Sweet heart of Jesus! We implore, oh make us love thee, more and more.
These words fill me with joy. I have never heard them before this year, and I’ve only heard them in the morning liturgies in the day chapel on weekdays at Clonard. The melody that accompanies them is warm, calming, and peaceful, and so I find that both dimensions of the song, the lyrics and the setting, move me.
At this stage in our year, with one semester of work completed and packed away, and having time to reflect over the holiday break on the experiences that semester brought, it seems only fitting to turn to God in thanks. My conclusion in reflecting on the people and experience this year has put me in touch with is simply: I am blessed to be alive and to be able to do this work, and God has been abundantly gracious to me.
Sweet Heart of Jesus! Fount of love and mercy…
God, you are sweet to my senses; the fruit of your blessings is sweet to my taste, and I am grateful. My heart cries many things, but that which seems most pertinent and necessary in this moment is to you: I cry in thanks and disbelief at the graces you have shown.
Today we come thy blessings to implore…
Lord, each day in the Day Chapel’s Mass, I come to you as a sinner striving for goodness, asking you to fill my life to overflowing. I want this, so that I may take joy in you and give that joy to others. Bless me Father! I am a sinner.
Oh touch our hearts so cold and so ungrateful…
I wonder often what your touch feels like. Do I feel it in my heart, as a tug within my chest? Do I hear it in words from the lips of others, the ones that resonate with me deeply and drive me to tears when I least expect it? Do you touch me in my memories, in the ancient awakenings of experiences long forgotten? Whatever way you touch my heart, I care only that you continue to do so. Draw me to yourself, and turn my heart and mind toward you, if (and especially when) I tend towards resistance.
And make them Lord, thine own for evermore.
Triune God, this is the desire of my heart: that I be with you in heaven among the saints. Draw me, lead me, and take me to yourself. May the way I live my daily life be ever aware and attentive to you, and to you in others. Make me thine own forever. Amen.
