St Joseph, Dispenser of the Treasures of the Sacred Heart, by Leonora Butau

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By Leonora Butau, Ph.D., Crisis Magazine, June 28, 2019

Leonora ButauToday the Church celebrates the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; a feast that helps us to reflect more deeply on the magnitude of Christ’s love for souls. It is a feast that comes with an invitation to experience the “abundance of healing waters, that is, heavenly gifts of divine love, issuing from the Sacred Heart of our Redeemer,” as Pope Pius XII so wonderfully expressed in the encyclical, Haurietis Aquas, written in 1956, on occasion of the centenary anniversary of its institution. Pope Pius XII refers to this feast as an “inestimable gift” to the Church; for it is from the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we receive the fountain of living water that heals, purifies, and strengthens us, and that enables us to recognize that we are each infinitely loved by God. This healing and life-giving water, pouring out from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is what the world, and each one of us, is thirsting for.

What is interesting about this great feast is St. Joseph’s connection to it. Curiously, St. Joseph is addressed in many prayers as the “dispenser of the treasures of the Sacred Heart.” But what does this mean? Firstly, let us recall that the Heart of Jesus, the Incarnate Word, was nourished in Nazareth, in the loving daily life that Jesus shared with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. With Mary, Joseph offered the Sacred Heart of Jesus—the source of mercy and love—all the love, honor, and adoration of his own heart. St. Peter Julian Eymard wrote that:

Aside from the Blessed Virgin, Saint Joseph was the first and most perfect adorer of our Lord… Saint Joseph joined with Mary in adoration and united himself to Christ, whose heart surged with sentiments of adoration, love and praise for the Father and of charity for men. Saint Joseph’s adoration kept pace with every stage of our Lord’s life, drawing upon the grace, the spirit, and the virtue of each mystery….Read entire article here: crisismagazine.com/2019/st-joseph-dispenser-of-the-treasures-of-the-sacred-heart