Day Seventy-Nine: His Most Sacred Heart

So today was the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. For those of that are like "say whatttttttt?" let me explain the story.

So there was this boss French Catholic nun named Marguerite Marie Alacoque (does anyone else just love that name? Me and my super Catholic hubby [wherever he may be] are totes naming one our little ladies Marguerite Marie. Ok maybe not. MOVING ON) was all praying and stuff and things went down like this.*

December 27, 1673
Marguerite: Jesus! Bonjour! I say bonjour because I'm French! Yay crepes! I love you like A TON. And your awesome sacred heart? LITERALLY THE BEST THING EVER!!! GO YOU JESUS!!!
Jesus: *Comes out of nowhere like the boss God He is* Sup.
Marg: WHAT? Jesus I love you!
Jesus: I'm going to let you rest your head upon my heart and it's going to be amazing and awesome and in 340 years, this chick named Colleen is going to be totes jelly. 
Marg: Ok! Tell me stuff *rests head on JESUS' HEART LIKE WHAT*
Jesus: Aight. So my love is AWESOME and I love EVERYONE just SO MUCH and you're going to help me show everyone the wonders of my love and diffuse the treasures of my heart!
Marg: Oh my God! (Literally...) Me? What?
Jesus: Yeppppppp. So for those that practice a devotion to my Sacred Heart, I have some promises for them (the following are copied and pasted because I'm lazy):

1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.
12. In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.

Marg: That's like crazy awesome of You. Your heart is the besty best. Tell me more!
Jesus: Tell you more later skater. Byeeeeeee.

June 1674
Marg: OK IT HAS BEEN MONTHS AND I AM CONFUSED WHAT
Jesus: Yo! I'm back. So I want people to receive communion more, like all the time because HELLO I AM OFFERING MY BODY FOR YOU PEEPS SO DON'T REJECT ME!!! And I want people to especially receive Communion on the first Friday of each month (ergo, today) and I want people to do Holy Hours and hang with meeeeee. Ok bye.
Marg: WAIT NO JESUS WHAT

June 16, 1675 aka the "Great Apparition"
Marg: All right so I've been doing some things and praying a lot and I still want more direction.
Jesus: SURPRISE
Marg: Ah! Yay! But ah! *makes French noises of being startled*
Jesus: Yeah. That always seems to happen when I show up. ANYWAY, I want some homage from the king and I want a new devotion to my Most Sacred Heart and a feast of reparation on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi (fun, unrelated fact: I love the words Corpus Christi mostly because I get really excited that I know how to say it, how to spell it, and what it means. Come at me Latin!)
Marg: Whoa whoa whoa slow down I need write this all down.
Jesus: Just go tell your priest. See you later in Heaven!

So this awesome devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ was made from these three apparitions. A lot of times, I feel like I focus so much on God's Divine Mercy (that is whole other fun story like the one above with that...heyooo Sister Faustina) and that aspect of His love for me in terms of the mercy I gain from it. That's a really selfish way of thinking about God. "I love you a lot and I'm glad You love me and forgive me because I real nincompoop sometimes so I need A TON of Your mercy. K thankssss." By devoting oneself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, one focuses on the pure love God has for us. We're so undeserving. We make mistakes. We do things daily that hurt God. But He loves us anyway. Even in the moments where we're angry at Him or blame Him, He still loves us.

God's love for us shows us what true love is and looks like. We're not special, but He loves us as we are. The forgiveness and mercy is only secondary to His great love. He just loves us. We're His children and loves us so. It's amazing and fantastic and just WOW. He's the best. But really.

Just a little note, today was the fourth day in a row I've gone to mass. I think I've been to more daily, non-days of obligation masses this week than I have in my entire life. True story. It. Feels. Wonderful!

*It did not, in fact, sound like or go down like my version of the story. But you get the gist. I hope.