Naming the Society with the name of His Heart was a mutual and real exchange of ownership between the Society and Our Lord who accepted the offering and took possession of it. As Reverend Mother de Lescure says in her November Circular Letter of 1949, "In marking it with His name, He made it His own and gave it His Heart. His name became the sign of the contract between love and mercy on one hand, confidence and total abandonment on the other, for this is what an alliance me be that unites the Heart which is only Love and Mercy with the poor, weak creatures that we all are....this reciprocal possession would make possible by right and fact the admirable exchange of poverty and riches, of failure and pardon, of frailty and strength, of powerlessness and life..."
What a grace for us to be called the Society of the Sacred Heart! Let us ponder what this means for each of us today - Religious, Associate, Alumni, Colleague, Friend, Child of Mary, etc. There is much to reflect on in considering the name of the Society.

Carried by Jesus

Have you ever felt that Jesus was carrying you? I suspect we all have felt this at different times in our lives. I love the story of only one set of footprints because Jesus was carrying the person who thought he had been left alone with all his problems. Jesus is always there for us.

I want to quote a bit from one of my favorite letters of Reverend Mother Therese de Lescure. This is the one that she wrote to the Society preparing for its 150 year celebration. It is on our name, Society of the Sacred Heart:
"It was first of all  between the Society and Our Lord who accepted the offering and took possession of it. In marking it with His name, He made it His own and gave it His Heart...

"What our Holy Mother further assured the Society by its baptismal name was the right to enter and dwell in this Heart.....

But this name would also be a title to entrance, not to the threshold but to the very depths of this divine Heart.,,,

I am going to try to keep to the theme of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during the month of June as it will be good for us to reflect on various aspects of the devotion. I do hope you try praying with the invocations posted in yesterday's blog.

Trust and Pray

Today I am sending you a real treasure. I no doubt sent it a long time ago in this blog, but using this for prayer was a real grace for me and I am sure it will be for you, too. We used to say this in preparation for the First Friday of each month.

LITANY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

Sacred Heart of Jesus,

To your adoration, I unite myself

To your burning love,

To Your ardent zeal,

To your reparation,

To your thanksgiving,

To your firm confidence,

To your fervent prayers,

To your silence,

To your humility,

To your obedience,

To your gentleness and peace,

To your surpassing kindness,

To your universal charity,

To your deep recollection,

To your intense desire for the conversion of sinners,

To your close union with the heavenly Father,

To your intentions, desires, and will, I unite myself.

Love of the Heart of Jesus, Inflame my heart,

Charity of the Heart of Jesus, Abound in my heart,

Strength of the Heart of Jesus, Uphold my heart,

Mercy of the Heart of Jesus, Forgive my heart,

Patience of the Heart of Jesus, Do not weary of my heart,

Kingdom of the Heart of Jesus, Be established in my heart,

Wisdom of the Heart of Jesus, Teach my heart,

Zeal of the Heart of Jesus, Consume my heart,

Will of the heart of Jesus, Dispose of my heart.

Adorable Trinity, We thank for the favors which you granted for St. Madeleine Sophie. We ask you to grant us the graces to be conformed with the Heart of Jesus completely. Amen.

Take one invocation to spend the day with and repeat it as you go through the day. It will make a difference in your life!

Sunday Reflection

This Sunday's Readings give much to reflect on and I think that we are learning to be more aware of the great compassion of God. I am also reading the book "The Humility of God" by Ilia Delio - it is taking me a long time because I need to keep going back over a page and underlining so many of her thought-filled sentences. I think her speaking of the humility of God in this book and the compassion of God in another have made the readings for Sunday speak to me of the great compassion shown and commented on for this Sunday by John Kavanaugh - we are still reborn in Christ!

"Elijah begged God to restore a dead son to a poor widow. Guilt was the order of the day. She presumed it was either Elijah's fault or her own that the son had died. But the guilt was overcome. The prophet, hovering over the lad, called his lifebreath back.
]esus, for his part, encountered a widow at Naim. He saw her in the funeral procession of her only son. Moved with compassion for her loss, his words were, “Do not cry.” He touched the litter and said, “Young man, 1 bid you, get up.” Then ]esus gave him back to his mother.
But did these two children of two widows eventually die someday? Of course they did. This can only mean that the message behind all those accounts of bringing back to life is not the perpetual postponement of death. Death will come, whether now or later. But the healings of the prophets, as well as Jesus, are symbolic of a deeper healing. The point cannot be to stave off death. If that were the point, Jesus himself should never have died.
But Jesus did die. And he was risen up by the power of the Father. That is the point. No matter what death we endure—even sin itself—it is not definitive. We are reborn in Christ."

