10th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024

June is the month of the Sacred Heart--it is absolutely no shock that the Enemy wants to claim it so ravenously.  Rather than acknowledging the assertions of the demonic and attending to the demonstrations of depravity, let us instead acknowledge the Heart which so loves men and attend to the eternal sacrifice on which the world spits its contempt.  We were all of us “born this way,” and so the Master calls us to be reborn.  Allow me to offer a prayer of devotion to the Sacred Heart, and each week this month will have a meditation on a line of the prayer.

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O Sacred Heart, burning with love, consume me with Thy flame.  Test all my deeds and burn up whatever is unworthy of Thee.  My Jesus, leave nothing but what is precious to Thee.

O Sacred Heart, encircled by thorns, bind me fast to Thee.  Make me slave to Thy Passion, but with Thy thorns rather than chains-that, mercifully, to leave Thee might prick deeper than to remain.

O Sacred Heart, pierced with a lance, pierce me through with Thee.  Rend my own heart as Thine--that all grace Thou givest may, by this broken vessel, pour freely into all the world.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee. (x3)

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O Sacred Heart, encircled by thorns. The thorns of His crown contrast with the resplendent gold of monarchs, reinforcing His claim that His kingdom is not of this world. The kings of the earth display their glory and power to secure allegiance and dissuade would be conquerors. The throne of Christ, though, is the cross. Through suffering, His heart was made perfect (Heb 5:9), and by His wounds we are also made perfect. Though Calvary was the road, it began with the crowning—His annunciation of His lordship over pain and death. Just as He took flesh to elevate us, so was He crowned to elevate death itself, becoming firstborn of the dead (Col 1:18).

St. Paul writes that we are born slaves of sin (Rom 6:20) and that we become slaves of Christ by the price of His blood that He paid for us (Rom 6:22). This slavery, though, is a willing slavery—accepting the mark of ownership rather than resenting it. The chain which binds the slave is our honor to accept, for we are unworthy even of His yoke and burden (Matt 11:30). Rather than the chains of servitude, we should ask to be bound by the thorns of His crown, that the thistles which drew His sacred blood might commingle our blood with His and we might, in that binding, be bound body to body and blood to blood. Even in this, our wanton hearts sometimes become weary and seek relief. By this binding we find that to pull against this sweet captivity is to drive more deeply the thorns, and by our unwillingness we become even more deeply commingled to His passion.

For such grace beyond our comprehension, that we may walk the road of death that is become Life, we pray, bind me fast to Thee. Make me slave to Thy passion, but with Thy thorns rather than chains—that, mercifully, to leave Thee might prick deeper than to remain.

Domine Iesu Christe, Fili Dei, miserere mei, peccatoris.