A Sunday Thought About a Simple Way to Jesus' Sacred Heart

June focuses our spiritual lives on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At one time, devotion to the Sacred Heart held a central place in Catholic life. You can still find statues of Jesus displaying His Sacred Heart in many churches today. Usually they're older churches. At one time the Jesuits - that sadly misdirected, lost group of men who once stood tall as the greatest religious order in Christendom - promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Many faithful Catholics continue to observe this devotion. You can find plenty of ways to reinforce, bolster, and increase your devotion. I'm going to share one particular suggestion I came across recently. I like it because it's not elaborate. Anyone can do it. It tells us just how we can approach the Sacred Heart, even if we know very little about the history or richness of the devotion.

Be simply pious.

It comes from Father Zuhlsdorf's blog. He explains further:

The sin of our First Parents was the opposite of piety: act like self-sufficient self-gods.  We can drift into sinful defiance of God by neglect of piety and devotion.

I like the "simply pious" because sometimes simple works best. Even for those of us who have nurtured a devotion to the Sacred Heart for many years, we can sometimes become "mired" (if that's the right term) in pious practice. We can lose track of the essence, or whole point, of the devotion and focus our efforts on this or that series of prayers or practices. For those of us who are more or less beginners in pious practices, we might become intimidated by the plethora of piety you can find when you start researching the subject. So he suggests starting your devotion (or re-focusing it) like this:

Firstly, examine your conscience daily, in the evening, looking not just for sins you committed, but also how you sinned by omission.  That is how we ferret out negligence in regard to the virtue of Religion.

Next, during the day, say brief, silent prayers. No one needs to know that you prayed.  Pick one.  How about, “Jesus, meek and humble of heart: Make my heart like unto Thine.”  That little prayer has it all.  It drips with piety like Jesus’ wounded Heart.  It’s wonderful.

Thank you Father.

The Sacred Hear of Jesus burns like a furnace with infinite love. If you haven't cultivated a devotion to it, now is your chance.