Friday is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is an ancient Catholic devotion, finding its Scriptural roots in St. John the Evangelist laying his head upon the chest of Jesus during the Last Supper. He would have heard and felt His Heart beat. However, it would not be for another 1,000 years when the devotion actually developed.

The following is an excerpt from a post that I wrote last year:

The Sacred Heart is an old Catholic devotion dating back centuries. It focuses on the human nature of Jesus (the heart long being considered the center or source of human emotion). As Jesus had become human to redeem us for our sins, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus concerns the Divine Love of God for us, and our response to that is our reparation for our sins. We sin, we repent and we make reparation.

In light of this, that the Sacred Heart was chosen as a symbol of recovery is not surprising. In our recovery, we are making reparation for the sins we had committed in our addictions. And in our recovery, we accept and respond to the love God has for us. We know we messed up and abused the gifts that God gave to us. But despite all of that, He still loves us as His prodigal children and always takes us back no matter how bad our sins. As long as we repent and try to amend our lives we are on the right path.

No sin is greater than God’s ability to forgive. Our repentance has to be sincere, and we have to make a best effort at amending. But no matter how evil, we can be forgiven. No matter how often we fall, we get right back up.

via The Sacred Heart and Alcoholism.

I have blogged about it numerous time before, here is a link to the Archive of Sober Catholic posts on the Sacred Heart

Here is an excellent little overview on the history of the devotion:

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The Catholic Encyclopedia has an even more in depth article on it:

Catholic Encyclopedia on the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Finally, here is a link to the Mass Readings for the Solemnity:

Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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