Feast of the Sacred Heart: Buffalo Reflection

Written on: June 16, 2015

In addition to the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Yardley Motherhouse, our Sisters, Associates and friends also gather each year at D’Youville College in Buffalo. This year, Sister Joan Daly, GNSH was invited to share her reflection on this Feast.

“May Christ dwell in our hearts through faith. May we be rooted and grounded in love”

Today’s feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is full of images of God’s boundless love for us.  Psalm 85 says it well: “Listen, O People, in the silent chapel of your heart. I, the Beloved, will speak of peace to you.” Mercy and compassion are Love’s way to peace and God who is Love will guide our footsteps along these paths of peace.  In our daily lives we are challenged to allow Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith and in our homes through love.  When I was a student at St. Rose of Lima School in Buffalo we were encouraged to have an image of the Sacred Heart in our homes.  It was to be a reminder of how much God loves us and calls us to love one another.  Little did I know then that this devotion would become part of my life as a Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart.

In today’s Scripture reading from The Book of Revelation God speaks about new heavens and a new earth. “Look, I am making all things new.”   God who is love promises to make everything new! Our challenge is: Will we allow God to work this transformation in our hearts, our lives, our homes and our workplaces? What will this change of heart, mind and soul look like in our lives?

Our Gospel passage invites us to get in touch with our deepest thirst for the Water of Life…like the Samaritan woman we long for Living Water. This Living Water of God’s love quenches the longing of our hearts for healing, tenderness, mercy and peace.

This feast reminds us of ways in which Jesus’ loving heart touches us in our times of pain, sorrow confusion, anxiety and fear.  We hear his words: “Come to me all you who labor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you.”  Make my heart your home and learn from me.  Then take my love and go – Wake up the world! Look to the past with gratitude!  Live the present with passion! Embrace the future with hope!  I am calling you to “Go out to all the world and bring my love”. Just remember my words: “I have loved you with an everlasting love…  I have called you and you are mine!”  I will never forsake you, I will never forget you…just listen to my Heart’s song!

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Sister Joan Daly is a member of Sacred Heart Center, a new ministry of presence established by the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart in Buffalo, NY. Click here to for more information about the dedication.

This entry was posted in From our Sisters and tagged: Buffalo, compassion, Feast of the Sacred Heart, God's love, image of the SacredHeart, Living Water of God's love, love, Mercy, peace, St. Rose of Lima School