The Heart of Christ is full of compassion and He needs us to be compassionate!

Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

This is not really a picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but it is a traditional image of Mary that speaks to me of her intercession for all of us. She is a real mother and watches over us. The surest way to the Heart of Jesus is through the Heart of Mary.
I am glad the feast of the Immaculate Heart is the day after the Feast of the Sacred Heart as those two hearts are so closely united that it seems fitting to have the feasts so close together. On the other hand, I think we celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary less now. It used to be on August 22 and something we really looked forward to as the summer was ending. Now, it is a quiet day with more time for prayer and that is good.
We had a lovely Mass with all the faculty and staff of our school here in Miami yesterday and then lunch there. The RSCJs in the Miami area also celebrated by going out to dinner. A huge rain storm started after we were safely seated inside for dinner. We all made it home safely but I read in today's paper that some areas were badly flooded. I am still praying with "Jesus: An Historical Approximation" and hope you are reading it. The author is Jose Pagola, a Spanish priest.

Feast of the Sacred Heart

Today's feast has reading about the Shepherd who cares for his sheep. I think the message that we are receiving from Pope Francis is that we need to go out and look for the sheep. We are all called today to deepen our relationship with Jesus, to speak to Him, heart to heart and to listen to Him. When we contemplate the Heart of Jesus we not only increase our love for Him but want to give His love to others. There are so many opportunities in our daily life to reach out to others. What keeps me from doing this? Let us ask both for a deep encounter with Jesus today and the apostolic zeal to continue to bring others to Him.

Seeking the Lost Sheep

Jesus tells us that if a sheep has strayed the good shepherd will leave his flock and go to search for the lost one. I think that Jesus is still our Good Shepherd and willing to go after any of us when we wander away.
He knows each of us better than we know ourselves; He loves us and wants what is best for us. We are always being led to green pastures by our Good Shepherd who calls us by name and goes before us. Why are we so stupid as some sheep and want to go our own way? As we prepare for the Feast of the Sacred Heart tomorrow, let us ask Jesus to "carry us home" and keep us in His Heart.
We, the Religious of the Sacred Heart in Miami, in union with our sisters all over the world, will be renewing our vows tomorrow. Those of us in Miami will do this at a Mass celebrated with the faculty of our school at 11:30.
As most of you know, we have really renewed our Province website; you can find it at www.rscj.org and my blog also appears on it.

A Litany

 We can all find many varied ways to describe the Heart of Jesus and pray to Him. This is from Wendy Wright:


Litany of the Sacred Heart

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

So loving
So humble
So gentle
So compassionate
So faithful
So wise
So patient
So steadfast
So tender
So spacious

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

God’s joy
God’s shalom
Harp of the Trinity
Wingbeat of the Spirit
Breath of God
Five-petaled rose

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Womb of justice
Birthplace of peace
Our dearest hope
Longing of our lives

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Freely flowing fountain
Spring of grace
Freshet of forgiveness
Merciful river
Mystical dew

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Warmth of our hearts
Transforming fire
Cosmic furnace
Enflamer of hearts


Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Heart of evolution
Beginning and ending
Center of all

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Garden of virtues
Mystical dew
Table and food

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Our refuge
Our shelter
Our comfort
Our rest
Our welcoming breast

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Wounded by love
Pierced by our cruelty
Broken by our hardness
Mystic winepress
Poured out as gift

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Have mercy, gracious heart,
Give us gratefulness
Teach us tenderness
Let us learn to love.

Hear our prayer!

- Wendy Wright

Let us pray...
God of all our hearts,
open your heart that we might see in yours
the beauty of each and every one created in your image.
We pray for all who have died
that they may find in your heart
the eternal peace you offer us.

My Friend

Today I want to share another gem from "The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore.
The title is "My Friend".

I have come to You to take Your touch before I begin my day.
Let your eyes rest upon my eyes for a while.
Let me take to my work the assurance of Your comradeship, my Friend.
Fill my mind with Your music to last through the desert of noise.
Let Your love's sunshine kiss the peaks of my thoughts and linger in my life's valley where the harvest ripens. 

