I Don’t Want to Miss the Small Gifts of Life
Daily Reflection – Your Life is Sacred and has Value
Minute Meditation – What Does It Mean to Be Sacred?
What does it mean to be sacred—to be woven, warp and weft, of divine fabric? For one, it means that all the raw material of this world and all the human and other-than-human creatures of this world are divinely given gifts, deserving of reverence and respect for their place in the Great Economy, and therefore not simply expendable. To be sacred also means to participate fully—even if not consciously—in the ongoing dance of relationships, which are the fundamental divine reality, as good Trinitarian theology claims. To be sacred means that everything and everyone (human and non-human) can be a conduit and a container for beauty and meaning. Everything, if we just learn to see with the right eyes, is shining like the sun. And it means, in an important way, that ownership and possession are ultimately a fiction.
— from the book Making Room: Soul-Deep Satisfaction through Simple Living
by Kyle Kramer
//Franciscan Media//
What Does the Sacred Heart Symbolize?
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus dates back to the time of the Apostles. This devotion honors Jesus’ burning love for each of us and also makes reparation for the rejection, persecution, and disdain His Sacred Heart receives from the world.
The Sacred Heart is frequently depicted in Catholic art. Some depictions present the Sacred Heart alone, while others show Jesus with His Sacred Heart radiant in His chest.
In this image, we can see various small emblems, each representing an aspect of Christ’s sacrificial love.
The first thing we notice is that Jesus’ heart is exposed, for He has poured Himself out for us and desires that we enter into His Most Loving Heart.
The crown surrounding the Sacred Heart recalls Jesus being crowned with thorns, and reminds us that He endured persecution and ridicule for us.
The fire represents the burning flame of divine love and the essence of divinity. (Remember Moses and His encounter with the bush that burned but was never consumed?). The Sacred Heart is on fire with love for mankind.
A crown rests on top of the Sacred Heart because the crown is a symbol of Jesus’ kingship. The lance-wound references John 19:33-37, when the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus’ side and blood and water flowed from the wound, which, according to the Gospel of John, “took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘Not a bone of him shall be broken’” (John 19:36). This image of blood and water is highly symbolic. It represents the Passover Lamb sacrificed for our sins to save us from death and reminds us that Jesus shed every last drop of His blood for our sake.
Now, when you honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus today, you can meditate on its profound symbolism and on Christ’s burning love for you.
Feast Day – June 11 – Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart
The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the octave day of the feast of Corpus Christi. In the 17th century Jesus appeared in a vision to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque asking her to request that this feast be celebrated in honor of his Sacred Heart in reparation for the ingratitude of mankind toward the sacrifice of his love on the Cross. Pope Pius IX extended the feast of the Sacred Heart to the universal Church in 1856. The imagery of Christ pointing to his heart, on fire with love, signifies his immense and infinite love for humanity which took Him to the Cross to die for our salvation. The Sacred Heart of Jesus desires that all mankind draw close to Him in love and trust. Today this devotion, given to the faithful by Our Lord himself, is among the most popular of the Catholic Church.
//Catholic Company//
Minute Meditation – God’s Heart Beats for You
Our human hearts were made to love and to be loved, to give and receive love. Every beat of every heart is made possible through a God who is love. But do you know that the very heart of God also beats for you? That is what Jesus said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Apostle of the Heart of Jesus, as he revealed his enflamed heart to her: “Behold this Heart which has so loved men as to spare Itself nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, to testify to them Its love.” This revelation is what we have come to know as the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
— from the book Healing Promises: The Essential Guide to the Sacred Heart
by Anne Costa
//Franciscan Media//
Morning Offering – We Honor God by Honoring His Mother
“When we appeal to the throne of grace we do so through Mary, honoring God by honoring His Mother, imitating Him by exalting her, touching the most responsive chord in the Sacred Heart of Christ with the sweet name of Mary.”— St. Robert Bellarmine
//Catholic Company//
Sermon Notes – May 2, 2021 – His Sacred Heart
“His Sacred Heart“
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
May 1 – 2, 2021
Gospel: John 15:1-8
I was talking to one of my fellow chaplains with whom I share an office at the VA. We call it the cell. So, I said to my cell-mate, “Hey Gary, you’re a bright guy, even though you went into the Air Force, you’re a bright guy.” He was too old for Girl Scouts, but he does have a master’s degree in Divinity. “Where are the green pastures that our Lord, the Good Shepherd, leads us to give us repose?” Gary said “Heaven.” That’s true. Then, I said, “Would you say that, before we get there, He leads us to heaven on Earth…to a place in His Sacred Heart?” That is Heaven. Our Savior’s heart beats with love for us, and our two hearts will beat as one in Heaven. The Good Shepherd calls us, not just to follow Him, but to be part of His Sacred Heart and to take our rest there. It is in our Lord’s Sacred Heart that we will find peace and rest for our souls.
