Image credit: Personal photo, Sacred Heart of Jesus, in a side chapel of Santi Vicenzo e Anastasio in Rome (same piazza as Trevi Fountain)
Mr. W. & I were in Rome last week, so I had opportunity to play more rounds of my version of PokemonGo. Only instead of collecting cartoon characters I don't understand, I collect images of the Sacred Heart.
Last year people seemed to like my "visual novena" to the Sacred Heart, and I intend to repeat it this year. But I wonder if I have collected 30 images of the Sacred Heart from different places? I might try to post one/ day to see how far I get. The impetus for this desire to go All Sacred Heart All the Time during June came a couple of years ago. In the course of some research I came across a graphic of the promises of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary.
In complete candor, I never think about these promises at all nor have they usually meant that much to me; in my own prayer I just think of Jesus' heart as the embodiment of all the things I feel called to live: charity, zeal for souls, evangelizing mission, etc., and I just try to love Him with a love that's personal, passionate, faithful, and concrete. I'm not someone much drawn to private revelation on the whole. But for whatever reason the promises caught my eye, especially #11, "I will bless every place in which an image of my heart is exposed and honored."
I got to thinking, "including the internet"? And then I thought about Christ's promise, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me." And I thought, what if we flood the internet, so full of the lewd and crass, with a visual antidote? No commentary necessary, no opposition, no lectures. Just a different image, one which the Lord himself has promised has power? I figure it couldn't hurt.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have Mercy on us!
