AS WE DEDICATE THIS MONTH OF JUNE TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

As we dedicate this month of JUNE to the SACRED HEART OF JESUS, let us be inspired by St. Catherine of Siena's devotion:

[“In 1370, when Catherine was 23 years old, Jesus answered one of her most fervent prayers. Catherine had been asking that the Lord would take her heart, that is, her very will, and replace it with His own. One day, while she was praying, ‘Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew in me a steadfast spirit’ (Psalm 51), Jesus appeared to Catherine. Blessed Raymond of Capua, her confessor and first biographer reports,

It seemed to her that her Spouse presented himself to her, opened her left side, took out her heart and carried it with him, so that in reality she no longer perceived it in her breast. This vision was striking, and her attendant symptoms agreed with it so well, that when she spoke of it to her Confessor, she assured him that she really had no heart.

Blessed Raymond’s reaction, which he reports in her biography, was to laugh. He explained that no one could live without a heart. But Catherine insisted that Jesus had taken her heart away. Some days later, Jesus returned to Catherine, again in a vision. Blessed Raymond reports, Suddenly she saw herself surrounded by a light from heaven, and amid this light, the Savior appeared to her, bearing in his sacred hands a heart of vermilion hue and radiating fire. Deeply affected with this presence and this splendor, she prostrated herself on the ground. Our Lord approached, opened anew her left side, and placed in it the heart which he bore.

Jesus gave to Catherine his own heart. So intimate was Catherine’s union with Christ that she shared his heart. A scar on her side, where Jesus had withdrawn her heart, was subsequently visible and attested to by Catherine’s closest companions. From thence on, Catherine repeatedly speaks of being on fire with his love. She tells Raymond, ‘So intense is the fire that burns within me, that mere material flame seems a cold, dead thing by comparison, fit to freeze rather than to warm a person’.

Raymond says that Catherine was so close to Christ and she anticipated receiving holy Communion with such joy that people could hear her new heart beating. For Catherine, the heart of Christ is ablaze. His fire is consuming and total. Christ’s supernatural
strength and consolation is stronger than anything that can be felt on this side of eternity. The fire of love, given to Catherine through her sharing of Christ’s heart, prompted Catherine’s extraordinary service to her neighbor. Her love for others would be so conformed to the love of Christ that she notices in herself a desire to even die for her neighbor.”] [ ] (An excerpt taken from an article by Fr. Patrick Briscoe OP)

Now consider that we, too, can and do receive the Sacred Heart of Jesus everytime we receive Holy Communion. For in the Eucharist is present the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord. And what is a body without a heart? The very Heart of Jesus is therefore joined with ours at every Communion. He gives Himself wholly to us, that we may love as he loves. May we also give ourselves wholly to Him. Let us surrender to Jesus all that we are, in all humility, especially our MISERIES. And with His Sacred Heart is always joined the Immaculate Heart of our Blessed Mother, Mary.

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.