Those two disciples whom Jesus accompanies on the way to Emmaus finally recognize Him in the breaking of the bread, after a few hours of journeying. And they said to one another: "Were not our hearts burning within us while He spoke to us on the way and explained the Scriptures to us?"12. Their hearts, which shortly before were extinguished, discouraged, and sad, are now filled with fervor and joy. This would have been reason enough to recognize that Christ was accompanying them, for this is the effect that Jesus produces in those who are close to His most lovable Heart. It happened then, and it takes place every day.
In this "most precious ark" of the Heart of Jesus lies the fullness of all charity. This charity, a gift par excellence "of the Heart of Christ and of His Spirit, is what gave the Apostles and martyrs the strength to preach the evangelical truth and to bear witness to it, even to the shedding of their blood for it"13. From there we draw the necessary firmness to make Christ known. It is in our intimacy with Jesus where true apostolic zeal is enkindled—a zeal capable of enduring above apparent failures and the obstacles of an environment that sometimes seems to flee from Jesus.
A friend passes on to a friend the best that they have. We possess nothing that can be compared to the fact of having known Jesus. Therefore, we must make Christ known to our relatives, friends, and professional colleagues.
In the Heart of Jesus, we must enkindle our apostolic zeal for souls. In Him, we find a burning furnace of charity for souls, as we pray in the Litany of the Sacred Heart. "The furnace burns," commented Pope John Paul II. "As it burns, it consumes all material things, whether wood or any other easily combustible substance.
"The Heart of Jesus, the human Heart of Jesus, burns with the love that fills it. And this is the love for the Eternal Father and the love for mankind: for His adopted daughters and sons.
"The furnace, as it burns, gradually goes out. The Heart of Jesus, on the other hand, is an inextinguishable furnace. In this, it resembles the burning bush in the Book of Exodus, in which God revealed Himself to Moses. The bush that burned with fire, but... was not consumed (Ex 3:2).
"Indeed, the love that burns in the Heart of Jesus is, above all, the Holy Spirit, in whom God the Son is eternally united to the Father. The Heart of Jesus, the human Heart of the God-Man, is ablaze with the living flame of Trinitarian Love, which is never extinguished.
"Heart of Jesus, burning furnace of charity. The furnace, while it burns, illuminates the darkness of the night and warms the bodies of freezing wayfarers.
"Today we want to pray to the Mother of the Eternal Word, so that on the horizon of the life of each and every one of us, the Heart of Jesus, a burning furnace of charity, may never cease to burn. So that He may reveal to us the Love that is never extinguished nor diminished, the Love that is eternal. So that He may illuminate the darkness of the earthly night and warm our hearts.
"Giving thanks for the only love capable of transforming the world and human life, we turn with the Immaculate Virgin, at the moment of the Annunciation, to the Divine Heart which never ceases to be a burning furnace of charity. Burning: like the bush that Moses saw at the foot of Mount Horeb"14.
HCD