Blessed be his most sacred heart

Reflecting on the symbolism of the Image of the Sacred Heart reveals to us, the extent of God’s love manifested in Jesus. Beginning with the heart itself, we find it is located in the center of His chest. We know the heart as being both physical and spiritual, and from which flows the good and the evil. It is also the symbolic center of feeling and emotion. The Heart shows us Jesus’ deep love and affection for us , His compassion, understanding, love and charity. The Heart of Jesus represents the temple of God, His Divine Centre and dwelling place. It is the spiritual center of a human being . The image frequently depicts the heart as red, pointing to the color of blood, which Jesus poured out for us. However, the color red also signifies fervent love. Jesus expressed this fervent love with which He so much loved us, that He laid down his life for us. The image includes a crown of thorns, a cross, droplets of blood and that the heart is pierced. It is the symbol of God’s love for us.

The love shown in the Sacred Heart is a human love, coming from the heart of one who is really and truly man. Therefore, its love is that of a heart that beats like ours. It has all that belongs to human love but which has been raised to an almost impossible intensity by reason of the divinity to which it is joined. It is a sensible love; It is capable of feeling affection and is physically influenced by it. The Heart of Jesus has strong emotions, rejoicing, sorrowing as He is touched with the feelings of our poor infirmities. His Heart rejoices over His children, and still mystically sorrows for our sins. His is a love of sympathy. He always has for us unlimited sympathy! The Sacred Heart has itself experienced all that we suffer. Having achieved union with Him in the Holy Eucharist means that each human misery has its echo in the Sacred Heart. The Lord Jesus not only understands all our troubles; He has felt each trouble in His own person.

The sacred heart shows us what true devotion is. Devotion is any action in which we freely show ourselves willing to serve God. All true devotion is to be offered out of love. It is through devotion that we offer our talents, our thoughts, our actions, and our sufferings to Him. We offer all these things for His service and the service of His Church. Our love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the love that we return for the love that we freely receive from God. When we grow in love for the Sacred Heart, we grow in love for Love.

Through it we see that love is not soft, occasional, or sentimental; Love is strong, enduring and sacrificial. We must honor, venerate and love the Sacred Heart of Jesus; for without doing so, we can only find an imperfect understanding of God’s love and mercy.When we do this our love for others, especially the poor is raised up to the level of Christ’s love for the poor. Jesus even healed the poor beggar so that he could work again and build a new life for himself.

May our hearts become like the heart of Christ. May our love for all those in need be strong and full of compassion.

Deacon John Girolami
SSVP Spiritual Advisor ONRC