Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
READING 1
Genesis 3:7-10
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
READING 2
From the encyclical Dilexit Nos, on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Pope Francis
The symbol of the heart has often been used to express the love of Jesus Christ. Some have questioned whether this symbol is still meaningful today. Yet living as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart. This interior reality of each person is frequently concealed behind a great deal of “foliage”, which makes it difficult for us not only to understand ourselves, but even more to know others: “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse, who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). We can understand, then, the advice of the Book of Proverbs: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life; put away from you crooked speech” (Jer 4:23-24). Mere appearances, dishonesty and deception harm and pervert the heart. Despite our every attempt to appear as something we are not, our heart is the ultimate judge, not of what we show or hide from others, but of who we truly are. It is the basis for any sound life project; nothing worthwhile can be undertaken apart from the heart. False appearances and untruths ultimately leave us empty-handed.1
REFLECTION
Adam and Eve used fig leaves to hide themselves from God and from each other. They were ashamed because they were naked. Pope Francis observed that we continue to hide our interior lives, our hearts, behind a great deal of “foliage.” This “foliage” is composed of our psychological defenses, patterns of avoidance, distraction, compulsion. Our superficiality and freneticism are part of our efforts to protect ourselves, to reduce interior pain and to function in a world made harsh by sin. These are often unconscious and sometimes objectively sinful in themselves. Although we do well to look inside ourselves and to seek to understand ourselves, we often cannot truly see and understand why we do what we do. Part of the process of emptying our hearts is simply surrendering the mystery of what is inside of us to the Lord, asking Him to help us sort out our hidden motives and to heal us in His mercy. What is the foliage that keeps your heart noisy and crowded?
Prayer of Surrender of St. Ignatius
Litany of Penance by St. John Henry Newman
- Dilexit Nos x 2, 6. ↩︎
Consecration to the Hearts of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
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