Our Lord said in Matthew 11:30: “…my yoke is sweet and my burden light.” The sweet yoke is our crosses that are just for us and not for anyone else. In that lovely green garden and pasture where He gives us repose, He also gives us strength, courage, and consolation as we carry our cross. We carry our cross with the Good Shepherd, if we let Him, so that we are able to carry it for our redemption and the redemption of others. And sometimes, but not nearly often enough, we will find joy in it. We will find joy in carrying our cross.
The Good Shepherd would like to lead us to His Sacred Heart. Saint Augustine said, “Our heart is restless until it rests in thee.” We will find peace for our souls which is what our souls need, but we try to fill it with every person, place, or thing. In His Sacred Heart, we will find rest. We will find strength, and we will find contentment. We walk with our Lord by the way of the Cross. First He leads us to His Sacred Heart, and then He walks with us all the way through to our passion and death.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you let Him help you carry your cross for your redemption and the redemption of others?
Father’s Afterthoughts:
I had a meeting with the Bishop the other day. Sadly, I’m still not a monsignor. I had to drive 50+ miles to hear that bad news. Anyway, I felt safer in Iraq while driving to Charlotte on Hwy 485. Those people are crazy! I was never so glad to see Walmart in Locust and Mecklenburg County in my rear view mirror. One thing we discussed at the meeting is that, in the next couple of months, the Bishop will probably reinstitute the Sunday Mass obligation. When he does, the Mass will be a bit longer than those I’ve been giving.
I really don’t like the word “obligation.” Are you are obligated to remember your mother’s birthday or remember her on Mother’s Day? If you have to be told that, you need to be taken outside with a few of the guys for a chat. We come here out of love. If we say, “Oh, I’m too tired” or “I’m too whatever,” we lose the opportunity to grow in love.
Also, keep in your prayers, Father Michael Kottar. He’s 57 years old and a great priest. Father Kottar has been diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy or Mad Cow Disease. There is no treatment, so please keep him in your prayers.
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to https://annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com/ and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” and then “Sermon Notes.” From a cell phone, click on “Blog” then “Menu” and then “Categories” (located at the end of page). There is also a search box if you are looking for a specific topic.
Saint of the Day – April 11 – Saint Gemma Galgani
St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) was born in Italy, the fifth of eight children born to a prosperous pharmacist. When she was young, Gemma’s mother and three of her siblings died of tuberculous. When she was 18 her father died as well, leaving Gemma to help care for her younger siblings. She rejected two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper while trying to enter the religious life as a Passionist. She was rejected due to her poor heath, and later became a Tertiary member of the order. Gemma developed spinal meningitis but was miraculously healed, which she attributed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Throughout her life she united herself with the Passion of Christ and experienced great suffering as a result, but not without receiving many remarkable graces as well. She experienced many mystical visions and was often visited by her guardian angel, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. For this she was known as a great mystic, and, according to her spiritual director, developed the stigmata at age 21. After a selfless life of love given to God for the conversion of sinners, she died on the Vigil of Easter at the age of 25. She is the patron saint of pharmacists, loss of parents, back illnesses, temptations, and those seeking purity of heart. Her feast day is April 11th.
//The Catholic Company//