Heart to Heart Communication

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, today, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, invite us to contemplate our connection to the Heart, the seat of Wisdom, in Jesus time, and our communion with Divine Love.

The Heart Connects

The Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy presents the Destruction of the Nations in the Land.

f. [7:6] Dt 14:2, 21; 26:18–19; 32:8–14; Ex 19:5–6; Ps 135:4; Mal 3:17.

g. [7:7] Dt 10:15.

h. [7:8] Dt 5:6; 9:26; 13:5; 15:15; 21:8; 24:18; Ps 78:42.

i. [7:9–10] Dt 4:31; 5:9–10; 24:16; Ex 20:5–6; 34:6–7; Nm 14:18; Jer 31:29–30; 32:18–19; Ez 18:1–24; Jn 9:1–3. (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 103 praises God’s mercy towards all people.

* [Psalm 103] The speaker in this hymn begins by praising God for personal benefits (Ps 103:1–5), then moves on to God’s mercy toward all the people (Ps 103:6–18). Even sin cannot destroy that mercy (Ps 103:11–13), for the eternal God is well aware of the people’s human fragility (Ps 103:14–18). The psalmist invites the heavenly beings to join in praise (Ps 103:19–22). (Psalms, CHAPTER 103 | USCCB, n.d.)

The reading from the First Letter of John proclaims God’s Love and Christian Life.

* [4:7–12] Love as we share in it testifies to the nature of God and to his presence in our lives. One who loves shows that one is a child of God and knows God, for God’s very being is love; one without love is without God. The revelation of the nature of God’s love is found in the free gift of his Son to us, so that we may share life with God and be delivered from our sins. The love we have for one another must be of the same sort: authentic, merciful; this unique Christian love is our proof that we know God and can “see” the invisible God.

* [4:13–21] The testimony of the Spirit and that of faith join the testimony of love to confirm our knowledge of God. Our love is grounded in the confession of Jesus as the Son of God and the example of God’s love for us. Christian life is founded on the knowledge of God as love and on his continuing presence that relieves us from fear of judgment (1 Jn 4:16–18). What Christ is gives us confidence, even as we live and love in this world. Yet Christian love is not abstract but lived in the concrete manner of love for one another. (1 John, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew proclaims Praise of the Father and The Gentle Mastery of Christ.

* [11:25–27] This Q saying, identical with Lk 10:21–22 except for minor variations, introduces a joyous note into this section, so dominated by the theme of unbelief. While the wise and the learned, the scribes and Pharisees, have rejected Jesus’ preaching and the significance of his mighty deeds, the childlike have accepted them. Acceptance depends upon the Father’s revelation, but this is granted to those who are open to receive it and refused to the arrogant. Jesus can speak of all mysteries because he is the Son and there is perfect reciprocity of knowledge between him and the Father; what has been handed over to him is revealed only to those whom he wishes.

* [11:28–29] These verses are peculiar to Matthew and are similar to Ben Sirach’s invitation to learn wisdom and submit to her yoke (Sir 51:23, 26).

* [11:28] Who labor and are burdened: burdened by the law as expounded by the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:4).

* [11:29] In place of the yoke of the law, complicated by scribal interpretation, Jesus invites the burdened to take the yoke of obedience to his word, under which they will find rest; cf. Jer 6:16. (Matthew CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Andy Alexander, SJ, comments on why the first part of the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius is so liberating. In that early part of the retreat, we discover that we are loved, sinners. We discover love without condition. We experience tender mercy. We’re not loved when we get our act together. Even when we struggle, even when we wander, we are loved passionately. This is the breakthrough, the grace, that each of us can ask for on this feast – to know how deeply we are loved and to receive it.

