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(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland discusses devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, its connection to the Eucharist, and its crucial importance for contemporary Catholics.
According to Bp. Strickland, the Sacred Heart is more than an image, but a reminder of the purpose of the Incarnation, stressing that the heart is the “image of the very center of a person.”
He further connects the Sacred Heart with the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph, for St. Joseph and Mary “are the first to point to Jesus as the very heart of the home … I would encourage all of us to stop and reflect on the beautiful reality that Jesus’ Heart began to beat in the womb of His Mother.”
Speaking about the Sacred Heart, Strickland also asks people to recall that it “continued to beat until the moment of His death on the Cross … His Heart stopped, as all the living functions of the human body stopped.”
His Excellency further states that this devotion is important for our scientific age that’s bogged down by heresy and blasphemy, observing that disheartened people can find comfort in the Divine Heart.
Strickland also discusses the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the context of Eucharistic miracles, pointing out that the human flesh appearing in the miracles is heart flesh. Discussing one of the miracles, Strickland recounts, “I’ve even read in one of the descriptions of one of those Eucharistic miracles, that the scientists said … there was no way that they could devise a method to weave together this heart tissue with this … bread.”
By the same token, Strickland connects the date of the Feast of the Sacred Heart with that of Corpus Christi, explaining that the Sacred Heart is present in the Eucharist and that the love of God is clearly seen in the gift of the Eucharist. He advises listeners to keep an image of the Sacred Heart in their homes.
“[This] really echoes what John’s Gospel says so beautifully, that God is love, that God has a Heart of love for all humanity,” he observes. “And the same thing [is seen] in the Eucharist. … As we talk about [the] Eucharist and the Sacred Heart, they begin to merge into one reality. And I think that’s … what I’d encourage us to be reminded of.”
Later in the episode, Strickland discusses the importance of baptism and the necessity for Catholics to share their faith and invite others to live as baptized Catholics.
After lamenting baptized Catholics who do not practice their faith, His Excellency remarks that their falling away is a “reminder that we who are blessed to know our Catholic Faith is the true Faith.”
“We shouldn’t be haughty about that,” he advises. “We should humbly say, ‘I’ve got to share this gift, and I’ve got to bring back every person that I can in our own families, in our communities, to call people.’”
“But we would make huge progress in the life of the Church if everyone who is baptized Catholic … if all of them came deeper and closer to the Sacred Heart of Christ, they’re going to come to His Eucharistic Presence.”
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