“The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Most Obedient of all, and in His Hidden and
Public Life the Most Willing to Work."
By Rev. J. Fuhlrott
"He went down with them, and came to Nazareth: and was subject to them." - Luke ii. 51.
The lamb is a well-chosen symbol of obedience, for it follows everywhere in its mother's footsteps, even when they lead to death and slaughter. During the persecutions in the days of the early Church, the Christians did not dare to place the image of our crucified Savior for public veneration in places where they assembled for divine worship lest the newly converted should waver in their faith when they looked upon the pitiable form of the dying Redeemer upon the cross. Nor should the heathen mock at or revile this image. They placed upon the altar a simple cross, and beneath it a lamb lying peacefully among the instruments of the Passion, with a Latin inscription meaning: "The Lamb redeems the sheep. Christ innocently suffers for them and reconciles the sinful children to their Father."
What a beautiful symbol of the first Christians! In the Old Testament, the whole world was astonished when the sun obeyed the command of a mortal man, Jose, and at his word stood still in its curse: "So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down the space of a day: . . . the Lord obeying the voice of a man." (Josue x. 13, 14) But how much more should we be astonished that the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is the sun of justice, was so obedient as to willingly subject itself to Mary. His holy Mother, and to St. Joseph, a carpenter, in their daily tasks and labors. "Take notice," says St. Bernard, "of what the Savior did: observe how He submitted His will to theirs - to the will of woman (the Blessed Virgin) and that of a poor carpenter."
We admire the obedience of the rocks, which, at the command of Moses, yielded water plentifully; the obedience of the sea, which on being touched by Moses' staff opened up a path to Palestine for the people to Palestine; we are astonished at the obedience of the Jordan, which receded before the ark of the covenant; the obedience of the fire, which at the command of Elias fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice; the obedience of the earth, which at the command of Moses opened and swallowed up Dathan and the rabble of Abion. These and similar wonders of nature, where the elements obeyed the voice of man, excite our admiration. But why are we not astonished, why are we not surprised, that the Creator of nature, God Himself, the Incarnate Christ, obeys without objection and without murmuring the commands of a poor mother and a foster-father, a carpenter - why He is subjected to them in all things and why He renders to them interior and exterior obedience, He whose sole motive of obedience was the love of His heavenly Father? This is indeed the greatest wonder.
Not only was the Sacred Heart of Jesus, this most perfect model of obedience, subject to His parents, but also in His Passion subject to the blasphemous judges, the Bloodthirsty executioners, and all manners of most cruel punishments and tortures, and even to death upon the cross; but what we can never sufficiently appreciate is his obedience to the authority of the priest at the alter, where at the words of consecration in the holy sacrifice of the Mass, He at once obediently descends from heaven and submits Himself n the Sacred Host entirely to the discretion of the priest. Truly a wonderful condescension of the Sacred Heart toward us.
Where is, however, our obedience toward God and His commandments? What about our obedience toward those in authority and our parents who have command over us in God's stead? "Learn, O man, to obey," says St. Bernard; "learn, O earth, to subject thyself; learn, O dust, to obey; blush you proud ashes. God abases Himself, and thou exaltest thyself. God is subject to man, and thou desirest to rule over men than preferring thyself to the Creator."
"He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them." (Luke ii. 51). Observe how much meaning the evangelist puts here in a few words, since he passes over in silence everything which the Sacred Heart of Jesus did in the time from His eighteenth year until His baptism, and mentions only this of the childhood and youth of Jesus Christ: "He was subject to them"
He prayed, He fasted, He was silent, He labored with His poor parents. Since Jesus was subject to these parents, without doubt He showed His obedience by sharing with them the burdens of labor.
Let us consider more closely the words: "And He was subject to them." Who was subject? God, the Lord of the whole world, the Creator of the world, to whom all things are subject. He abased and subjected Himself willingly to His creatures. To whom? To a poor virgin, His mother, and a humble carpenter, who assumed the place of father to Him. The Creator of the world subjected Himself humbly to them, obeying eagerly their every word and glance, saying always: "Behold, I am here." (Is. lii. 6) Why? To give us an example how to avoid idleness, to practice humility, and not to shun any trouble and any efforts to obtain heaven and the salvation of our soul. O men! O Christians! Behold and consider Him, the great wise architect of the world: how He works in the little house at Nazareth, how He collects the chips in the carpenter's workshop, and sweeps the house; He carries the wood upon His shoulders, splits and saws it, helping His foster-father. O happy earth which, did soak up the sweat that fell from the brow of Jesus while He worked. O lukewarm idlers! what have we done for God, for heaven, for our own souls and the souls of our neighbors?
When Adam, the father of the human race, learned from God that he must in the sweat of his brow till the soil, which would only yield him thorns and thistles, and that he must eat his bread in toil and cares, he submitted himself with great obedience to the divine commands by putting his hand to the plow and patiently tilling the earth, in hunger and thirst, cold and heat. Now I will show you, O Christian soul, another but innocent Adam, who, as St. Paul says, was typified by the original Adam, "who is a figure of Him that was to come." (Rom. v. 14.) Behold how this second Adam, for thy sake, and for love of thee, fatigues Himself in the carpenter's workshop! Behold how this new Adam eats His bread, in sweat and labor, in hunger and thirst, in ruble and care! Behold and consider how He at the same time laid hold of the plow (which is a symbol of the cross) to purify therewith the earth, that was cursed through sin, from the thorns and thistles! O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, my Redeemer, how often wast Thou exhausted and worn out with work for me! how beautifully and truly has the royal prophet prophesied of Thee: "I am poor, and in labors from you youth." (Ps. lxxxvii. 16). About this a father of the Church says: "Behold, the good Lord never ceases to labor until the day of His death. For this He desired to be born between an ox and an ass, because they are the most hard-working animals, to show us how much He loved work and the workingman; and for this reason He overlooked the princes and the great ones of the earth, and caused His birth to be announced first of all to the shepherds and tillers of the soil."
"The reason," says the pious Gerson, "why the Sacred Heart of Jesus did not choose a man of high rank, a prince, but rather a poor mechanic, a carpenter, for His father, is that in the workshop the cross and the other instruments of His Passion should be continually before His eyes."
O good Jesus, who would not, contemplating this, admire the obedience, the patience, and the humility of Thy Most Sacred Heart? Instead of enjoying the highest honors and pleasures of this earth, behold, Thou didst, for my sake, become obedient even unto death upon the cross; Thou didst choose ignominy rather than honor, poverty instead of treasures, cares instead of pleasures, sorrow instead of joy, yes, even the ignominious death of the cross; and so as to have the cross before Thy eyes during the thirty years, Thou chose a carpenter for Thy foster-father. O boundless love! O infinite goodness of Thy Sacred Heart. I am ashamed, O Jesus, when I look in my heart and see how disobedient and refractory it has been to Thy divine commandments, to Thy inspirations, and to the commands of my lawful superiors. I repent of my indolence and my rebellious will, and I humbly beg forgiveness for my former errors, and Through the merits of Thy Most Sacred and Most Obedient Heart, I pray that Thou wouldst grant me a heart that shall obey Thy divine commandments in every particular. Grant my prayer, O Jesus!
O beloved souls, who have been delivered with the awful price of the most precious blood, open your eyes. "Behold, set forth in your sight this day a blessing and a curse: A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God: a curse, if you obey not the commandments of the Lord your God." (Deut. xi. 26, 27). Be obedient, therefore, and you will be sure of salvation. Amen.