In his last encyclical, Dilexit Nos [He loves us], on the Sacred Heart, Pope Francis wrote:

The Second Vatican Council points out that “the ferment of the Gospel has aroused and continues to arouse in human hearts an unquenchable thirst for human dignity”. [24] Yet to live in accordance with this dignity, it is not enough to know the Gospel or to carry out mechanically its demands. We need the help of God’s love. Let us turn, then, to the heart of Christ, that core of his being, which is a blazing furnace of divine and human love and the most sublime fulfilment to which humanity can aspire. There, in that heart, we truly come at last to know ourselves and we learn how to love. #30

In the presence of the heart of Christ, I once more ask the Lord to have mercy on this suffering world in which he chose to dwell as one of us. May he pour out the treasures of his light and love, so that our world, which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities and uses of technology that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart. #31 (Alexander, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The grace of Christ bears us up,” from an anonymous early Christian teacher

"'My yoke is easy and my burden light'... The prophet says this about the burden of sinners: 'Because my iniquities lie on top of my head, so they have also placed a heavy burden on me' (Psalm 38:4)... 'Place my yoke upon you, and learn from me that I am gentle and humble of heart.' Oh, what a very pleasing weight that strengthens even more those who carry it! For the weight of earthly masters gradually destroys the strength of their servants, but the weight of Christ rather helps the one who bears it, because we do not bear grace; grace bears us. It is not for us to help grace, but rather grace has been given to aid us." (excerpt from the INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 29: PG 56:780) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 John 4:7-16 comments that writing about St. John Henry Newman’s devotion to the Sacred Heart, Pope Francis had this to say:

St. John Henry Newman took as his motto the phrase cor ad cor loquitur [heart speaks to heart], since, beyond all our thoughts and ideas, the Lord saves us by speaking to our hearts from his Sacred Heart. This realization led him, the distinguished intellectual, to recognize that his deepest encounter with himself and with the Lord came not from his reading or reflection, but from his prayerful dialogue, heart to heart, with Christ, alive and present. (Dilexit Nos, 26)

We can deepen our knowledge and belief in God’s love as we spend time with Jesus in our own “prayerful dialogue,” as we come “heart to heart” with him in prayer. We can speak to him of our joys and burdens, our dreams and desires. We can express our love for him and our gratitude for all he has done for us. Then we can listen for his word to us, a word that will reassure us that he holds us, now and always, in the depths of his own Sacred Heart.

To honor this great feast, try to set aside some time to speak to the Lord heart to heart—and come to know, ever more deeply, the love Jesus has for you!

“Jesus, help my heart to burn with love for you!” (Meditation on 1 John 4:7-16, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that Moses is trying to teach the people how God has chosen them. They should respond by being faithful and carefully observing their commitments. In 1 John, God is defined as Love. Jesus taught what Love is in His death for us. He willingly took this on himself. In the Gospel of John, the crucifixion is the hour of glory as the outpouring of love for us. In Matthew, Jesus praises the childlike revelation to those who surrender to the mystery we cannot figure out. We can learn from the wonder of the child discovering new things. Friar Jude reminds us that the yoke of two oxen presents the truth that we need to have the help of Jesus in a custom fit yoke to make the furrows and assist in the burdens we carry that are our personal path to trust in God.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, speaks of Jesus’s desire for us to remain connected. Yet we keep condemning ourselves and others for not being perfect, for not being right, or for not being correct.

Everybody seems to be trying to prove that they are right. We have almost a collective incapacity to admit failure, to ever admit that we are wrong, which makes us liars most of the time. Jesus is calling forth a very different kind of human being.

Jesus says people who live a vulnerable life of connection and relationship will bear much fruit. These are the people we trust, like, and admire, so why are so many of us afraid to be the very thing that we admire the most? How foolish human beings are! But again, Jesus has told us the way: He is the vine; we are the branches. None of us can be or need to be correct, but we can always be connected. (Rohr, n.d.)

We attend to the wisdom of the Spirit that affirms that we grow in faith, hope and charity in our action to yoke ourselves with Christ as we live our Baptismal anointing as priest, prophet, and leader.

