Saturday, December 6, 2008

Saturday, April 12, 2008

"His Sacred Heart, source of all love"




“Hear of Jesus, King and Center of all Hearts”

A. The Human Heart
Ever since I chose this title, a couple months ago, I began meditating upon its significance. Images of the Sacred Heart started coming into my mind, so I decided to learn more about the basic functions of the human heart, in order to understand more in depth why Jesus revealed his Heart to Margaret Mary Alacoque. First of all, I found that the human heart starts beating 20 days after conception. Since that very moment our heart beats without rest. It is not until death when our hearts stop pumping up blood throughout the body. Moreover, I also discovered that our heart beats a hundred-thousand times a day, and beats about forty millions of times per year. The main task of this complicated process of the heart, is to provide nutrients and oxygen to the whole body, through arteries and veins. This length of these veins is approximately sixty-thousand miles long.
History also can tells us how ancient cultures used to consider the heart to be of vital importance. For instance, the Hebrews considered the heart to be the see of wisdom. In addition to that, the heart used to be considered to be the place where the soul lives. But where do we have this life-giving pump? The heart is situated in the middle of the chest and it is zealously protected by ribs. Taking care of the heart is a long-life task, because it is the organ that sustained us. If we do not take care of it, we could be part of the 7.2 million people that die every year in the world because of poor treatment.

B. Jesus’ Heart: 100% human
God united himself to the human race and acquired a human heart, by becoming flesh for our salvation. He wanted to share our humanity and to feel the heart beat in his Godly being, and to purify it and to give it eternal life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that “The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human heart” (CCC. 473). St. John the Evangelist says that “[He] did not need anyone to testify about human nature. [Because] He himself understood it well” (John 2:25).
God himself took flesh from a Virgin. She became the first carrier of God made man, and felt in her womb the beats of the little heart that would suffer for all humanity and for its salvation. Mary knew that the name of his baby was “Savior” (Jesus) and that his heart represented the way to the Father. “The Son of God…. worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved” (CCC. 470). This tireless heart beats for each of his sons, and through its veins he gives us life and nourishment that we need to be alive. These veins are the sacraments.
Father Eugene Boylan, in his book “This Tremendous Lover”, says that “as in the human body there are special channels which supply the organs and the members with what they need…. So also [the Heart of Jesus has]… special channels by which we are supplied with the graces necessary for our functions…. The seven sacraments” (143). Each beat that the heart of Jesus does, supplies the world with life, through his veins the seven Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. These veins of the Heart of Jesus travel through 60, 000 miles, figuratively speaking, to unite himself with the hearts of the whole world, in a very personal way.


C. The Divine Revelation of His Heart
It was in Jesus’ plan to appear to Mary Margaret Alacoque on December 27, 1673, on the Feast of St. John the apostle, to carry out his message to the whole world by saying “My divine Heart is so inflame with love for men” (Heart of Jesus, Josef Stierly, 1957. p. 115). In 1691, Father Croiset put together the first list with twenty-three parts of the litany of the Secret Heart (called ejaculations) and in 1898, the congregation of Rites came out with 33 parts of the litany, “in memory of the 33 years of our Lord’s life on earth” (Heart of Jesus, Josef Stierly, 1957. p. 166). The beautiful litany that we pray to the Sacred Hear of Jesus is divided into three groups: “[t]he first one stresses the relation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to God, and first to the Blessed Trinity…. [The] [s]econd shows the riches of this Heart in itself…. This royal Heart is the king of all hearts… [and third] stresses the relation of the Sacred Heart to men” (Josef Stierly., p. 166).
In the title King and Center of All Hearts, “we can catch here the echo of a deeply significant truth of Scripture.” The prophet Ezekiel in chapter 11:19 says “I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart.” And in the words of Jeremias we hear, “They shall be my people, and I will be their God. One heart and one way I will give them” (32:38-39). [1] These words of the prophets were fulfilled in the Heart of Jesus, King and Center of all Hearts. He revealed his Sacred Heart to be contemplated day by day in the form of the Eucharist. He offers himself up daily at the altar of love where he is sacrificed.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus never will cease to beat because the Sacraments entrusted to the Church, which were his gifts, give life and made present the beats of the Loving Heart of Jesus in our midst. When the doors of the tabernacle are open, it is as if the chest of Jesus was open to give completely his heart.

May Thy Heart dwell always in our hearts!
May Thy Blood ever flow in the veins of our souls!
O sun of our hearts, Thou give life to all things by the rays of Thy goodness!
I will not go until Thy Heart has strengthened me, O Lord Jesus!
May the Heart of Jesus be the King of my heart!
Blessed be God. Amen.

Saint Francis De Sales

Hear of Jesus, King and Center of all Hearts, have mercy on us
Friday, April 11th 2008


[1] New American Bible

"4th Marathon"

“I thank God for my health, and to be able to ran another marathon”
Saturday, April 5th, 2008. I ran the 36th “Andrew Jackson Marathon in Tennessee. I did great, only because my friend James Weeder helped me to run harder the last 2 miles. We accomplished 26.2 miles in 4 hours, 7 minutes, and 28 seconds. This is my best time! I thank God, family, and friends for all their prayers.