A Letter From Our Pastor: Redefining Love Through The Sacred Heart Of Jesus

Dear Parishioners,

What a great joy it is to have this opportunity to share with you in the second edition of our monthly Stewardship Newsletter. Stewardship, as a way of life and a disciple’s response in following Jesus, has been at the core of our parish’s identity for over a quarter of a century. It is truly at the heart of everything we seek to do in grateful thanksgiving to God’s abundant care and love for us.

There is a beautiful feast in the month of June that is often overlooked. It is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus which we celebrate on June 11. I have always loved the image of Jesus’ Sacred Heart. I think it goes back to growing up on the south side of Chicago and belonging to Sacred Heart Parish where I went to grade school. The nuns often spoke of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary with such love and devotion.

In our culture today, we think of the heart as the seat of our emotions and feelings, and as more important than our God-given reason. Hence, morality and ethics is often equated to, “I feel this is the right thing to do.” Yet, feelings come and go. We simply can’t depend on our emotions to be reliable and steady guides on their own.

In classical Catholic theology, the heart is considered as an aspect of human life that goes beyond our feelings. It includes our will, where we make our decisions. The heart can be considered the center of our personhood.

In explaining Christian teaching about human nature, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The spiritual tradition of the church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one’s being, where the person decides for or against God” (368).

We so often equate love as simply an emotion. Love often includes feelings, but true love is more than that. As I have often quoted St. Thomas Aquinas, love is willing the good of the other. Real love is a settled attitude that wants the best for the person being loved. That’s why the Church’s teaching usually uses the term “charity” to distinguish the Christian virtue from the more superficial, popular concept of love.

The Catechism tells us, “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for God’s own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own to the end, he makes manifest the Father’s love which he receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive” (CCC, 1822-1823). This sort of love, this charity is no passing emotion. Feelings alone do not bring one to offer oneself to an agonizing death for the sake of another. No, that sort of sacrificial love comes from a consecrated heart set on more than oneself. We believe that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Therefore, His Sacred Heart was involved in His sacrifice on the cross. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us that God loves us unconditionally. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the ultimate act of charity, to give His life on our behalf. May we never forget this ultimate act of love of Jesus’ for us.

What kind of loving response to the sacrificial love are you and I going to make in regard to the stewardship of our time (pray), talents (serve) and treasure (give)? Will we allow the Sacred Heart of Jesus to fashion our hearts to be faithful and generous stewards of all that God has given to us?

It is with Jesus’ love in our hearts that we say “goodbye” to Fr. Lou in grateful thanksgiving for his three years of loving us, and “hello” to Fr. Thomas, who will be joining us July 1. How very blessed we are.

I offer this simple prayer that I learned from the sisters at Sacred Heart grade school as a gift to you. Let us pray it together in the days and weeks ahead. “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, make my heart like unto thine.”

In the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I love you.

Fr. Jim

Fr. Jim