On the Love of God

If June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, then we are reflecting on the love of God all month. The Heart of Jesus refers to the whole person and Jesus is both human and divine. This is a quotation from Bonaventure that I found myself going back to lately in prayer: "God's power is his humility, God's strength is his weakness, God's greatness is his lowliness." (Quoted by Ilia Delio in The Humility of God.
I think we are closest to Jesus when we are humble, weak, and lowly. It is not easy to acknowledge our weaknesses yet when I do and rely on the Heart of Jesus, then I am able to do all that He asks. He told Sister Josefa, "Come to my Heart and there find all that you need, even if it is what I have asked of you."

If you want to watch the Holy Hour with the Holy Father in Rome, go to 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8z2b7tw-EPE#  or just look at the blog on the right, Whispers in the Loggia. I just watched it and found it very prayerful. I felt as though I were really in St. Peter's adoring the Blessed Sacrament.

Feast of Corpus Christi

We had such a lovely Mass in the community last night and so I had more time for prayer on Sunday. I wanted to make the Holy Hour here in union with the one in Rome; I did use the petitions the Pope had for the prayer of the faithful last night. I guess I mostly just want to sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament and thank Jesus for this great gift of giving us Himself.
I also want to say that I had a wonderful birthday and was really touched by all who remembered me. It was a day of lovely surprises including having a card from my community waiting in the kitchen for me, a Mass at the church where I go for noon Mass that was celebrated by a newly ordained priest who came down to give his homily right in front of me so I understood it (a small miracle in that church). Then, just as he insisted on how Mary went to Elizabeth and did not hold back, he said we must also go out to others. I actually turned at the end of Mass and told the one who is usually in the second bench with me that I would love to get to know her as she has such a beautiful smile. Next week, I plan to invite her to lunch!
One of my community surprised me by coming home early so we had lunch together; then, while I was cleaning out and dusting one of my many bookcases, the doorbell rang and here was a friend with her mother and they had made cookies for me. So we sat and had tea and cookies and then it was time for dinner and another of my community had brought me a little cake with a card with three animals playing and singing and inside it said, "Rock on..."  That made me feel young! I also received gifts and cards from family and friends and will need a few days to answer all, but I am most grateful. I felt Our Lady's presence in a special way and that was a grace!
I also received some wonderful presents so will keep on buying books! 

June Begins with Feasts!

Jesus so much wants to show us His love; He is always waiting for us to let Him into our lives more fully. Sunday we have the Feast of Corpus Christi where we celebrate the fact that Jesus gives us Himself in the Eucharist. On Friday, we celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart and on Saturday, that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us begin June with a great desire to receive Jesus into our hearts, into our lives and to reach out to others in need of His Love.
Here is something copied from the blog on the side, "Whispers in the Loggia":

Keeping the annual tradition in the center of Rome, the Popemobile will head out into the streets again tomorrow afternoon for the Corpus Christi Mass on the steps outside St John Lateran, followed by the evening procession of the Blessed Sacrament down Via Merulana to St Mary Major.

Like Ascension, while the holy day of obligation is still observed on its original Thursday in the Vatican, cross the city-state's border into Italy and – as with most of the rest of the global church – the feast doesn't take place til Sunday. To facilitate the widest possible participation, then, the Pope will lead a Eucharistic Holy Hour inside St Peter's on Sunday's transferred feast from 5-6pm Rome time (11am Eastern, 8am Pacific).

At yesterday's press conference on the event, the cathedrals and parishes of the world were asked to "synchronize" prayers at home with the time of the Vatican event, which is set to focus on two intercessions penned by Francis:

First: “For the Church spread throughout the world and united today in the adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist as a sign of unity. May the Lord make her ever more obedient to hearing his Word in order to stand before the world ‘ever more beautiful, without stain or blemish, but holy and blameless.’ That through her faithful announcement, the Word that saves may still resonate as the bearer of mercy and may increase love to give full meaning to pain and suffering, giving back joy and serenity.”

Second: “For those around the world who still suffer slavery and who are victims of war, human trafficking, drug running, and slave labour. For the children and women who are suffering from every type of violence. May their silent scream for help be heard by a vigilant Church so that, gazing upon the crucified Christ, she may not forget the many brothers and sisters who are left at the mercy of violence. Also, for all those who find themselves in economically precarious situations, above all for the unemployed, the elderly, migrants, the homeless, prisoners, and those who experience marginalization. That the Church’s prayer and its active nearness give them comfort and assistance in hope and strength and courage in defending human dignity.”