Various diseases of the heart have been passed down through generations within my family. My grandmother, mother, and brother all died from such a lineage of heart failure. I also carry within me physical issues of heart disease. This heritage draws me closer to the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. The physicality of the human heart has become a starting point for my inner devotion to seek the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to rest in the healing and merciful heartbeat of my Savior.
Jesus has a heart for us through his passion, death, and resurrection. He seeks out our weariness and our longing for joy. Christ alone initiates such yearning and devotion within our frailty. Divine Love seeks us out in times of trial, misfortune, and physical pain. Our role as caretakers of the heart is to listen carefully to God’s desire to be among us and within us. In such a posture of listening, we hear our own heartbeat as well as God’s divine tenderness that heals hearts grown bitter or full of anger. Listening is not a pill to protect us from pain; it becomes a lifetime of prayer to develop an ongoing relationship with the fullness of love in Christ Jesus.
As a priest and religious, I view humanity with a tender heart, at least on most days. I witness every day that physical heart disease and spiritual heart disease are both part of being human. We may carry within us an obstinate heart that keeps us from viewing the dignity in other people. We may reveal a coldness of heart in holding on to grudges and misjudgments. We may succumb to disappointments and weariness that shut down our spiritual longing for God and for hope in our world. I see the consequences of spiritual heart disease in the center of family life and amid any worshipping community.
As a young priest, I so desired to give love away. Seminary taught me that we were to bring Jesus Christ into the struggles and grief of life, to embrace the sorrows our people were facing, to dive soul deep into the messiness of life, and never give up on the healing mission of Jesus Christ. After years of preparation for ministry, I was filled with a zeal to put my life on the line for God and humanity, to enter the hardness of people’s hearts and help solve hunger, the lack of housing, insufficient healthcare, and ongoing injustice toward God’s poor. I wanted to make sure people felt welcome in the church, that they would know firsthand the merciful presence of Christ Jesus.
My experiences over the years have tempered that youthful zeal. I have come to know that there is much spiritual resistance to breaking open pain, suffering, and the reality of life. After many mistakes, I learned that I cannot solve other people’s spiritual heart disease. My answers did not always satisfy the questions people had, and in so many areas of ministry, I was in over my head in my ability to solve issues or provide an effective response.
In my naïve youth, my truest ailment was that I thought such vigorous ministry was my own initiative. I now know that I cannot solve spiritual resistance or change any human suffering. Only God has the key to the human heart, and only God can direct the ways we invite people into the depths of hope. When I am at a loss to answer people’s pain or heartache, I have, with a full heart, learned to turn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Humbled, I have learned to surrender to the divine, a giving over of my life to the miracle of God’s compassion manifest in Christ Jesus.
As priests in the Congregation of Holy Cross, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is our guide and overseer. The Sacred Heart of Christ Jesus challenges us to surrender to compassionate love and all goodness because our efforts in ministry are not our own. Only Christ Jesus reveals the foundation of our ministry, the hope that love remains at the core of our humanity and our call to model for youth how to know, love, and serve God.
Every day in the Sacred Eucharist, the priest standing at the altar offers the invitation, “Lift up your hearts.” The people respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.” This dialogue is part of a relationship between the action of the liturgy and God’s people. It is not a throwaway line or a pious sentiment, for it dives deeply into our human experience of lifting to God all that is holy and good within us, as well as all that needs compassion, forgiveness, and mercy. We surrender in the liturgy all that ails the human heart, all the desires within us for courage and justice.
Even this simple dialogue in the Mass teaches us to surrender to the Most Sacred Heart of Christ Jesus. We all wait for such healing from God, the healing that breaks through all the spiritual diseases of our human experience. In this mystery, our worshipping assemblies come to understand more deeply that authentic love comes from God alone.
Listening carefully to Christ Jesus is a courageous act and a way of living in the Church. When we grow anxious, afraid, or full of rage, listening again to love is the ground upon which healing may happen. Listening is not an academic pursuit of Jesus, but a lifestyle of faith, hope, and love. Listening to the Sacred Heart becomes a lifestyle in which we entrust everything to God and become more sensitive to people around us in need of companionship and the basics of life.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ is our way of being faithful to the Gospel and centered in the sacraments of the Church. Without such a journey with Christ, we remain alone and afraid. Only with Him, through Him, and in Him do we grow in love and fulfillment. Listening to Jesus, who is the source of our lives, is crucial to our spiritual grounding. Listening with our human hearts in the Heart of Christ becomes a path to compassion and virtue in the Church. Listening with our hearts to the rhythm of Christ within us changes our view of others and helps us know the saving work of God.
The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated this year on Friday, June 12, 2026.
For a heart that truly listens. May we listen to the rhythm of truth in the Heart of Christ. May we not settle for living in our fearful hearts, stuck in our stories of violence or self-sufficiency. May the tension in our hearts be eased in the merciful presence of Christ’s love for us. May our home be known in the love of God and in the wealth of God’s healing stories within us. We pray to the Lord.
For a heart that welcomes God’s beloved poor. May God’s fidelity toward all people be known upon the earth. May the stranger, the immigrant, the beggar, and the lonely discover God’s acceptance along their journey. May God offer people the basics of life, housing, food, and employment. May our hearts find an attitude of hope for people living in the reality of injustice and violence. May our hearts be a light that guides others into God’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.
For a heart that celebrates the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. May fear be eased in our daily lives and may we surrender to the gift of Christ’s healing love. May the Sacred Heart become a source of love and prayer for all who long to live faith in our world. May God provide for us a serenity of life and a kindness of service toward all people. May the foundation of our lives become the love and compassion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We pray to the Lord.
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About:
Rev. Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C., serves as religious superior of Holy Cross House, our retirement and medical facility at Notre Dame, Indiana. He is an award-winning author, blogger, and visual artist. Learn more: ronaldraab.com
Artwork:
Fr. Ron created this colorful collage of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ a few months ago for this article. Fr. Ron’s artwork has been published in parishes, dioceses, and ecumenical settings around the world.
Provided by Rev. Ronald Raab, C.S.C., June 2026
