Sacred Heart of Jesus

Dear Parishioners,

A blessed Solemnity of Sacred Heart of Jesus!  In our age of religious indifference, when fervor and charity have grown cold, Jesus exhibits to the world His Sacred Heart as the symbol of God's infinite love - the symbol of His own generous self-sacrificing love for men. Jesus shows His Divine Heart as a furnace whose burning rays of love are able to reanimate faith and rekindle love in hearts grown cold and ungrateful.  Pope Leo XIII of happy memory stated, "There is in the Sacred Heart the symbol and express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love in return."  The divine was made incarnate, became flesh, and in the womb of His mother received a heart.  It is from this heart, nurtured next to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that His blood would be shed and pierced for all to gain access to the Father's Merciful Love.  Thus, we are invited to be shaped after the Heart of Jesus as St. Justin Martyr (d.165) stated, "We the Christians are the true Israel which springs from Christ, for we are carved out of His heart as from a rock."

A practice many Catholics enjoy is consecrating your home and family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Jesus promised St. Margaret Mary Alacoque that He “will bless the home in which the image of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honored.”  When we enthrone (display) the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a prominent place and signify that Jesus is the King, friend and brother of the family, we are responding to the invitation of the Church to make our homes “Domestic Churches”, wherein Jesus is the center and source of love for all.  As the sanctuary lamp reminds us of Christ’s presence in the tabernacle, the enthroned image of the Sacred Heart reminds us that Jesus is among us and with us. By this covenant we make our homes and hearts His tabernacle.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to Jesus Christ Himself!  In a vision, Jesus revealed his Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, saying,

"Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify Its love."  Our Lord offers his heart to us and desires to share all that he has with you.  He said to him, "My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours." (Lk 15:31)

Pope John XXIII recorded in his autobiography Journal of a Soul, “Every time I hear anyone speak of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or of the Blessed Sacrament, I feel an indescribable joy…. I am determined to give myself no peace until I can truly say I am absorbed into the Heart of Jesus."  May these words reverberate in us as the Heart of Christ floods our parishes with His merciful love!

https://sacredheartapostolate.com/enthronements/

In Christ,

Fr. Luke Fleck

Pastor of St. Joseph Colon and St. Mary Cedar Bluff