Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Spirit Matters: Living to the rhythm of the sacred heart

Transcript

Spirit Matters: Living to the rhythm of the sacred heart · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Spirit Matters. Living to the Rhythm of the Sacred Heart
• 0:09
  written by Jerrelyn Zovada Novak and Spirit Matters. This article
• 0:14
  is being read by an automated voice brought to you
• 0:16
  by Everlett. I have often shared here my affinity for
• 0:21
  living life seasonally and the benefits of doing so. Each
• 0:24
  season offers its own gifts, and each season affects the
• 0:27
  human person in its own way. We are creatures composed
• 0:31
  of and sustained by the elements in our midst and
• 0:34
  it makes sense that our bodies and souls would naturally
• 0:37
  be designed to align with the four seasons. Living according
• 0:41
  to nature cycles is wisdom at its most. Elemental seasons
• 0:45
  come and go throughout our lives, and our bodies, souls,
• 0:48
  and experiences take on a corresponding rhythm. In a similar way,
• 0:52
  the Church's liturgical calendar does the same. For those who
• 0:57
  live according to the liturgical calendar, seasons like Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter,
• 1:02
  and ordinary time become guiding forces in our spiritual lives.
• 1:06
  In addition to these seasons, feasts and memorials throughout the
• 1:10
  year celebrate various saints and occasions such as Pentecost and
• 1:14
  the Sacred Heart of Jesus. June has long been dedicated
• 1:18
  to honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and I have
• 1:20
  long been enchanted with this devotion, which has taken on
• 1:23
  a modern meaning in these urgent times. Simply put, the
• 1:27
  Sacred Heart of Jesus is a devotion to the heart
• 1:30
  of Christ in all its vulnerabilities and tenderness, and his
• 1:34
  heart's desire to lavish love on the human soul and
• 1:36
  be loved in return. Devotion to the heart of Christ
• 1:41
  is founded on faith handed down through scripture and church tradition,
• 1:45
  that Christ's heart is inextricably bound with those who love him.
• 1:49
  At the Last Supper, the Apostle John reclined at the
• 1:52
  table with Jesus and rested his head on Jesus's heart
• 1:56
  in herald of divine love. Saint Gertrude the Great recounts
• 1:59
  of vision she was given of the Sacred Heart, where
• 2:02
  she dialogues with Saint John after resting her head on
• 2:05
  Christ's heart too. Saint Trude, well beloved of the Lord,
• 2:09
  did these harmonious beatings which rejoice my soul, also rejoice
• 2:13
  thine when thou didst repose during the Last Supper on
• 2:16
  the bosom of the Savior, Saint John. Yes, I heard them,
• 2:20
  and my soul was penetrated with their sweetness even to
• 2:22
  its very center. Saint Gertrude, Why then hast thou spoken
• 2:27
  so little in thy gospel of the loving secrets of
• 2:30
  the Heart of Jesus, Saint John, My mission was to
• 2:33
  write of the eternal word. But the language of the
• 2:36
  blissful pulsations of the sacred Heart is reserved for latter times,
• 2:40
  that the time worn world, grown cold in the love
• 2:43
  of God, may be warmed up by the hearing of
• 2:45
  such mysteries. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus walks with
• 2:49
  and converses with his disciples on the way to Ammaus.
• 2:53
  But they urged him stay with us, for it is
• 2:55
  nearly evening and the day is almost over. So he
• 2:58
  went in to stay with them. And it happened that
• 3:01
  while he was with them at the table, he took bread,
• 3:04
  said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them.
• 3:08
  With that their eyes were opened, and they recognized him,
• 3:11
  but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to
• 3:15
  each other, were not our hearts burning within us? While
• 3:18
  he spoke to us on the way, and opened the
• 3:20
  Scriptures to us Luke twenty four, thirty thirty two. Just
• 3:25
  as his disciples felt their hearts burning within them, so
• 3:29
  too do we feel that warmth in our hearts whenever
• 3:31
  we encounter the Living God in the midst of our lives.
• 3:34
  Genuine encounters with the Heart of Christ leave us forever changed.
• 3:38
  Once we have experienced and felt that tender love, we
• 3:41
  forever long for a return to it. In twenty twenty four,
• 3:45
  Pope Francis released his encyclical Delexit Nose on the human
• 3:49
  and divine love of the Heart of Christ. It is
• 3:51
  a gift to the Church as a whole and to
• 3:53
  each of us. It can be found here. This year,
• 3:56
  the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will formally consecrate
• 4:00
  the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday,
• 4:03
  June eleventh. On June twelfth, at five pm, Bishop Leu
• 4:07
  Tilka will consecrate the Diocese of Peoria to the Sacred
• 4:10
  Heart of Jesus. That's Saint Mary's Cathedral in Peoria. I
• 4:14
  cannot think of a better way to celebrate this feast
• 4:17
  this year than to consecrate our nation to the Heart
• 4:19
  of Divine love, because love, both human and divine, is
• 4:23
  the only thing that will deliver us from this moment
• 4:26
  we are in as a nation and a planet. This month,
• 4:30
  I encourage you to find a way to spend time
• 4:31
  alone in prayer with the Heart of Christ. It doesn't
• 4:34
  need to be anything formal. Simply go somewhere quiet and
• 4:37
  allow your heart to speak to His heart. Trust that
• 4:40
  he hears you and listens, and then listen closely to
• 4:44
  the beat of His heart in your life as it
• 4:46
  lavishly pumps divine love to yours. Spirit Matters is a
• 4:50
  weekly column by Jerlyn Zvada Novak that examines experiences common
• 4:54
  to the human spirit. Contact her at jay Z Blue
• 4:57
  three three at yahoo dot com.