart an open wound of love. The shepherd says: I pity the one who draws herself back from my love and does not seek the joy of my presence, though my heart is an open wound with love for her. After a long time he climbed a tree, and spread his shining arms, and hung by them, and died, his heart an open wound with love.

[translation by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodrigues, O.C.D.]

Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Iesu Dulcissime)

Most sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before you, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which your loving Heart is everywhere subject.

Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask your pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow you, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the promises of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of your law.

We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against you; we are now determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holy-days, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against you and your Saints. We wish also to make amends for the insults to which your Vicar on earth and your priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very Sacrament of your divine love, and lastly for the public crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which you have founded.

Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of your divine honor, the satisfaction you once made to your Eternal Father on the cross and which you continue to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of your Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of your grace, for all neglect of your great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending you and to bring as many as possible to follow you.

O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to you, so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, God, forever and ever. Amen.

O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus wounded for love of us, Have mercy on us!