Fireball

“Then there seemed to be a fire in my heart...” - Jeremiah 21:9

The prophet Jeremiah here is a figure for Christ.  Jesus is the ‘man afire with love’.  His Sacred Heart is depicted afire.  Aflame. 

This is the eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Every year it is celebrated the second Friday after Pentecost.  This year it happens to fall on Friday, July 1st . Its feast is very special to me.  First, it acts as a reminder of our Bishop (Most Rev. Robert Harris) - as he was installed on this feast as the Bishop of Saint John on June 15, 2007.  Secondly, it is a reminder of my own ordination - since it was May 30th, 2008 on the Feast of the Sacred Heart that I became 'a priest forever.'

Fire.  It is the symbol that Catholic art depicts engulfing the heart of Christ.  The heart of Christ is not only alive...it is aflame.  And, like flame, whatever gets close to it is changed.  May His heart be given permission by you to draw close to yours.