Opened for Love

How the Bible leads us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is not a new invention; it is based firmly in Scripture. Let’s take a look!

1. We learn from His Heart

Our Lord drew our attention to His Heart when He said, “Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.” (Matt. 11:29) He calls us to learn from His example.

He encourages us to “be of good heart” and to “let not your hearts be troubled.” He explains the importance of a heart and what is in it:

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45)

The Heart of Jesus is meek (not given to anger) and humble (not prideful), and He invites us to come to His Heart to find rest. In the second quote, He describes the benefits that comes from the heart of a good man…how much more goodness comes from the Heart of the God-Man Himself?

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2. Gifts flow from His Heart

He invites us therefore to His Heart. When John the Beloved Apostle stood at the foot of the Cross, he witnessed a particular event. He reports this in the 19th chapter of his Gospel, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he phrases it very particularly:

“But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true; that you also may believe.” (John 19:34-35)

Notice the emphasis he places on his eyewitness report. With a spear, the soldier opened His side and immediately blood and water flowed out from Him. The inspired Evangelist does not write that the soldier “stabbed Him” or “pierced Him” or “impaled Him.” The soldier opened His side.

The beauty of this moment, after the tortured death of our Savior, is that He opened His Heart to us. Literally and figuratively.

Abundant graces and blessings flow from the love of His Heart, just as the water and blood gushed forth. When we draw near to His Love, we receive those joys by our closeness, just as going outside in the sunshine brings us physical light and warmth.

We gain peace, comfort, understanding, encouragement, and fortitude for the trials of this life from the Heart of Jesus. The closer we come to It, the more we are blessed.

Saint John continued to write about the love of Our Lord for us throughout His scriptural writings, like this: “My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11) God hath so loved us. And of course, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”

The Scriptures tell us over and over that God loves us. And the Heart of Christ, “opened” for us on the Cross, is the symbol and source of that Love.

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3. Our hearts grow to be like His

We adore His Heart and It is a fountain of graces and blessings and virtue. The next step is for us to strive to make our hearts as close to His as possible. We don’t just talk of His love, and thank Him for His Love, we bring our hearts to Him, lest He say of us:

“This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. (Matt. 15:7-8)

No, we want to bring our hearts close to Him. We want to be like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, who said,

“Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in this way, and opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)

Or as Mother Mary Loyola wrote, “His Heart close to mine will kindle it.” His Heart is a burning furnace of love; if I bring my dim, cold little heart next to that blaze, He will warm it and illuminate it.

How can I bring my heart to Him? The first way is by Mass and Holy Communion. Last week, we talked about the First Friday devotion. This Friday, June 12th, is the annual Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, another wonderful day to go to Holy Communion. When we receive the Eucharist, we are literally bringing His Heart (for the Eucharist contains His True Presence: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity) close to our hearts.

After you receive Him, and you make your way back to your pew, enjoy the stillness. Be present in His embrace, His Heart next to yours. You don’t have to immediately begin your grocery list of requests, “Please help my sick mother; and my troubled son; and could you get me a better job?” That can come later. :)

How else can we show our devotion to Him? By imitation. By loving our neighbor as ourselves, by finding ways to sacrifice (for HIM) our own will to please someone else. Remember when the Apostles tried to chase the mothers and children away so Our Lord could rest? Instead, He put aside His own repose to spend time with those who needed Him. In what ways can we put others’ needs before our own, while offering it all to Jesus?

The saints tell us that the virtues most pleasing to the Heart of Jesus are sweetness and humility. Speak kindly when we’d rather be impatient and snap; listen patiently to an older person’s rambling story; let someone else take the credit for the work we did. Remember the nine lepers who didn’t come back to thank Him, after He had saved their lives? When we are not thanked or given credit, we can humbly nod to Him and say, “Now I’m like You, Lord. I’m going to be silent like You and give that gift to You.”

And finally, mental prayer. Our Lord slipped away regularly from His public life to pray alone. Find time to sit with Him for fifteen minutes and meditate on His life, His virtues, the lessons He taught, and His infinite relentless love for us.

Stay tuned, because I’m very excited to share with you a NEW RESOURCE I am preparing to help us with mental prayer, based on the temperaments God gave us!

In the meantime, have a very blessed Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus this Friday! Remember, He gave us twelve beautiful promises of how He would reward us for this devotion. Let us place ourselves at the foot of the Cross with Saint John, so we may experience that torrent of love and grace from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

“And all the multitude sought to touch him, for virtue went out from him, and healed all.” (Luke 6:19)