Today is June 21, the Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious.
We read at today’s Mass, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt 6:24).
Jesus exposes the aching problem of the divided heart. We long to give ourselves wholly to God, yet we scatter our affections among lesser treasures. Peace comes only when our entire heart rests in Christ.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the great visionary of the Sacred Heart, shows us how to bring our fractured hearts back to their true Master. Kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, she “surrendered (her) heart to the power of his love” and was drawn, as she writes, to “repose for a long time upon his divine breast.” There the Lord opened his Heart to her, revealing “the marvels of his love.”
Where does my heart truly belong?
Her testimony invites us to do the same:
Run to Jesus in prayer. Slip into a chapel, sit before the tabernacle or linger in Eucharistic adoration.
Surrender everything. Say aloud: “Lord, I renew every promise I have made to you. Take my heart — it is yours alone.”
Trust his response. The Heart that welcomed Margaret Mary will welcome you; the Master who desires undivided love will heal every division.
Today, ask: Where does my heart truly belong? If any part is still serving another “master,” place it firmly in the Heart of Christ. Only there will you find the freedom and joy of a single-minded love.
Let us pray,
O God, giver of heavenly gifts, who in Saint Aloysius Gonzaga joined penitence to a wonderful innocence of life, grant through his merits and intercession, that, though we have failed to follow him in innocence, we may imitate him in penitence. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