References

Alexander, A. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Creighton On line Ministries. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-june-12-2026 

Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/7?6 

Matthew CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 

Meditation on 1 John 4:7-16. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved June 12, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/06/12/1590299/ 

1 John, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1john/4?7 

Psalms, CHAPTER 103 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/103?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Remain in Me as I Remain in You. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/remain-in-me-as-i-remain-in-you/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Heavenly Things Revealed to Infants. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Burning with Love

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, the Solem­ni­ty of the Most Sacred Heart, challenge us to be receptive to acts of love, mercy and compassion through which we experience the Love in the Heart of Christ.

The Good Shepherd

The reading from the Prophet Ezekiel proclaims the Parable of the Shepherds.

* [34:2] Shepherds: the leaders of the people. A frequent title for kings and deities in the ancient Near East; the ideal ruler took care of his subjects and anticipated their needs. Ezekiel’s oracle broadens the reference to include the whole class of Jerusalem’s leaders (v. 17). The prophet assures his audience, the exiles in Babylon, that God holds these leaders responsible for what has happened to Jerusalem and will give Israel a new shepherd worthy of the title. (Ezekiel, CHAPTER 34 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 23 declares The LORD is my shepherd. 

* [Psalm 23] God’s loving care for the psalmist is portrayed under the figures of a shepherd for the flock (Ps 23:1–4) and a host’s generosity toward a guest (Ps 23:5–6). The imagery of both sections is drawn from traditions of the exodus (Is 40:11; 49:10; Jer 31:10). (Psalms, PSALM 23 | USCCB, n.d.)

The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans proclaims Faith, Hope, and Love.

* [5:1–11] Popular piety frequently construed reverses and troubles as punishment for sin; cf. Jn 9:2. Paul therefore assures believers that God’s justifying action in Jesus Christ is a declaration of peace. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ displays God’s initiative in certifying humanity for unimpeded access into the divine presence. Reconciliation is God’s gift of pardon to the entire human race. Through faith one benefits personally from this pardon or, in Paul’s term, is justified. The ultimate aim of God is to liberate believers from the pre-Christian self as described in Rom 1–3. Since this liberation will first find completion in the believer’s resurrection, salvation is described as future in Rom 5:10. Because this fullness of salvation belongs to the future it is called the Christian hope. Paul’s Greek term for hope does not, however, suggest a note of uncertainty, to the effect: “I wonder whether God really means it.” Rather, God’s promise in the gospel fills believers with expectation and anticipation for the climactic gift of unalloyed commitment in the holy Spirit to the performance of the will of God. The persecutions that attend Christian commitment are to teach believers patience and to strengthen this hope, which will not disappoint them because the holy Spirit dwells in their hearts and imbues them with God’s love (Rom 5:5).

* [5:1] We have peace: a number of manuscripts, versions, and church Fathers read “Let us have peace”; cf. Rom 14:19.

* [5:7] In the world of Paul’s time the good person is especially one who is magnanimous to others. (Romans, CHAPTER 5, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke proclaims The Parable of the Lost Sheep.

* [15:1–32] To the parable of the lost sheep (Lk 15:1–7) that Luke shares with Matthew (Mt 18:12–14), Luke adds two parables (the lost coin, Lk 15:8–10; the prodigal son, Lk 15:11–32) from his own special tradition to illustrate Jesus’ particular concern for the lost and God’s love for the repentant sinner. (Luke, CHAPTER 15 | USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Jim Caime, SJ wonders about having the kind of love of the Sacred Heart inside himself.

But maybe that’s exact­ly where the Sacred Heart meets us—not in our strength, but in our pover­ty. This feast isn’t a moral chal­lenge to love per­fect­ly. It’s an invi­ta­tion to be loved first. To be met by the mer­cy of Christ right where we’re emp­ty. To let our­selves be loved like that—in all our weak­ness, resent­ment, con­fu­sion, and pain. To be held by a heart that nev­er hard­ens against us, no mat­ter how long we wander.

And if we let that love in—just a crack—something begins to soft­en. Maybe our hearts ache in the same direction—bruised by grief, cracked open by com­pas­sion, stretched by the long­ing for peace. Maybe just a sin­gle moment when we don’t lash out. When we choose silence over spite. When we weep instead of retal­i­ate. Maybe the cycle breaks. Even just once.

