Friday, July 1, 2011

Forgotten at the Altar















This morning I arrived at church for 7 AM daily Mass, expectant with the joy of celebrating the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. By ten after seven, it was evident that the priest who had been scheduled for Mass would not be arriving. What would we do without Sister Doris who efficiently led all seventy daily Mass attendees in a communion service? By the end of the service, she was just about in tears, telling us how upset she was that there was no Mass on such a holy and special Solemnity.

After the service, I thanked her for leading the communion service, no one else would have known what to do! Then I told her that her obvious love and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus touched me deeply and I shared with her the story of how I came to be especially devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I told her about how I was praying the Sacred Heart Novena last year in anticipation of the Solemnity. On the second day of the of the Novena I had visited my favorite place, the shores of Lake Michigan to spend time in my favorite activity, searching for sea glass. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I spotted a red piece of glass which is extremely rare. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the sea glass was shaped like a heart with a gash in the side. What a beautiful sign of love from God!!! Fr. Don (Bishop Hying) blessed it for me and I wear my sea glass heart on a chain around my neck nearly every day. When I showed it to Sister Doris, we were both in tears, realizing the great and endless love that Jesus has for each and every one of us.

I am so grateful that I will have the opportunity to attend Eucharistic Adoration today to pray for all priests on this World Day of Prayer for Priests and for the opportunity to attend Mass tonight at the home of friends who have a monthly Sacred Heart of Jesus Prayer Group with confession, rosary and Mass in their lovely home chapel. I will be praying that Jesus will never again be forgotten at the altar. Won't you join me in my prayer intention?

Jesus, lover of our souls, You long for us to love You and to never forget You, especially at the altar! I am so sorry, my sweet Jesus, for all of the neglect that is shown towards You, especially on this very occasion devoted to your most Sacred Heart! I ask your pardon for our cold hearts and beg you to light the fire of Your love within us all, but especially within the hearts of Your priests whose charge it is to lead so many others to You. Let my love for You be large enough to soften the great hurt You must feel when others forget and ignore You. Amen.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in thee!!!

4 comments:

  1. I love this post, Anne! It is a grace that Jesus gave you unique reminder especially for you of His Sacred Heart and his love for you personally in the Sacred Heart sea glass pendant! Thank you for the reminder to pray for priests today. No other white collar job takes as many direct and indirect assaults of the Adversary.

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  2. A beautiful post, Anne. I remember when you found the sea glass heart - I thought it was one of those special "God kisses" and a sign of his great love for you :)

    I prayed this wonderful prayer with you, my friend - Jesus is so neglected in the world today and it is so sad to see this. Devotion to the Sacred Heart would be a huge remedy for this ailing world if people would just open their hearts. God bless!

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  3. I am praying your prayer with you too. It speaks to my heart so much!

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  4. Thank you fo sharing the beautiful story of your sea glass heart. How good God is! It is so lovely when He surprises us unexpectedly like that.

    How sad the other topic of your post was! In my town, most of the parishes have two priests on staff, but only one daily Mass - usually early in the morning. I don't understand why each priest doesn't celebrate Mass daily, perhaps one of them could offer a noon or evening Mass.

    I'm sure that Jesus felt the longing for Him in the hearts of each of your who came for Mass
    yesterday, and that you consoled His Dear Heart more than your could ever imagine.

    God bless you!

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