St. Augustine gives the meaning of the feast of the Sacred Heart: “Let us return to the heart that we may find Him”  Pope Benedict XVI once said: “This Heart consists, not of self-preservation, but of self-abandonment. It saves the world by opening itself out. The crushing overturn of the opened Heart is the very content of the Easter mystery. The heart does save indeed; but it saves by giving itself away utterly. In the Heart of Jesus, therefore, we are face to face with the center of Christianity. In this Heart everything is said concerning that truly new overturn that takes place in the New Covenant. This Heart calls out to our heart. It invites us to forsake our vain attempts at self-preservation and to find, in an imitation of his love – in our giving ourselves away to him and with him – that fullness of love which alone is eternity and which alone sustains the world.”

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are called to give thanks to him who has loved us unconditionally and totally. At the same time, we are called to respond to his gratuitous, divine love with our limited, human love. As he emptied himself, giving his all, we are called to empty ourselves in love to him and to others. Impossible? Not for one who truly knows how to love and who makes love the center of one's life.