There’s nothing quite like understanding what a physical heart is to a body, and to realize God himself has one.
I’ve long loved the solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which in a special way highlights the mysterious union of Christ’s full humanity and full divinity. It’s easier to be in a personal relationship with the almighty, and to recognize our human nothingness in relation to his divine person, when you encounter the God-Man through his heart. However you approach it, an encounter with the Sacred Heart is awe-inspiring.
I try to bring that same sense of awe to encounters with everyday people, who are made in the image and likeness of God. I’m not perfect at it. But by extension, what I do every day in my work should reflect a reverence for the people encountered through it.
Below are a few links to stories covered by OSV News. This week, team members also attended the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Fla. They covered everything from the president’s opening address to discussions of specific topics, such as the cause of the Shreveport Martyrs and a new pastoral plan for Hispanic ministry. There’s also a final recap piece to summarize, keep an eye out for that in your local Catholic news source.
Megan Marley
Digital Editor
P.S.: We put an average 20 pieces on the news wire for clients each day, but our public website shows less than 2 percent of it. Be sure to look for more links to OSV News stories on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
U.S. archbishops, cardinal call for reparation and prayer to Sacred Heart amid ‘blasphemy’
“We call on Catholics to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart on June 16 (Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), offering this prayer as an act of reparation for the blasphemies against our Lord we see in our culture today.”
‘Please hear us, and please help us,’ Nigerian bishop pleads, calling ‘blood of martyrs’ the ‘seed of Christianity’
“Death does not announce any day,” cautions a Nigerian proverb. It’s advice the Catholic faithful of the Diocese of Makurdi — in Nigeria’s Benue state — are grimly familiar with as they and their Christian neighbors endure a sustained campaign of terrorism now stretching into a second decade.
Eucharistic processions on Corpus Christi around U.S. promote devotion to Real Presence
Over the centuries, the tradition of processing with the Eucharist through the streets on the feast of Corpus Christi has spread throughout the Catholic Church and become a revered tradition for Catholics all over the world.
Sudan Catholic bishop shepherds his flock despite falling bombs, heavy artillery
A Catholic bishop in Sudan is braving aerial bombardments, heavy gunfire and artillery to stay with his people, even as other clergy, diplomats and ordinary citizens flee the deadly fighting in the northeastern African country.
Catholics in states affected by ever-shrinking Colorado River draw on ‘Laudato Si” to help avert water crisis
The American Southwest is in the grip of a megadrought that jeopardizes the Colorado River, and with it, water supplies for major U.S. population centers and farm producers.
Catholic ministries aim to encourage, empower Catholic dads in an increasingly secularized world
Catholic fatherhood can be challenging in today’s secularizing society. But equipping Catholic fathers for their distinctive vocation has become a special mission for several dad-centered ministries offering a wealth of resources, encouragement and fellowship.
Texas becomes seventh state to implement age verification for accessing online pornography
Texas’ law mandates “reasonable age verification methods” that require users to provide some form of digital identification, government-issued identification or transactional data (such as information regarding a mortgage, employment or education) before accessing sexually explicit content online.
El Papa insiste en que los políticos cristianos promuevan la dignidad humana y el bien común
Aunque la Iglesia católica no promueve un solo partido político o agenda legislativa, sí insiste en que los políticos cristianos siempre trabajen para promover la dignidad humana y avanzar en el bien común, dijo el Papa Francisco en un mensaje al Partido Popular Europeo.
‘Trashion’: How our spiritual emptiness harms the environment
Shopping in a more environmental fashion is an option, but when I am merely filling my own emptiness with more stuff, I need to stop and ask why.
Father Rupnik is dismissed? Good. But I have questions.
It is good to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart in times of chaos, questions and keen disappointment. Justice and rightness will come of it, this I know.
