A Little Heart-to-Heart

Today starts the Novena to The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus !!!

     I have been reading Confessions of St. Augustine. In chapter 10, book 12, there is a prayer that I love to pray. You may want to read this slowly...  

Let Truth, the light of my heart, and not my own darkness, speak to me.

I turned aside to these material things and became darkened, 

but from there, even there, I loved You.

I have gone astray (Psalm 119:176), and I remembered You (John 2:8).

I heard Your voice behind me (Ez 3:12), calling me to return, 

though I could scarcely hear it amid the noise of sinners.

And now, behold, I return, panting and gasping to Your fountain. 

Let no one forbid me.

I shall drink of this fountain and so I shall live.

Let me not continue to live as I have lived, for I acknowledge

that I have lived badly.

To myself I was death, and in You do I live again.

Speak to me, discourse with me.

I have believed Your books, and their words are full of mystery.

      The seventh line- wow. "And now, behold, I return, panting and gasping to Your fountain." That amazes me. Literally- I am speechless. That line partly inspired the title for my blog. Why I chose "Thirsty Fountains" was because we are all thirsting for Christ. In the meantime, we have so much to offer; this is why we are fountains. Ultimately, Christ is the Thirsty Fountain. He thirsts for us with such a passion, yet he does not need us. He wants us- wants you. He is the source of all good things; He is a fountain of love, mercy, justice, humility, patience, etc. 

During this nine-day novena, try to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet: DMC 

If you don't have a rosary- God gave you ten fingers! (If you don't have fingers- 

He gave you ten toes ;D)

Sacred Heart Song (lyrics) by Michael John Poirier 

     No part of me is more central to who I am, and what I struggle with than my heart. Don't you agree? No other place feels like the deeper core of me. So when I tell you stories from my heart that involve my heart, I sort of feel like I'm lying on a table, cut open, and you are the gallery standing around and looking at my guts.

     Now, I know that is not true, and you are not looking at my guts, but it feels vulnerable. My heart is more than just a block of flesh pumping blood throughout my body, though I'm very grateful it does that too. In fact, let us all pause for a minute and take our pulses as an act of appreciation for our hearts.  What is your pulse, exactly? It's the number of times your heart beats in one minute. (mine was 108 beats per min).

     Does it amaze you a little bit what you're counting there? For me, it does. The human heart has four chambers. (My younger sisters have recently studied the heart and they are amazing at telling everyone how it works). There are two atriums where the blood enters your heart. The right atrium brings in blood from all over the body, and the left atrium brings in blood from the lungs.

(How are we doing so far? Okay?)

     The atriums are the top two chambers. Under the atriums are the ventricles. The right ventricle pumps blood out of the heart to the lungs, and the left ventricle pumps blood out of the heart to the whole body. So there are two chambers that allow blood into your heart, and two chambers that allow blood out of your heart. 

Whew! 

     I'm not only talking about your physical heart; I'm talking about your inner heart, the place you know so well. The secret place that houses your deepest wants, your secret crushes, your fears, your regrets, and those most painful memories and hurts. That heart. That is the one we will focus on now because it is the core of who you are as a person-- as you. 

I think that our inner heart is built similarly to our physical heart.

• The Right Atrium:

               Blood enters your heart from all over the body like love enters your heart from all over the

               world. Part of glorifying God is allowing your heart to be open for others to love you. 

               You also have to guard you heart: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do

               flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23) How do we guard/ protect our hearts? For one, keep 

               wise people around. Do not talk about the opposite sex all the time (it keeps our hearts all

               aflutter, at least it does sometimes for me!) It is okay to think about them, but do not 

               make them your life. Ya know? Be patient and wait for the right man/ woman. Be careful

               with things-- pursuits, dreams, etc. Learn how to handle your emotions. Put God first.

• The Left Atrium

               Blood enters your heart from your lungs like the love enters your heart from God.

               God loves to love us. He didn't have to make the sunrise beautiful, but He did. 

               (My sister said her friend told her that). God puts a valve in our hearts, the part that

               receives from Him, because to get everything from Him at one time would take away

               so much of the excitement and anticipation that is involved in the process of loving us. 

• The Right Ventricle

               Blood pumps out of your heart into your lungs like love pumps out of your heart into

               God's heart. Jason Morant- Love Song (lyrics) 

               Do you love to sing? Sing a love song to God. Do you love to dance? Dance for God.

               Do you love to write? Write for God. Do you love to draw? Sports? Care for people? 

               Do everything you do for the glory of the One who made you because He made you to 

               do every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face and tell the story of grace 

               through every little thing you do. #StevenCurtisChapman'sSong!!

• The Left Ventricle

               Blood pumps out of your heart into the body like love pumps out of your heart into

               the world. Loving the world means being who God made you to be, so you can touch 

               and impact all those around you.

     I hope that ya'll got great stuff out of this post! May you be able to use it in everyday situations and share with those who need to hear! Remember: St. Anthony Novena from a few days ago (today is the third day)! Thanks to Annie F. Downs' Perfectly Unique and God's amazing grace, I have written this post.