Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website.
In praying about this blog today I felt a heck of a lot of pressure. Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It's a beautiful celebration in the liturgical life of the Church. It's also my best friend's biggest devotion. I felt a lot of pressure to say just the right thing. I sat down to read and pray with the readings and nothing... well actually a lot of things. Too many things. None of them made any sense. So I decided to just read what other people have to say.
This post by Bishop Donald Hying of Madison does a really good job of explaining the devotion to the Sacred Heart. I encourage you to read it! The Sacred Heart of Jesus is all about mercy. We as Catholics are all too susceptible to believe the lie that we can earn heaven, that we have to do X, Y, and Z and then we'll get it. That's not true at all. Good works are the fruit of a lively faith. Faith without works is dead, but works without faith are empty. So what do we put our faith in?
We must put our faith in God's Divine Mercy alive and flowing through the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Today is a feast where we rejoice in God's mercy on us. We, who have thoroughly rejected God, who do not deserve even a single glance of His, who cannot do anything right without Him, are saved by that pierced Heart and those wounded hands.
Words can't say enough about the Sacred Heart of Jesus. So go to Him with your heart today. Lay it down before Him and let the Holy Spirit communicate the love between you:
"In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will" Romans 8:26-27.
-Amanda Benner, Director of Evangelization