Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Conferral of State Deputy Medals of Office
June 7, 2024
A Fitting Day
In the litany of Blessed Michael McGivney, we speak of our venerable founder as “Devoted to the Sacred Heart” and, indeed, he was. Like many holy priests of his time and ours, Blessed Michael had a warm devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion that reminds us that our God loves us with heart made of flesh, a heart capable of suffering, a heart moved by the pain of those in need, a heart full of mercy and compassion.
How fitting it is that this feast falls, as it often does, on this weekend when we gather to ask God’s blessing upon those of you who are beginning your service as State Deputies. While it is most fitting that we gather on this feast, I must also admit that a sort of trap has been set for the homilist: the trap that I might end up saying the same thing I said last year! While I cannot promise to avoid this trap entirely, please know that any resemblance to homilies that I previously preached on this occasion is purely coincidental!
Realities are Greater than Ideas.
Last October, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, was addressing a group of high school students on the theme of leadership. Even though it’s been years since most of us were in high school, the Holy Father’s advice rings just as true for us who have been called to take on positions of leadership within the Knights of Columbus. The Holy Father encouraged these young people, and I believe he would likewise encourage us, to be leaders who are in contact with reality, leaders who use all five senses, who are truly engaged with what is in front of them . . . because, in his words, “Reality he is greater than ideas”. “Reality is greater than ideas.” This is a phrase that the Holy Father is fond of using, and I think it helps us to understand our role as leaders and it offers us a way of approaching the Feast that we celebrate today, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
As we know, our world is awash in ideas: some neutral, others good, many bad. The lightning-fast speed of information technology allows ideas to spread quickly. This means we have at our disposal many powerful tools to help spread the Gospel, to share our Catholic faith, to enable people to encounter the truth. But we also see how easily damaging or reckless ideas can spread – ideas that ignore the truth of who we are as human beings, what it is we were made for, and how it is we are called to relate to one other. What’s more, we often think that the way we confront bad ideas is with good ideas. To be sure, there is a time and a place for just that. Throughout the history of our faith, the Lord has raised up good and faithful apologists, gifted with an ability to confront errors and to teach truths. Here in the United States, at the time Blessed Michael founded the Knights, our country was filled with many erroneous ideas about Catholics: who we are and what we believe. In response God raised up strong and vocal apologists, among them, my venerable predecessor in Baltimore, James Cardinal Gibbons, who defended the truths of our faith and the credibility of Catholics.
But is that enough? Tempting as it may be to think that the answer to bad ideas is good ideas, the words of Pope Francis and the feast we celebrate point in a different direction: “Reality is greater than ideas.” The way to confront a world wrapped up in ideas, ideologies, and political slogans – is to do so with reality. The Lord breaks through to us, not by merely sending us a message to show us what we should think, but by becoming one of us, taking on a heart made of flesh, a real heart, and by being present among us, especially in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. The answer to a world that is often lost in ideas is not an idea, but a reality, a person, Jesus Christ.
Today’s Feast reminds us that the One we follow is not merely a teacher of ancient wisdom, but a person who calls us to enter into relationship with him. What we have to offer those around us, our brother Knights and their families, and those who should be our brothers, is not just a set of ideas, but an opportunity to meet, to encounter, to experience something real, Someone real: Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, God made man, a God who loves us with a heart made of flesh.
Reality is the Response
Yes, the world is filled with many ideas and many people are crying out for others to follow these ideas. To that world we offer more than another set of ideas, we are able to share something real. I hear of this in the stories of the first experiences of our Cor initiative. In these meetings I have heard of brother Knights not merely exchanging opinions, not simply learning some new ideas about our faith, but truly encountering the Lord, speaking to him heart to heart, and seeing the way he is at work in the reality of their own lives: in their jobs in their families, in their marriages.
The more we are able to show that Jesus is real, the more we can help men to recognize the ways in which he is present in their lives, the more we can help men to realize that their faith has the power to change every aspect of their life. It can do this because faith is not just an idea, it’s Someone very real: Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, God made man, the God who loves us with a heart made of flesh.
The First Witnesses
Today you begin your service as State Deputies. In these coming years many things will be asked of you and many demands will be made upon you and your family. I am sure that you will leave these days filled to the brim with tasks to be done, plans to be made, goals to be accomplished. At this point the last thing you probably want is yet another thing to add to the list, but let me offer just one, not so much a thing to do but a way to do it. As a State Deputy, be a witness to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
And what do I mean by that? Be a witness to the love of God that has been made flesh, to the love of God that is not an idea but a reality. As Knights we sum this up in one word, the word that stands as the principle of our order: Charity. Be witnesses to Charity, a charity that is not an idea, a simple sentiment, but a charity that is real, a charity that is shown in each talk you give, each meeting you attend, each mile you drive, each e-mail you answer. Be the first witness to the Sacred Heart, to Charity in the flesh, to Charity that is real. When we do this, we reflect a love that comes from God, a God who is real, a God who is among us, a God who loves us with a heart made of flesh.
Vivat Jesus!