“Love Like Jesus” - The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

Jun 24

“Sacred Heart,” artwork by Brother Mickey O’Neill McGrath, OSFS.

On June 27, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. This date also marks the close of a year and a half jubilee marking the 350th anniversary of the visions of the Sacred Heart shared with Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, VHM. Beginning on December 27, 2023, this special celebration was established by Pope Francis to last for the same length of time that which St. Margaret Mary experienced three apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Jesus yearned for her to share this message with the world: “Behold this Heart that so loves humankind.”

The spirituality sustained in the Visitation Order is one of hearts, connected in the bond of love of Jesus and each other. It makes sense that the Sacred Heart would find refuge in the community whose motto is to “Live Jesus.” How does one ‘Live Jesus’? The spirit engendered by the founding saints, Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal, suggests that it is by doing little things in the midst of our ordinary and busy lives. Living each day well, rising to the daily challenges, treating each other with love.

Recently, during the week of June 8-13, 30 students and 8 chaperones from the three Visitation schools came together for an immersive summer week of service, called VISTORY, first established by the Sisters in 1998. Hosted at Mendota Heights Visitation School (MN) in coordination with the Visitation Sisters of North Minneapolis Monastery, students experienced the values of going out in love and service to those in the broader community.

In many ways, the VISTORY week was a living expression of the Sacred Heart’s call - to see, to serve, and to love one another with tender and merciful hearts. Our Visitation students did not just offer their time and effort; they entered into relationships, recognizing in those whom they encountered the dignity of a brother, a sister, a neighbor often overlooked or forgotten by the world, but never unseen by the Sacred Heart.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart reminds us of a love that is constant, personal, and compassionate - a love that invites us to extend ourselves in humility and thoughtful concern. Throughout the week, our students embodied that spirit. At senior centers, they shared conversation and companionship with elders; in neighborhood clean-up projects, they worked side-by-side with community members to care for common public spaces; in local food pantries, they sorted groceries for Minnesotans in greatest need. In moments both simple and profound, they chose to love like Jesus.

At the close of the week, each participant received a bracelet inscribed with the words, “Love Like Jesus.” It served not only as a souvenir of a week of shared experience in sisterhood, but as a daily invitation to continue the work of the Sacred Heart in their schools and communities: to see those whom others might miss, to respond with mercy, and to remember that in loving our neighbor, we are loving like Jesus.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus can serve as a synopsis of Salesian Spirituality. Jesus’ heart —alive, pulsing, even burning—actively yearns for each one of us to be nourished in our relationship with Him. Then, inspired and fueled by this profound, unconditional, vast Love, we are invited to reach out to our brothers and sisters in the world. Tapping into the love of Jesus’ own heart, Margaret Mary encouraged, “Go courageously to God along the way He has traced out for you, steadfastly embracing the means He offers you. Our Lord is satisfied with your goodwill. His heart will never refuse you the graces necessary for fulfilling entirely all He asks of you.”

In this season, how do we open our own hearts to the Heart of Jesus and respond in Love?

Prayer of Trust to the Sacred Heart (in Times of Stress)

Holy Heart of Jesus, Sweet Sanctuary of rest,

bring peace to my soul and settle my spirit,

especially in the matter of_________________.

I vow to place all of my worries and fears

into the wound of your Sacred Heart,

there to be tended to in accordance with your perfect will,

which desires only the best and highest good.

Your love alone is enough, and I surrender to it;

clinging to the hope of a swift resolution

and trusting with confidence in all of your promises.