Post by Leonard J. DeLorenzo

This past week, on the eve of the nation's 250th anniversary, the Catholic bishops of the United States consecrated the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As Archbishop Lori put it in his homily in Orlando, they gathered not to celebrate themselves but to entrust — to place the nation's hopes and wounds alike before the Heart of Christ. It was a striking thing to witness: not a policy or a platform, but a prayer. And it points to something the saints have always known. The Sacred Heart is not first a devotional image. It is the love of God made flesh — a Heart that has known friendship and betrayal, joy and sorrow, and still burns for us. That conviction is at the center of the newest episode of Church Life Today. In "Three Saints of the Sacred Heart," I offer brief reflections on St. Louis de Montfort, St. Faustina Kowalska, and St. Padre Pio — three very different lives, each drawn into the same fire. These reflections come from my new 33-day devotional, The Rule of the Sacred Heart: Finding Rest in a Restless World. Your heart is restless. It longs for a love that will not fail. These saints found that love, and they show us the way in. via McGrath Institute for Church Life and Our Sunday Visitor, and available wherever you get your podcasts.