June Isn’t Pride Month. It’s the Month Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ.

The heart has been called the seat of the soul. Across different languages and cultures, this organ is spoken of as the place where a person knows what is true beyond logic and reasoning.

The heart is evoked when a husband and wife make their wedding vows. The heart is what jumps when a parent meets their child for the first time. Knowing someone’s heart means we have encountered their depths in love.

Since 1856, the Catholic Church has dedicated the month of June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The entire month serves as an invitation to grow in relationship with Jesus and to become more like Him.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart has its roots in the prayer experiences of a 17th-century nun named St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. She received visions and words from Jesus between the years of 1673 and 1675. Christ told her that now was the time for His love to be spread more emphatically to the world.

He said: “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular that, being unable any longer to contain within itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It must spread them abroad by thy means, and manifest Itself to them (mankind) in order to enrich them with the precious treasures which I discover to you, and which contain graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition.”

The words and appearance of Jesus fueled Margaret Mary’s prayer life and enabled her to have a deeper encounter with the living God.

Jesus told her: “I will be your strength. Fear nothing, but be attentive to My voice and to what I shall require of you that you may be in the requisite disposition for the accomplishment of My designs.”

This devotion has spread far and wide, teaching and forming the faithful in three ways.

First, we must constantly remember that God is real and that His love for us is beyond all understanding. Christ communicated that his burning love could not be contained. There is a need for it to be spread.

God is love. The love of Christ is not the love of this world, however. Real love needs truth. The love that Christ offers is not cheap; it is not concerned with feelings alone. The love of Christ is sacrificial. It counts no cost. It is the love of the cross. This is the love that Jesus invites us to experience and then to spread abroad like Margaret Mary did.

Second, the devotion reminds us that God chooses to arrive in our lives in ordinary ways. Margaret Mary was a simple nun in France. Jesus chose her to be the conduit for the world to receive the message of the Sacred Heart. He came to her in her normal prayer time before the Eucharist.

The Sacred Heart ought to remind us that our simple commitment to daily prayer and to worship on Sundays creates the foundation for God to interrupt our lives with His love—just like He did with Margaret Mary.

Finally, the message of the Sacred Heart implores us to listen for the voice of God each day. Few will ever receive a vision of Jesus, like St. Margaret Mary did, but we can truly hear Him and see His plans for us when we cling to prayer.

Life can be challenging. Loved ones become sick. Jobs are lost. Relationships are broken.

There is a constant need for us to return to prayer, the deep relational connection with God. It allows us to hear how the heart of God is inviting us to take the next step while trusting that His love will carry us through everything.

This month, be a person of the Sacred Heart. Strive to hear the voice of Jesus, trust in His plans, and be committed to loving like He does.

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