Building a Civilization of Love

by Fr. John Granato  |  06/01/2025  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

In our Catholic faith, certain months are devoted to certain saints or to our Lord. March is for St. Joseph. May is for our Blessed Mother. October is for the Rosary. January is for the Holy Family. September is for the Archangels. The month of June is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart is a beautiful devotion in order to foster a love for our Lord’s heart and his love and for reparation for our own sins as we call upon our Lord’s heart for mercy.

In chapter five of Pope Francis’s encyclical on the Sacred Heart, Francis quotes form one of St. Margaret Mary’s apparitions. Jesus spoke to her saying, “I thirst, but with a thirst so ardent to be loved by men in the Most Blessed Sacrament, that this thirst consumes me; and I have not encountered anyone who makes an effort, according to my desire, to quench my thirst, giving back a return for my love.” Pope Francis then continues that it is not only a love for Christ that stays with Christ, but it is by its nature a move towards our brothers and sisters.

In paragraph 168, Pope Francis writes, “Love for our brothers and sisters is not simply the fruit of our own efforts; it demands the transformation of our selfish hearts. This realization gave rise to the oft-repeated prayer: Jesus, make our hearts more like your own.” In paragraph 182, Pope Francis talks about Pope St. John Paul II and reparation. “St. John Paul explained that by entrusting ourselves together to the heart of Christ, ‘over the ruins accumulated by hatred and violence, the greatly desired civilization of love, the kingdom of the heart of Christ can be built.’ This clearly requires that we ‘unite filial love for God and love of neighbor,’ and indeed this is ‘the true reparation asked by the heart of the Savior.’

In union with Christ, amid the ruins we have left in this world by our sins, we are called to build a new civilization of love. Amid the devastation wrought by evil, the heart of Christ desires that we cooperate with him in restoring goodness and beauty to our world.” In this last section, Francis again quotes expensively from the great saints. Our world needs much healing, and mercy and forgiveness. We area called to share the Sacred Heart of Jesus with all people, especially the ones who have been hurt.

This kind of love and this devotion to the Sacred Heart does not mean that we call what is sin good. This takes, of course, humility to recognize in ourselves and in our teachings that even though we are all sinners and all fall short of the glory of God, we are called to strive to live a life of true virtue aa an antidote to the seven deadly sins. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.