Experiments in Catholicism: Fueled by the Sacred Heart

By Emily E Long

At the last supper, Jesus washes the feet of his apostles, breaks bread with them, and gives them this command: “Love one another as I have loved you.” From these words, and the consequential events just a few hours later, when He is crucified on the cross, we are saved by His love for us. The foundation of our faith becomes this supreme act of love.

In the 1600s, St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, a French nun, received visions of Jesus, who gave her a symbol of His love — His Sacred Heart — a heart pierced with a crown of thorns but still pumping only with love for His Children.

In June, the Catholic Church celebrates the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It’s a time on our calendars to recommit to loving your neighbor as yourself, no matter who your neighbor is. This is no small task. How can I go through my daily life and show love to everyone all the time? In order to get to acts of love as big as Jesus’ love for us, we need to start small.

St. PierGiorgio Frassati is often portrayed as a rugged outdoorsman; however, his love for the poor is what really defines his life. Although he was born into a wealthy family, a young PierGiorgio always noticed the poor around him growing up in Italy. When he was very young, a woman came to the door looking for money to buy her son shoes. Seeing that the boy was around PierGiorgio’s age, he took off his shoes and gave them to him.

As he grew older, he would spend more time with the poor, using his family’s money to buy medicine, food, and clothing for those in need. He helped bring those he met to church and back to Christ and made sure the small children and babies he met were baptized. He is quoted as saying, “Jesus comes to me every morning in Communion, and I return the visit by going to serve the poor.”

Ultimately, he spent so much time with the poor that he is believed to have contracted polio from the community. When he died at age 24, the people he helped lined the streets of Turin as his coffin left his home for the funeral. PierGiorgio’s love of Jesus fueled his love for the poor, truly seeing them as neighbors he needed to care for.

As a member of the Syracuse Frassati Fellowship, one of my small acts of love happens at our monthly service night. Since 2023, our group has assembled bologna and cheese sandwiches for the Assumption Food Pantry. What started as a monthly hour-long service night has turned into many members’ favorite activity. In the three years since, we have assembled over 17,250 sandwiches. It’s how we put just a small bandaid on the hunger our neighbors in the City of Syracuse face daily. Our small hour of service once a month has become a common thread for other group activities. We’ve added service elements to hikes and social events by asking members to bring a canned food item for a food pantry. Some of our members take time to volunteer with sandwich distribution at Assumption Church or volunteer with the Samaritan Center. We have woven Jesus’ love for the poor into the very fabric of the group.

His love for us is a truly radical act. Not only does Jesus love all of us, He holds the marginalized even closer to Him. The month of June is a reminder that we need to hold those people closer, just as He did. Matthew 25:40 says, “‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

When we see videos on the news of the treatment of people at our borders, those who are suffering from starvation in war zones, and children who are abused in our own communities, it’s hard to keep watching. We must not look away from these injustices and this stark lack of His love. Instead of averting our gaze, we need to let Jesus’ Sacred Heart burn brightly within us, to have enough love to stare poverty and injustice right in the eye. We are all neighbors and need to treat each other as such.

If you don’t know how to start, try meditating on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, then let His flaming, all-consuming love fuel you.

Experiment of the Week: Meditate on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Then, let His love fuel a small act of charity towards a neighbor.