Jesus, The Divine Prisoner of Love. It’s a title of Christ that great saints such as Saint Therese of Lisieux and Saint Faustina have used, and has traditionally appeared on prayer cards, as well as in reparation prayers to the Holy Face of Jesus. Referring to Christ as The Divine Prisoner of Love holds so much depth, intimacy, and longing. Have you ever loved someone but, for whatever reason, they would not receive and return your love, so you felt like a “prisoner of love?”
I first heard Jesus referred to as a “prisoner of love” during a priest’s homily years ago. He compared Jesus in the Holy Eucharist to an elderly person in a nursing home who waits for his loved ones to come visit, but they never do. I thought about how lonely Jesus must feel when He is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament and sees all the empty pews in the church. I thought about how lonely Jesus must feel when He is received in Holy Communion, and is not spoken to while He is dwelling inside someone, as if He isn’t really there. It’s been found that 70% of U.S Catholics do not believe in Jesus’ true presence in the Eucharist. God being lonely––can we fathom this?
This image of the lonely, waiting Christ is one that pierces my heart. As the Divine Prisoner of Love, Jesus is like a lover who has so much love to give, but the one He wants to give His love to fails to respond and return his love; instead, they do anything else, go anywhere else, and spend time with anyone else. That one He wants to love is you, is me.
Imagine: the entire world is held together by Him with a love so great that He died for us, for you. He loves us so much that He becomes a small host at each Mass in order to be consumed, to unite Himself intimately to you. In tabernacles and monstrances throughout the world, He sits on the altar and waits to be loved, to be encountered.
Do you come?
Do you make an effort to soothe Jesus’ aching Sacred Heart? The Good Heart that has no other desire but to love us, to bestow upon us graces and abundance? To shower us in love and joy?
Why do we look elsewhere for love, when Love Himself is thirsting and beckoning for us to come to Him on the altar? Does a bride keep her bridegroom waiting on her wedding day? Or does she hurry to the banquet without delay? Let us not delay to receive Holy Communion, to adore Christ in the Eucharist. Let us not keep the eternal spouse of our souls waiting; but let us go to the altar to greet our beloved, to unite with Him, to satisfy Him, and let us let Him satisfy us. Let us become prisoners of Jesus’ Divine Love. Jesus has freely chosen to become a Prisoner of Love for our sake, and we have the ability to imitate Him, freely becoming prisoners of His love. The more we enter into this love, which is Christ Himself, the freer we are. True freedom is found by locking ourselves in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, where mercy and love abound.
