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     I live in a city that is renowned for its health care institutions - Houston, Tx.  One of the particular institutions that has captured attention is the Heart Institute.  This was especially true when Dr. Michael DeBakey was pioneering heart transplant and other daring procedures.  The feast of the Sacred Heart has a way of calling this to mind since so many Catholic homes at one time had a picture of Jesus with his heart exposed and afire!  But the point of the feast is not anatomical, as important as that is.  The feast focuses on the psychological and emotional meaning of "heart."  The scriptures for today speak of God's caring love, which we associate by analogy with the human heart.  (This was not always so because the Old Testament anatomical image placed the seat of the emotions in the kidneys - which later translation changed!)

 

     The feast of the Sacred Heart has its own history which would take too long to recount here.  Suffice it to say, the focus is on God's care for us as that of a shepherd for his flock (Ezekiel and Luke) and on God's gift of the Holy Spirit as a sign of His abiding love within us.  These two images - one external and the other internal - offer us a powerful message.  We are loved by God but we have that gift to share as well through the example of Christ.  We cannot hoard the gift.  Just as Christ "put skin on" God's love, so must we.  The traditional imagery of the feast may be a bit vivid now, but the message remains the same.  Love of God and neighbor is at "the heart" of our faith!  AMEN