On the Saturday following the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart the Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Devotion to the hearts of Jesus and Mary are also commemorated on the first Friday and Saturday of each month.

In the biblical sense devotion to the heart means devotion to the person. Much as you as parents are devoted to your spouse and children, you are devoted to upholding and protecting their personal dignity. The heart symbolizes a relationship of uniqueness and intimacy. It is symbolic of being who you are. I say symbol, because although it is medically possible to have a heart transplant, you do not become the person of the donor. You remain the person you are. But I would think that you would forever forge a bond of gratitude with that donor though you never met.

In the gospel today Jesus talks about those who have been truly blessed. We are the blessed that he is talking about. Indeed blessed are we who have been baptized and given the eyes of faith to see and hear God's word, and all the ways it is revealed to us.

God's revelation opens our eyes to Divine truths which the prophets and kings never knew. If we open our hearts in prayer there are ever new revelations to be received, beyond our imagining. St. Paul says: fit present I know partially; then I shall know fully.

Although we cannot grasp fully the whole truth of our redemption, it is not necessary. We see dimly but we see like waking in the night and walking by the light of the moon peering through the window. For that we can rejoice. We surely have no right to complain. We can learn from the lesson of Job which we have been reading these past weeks.

Each day, through our trials, we realize more fully and profoundly that we are blessed by what we see and hear through Scripture, Mass, the sacraments, prayer, and through our brothers and sisters.