Sacred Heart Novena Day 8

Pray with us Day 8 of the Sacred Heart Novena in preparation for the Consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

When we look at Him we see all the good qualities any leader can have, and even more.  There is no one more charming than Christ is. He is most human. He is not human in the sense that He is weak and defected. It means that He understands and loves human nature. He is real God and real man. He has a real Heart with real emotions, real sentiments of love.

No one understands human nature and loves it better than He does. And He knows all the secrets of human nature. It is so complex that even we who possess it hardly understand it; very often we feel things, we have moods that we don’t really wish to have, and we don’t know why we have them. Our soul acts through our body and this union is sometimes disturbed because of human weaknesses. Our Lord knows that. We should never be afraid to tell Him, “Dear Lord, I really want to love you even if I feel this way.”

Our Lord wanted to show us: if we feel sad, rejected, discouraged, be sure that it is not because God doesn’t love us or because He doesn’t give us enough graces. It is only because we are human. Christ felt sad many times. In His Sacred Heart, He surely shows us that we are not rejected by God even when we don’t feel as good as we wish to feel. Feelings go and come and they change. They are not the important thing. When we follow Christ, the most important thing is to wish to follow Him and to do so even if our moods change. So, it is a consolation that Christ knows us that well.

(Servant of God Sister Ida Peterfy – Sept. 16, 1961)

Psalm 42:5-6a,8

Why be so downcast,
why all these sighs?

Hope in God!  I will praise him still,
My Savior, my God.

When I am downcast I think of you.

In the daytime God sends his faithful love,
And even at night:

The song it inspires in me
is a prayer to my living God.

Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, have mercy on us.

Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation, have mercy on us.