MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS
June 27
	Think of countless T-shirts and bumper stickers: “I (big red heart) a city/pet/candidate/whatever.” The heart is truly the universal symbol of love. Catholic tradition pictures Jesus’ heart as living token of redemptive love. The Gospels describe Jesus’ heart as “meek and humble” (Matthew 11:29), “full of compassion” (Matthew 9:36), a “fountain of living water” (John 7:37-39), of “blood [Eucharist] and water [Baptism]” (John 19:34), sacraments of the church’s birth, new Eve from new Adam’s side. The Sacred Heart devotion blossomed in the seventeenth century, countering an overemphasis on spiritual unworthiness and an increasing secular contempt for religion with loving affection for Jesus and encouragement of frequent Communion. The devotion’s “apostle” was the humble nun Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-90), who envisioned Jesus, pointing to his burning, wounded heart and lamenting the world’s indifference: “Behold the Heart that has loved people so and is loved so little in return!” This cherished Catholic devotion reminds us that, no matter how sophisticated the theology in our heads, discipleship is also, perhaps more so, a matter of the heart.
—Peter Scagnelli