The Sacred Heart of Jesus symbolizes God's love for us humans. God’s love for the human race is not symbolic, it is actual and perpetual. It is revealed to us through the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth. Metaphorically and iconographically the heart is the seat of our human passions and emotions; tenderness, devotion, affection, commitment, attachment, love. Those words used [...]
“Philip…felt himself called by God to the conversion of souls. He mortified therefore his love of solitude, and gave himself up with great fervour to the assistance of his neighbour. To this end he began about the year 1538 to go about the squares, shops, schools, and sometimes even the banks, talking with all sorts of persons in a most [...]
He breathed on them. Pentecost is the climax of Eastertide and the birthday of the Church. Fifty days after the resurrection, the public fountain of sanctifying grace was unsealed. From heaven Christ breathed forth the Holy Spirit upon His infant Church, publicly. He had already done so privately in the upper room on the first Easter day when He gave [...]
Between Ascension Day and Pentecost we implore the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of Pentecost were not given to make the apostles and inhabitants of Jerusalem feel cosy. The universal Church looks outwards from herself ad gentes, to the unconverted multitudes of the pagan world. The Paraclete does not drive the Church back within herself. The Spirit drives us [...]