The Beat Goes On...Sacred Love

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."

Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. How do you explain to a Protestant why we worship and love a body part of Jesus?  I think you have to have the mindset of a poet to fully understand why it is we do what we do.  People who are forced to rely on just the Bible for their beliefs have no room for poetry in their religion.  Oh, they might love poetry and read it and are transported to places of utter beauty by the written word but that does not transfer easily for them into religious thought.  I am not saying this makes them bad people, just unfortunate ones.  

The words of Jesus contain great beauty and all of the truth one needs to come to know Him, but Jesus rarely displays his poetic side.  In today's Gospel reading he opens His heart and the beauty of His words fill the air with great beauty.  His Sacred Heart is a shelter for all of us.  It is through His Sacred Heart that Jesus dispenses mercy.  He calls all of us to Himself for in His Most Sacred Heart we will find rest.  In Matthew, he tells us:

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am meek and humble of heart;

and you will find rest for yourselves. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

This is the invitation of the Sacred Heart to His beloved sons and daughters.  He wants nothing more than to bestow on us, rest from our labors and knowledge of the great goodness and love of us that burns so brightly in the Heart of God.  All the striving and work we do on earth for the Kingdom of God will bring us to a sublime place of peace where we will be loved and honored forever and where we will sing praise to God and recount to one another the great deeds He has done for us. 

Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

O most holy heart of Jesus, the fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins I offer you this poor heart of mine. Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to your will. Grant, Good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you. Protect me in the midst of danger. Comfort me in my afflictions. Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, your blessing on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen.

Praise and Glory to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

June is the month when we honor The Sacred Heart of Jesus.  When I was in Saint Bridget's School way back in the year 1959 I won an award.  I do not remember why I won it, but it was very special indeed. It was an 8 1/2 by 11 picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  It was a beautiful picture and you could look at it and see the love that Jesus had for you in the eyes.  No one ever really explained the picture to me but I remember being very impressed with it none-the-less. Since that moment, the Sacred Heart of Jesus has formed an integral part of my spiritual life.  His Heart beats with love and mercy each of us.  Not just for the Catholics, but for all of humanity.  Jesus is so much in love with us that He wanted to use the symbolism of His heart, which we traditionally consider the place where the soul resides, to express how He is on fire with love and mercy for all who desire it.  Is it idolatrous to have a devotion to a body part or the representation of one even if it is of Jesus?  The unlearned would think so.  But, in their ignorance, they forget that we are not honoring an actual heart, but rather, the love and mercy that radiates from the very soul of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Savior.  In order to honor the Sacred Heart, we are asked to make an effort to go to Mass on the first Friday of every month and to receive communion. Jesus communicated His desire for this practice to St. Margaret Mary and He makes these promises to those that do this in honor of His Sacred Heart.:

I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.

I will give peace in their families.

I will console them in all their troubles.

I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.

I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.

Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.

Tepid souls shall become fervent.

Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.

I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.

I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.

Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.

In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.