The Sacred Heart of Jesus

The heart of the matter is what is searched for when listening to another’s heart. Only those who are brave will ever be able to bear what they hear. This is because, in every heart, there are difficult secrets, troubling things that are too hard to share and at the same time, painful things to know. There are also beautiful things so heart piercing that one overflows with joy and sorrow all at once. The pure of heart knows a brave freedom before the pain and beauty of such deep down things. Theirs is the courage to ask for, to seek out, to knock at and to listen to the one Heart that Christians call sacred.

To be pure of heart requires self-mastery, especially of one’s own sexuality, and one finds this treasure in the Heart of the Lord. Chaste and modest, a heart can find in Him the freedom to give itself with tender delicacy without every betraying itself. The heart made pure by the Savior does not yield before the terror of great beauty, but can freely behold what is truly good in every encounter while remaining faithful to all that it holds dear and sacred. Such purity creates both the noble boundaries and the necessary discernment when approaching the heart of another. To humbly surrender the misery another suffers and to commend them to the mercy of God is the most noble expression of such chastity. At the same time, renunciation of all that is not God’s will comes from possessing Christ’s own purity of heart – the purifying power of the Sacred Heart communicates this to those who persevere in asking for this grace.

Deep in the Sacred Heart one also finds the truth that one most needs in life.  To be taught the truth by another gives some insight, but until our own understanding of what we have learned has been purified by the Holy Spirit, our sight is only partial. Whether we seek the heart of the Scriptures or the heart of a friend, only when the Spirit who knows the Heart of Jesus whispers in our depths are we free from rash judgments, irrational desires, and pride. Yet, as we surrender our hearts to the Holy Spirit, He communicates the most precious truths that pour forth from the pierced Heart of God – and forgiving an offense or praying for an enemy suddenly becomes a possibility.

Chastity and truth are deep in the Sacred Heart, but even deeper is the merciful love of the Father.  This is the deepest secret of the whole cosmos – the secret that lives in the bosom of the Trinity.  If we ask, the Heart of the Crucified will give us to overflowing. If we seek this love, the Risen Sacred Heart will show us this uncreated power that can change not only one’s own heart, but the whole world.  If we knock at the door of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Savior will open wide His Heart and wait for us to open wide to Him.

Do not be afraid to ask, to seek or to knock at the Sacred Heart. For His Heart is also asking, seeking and knocking – do not be afraid to open wide to Him.