BENEATH THE MERCY SEAT

A SERMON FOR THE SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF SACRED HEART

Last week we completed our review of the three requirements necessary for salvation.  We confirmed that this life is nothing more than a test to see if we will be allowed to move on to eternal happiness in the next life.  We saw how it’s a threefold test.  How we must be members of the Catholic Church; how we must avoid sin and die in the state of grace; and how we must receive our Lord in Holy Communion.  A threefold test, and yet one in its objective, three in one, like the Holy Trinity.  The one objective is to be one with God, in this life as well as the next, by fulfilling those three requirements:  by becoming one with Christ’s Mystical Body the Church through Baptism; by becoming spiritually one with God through grace, remaining temples of the Holy Ghost through the sacraments of Baptism and Penance; and thirdly, by uniting with God in a real and physical manner through the sacrament of Holy Communion. Pass these tests and we will save our souls.  On the other hand, if we happen to fail any of one of these tests, what then awaits us is likely to be a fate too dreadful to contemplate.  Our blessed Lord described on many occasions what that alternative is.

Fortunately though, our Creator is a merciful Creator.  Our Judge is a merciful Judge.  He is none other than the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose feast we celebrated on Friday and will continue to celebrate during the Octave that follows. This Sacred Heart is All-Just, and will mete out justice in a way far more perfect than the wisest judges of this world.  He will judge, not according to the letter of the law, but according to its spirit. When he forgave Mary Magdalene her sins, he said these memorable words: “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.”  And St. Peter, in his Epistle, confirmed that “love covers a multitude of sins”.  What the Sacred Heart is looking for, then, when he judges, is love.  To what degree was love our motivation for passing those three tests, or were we driven more by self-interest?  Do we go to Confession and have our sins forgiven “because we dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell?  Or do we go because we are heartbroken that we have offended God, “who art all good and deserving of all my… love.”  Do we trudge to Mass on Sundays because it’s an obligation, because the Church tells us we must?  Or do we go with longing in our hearts to receive our Lord in Holy Communion? 

The Sacred Heart of Jesus will judge us by the love we have in our own hearts as we plough our way through life trying to be good Catholics.  That leads us to question how strong our love is.  And we already know the answer, don’t we?  Not very strong!  And so we turn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and we beg for mercy. There are three requirements for salvation, three tests, and so three reasons for asking for mercy.  And so we ask three times.  Kyrie eleison, three times.  Christe eleison, three times.  Kyrie eleison, again three times.  Three times to each of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity.  And at the end of Mass, as we turn with love and confidence to the Second Person of that Trinity, now present within us in Holy Communion, our very last prayer is “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon us,” three times.  Three tests, three pleas for mercy.  

And our Lord IS merciful. He always has been.  And his mercy is our last resort.  What happens to those who are NOT baptized into the Church? Are they necessarily damned? No.  We believe in the baptism of desire, whereby it is up to God to make the final decision whether this person or that is a member of the Church in some way other than by baptism.  What happens if we commit a mortal sin and don’t have access to a priest for confession? We make an act of perfect contrition for the time being, repenting our sins out of love of God, and not because we fear hell.  We place our sins in God’s hands with sorrowful repentance, hoping it will be sufficient for him to forgive us.  And if we can’t receive Holy Communion, we make an act of spiritual communion instead, uniting ourselves at least spiritually with our Lord.  In short, we sometimes have to leave it up to the Sacred Heart to bend the rules for us when it’s impossible for us to follow them. Whether he will or not, though, depends on the extent of our love of God.  And that we can never presume!

Even in the Old Testament, he gave to his chosen people the three things they would need to get them to the Promised Land.  He gave them the Levitical priesthood who would perform sacrifices to God on their behalf.  He gave them the Ten Commandments by which they would know how to behave.  And he gave them manna in the desert, food and nourishment for their long journey.  The Jews very carefully preserved these three things, the staff of Aaron, representing the priesthood, the tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments, and a sample of the manna.  They kept them in the Ark of the Covenant, the holiest relic of the Jewish faith.  

Lo and behold, these three artefacts contained in the Ark of the Covenant are plainly the foreshadowing of the three requirements for salvation.  The Staff of Aaron represents the Church founded on St. Peter, our first priest and pope; the Commandments are now fulfilled by the new law of Christ, to love God above all things by obeying his commandments and remaining free from mortal sin; and the Manna, of course, points to the new Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist containing Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.  

When the Sacred Heart of Jesus returns to judge the quick and the dead, he will do so seated upon his throne of judgment.  This judgment seat is none other than the Ark of the Covenant, the lid of which is shaped like a throne, and which the children of Israel referred to as the Mercy Seat.  On Judgment Day, he will speak to us, judging us according to the three things contained beneath him, the three gifts he gave us to help us pass his test.  We will have before our eyes the very things we needed for salvation, and we will realize before the words of judgment are even uttered whether we are fit to pass the test or not.  At that moment, all we can do is fall on our knees before Christ on his Mercy Seat and cry out for that mercy.  Lord, have mercy upon us, Christ, have mercy upon us, Lord, have mercy upon us.  And then it is up to the Sacred Heart to tell us whether our faith in the teachings of his Church has been strong enough, whether our struggles to avoid sin have been sincere enough, and whether our longing for the Sacrament of Communion has been fervent enough.  In short, whether we have loved him enough.  And that, my dear friends, is our ultimate test!  The rest is in God’s hands.