These past five months, I have sporadically thought about the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the letter of Pope Francis.

This letter to the global church is prompt. It comes at the 350th anniversary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus’ first apparition to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673.

The young French Sister received the mission to tell the world of Jesus’ love. His love is manifested through his human heart. His Sacred Hearts is embraced with thorns and crowned with a raging flame of love burning for humanity.

We have come to the close of our reflections on Delexit nos. Whenever we look for Christ, he can be found in a particular place. He is in the center of community. These people fuel our friendship for Christ.

In the heart of the community, we are called to serve each other. In our service, Christ is always there. The heart of Jesus centers us in real love and service. It also centers us in Eucharist.

If we always meet Christ in the community, then it is logical that Jesus remains with us in the presence of bread and wine. No one eats alone! When we gather for the sacrificial meal, we gather together to meet him.

The pope reminds us that we can loose this love in a consumeristic world defined by what our money can buy:

In a world where everything is bought and sold, people’s sense of their worth appears increasingly to depend on what they can accumulate with the power of money. We are constantly being pushed to keep buying, consuming and distracting ourselves, held captive to a demeaning system that prevents us from looking beyond our immediate and petty needs. The love of Christ has no place in this perverse mechanism, yet only that love can set us free from a mad pursuit that no longer has room for a gratuitous love. Christ’s love can give a heart to our world and revive love wherever we think that the ability to love has been definitively lost (218).

To make Christ the King of hearts is to enthrone him in the center of our lives and affection. To make him king of hearts is to fashion our heart after his as we serve each other.