Real Life Disciples: Come into my heart!

Have you ever had the experience of seeing a movie trailer and then talking about the movie with others like you have seen it? Or read the first couple chapters of a book and then tell others about it without really knowing how it all ended? It’s a common experience with kids and one I have witnessed many times over the years with our children.
 
Most of the time it’s just a desire to be “in the know” and to be able to contribute in conversations. Some of my kids have gotten really good at pretending and they know how to use certain details to make it appear they know the whole story, even though I know they don’t. My column this week is similar, but no pretending here. I want to share a story, but one I only have seen the first chapter or two of. I want to be up front and transparent that I don’t know where this story is going or how it will end.
 
The past week or so saw a unique sequence of events that doesn’t happen very often. On Friday, June 19, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Then, on Saturday, we celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And then Sunday was Father’s Day. The two feast days go together, one following the other going back to the early 1800s. But, they are celebrated at a different time every year, depending on when Pentecost falls.
 
The Feast of the Sacred Heart is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost and the Feast of the Immaculate always is celebrated the day after. What is unique about this year is the addition of  Father’s Day, which is celebrated on the third Sunday of June every year. It only happens once or twice a decade that all three fall on the same weekend as they did this year.
 
To clarify, Father’s Day is not some big Catholic Feast Day, so you may be wondering where I am going with this. It all started Friday morning as I was reading the meditation of the day from the Magnificat. This line grabbed my attention, “The heart of Jesus opened on the cross by the iron of the lance is the door by which we can enter into the knowledge of infinite love.” I kept trying to read the rest of the meditation but kept finding myself drawn to that one line.
 
Many times over the years, I have pictured myself at the foot of the cross, and even imagined the spear piercing the side of Jesus. But, those experiences in prayer always led me to my knees, seeing the blood and water flow forth and sometimes even pouring over me as it did on the soldier in the rendition of this scene in “The Passion of the Christ” movie. But, “going into” the heart was something I hadn’t meditated upon.
 
As I prayed with that powerful image, being invited into the heart of Christ, I was moved by the love I found there. I spent the rest of the day musing on this whenever I had a free moment. I woke up the next day realizing that it was the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and had a strong desire to go to Mass. I woke up my wife and off we went.
 
During the homily, I realized why these feasts are placed together the way they are. Mary’s heart is one with Jesus’ heart and is aflame with the same love. You even could say Jesus’ heart was once in Mary’s womb and his heart was knit into existence there. Her heart would have taken on the amazing grace and love in the heart of Jesus over those 10 months. And amazing how scripture talks of Mary “pondering these things in her heart.” How deep and on fire must the heart of Mary be!
 
This all landed for me on Father’s Day. As I was praying early that morning, I was feeling very grateful to God the Father for all the ways I have experienced spiritual fatherhood – through him directly, through our priests and through other father figures God has brought into my life. And then I was suddenly struck by what was in Jesus’ heart and Mary’s heart – God’s heart, the Father’s heart!
 
The burning love aflame in the hearts of Christ and Mary finds its source in God the Father. And it is that source of love that I am drawn to as a disciple, and what I hope my heart lights on fire with as I grow closer to the flames.
 
It was a fortunate series of events for me – Sacred Heart of Jesus, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Father’s Day. I’m so glad they collided this year in the way they did. But, like I said, this story is long from over.
 
I already started learning more about Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque whose visions of Christ helped to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart all throughout the Church. And, also Saint Claude de la Colombiere who was her confessor and spiritual director. And, even Saint John Eudes who in the 17 ^th century was the first to formalize the joint devotion to the two hearts of Jesus and Mary. I have many other chapters to fill in this story and only time will fill those pages.