This year, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus falls on June 12, my birthday. It's a moveable feast tied to Easter, so when this time of year rolls around, I secretly hope it will be the year I share the feast with Jesus.
It seems fitting, because devotion to the Sacred Heart is one of the most cherished parts of my spiritual life. It's less about the timing, though, and more about my journey into the depths of His heart.
It has been a constant presence for me, not because I was always seeking Him, but because He was always pursuing me. Long before I understood the richness of the Faith, embraced it fully, or knew what devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus meant, He was there, presenting Himself, and waiting patiently.
Looking back, I see His Sacred Heart woven through my life like a crimson thread of providence, appearing again and again in ordinary and extraordinary moments. What once seemed like isolated events now feel connected by that precious thread.
At every stage of my life, Christ seemed to be quietly revealing the same truth:
You belong in My Heart.
Before I Understood, I Loved Him
When I was a very little girl, my grandmother, Frances, would give me Sacred Heart badges. They were simple treasures. Often they said "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in You."
Each time she gave me one, I carried it everywhere. I would tuck one beneath my pillow. Another I placed on my childhood desk. Others found homes in my dresser drawers, purses, and wallets.
I knew they were special, without understanding exactly what they were, because Grandmother gave them to me with great tenderness and love, explaining that Jesus was always with me.
Something about His image captivated me. The sight of Christ offering His Heart to me - and to all mankind - stirred love and gratitude even in childhood. It called to something beyond mere understanding.
Children often recognize beauty before they understand truth. God made our hearts that way, so at His earliest overtures, we could respond and begin to notice Him, even before we were able to grasp at meaning.
Before I knew who Christ was, I already knew that I loved Him. The Sacred Heart was teaching me who Jesus is, not a distant God, but a Savior whose Heart burns with love for His own, including me.
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Heart at the Center of Home
In my grandmother's home hung a very large image of the Sacred Heart. When I was a child, it felt larger than life itself. You saw it immediately when you entered the house.
In a modest home, it occupied the prominent wall, visible from the entrance, living room, and dining room. It was impossible to miss. The Sacred Heart was not only decoration. It was a declaration. It proclaimed what they believed: Christ was the center of their home and their lives.
In that house, you knew you were loved. Every time you emerged from the back rooms and entered the main living space, there He was. Every family gathering, special celebration, and ordinary day unfolded beneath the protective and loving gaze of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Years later, the image came to my parents' home. My father hung it on the wall above our staircase. To this day, a trip upstairs or down brings you face-to-face with Him as you walk beneath his gaze.
I still make the sign of the cross and whisper, "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in you," when my eyes meet His in passing, up or down the stairs. As a child, I never reflected upon what that meant, but now I do.
My grandparents and parents handed down the conviction that Christ belongs at the center of our lives and our families. Long before I understood the faith intellectually, I was shaped by that inheritance.
A Saint Who Pointed Me Toward His Heart
In fourth grade CCD, I received an assignment to research and present my patron saint, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, to my religious education class.
My mother gave me her missal, where I read about my saint and took notes. I was instantly amazed. "How could anyone do all she did in one lifetime?" I wondered. That day, this extraordinary saint became my lifelong friend and intercessor.
Years later I realized the significance of the assignment. It's impossible to speak about Mother Cabrini without speaking about the Sacred Heart. She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and entrusted every aspect of her astonishing work to Him.
When asked how she managed the immense responsibilities of leading missions, schools, orphanages, and hospitals around the world, she replied with characteristic simplicity:
"Oh, I put it all in the Sacred Heart, then then I don’t get the headache. I just say to the Sacred Heart, ‘It’s your work I am doing and I can’t do it alone, you must help me,’ then I go to sleep and the help comes.”
Mother Cabrini had a living relationship with Christ through His Heart, so it's fitting that she would become another signpost guiding me there. After all, they say our saints choose us, so surely they know what is best for us, what will fill us, and what we need to get to heaven.
My Little Sacred Heart
When my parents were married, my maternal great-grandmother gave my mother a small, framed image of the Sacred Heart.
For my mother, it was a cherished wedding gift from her beloved grandmother. Years later, when I moved into my own home, my mother gave it to me.
