By Janae Bower
The deepest longing of Christ’s Heart is that we discover how much He loves us. There is no better time to celebrate our love for Him than on Friday, the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. In preparation, may you ponder in your hearts more about what we’ve learned about His Heart.
One of the first and most influential of saints on this topic is John Eudes. He lived in the 17th century and became noted for his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. Others have said that no one has written more movingly on the interior life of Jesus. He encourages us that we can’t just have an external imitation of Christ, but we also need to have a complete indwelling of Christ in the depths of our souls.
St. John shared how the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a “furnace burning with love for us.” He also wrote that of all the divine perfections mirrored in the Sacred Heart of our Savior that we should have a special devotion to divine mercy and “endeavor to engrave its image on our hearts.”
Another influential teacher of Jesus’ Sacred Heart is St. Margaret Mary, a very holy nun, who had an extraordinary series of four prophetic revelations from Jesus later in the 17th century about His Sacred Heart. The first is where she had a “mystical exchange of hearts” with the Lord “where he disclosed to me the marvels of His love and the unutterable secrets of His Sacred Heart.”
The second is when she was shown the Divine Heart and the symbolism associated with the Sacred Heart images that we see today. His heart is the source of the divine treasures of love, mercy, grace, sanctification and salvation designed to make manifest to us all.
The third is when Jesus Christ appeared to her with his five wounds and his heart aflame with love. He shared “the unspeakable marvels of His pure love and excess of love He had conceived for men from whom He had received nothing but ingratitude and contempt.” He showed her how to not only be consoled by his Sacred Heart, but also how to console His Sacred Heart.
The fourth is when she received proof of His love and opened His Divine Heart to share. “Behold this heart which has loved so much and so loved so little.” He asked her to start a feast to honor His Sacred Heart in reparation of those hardened hearts. Jesus promised that “my heart will open wide and pour forth lavishly the influence of its Divine Love on all who will render and procure for it this honor.”
Close to the Heart of the Son is the Heart of the Mother whom the Church celebrates the day after the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The heart that resembles that of Christ more than any other is without a doubt the Heart of Mary, his Immaculate Mother. We ask for her intercession for our hearts to beat as one with His.
Source: Articles from The Marian’s Divine Mercy app from the Marian’s of the Immaculate Conception.
Sacred Heart Image: From the Thanksgiving Mass for Father Peter Hughes at the Church of Saint Paul in Ham Lake, MN.
Janae Bower is a transformational author, inspirational speaker and life-purpose coach. Her mission is to inspire and transform hearts. Through FaithWalk Retreats, she encourages Catholic women to live boldly and fearlessly. Janae loves her faith and created the Love Affair with God transformational experience, her newest program, to help inspired women fall deeply in love with God. Janae is on the WINE (Women In the New Evangelization) core team. Together with her husband, John, they founded a small-group ministry for married couples called Couples in Christ. Janae is especially grateful for her three sons – Gavin, Grant and Garrett. For more: faithwalkretreats.com and loveaffairwithGod.com
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