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Sacred Heart Financial Report July 2021 – June 2024

A beautiful prayer of Thanksgiving after receiving Holy Communion

My adored Jesus,

May our feet journey together

May our hands gather in unity

May our hearts beat in unison

May our souls be in harmony

May our thoughts be as one

May our ears listen to the silence together

May our glances profoundly penetrate each other

And may our lips pray together,

to gain mercy from the eternal Father.

Amen

Immaculate Mary, Mother of Jesus

spread the effect of grace of your

flame of Love (Jesus)

over all of humanity

now and forever.

The purpose of this prayer is to unite our whole being, every part of it, with that of Jesus, and allowing him to transform us into His eternal self-giving life, death and resurrection, for our salvation and the salvation of everyone living in the world. Everywhere we go, we are to exhibit that burning, welcoming love of Jesus to others.  It reminds me of one of the “secret” prayers of the Mass that I often audibly pray when mixing the water with the wine. That prayer is:

By the mingling of this water and wine,

may we come to share in the divinity of Christ,

who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.

It is the recognition that we are called to share (in some small, mystical way), in the Divinity of Christ. We are to become that flame of love, Jesus Christ!

(part 2 continued)

The Unity prayer is about being in communion with the heart, mind, soul, strength, and divinity of Jesus. It is not only bread and wine that are transubstantiated into Jesus at Mass. We, by responding to the grace of God, are also to become transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus, for the life of the world.

“My adorable Jesus” (my adored Jesus)

At first, I strongly objected to calling Jesus “adorable,” it makes it seem like Jesus is like an adorable “baby” or a “dog,” or something we typically call “cute.” I wanted to change the word in the worst way. Only gradually did it dawn on me, that “adoration” is the best word to express the highest form of love for God. The expression is a bit archaic in the 21^st century, and I still wish there was a better word, but I can’t think of one. In talking with John Sullivan, the International Coordinator of the Flame of Love Movement, the English translation of this word from Hungarian (the language of Elizabeth Kindelmann who received the locutions of Jesus) will be changed to “adored.”

“May our feet journey together.”

This is Jesus’ request is for us to walk together each day along with Him, on His journey of self-sacrificial love to save souls, our own and the souls of everyone we encounter this day, and every living soul in the world. As our feet walk with him, we can’t avoid “the way of the cross!” May our primary focus be on Him, and His concerns, and not on our own worldly concerns that are often self-centered. As a friend of mine Joe Leone says, “forget about me, what about you?” We need the attitude of the “good shepherd” as we travel in our daily walk. We need to walk the road less traveled, looking for the lost.

“May our hands gather in unity.”  Praying together with Jesus, means praying and working with the whole Church, to evangelize all those we encounter during our daily journey. The more people united and praying together, the more powerful, stronger, and effective the prayer is, to gather souls and wake-them-up to the meaning of life, and our eternal destiny.

“May our hearts beat in unison.”  May our hearts beat together as the one heart of Jesus. May that ardent love of His, touch others through me. Jesus said to Elizabeth: “My human heart beats in union with my divinity; your heart beats in rhythm with My heart. That means you partake of my divinity, which makes you saints.”

“May our souls be in harmony.”  John Sullivan says that It was difficult to translate the Hungarian; the literal translation seems to be “May our insides feel together.” This means our gut-feelings. The deep-down, visceral feelings and desires. We will struggle much to bring our gut-feelings in line with those of Jesus if we feel revulsion, rejection, indifference or other blocks (sinful tendencies) we may have.

“May our thoughts be as one.”  In ancient Hebrew, the heart was considered to be the center of thought,
decisions, and actions. To modern English-speaking people, the mind or brain is often the only organ of thinking and decisions. Jesus tells Elizabeth that His every thought is for souls, his deepest longing is for souls.

“May our ears listen to the silence together.”  Personally, I never liked silent prayer much, or meditation, because when there is silence, my mind goes in all directions and I feel like I am just wasting time. I am still trying to appreciate this kind of communication. It involves active listening, not only to the words but the emotions, and other non-verbal communications that are conveyed. I call it meditative listening.

(part 3 continued)

Jesus’ words to Elizabeth about silence (from her diary):

Remain silent, My little Carmelite.

Do not be surprised if I say this often.

Do you know who is truly wise?

The one who says very little.

True wisdom matures in the soil of silence,

and only in silence can it take root.

I am your Master and I instruct you.

I prepared Myself for three years of activity

by thirty years of silence.

Being your Master, and united with Me,

you will also find wisdom.

Speak only when I give you the signal,

expressing yourself only in the way you have learned from Me,

or in the manner I would say it Myself.

In a word, imitate Me.

You will see that just a few words

can produce good abundant fruits in souls.”

“May our glances profoundly penetrate one another.” Our effort here is to see ourselves and others as Jesus sees them and us. This requires profound humility. As Jesus told St. Catherine of Siena, a lay Dominican who lived in the 14^th century, when she asked “Tell me Lord, who am I, what am I? Lord, tell me also, who and what art Thou?” The answer she received shows the distance between the Creator and the creature. “Daughter, thou art she who is not. I am He who is.”  Without God, we are nothing!

“And may our lips pray together (with Jesus) to gain Mercy from the eternal Father,” – for everyone.

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said of the Rosary that it is “the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the Rosary is beyond description.”

As Bishop of the Diocese of Trenton, I invite all Catholics in the Diocese of Trenton to consider making this powerful devotion part of your daily life of prayer. Please join with me in praying Our Lady’s Rosary every day between now and October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, for the many intentions and needs of our nation today, especially:

• For a true respect for life in all its stages from conception to natural death;
• For the strengthening of family life;
• For an end to the COVID-19 pandemic and for all those impacted by it;
• For a lasting resolution to the racial tensions and injustices that have too long afflicted our country;
• For an end to the violence and death in our cities, especially among the young;
• For the victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking;
• For the poor, the unemployed and those who face economic hardship, and
• For so many of the other intentions and needs that we face in our country and world.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.