We sell the same image at The Catholic Company, where it's one of our most popular. Mine reminds me that for at least four generations, the Sacred Heart has been especially adored and honored in my family.
Of the many images of Christ's heart, this one remains my favorite. His eyes have always captivated me. They are alive and penetrating, but His gaze is not demanding. It is intimate and inviting.
What began as a cherished wedding gift to my mother became another reminder that Christ's love had quietly accompanied me from childhood to adulthood.
Coming Home
A few years later I became a mother, in May of 1998. I suddenly found myself overwhelmed by a startling realization: God had entrusted an immortal soul to my care.
I remember looking at my tiny babe and thinking that I didn't even trust myself to care for a houseplant, and had not yet managed that successfully. Why would He trust me to prepare a soul for eternity? It was sobering.
As an adult I had become habitually Catholic, and now felt called to get my act together. I was immediately and firmly convicted: the way to become the best parent for my daughter was to be found in our Faith.
I was not yet fully embracing it. I attended Mass on Sundays and holy days, but had not been to confession in many years. My understanding was shallow and my commitment incomplete, but I felt called to go deeper.
By June I was attending daily Mass. That year, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart also fell on my birthday, just days after I began bringing my newborn daughter to mass with me each morning.
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One morning as we left the church, I picked up a prayer booklet from a rack near the door. Immediately I recognized the image on the cover. My Sacred Heart. Seeing the image felt like coming home.
Peace washed over me as I carried the prayer booklet and the baby to the car. The same Heart that had accompanied me through childhood was still waiting for me now, even as I had grown less attentive to His presence and less grateful for His gifts.
Over the next two years, I began reading everything I could about my Faith, and opening my life more fully to Christ as His Heart continued to lead and guide me.
Gathering Me In
A few months after my second child was born, I was shuttling between medical appointments for my newborn daughter in an unfamiliar part of town. She needed further testing after failing two hearing screenings. I headed home carrying the familiar burden of maternal worry.
Somewhere between anxious thoughts and ordinary responsibilities, I remembered that I was out of cold cuts needed for packing my husband's lunch the next day. I spotted an unknown grocery store so quickly it was like an answered prayer.
In this unfamiliar part of town and unknown location, I waited in line and began chatting with a very friendly woman. As we spoke, a registration form for a Catholic Mom's Ministry sailed out of her overflowing tote bag and onto the floor.
She was starting the group at a nearby parish where I had not yet officially joined, but was already attending mass with my toddler and infant in tow. At the time, it seemed like a happy coincidence, but twenty-five years later, I see God in it so clearly.
Her invitation led me to some of my most cherished friends. Out of that program came a First Friday Women's Retreat group, devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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These remarkable women became my sisters in Christ and fellow prayer warriors. We made our nine First Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart together. We attended mass as a group each First Friday, then renewed ourselves with a monthly mini-retreat while our kids played in the church nursery.
We raised our children together while resting our hearts in His, one day at a time. Twenty-five years later, though many of us are separated by hundreds or thousands of miles, we remain united in prayer, and by that precious crimson thread.
I marvel at God's tenderness, and He continues to astonish me. The Sacred Heart did not simply call me to deeper Faith, He gathered me into a family.
The Heart That Never Stops Calling
I no longer believe that the most important moments of our lives are random or coincidental. Looking back, I can see the Sacred Heart was waiting for me in every chapter. It was there before I understood. surrendered, or even truly knew Him.
That is the deepest truth contained within the devotion: The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not merely a symbol. It is the revelation of an incredible love that goes before us, pursues us, and waits with a lover's patience while we wander, then gently welcomes us in.
His Sacred Heart never ceases calling us closer. It seeks us out at every turn, whether we are attentive to it in the moment or not.
This year, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus coincides with my birthday, but the greater gift is realizing that my entire life has unfolded beneath His gaze.
He has loved me longer than I have known. The little girl carrying Sacred Heart badges. The child admiring His image and the young adult receiving it as an heirloom gift. The young mother searching for something more. The harried mom in an unexpected place on an ordinary day. The woman He blessed with faithful Catholic friends who have inspired and accompanied her for twenty-five years.
Christ saw them all. He loved them all. And all along, He was gathering them into His Heart.
Read next: Why is June the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
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