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"The love of God has been poured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit." - Romans 5:5
The
Guardian of the Heart of Jesus
The
devotion to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was founded in the nineteenth century
by Father Jules Chevalier, a French Missionary of the Sacred Heart, who
understood Mary's unique relationship to the Heart of her Son. She is, in the
most personal sense imaginable, the Guardian of the Sacred Heart, the one who
knew it first, who carried it, who heard it beat for nine months from the
inside.
No one has ever been closer to the Heart of Jesus than His Mother. She carried
it. She held it in her arms in the stable. She felt it break at the Cross. She
knows its rhythms in a way that theology can describe but never fully capture.
Father Chevalier understood that to go to Mary under this title is to go
directly to the Heart she guards. And from that Heart flows everything: the
grace, the mercy, the love that the Sacred Heart devotion has poured into the
Church for centuries. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart does not stand between Jesus and us. She leads us straight to the one organ in the history of the
universe that beats with infinite love for each individual soul.
In 1966, this devotion was formally established in Mexico, the land of Our Lady
of Guadalupe, a country that has always understood Mary and Jesus as
inseparably and lovingly bound together. That makes perfect sense. You cannot
fully love one without the other.
Today's Gospel - Mark 11:27-33
The
chief priests and scribes questioned Jesus's authority: "By what authority
are you doing these things?" He responded with a question of His own, and
they refused to answer, unwilling to commit.
Authority rooted in love needs no credentials. Jesus did not present a
certificate. He spoke, and healing happened. He commanded, and the storm
obeyed. He loved, and people's lives were permanently altered.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart derives her authority from the same source: she is
the Mother of the One whose love is authority itself. When she intercedes, she
brings her request to the Heart she has known since before He was born. That is
not a bureaucratic process. That is a mother going to her Son.
A Prayer
Our
Lady of the Sacred Heart, Guardian of the Heart of Jesus, guard our hearts
today.
Keep them close to His. When they drift toward selfishness, draw them back.
When they harden against someone who has hurt us, soften them. When they grow
cold toward God, frightened, distracted, or simply numb, warm them with the
nearness of the Heart you carry.
You know what it is to love Him completely. Teach us. You know what it is to be
loved by Him completely. Help us receive it.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, pray for us. Amen.
Reflection
Our Lady carried the Sacred Heart for nine months. She knows our Lord’s rhythms
in ways no one else ever will.
When your heart is troubled, anxious, cold, hardened, or grieving, have you
ever thought about bringing it to the one who guards the Heart of Jesus? What
would it mean today if you placed your heart in the hands of the one who held our
Lord?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely given. Freely shared.