So don’t try to have that kind of love.

Let it have you.

And maybe that is enough. (Caime, 2025)

Don Schwager quotes “Jesus is Son of David and Son of God,” by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.

"We also will ask the Pharisees of today a similar question. They deny that he who was born of the holy Virgin is very Son of God the Father and himself also God. They also divide the one Christ into two sons. Let these people explain to us how David's Son is his Lord, not so much as to human lordship as divine. To sit at the right hand of the Father is the assurance and pledge of supreme glory. Those who share the same throne are equal also in dignity, and those who are crowned with equal honors are understood of course to be equal in nature. To sit by God can signify nothing else than sovereign authority. The throne declares to us that Christ possesses power over everything and supremacy by right of his substance. How is the Son of David David's Lord, seated at the right hand of God the Father and on the throne of Deity? Is it not altogether according to the unerring word of the mystery that the Word as God sprung from the very substance of God the Father? Being in his likeness and equal with him, he became flesh. He became man, perfectly and yet without departing from the incomparable excellence of the divine dignities. He continued in that state in which he had always been. He still was God, although he became flesh and in form like us. He is David's Lord therefore according to that which belongs to his divine glory, nature and sovereignty. He is his son according to the flesh." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 137.52) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Romans 5:5-11 comments on the fiery uncontainable love that Jesus shows throughout the Gospels.

Every day Jesus seeks you out. He wants to heal your sorrow over losing a loved one, your anxiety over finances, your desire to reconcile with an estranged friend, or the pain you experience because of sin. As you offer him your wounds and worries, the love that flows from his Sacred Heart will fill your heart. That heart, “so inflamed with love” for you, will bestow on you his infinite treasures: his peace, healing, mercy, and comfort.

Jesus is waiting for you with open arms! Come and let him embrace you.

“O Jesus, let me know the fire of your love today!” (Meditation on Romans 5:5-11, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the Ezekiel 34 passage that declares the shepherds to guide the people had failed and God himself would now lead them. This prophecy is fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Romans declares that God has poured the Spirit into our hearts. As sinners we did not deserve mercy and compassion but Love has reconciled us. The Shepherd who finds the one may have us ask “what about the 99?” God reaches out to those who need His Love. He does like the parent who rejoices at the transformation of a wayward child.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces authors Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom reflect on the Alcoholics Anonymous community and the powerful lessons we can learn from them. The organization models how to be responsible for self and others.  

At Alcoholics Anonymous, no one’s in charge. And yet, at the same time, everyone’s in charge…. The organization functions just like a starfish. You automatically become part of the leadership—an arm of the starfish, if you will—the moment you join. Thus, AA is constantly changing form as new members come in and others leave. The one thing that does remain constant is the recovery principle—the famous twelve steps. Because there is no one in charge, everyone is responsible for keeping themselves—and everyone else—on track.… There’s no application form, and nobody owns AA.   

Nobody owns AA. Bill realized this when the group became a huge success and people from all over the world wanted to start their own chapters. Bill had a crucial decision to make. He could go with the spider option and control what the chapters could and couldn’t do. Under this scenario, he’d have had to manage the brand and train applicants in the AA methodology. Or he could go with the starfish approach and get out of the way. Bill chose the latter. He let go. (Rohr, n.d.)

We ponder the experiences of burning love when the hymn of Leonard Cohen “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” resonates with our journey.

References

Caime, J. (2025, June 27). Daily Reflection June 27, 2025 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved June 27, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-june-27-2025 

Ezekiel, CHAPTER 34 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 27, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/34?11 

Luke, CHAPTER 15 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 27, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/15?3 

Meditation on Romans 5:5-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 27, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/06/27/1317323/ 

Psalms, PSALM 23 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved June 27, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/23?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Individual and Collective Responsibility. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 27, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/individual-and-collective-responsibility/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 5. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 27, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/5?5 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Rejoice, I Have Found My Sheep Which Was Lost. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 27, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jun27a