Tag: <span>Sacred Heart</span>

June 11, 2021June 10, 2021

The Source

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

“You shall draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation,” today’s psalm tells us.

And the gospel reveals to us whence those springs of salvation flow. When the soldier thrusts the lance into Jesus’ side, immediately blood and water flow out, from Jesus’ pierced Heart. It is from Jesus’ unfathomably loving Heart that we draw the life-giving water of salvation. As Jesus Himself said during His earthly ministry: “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn. 4:14)

This Heart is the home of the inscrutable riches of Christ to which Paul refers in the second reading. Its love is the measure of “what is the breadth and length and height and depth,” this “love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.”

It is this meek and humble Heart which we hear speaking through the first reading; one which does not wish to destroy, but rather continually pours out mercy.

Jesus’ Sacred Heart is the source of Divine Mercy, and the depiction of Divine Mercy is one of red and blue radiance signifying blood and water, coming straight from the Heart of Jesus.

If we only suspected for a moment the desire of this Heart to fill us with happiness and give us all peace, wholeness, and overflowing fulfillment, we would rush to Him and never leave Him.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: “Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart more like yours.” Ask Jesus to shape your heart and transform it to be like His, to the point that your love too contributes to the eternal welfare of others.

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February 6, 2021January 22, 2021

Heart of Gold

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

In today’s gospel, after the Twelve return from their arduous journey preaching the message of repentance, Jesus invites them to come away by themselves and rest a while. But the crowds, not particularly empathetic to their fatigue and hungry for the Good News, figure out their destination and reach it before them.

Not annoyed at all, Jesus rather takes pity on the crowds, who are like sheep without a shepherd.

We see something of this pastoral tenderness of Jesus mirrored in how the Holy Spirit inspired the closing of the letter to the Hebrews, our first reading for today. The letter ends, not with an admonition or advice, but with a prayer for the addressees, that God Himself will carry out in them what is pleasing to Him, in Jesus Christ; that God will come to their aid in their quest to be faithful Christians.

Christian life is frightfully demanding. It is not just that the Commandments are difficult to live up to, which they are; it is that Christ wants to transform us into the very embodiment of the virtue of selfless charity, and this transformation is hard.

But Christianity is not defined by its difficulty. It is defined by that tenderness, that intoxicating tenderness, with which the Sovereign of the Universe incarnate looks upon each of us.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus for the gift of His intimate friendship. Ask Him also for the gift of transforming your heart into a pastoral heart, one that is continually moved to profound compassion for your fellow humans–especially those who do not possess His friendship.

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December 9, 2020November 22, 2020

The Sacred Heart of the Savior

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

As they prepare us for Christmas, our Advent readings focus on a wide, rich array of benefits for which the world can look to its coming Savior. In recent days we have seen promise of healing, and of restoration of bounty.

Today’s first reading tell us that we can look to Him for rest and stamina–that we may not grow weary with the excessive burden that this life, and this broken world, put upon us.

And which of us has not felt at some time overwhelmed with the burden of our responsibilities? Weary without recourse to rest? The nurse works a double shift in times of need; the miner returns home with weary bones, concerned with the possible effect of the mine on his lungs; the priest, stretched thin, finds little sympathy and less time for disconnecting and rest.

Above all, the weight of these burdens affects our soul: At times, the more we work, the more we feel that we get behind; how can we do right by the ones we love?

There seems to be no respite from this exhaustion spiral. But Jesus gives us the secret about where we are to find respite, as foreshadowed by the first reading: His Heart. Making time for prayer can seem one more burden. But the effect is the reverse. We immerse our cares and sense of inadequacy in His meek and merciful Heart, and He teaches us that our gift of self is actually more than enough–because He is the one ultimately who does the heavy lifting for our loved ones. Our gift on its own falls miserably short, but in His redemptive hands it becomes a source of powerful grace–because it triggers a further outpouring of HIS gift.

This is what we can expect from the Savior who comes as a little baby at Christmas.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to help you always to bear in mind that He is the only authentic source of rest for your soul, because all that you work for and care about is superabundantly supplemented by what His loving Heart pours out into your life.

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November 12, 2020October 26, 2020

Burning Love

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

They say that some old couples who have been married many years begin even to look like each other.

Much more so the saints, who have consistently dedicated time every day to draw near to God. They do not just begin to “look” like Him–the divine love which burns in Christ’s heart begins to burn in theirs as well; spontaneously, they handle each situation with the very love and attitude of Christ.

We have vivid evidence of this in today’s reading from St. Paul, who is undertaking the simple task of transferring a Christian from his own service back to that of Philemon. In the letter accompanying the transfer, he says:

“So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me. And if he has done you any injustice or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, write this in my own hand: I will pay.”

In this simple act, Paul’s attitude beautifully mirrors Christ’s attitude toward you and me in the very act of our redemption: “If he owes you anything, charge it to me. I will pay. Welcome him as you would me.”

If we understood the enrichment of heart that awaits us, we would not miss a day of contemplative prayer. And yet, since even under intense exposure to the grace of God, our hearts grow at the pace of grass in the noonday sun, it often takes real faith to trust that God is working our transformation when we do not deserve it.

When our faith in this interior transformation is weak, we look outside to try to see signs that God is transforming the world. We look for signs in the political sphere. When all the while, as Christ tells us in today’s gospel, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Read the first reading in the light of Christ’s redemption, seeing Christ’s attitude toward us reflected in Paul’s attitude toward Onesimus. Would you like to have a heart like that–so spontaneously conforming to the love of Christ? Ask Jesus for the gift of perseverance in prayer. Ask Him to be your strength as you strive to be faithful to your daily touch points with Him, so that your heart will burn with the same love for others that characterizes Jesus Christ, and which He shares with His intimates.

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