The month of June is associated with a special devotion among Catholics to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This Friday, the second after Pentecost Sunday, is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. It is followed on Saturday by the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

 

From the standpoint of faith and spirituality, there is good reason for these two celebrations to be observed on consecutive days. And the lessons of those hearts of Jesus and Mary have lost none of their importance over the centuries.

 

When we speak of someone’s heart, we are speaking of one’s inmost being. That is what we mean when we say someone pours out their heart, or speaks from the heart. It means an unfiltered access to the depth of thoughts and love of the person in question. It is that unveiled access that people seek from each other in the purity of friendship or love.

 

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart is linked to the heart of Jesus that was exposed by the soldier’s lance on the cross. In that moment, recorded in the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus’ side was pierced and blood and water flowed out. The faith of the Church has long reflected on the meaning of that incident at the end of the crucifixion.

 

In the blood and the water, the Church has long seen a symbol of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. These gifts from Christ, through the Church, are our reclamation from the power of sin and therefore entrance into the Church (Baptism) and the means of being continually transformed into Christ (the Eucharist).

 

The exposure of the heart of Jesus by the soldier’s spear reminds us of the great love for us shown by the Son of God. He exposed Himself even to such a horror and indignity for our sake. And His love was met by violence that sums up all of our sins, great and small. 

 

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart encourages us to reflect on Jesus’s great love. And it calls us to repentance for our sins and those of the world. We are given hope and confidence that in that process God will accept our sorrow and that our own love for the depth of His person will be established.

 

That is a summary of the honor given to Mary’s Immaculate Heart on the following day. In this case, the Church’s attention is drawn to the comment of the Gospel of Luke as part of the birth of Jesus. Luke tells us that, “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19).

 

“These things” were the first reactions of the world to the birth of Jesus. But the Church has always seen this as Mary’s wider reflection on the whole life and message of her son. By Mary’s reflecting in her heart, she is the perfect disciple taking to her inmost being the presence and love of God in the world. In so doing, Mary is offering the perfect response to the love, the forgiveness and the call to repentance summed up in the Sacred Heart.

 

This month of June reminds us to seek to make our own hearts immaculate and pure. We are called to spiritually reflect on whether our hearts truly follow Christ and do so fully. What sins or worldly attitudes impede our union with Christ? Do we harbor in our hearts attitudes toward others of anger or hatred? Have our hearts been made impure by the immorality of our time? 

 

We should seek our own immaculate heart. We should make it a response to Jesus’ Sacred Heart. This is the exchange of love at the depth of ourselves that sums of love for Christ and sorrow for sin.