Jesus’ Sacred Heart
(yesterday)
&
Mary’s Immaculate Heart
(today)
The
words sacred and immaculate are not words I would use in any earthy way. In fact immaculate
is the word my mother used when she banished me to my room where I was not to leave
until it was immaculate! And yet devotion
to these sacred and immaculate hearts began amid the mediaeval mystics’
contemplation of Jesus’ human nature. So,
I’m thinking that my focus ought to be on the word heart instead.
Hearts
are very earthy. They are fleshy and bloody. They are mechanical pumps, relentless in
their life sustaining work. I can feel
mine working, thumping as it constantly feeds and energizes my systems. And I can feel when it gets off track as it
sometimes does. It is then that I am
reminded to attend and care…to
lie down and breathe deeply and pay attention.
I
can’t feel my brain or my liver or my pancreas in the same way. My hands rest naturally over my heart, its
placement is so perfect. It is no wonder
that the heart is so prone to rich metaphor:
-a
broken heart
-take
a hold of my heart
-from
the bottom of my heart
-to
speak from the heart
-my
heart goes out
-to
take something to heart
-the
heart bleeds for…
-the
heart goes out…
-the
heart’s desire
-to
lose heart
-to
take heart
-my heart
sank
-faint
of heart
-heart
of gold or of stone
-hard-hearted
or tender-hearted
-big
heart or no heart
-my
heart tells me
-to
learn by heart
-cold/warm
hearted
-to
win someone’s heart
The
takeaway?
All that is expressed in heart metaphor…
worry,
sincerity, sadness, pity, sympathy, affection, kindness, desire, courage,
value, intelligence, core…
Is grounded in the all-encomasisng heart of God
Oops...forgot one: The key to my heart???
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