12th 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 of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee. To trust is to have no qualm, no reservation, to surrender apprehension fully and freely. We trust for all that we hope—for eternal life, not to be abandoned in death, to be burned, bound, and pierced. How trying is such trust! How can we ever hope to attain such strength to surrender so fully? Our Lord does not command us to go where He is not, rather He calls us to where He is. He bids us follow the path He has walked and promises the life we have witnessed Him attain. Love Himself bids us obey in love (Jn 14:15).

The burning Love which purifies our vices is also the water of Life more sweet than the drop begged for by the rich (Luke 16:24). The binding thorns which tear our flesh rend the decay of sin from our bones that He might call them to new life (Ezek 37). The piercing lance which opens our heart carries with it the blood of the eternal font which wells up within us to life everlasting (Jn 4:14).

The labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience. This message of mine is for you, then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all, and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true King, Christ the Lord. (RB Prologue:2-3) Let us pray, in total abandon to that Love beyond all telling,

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