Commentary & Excerpts from the Book of Fr Michael Gaitley:

“Consoling the Heart of Jesus” 

In the book, Fr. Michael Gaitley continues to explain the two ways that Jesus is calling us to console Him: 1) Retroactively, & 2) in the present sufferings of His Mystical Body. First, Fr Gaitley explains how we can retroactively console Christ “now” as he suffered his Passion way back “then”. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we are taught that Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony, and his Passion and gave himself up for each one of us… “With this teaching in mind, we can easily conclude… that Jesus’ knowledge of our sins that were “as yet in the future” caused him great sorrow but also that Jesus’ knowledge of our acts of love, which were also “as yet in the future”, brought him great consolation… the same Jesus Christ, throughout his earthly life and especially during his suffering and agony, could see us and know how much we love him” (49-50). 

Then, Fr. Gaitley helps us understand how we can console Christ in the suffering of His Mystical Body. Jesus is united to his Church; when his Church – His Mystical Body – suffers, Jesus continues to suffer. When the Church is persecuted, the Mystical Body suffers the same persecution (see Acts 9:4-6). When truth is silenced, it is Jesus Himself who is muted. “How could Jesus Christ, who loves us… be completely happy in heaven while the members of his body are suffering?” (56). How could Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, be completely happy in heaven, while the members of his body continue to be enslaved by perversion and sin? 

We can still console the heart of Jesus because he continues to suffer through us.