Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Readings 061226 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus… have mercy on us.

I remember a truth learned again and again in Spiritual Direction:
we cannot think our way into God.
We must feel our way toward Him,
because God speaks to the heart—
the innermost place where spirit meets Spirit.

For whoever tries to think love
ends up grasping at smoke.
But whoever feels love
grows, expands, softens, becomes.

Scripture tells us plainly:
“God is love.”
And everyone who loves
is born of God
and knows God.
To live in love
is to live in Him.

And Jesus Himself rejoices in this:
“I give praise to You, Father…
for You have hidden these things from the wise
and revealed them to the little ones.”
Not the clever.
Not the calculating.
But the open.
The trusting.
The ones who lead with the heart.

So today,
stand before the Sacred Heart—
burning, wounded, poured out—
and let Him teach you again
that faith is not a puzzle to solve
but a love to receive.

Let His Heart shape your heart.
Let His tenderness become your strength.
Let His mercy become your way of seeing.

For when we feel His love,
we finally know Him—
and we finally become ourselves.

Prayer 

Sacred Heart of Jesus… 

draw me close to Your burning love.
Teach my spirit to feel You 

deeper than I try to understand You.
Soften the tight places 

where I still hold back.
Let Your mercy steady my 

seeing and my choosing.
Hold my small heart

 inside Your great wounded Heart.
Shape me, Lord… 

so I love with the tenderness You give.

Amen

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus … have mercy on us

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus … have mercy on us

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus … have mercy on us

Memorial of St. Barnabas

Readings 061126 

We all try to be a good person.
None of us wakes up planning to break God’s commandments.
But Jesus tells us today that goodness—true godliness—goes deeper than what was written on those tablets of stone.
It reaches into the hidden places of the heart.

Jesus warns us of the depth of the commandments:
“Whoever says to his brother, raqa…”
Raqa—an Aramaic word.
Not a curse. Not a shout.
But something quieter… more corrosive.
The slow drip of contempt.
The quiet dismissal that hollows out love:
“You empty one… you nobody… you’re nothing.”

And right beside that warning, the Church gives us Barnabas.
When Jerusalem heard that something new—something Spirit‑breathed—was happening in Antioch, they sent Barnabas.
Not a watchdog.
Not a critic.
But a son of encouragement—
a man whose heart was already shaped by the Gospel he carried.

And when Barnabas arrived, Scripture says he “saw the grace of God.”
Not the problems.
Not the immaturity.
Not the differences.
He saw grace.
And seeing grace, he rejoiced.
And rejoicing, he encouraged.
And encouraging, he strengthened the Church so deeply that “a great number were added to the Lord.”

This is the righteousness Jesus calls us to—
not more rules,
not more performance,
but more heart.
A heart that sees grace before it sees fault.
A heart that builds up rather than tears down.
A heart that refuses the quiet poison of contempt.

Lord, give us the heart of Barnabas—
a heart that sees grace, rejoices in grace,
and strengthens Your Church with encouragement.

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, 

Deepen my goodness.
Let my heart breathe mercy where contempt would hide.
Teach my tongue to bless, not dismiss.
Give me eyes like Barnabas—to see grace before fault.
Let my joy become encouragement that builds Your Church.
Fill me with Your Spirit, steady and strong in love. 

Amen