Under the Mighty Hand of God
Sunday within the Octave of Sacred Heart
During this Octave of the Feast of the Sacred
Heart the Church places our focus on one thing and one thing
only—the love of God for us. Last week, we
examined this love from God’s perspective and saw how his love
extends, from the supreme act of sacrifice that was Calvary, to the
present time and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that
continues daily, perpetuating that act of love and bringing us the
graces of which we stand in constant need. Today,
we are reminded in no uncertain terms what is expected of us in
return. It’s really not very much at all, simply
that we should love God in return. And how do we
do so? Certainly, by obeying the commandments.
But there’s more to love than simply doing what we’re told.
Our Lord asks not just for blind obedience to his laws, but
that we love him in return, not reluctantly, not begrudging God what
we’re giving up, but loving him with all our heart and strength.
It is the Sacred Heart of Jesus that most
clearly represents the love God has for us, and in return all he
asks is that we love him with all our heart.
What happens when we truly love someone?
When we love, our heart goes pit-a-pat, it beats more
strongly. And the more we love, the more intense
becomes the beating of our heart. One of the
saints, Philip Neri, founder of the Oratorians, experienced this
phenomenon in a strange and extreme way. The
historian Bacci describes it thus: A few days before
Pentecost in 1544, “while he was with the greatest earnestness
asking of the Holy Ghost, His gifts, there appeared to him a globe
of fire, which entered into his mouth and lodged in his breast; and
thereupon he was suddenly surprised with such a fire of love, that,
unable to bear it, he threw himself on the ground, and, like one
trying to cool himself, bared his breast to temper in some measure
the flame which he felt. When he had remained so for some time, and
was a little recovered, he rose up full of unwonted joy, and
immediately all his body began to shake with a violent tremour; and
putting his hand to his bosom, he felt by the side of his heart, a
swelling about as big as a man’s fist, but neither then nor
afterwards was it attended with the slightest pain or wound.”
For the rest of his life St. Philip Neri was fueled by an
intense divine love and possessed a joy that was contagious, and his
heart would palpitate violently whenever he performed any spiritual
action. The cause of this swelling was discovered
by the doctors who examined his body after death. The saint’s heart
had been so dilated by that sudden impulse of love, that in order
for it to have enough room to beat, two ribs had been broken, and
curved in the form of an arch. If a mere mortal,
no matter how holy he may have been, could experience such love, how
much more are we loved by the Sacred Heart himself.
If we poor sinners cannot “feel” such physical
and emotional love, we must at least do our best to show our love by
surrendering our will to God. Our greatest act of
love is in this sacrifice we make of ourselves, laying aside our
attachment to our own wants and desires, and instead, placing
ourselves trustingly into the hands of the Almighty.
As St. Paul admonishes us in today’s Epistle:
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God…
casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.”
And indeed he does care for us.
That heart that was pierced with a lance, that shed its last
drop of blood for us poor sinners, how much love did this God-Man
have for us? His love is infinite, and when we
compare the feeble love we have for him, we may be tempted to
despair that we come so short of truly pleasing him.
But if we think about it for a moment, we would realize that
God’s love for us neither requires nor desires such despair.
What he does want is that we always try to raise ourselves
above the mere mortals we are. God wants us to
stand up again when we fall, he wants us to reach out our hands for
his almighty hand, take it in our own, and walk with him again.
And the Good Shepherd will raise us even higher, laying the
lost sheep on his shoulders, rejoicing, for “there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
It is such a great comfort for us to know that
we live “under the mighty hand of God.” During
this Octave of the Sacred Heart we’re now celebrating, we should
think often and deeply about this, for it is the great consolation
of our lives, the only thing, in fact, that truly matters and that
makes sense of all around us and within us. That
mighty hand of God holds us safe, guides us into the right
directions when we stray. It gently nudges us
forward, encouraging us to persevere in our trials and difficulties
without yielding to the temptations they cause. It is the hand that
wards off our enemies, both physical and spiritual, who would do us
harm, it is the hand that feeds us with good things, that gives us
this day our daily bread. Was there ever a reason
to feel more safe, more confident, more at peace, than knowing that
we are indeed under the mighty hand of God? Every
night, before we sleep, we should re-strengthen our grasp on that
mighty hand, echoing the words of the Church’s night office, “Into
thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
St. Paul puts it very simply in today’s
Epistle: “Dearly beloved,” he says, “Humble yourselves under
the mighty hand of God… that he may exalt you in due time.”
Humble yourselves. That doesn’t mean
grovel like an animal or a slave. It means
simply, know your place. Our place is that of a
creature towards our Creator, our divine Creator who, out of love,
made us out of the dust of the earth so that we can love him in
return. It’s not hard to understand.
We owe God everything, down to every single breath we take.
Without him we would be literally nothing.
He is all good and deserving of all our love.
This is humility—to know in our heart that we are nothing without
God, and that it is only his mighty hand that preserves us so that
we can do his will, save our souls, and be united with him in heaven
for evermore. “Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
Of all the creatures the good Lord ever made,
the most exalted, and yet the most truly humble of all, was the
Blessed Virgin Mary. Queen of Heaven, Queen of
Angels, and yet, no matter how much God has exalted her, she humbles
herself beneath the mighty hand of God. Indeed, her
humility is so great because her exaltation is so great.
In her divinely inspired canticle, the Magnificat,
she declares her extraordinary humility, yet without losing
that humility. She recognizes that even her own
humility is the work of Almighty God within her.
It is the mighty hand of God that has exalted her. “For he that is
mighty hath magnified me, and holy is his Name.”
She truly understands that if “from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed,” it is only because God “hath regarded the
lowliness of his handmaiden.” She humbles herself
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt her in due time.
This Canticle of our Blessed Lady, the
Magnificat, should inspire us to follow her example and humble
our own selves under the mighty hand of God, so that, like a child
holding on to the hand of his father, we might know our place and
experience that feeling of protection and peace of mind that God’s
mighty hand provides. “He hath shewed strength
with his arm; he hath exalted the humble and meek.”
By holding on tight to God’s hand, we shall learn to feel
that love for him who is our Father and protector.
The words of the 90th Psalm, chanted at the night
office of Compline, say it best: “Whoso dwelleth under the defence
of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I
will say unto the Lord, Thou art my hope, and my stronghold; my God,
in him will I trust.”