Through the centuries, the Christian community has consistently tried to capture its developing understanding of Jesus Christ in word and image. This is a never ending challenge – to portray the Mystery of the love of God made visible in the man, Jesus of Nazareth, who went about doing good and eventually laid down his life for us. Each First Friday of the month, the Society of the Sacred Heart sends an email prepared by an RSCJ, colleague or friend of the Society, with a reflection on the meaning of the Sacred Heart in our lives today. To sign up to receive the First Friday emails, Sign up for e-news here or at the bottom of any page on this site.

During our bicentennial celebration between 2017 and 2018, First Friday emails suspended in place of our Year of Prayer weekly reflections. Click here to access the entire Year of Prayer

First Friday Reflection for February 2016

First Friday Reflection for February 2016

As you take a moment to sit quietly with this image, where are your eyes drawn? Is it the figure of Jesus on the cross, the various churches, the contrast of light and darkness in the painting, the depth of color? What catches your attention? What stirs your heart? God communicates to us through images, sounds, words, feelings, imagination and intuition. What is God communicating to you as you gaze at this image?

First Friday Reflection January 2016

First Friday Reflection for January 2016

The moment of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan is an event so important it appears in all four of the Gospels. I wonder if it is the moment when Jesus’ lifelong discernment of his special vocation – to make God’s love known in the heart of the world – was clear to him, accepted and confirmed?

Jesus was always a bit out of step; he had not followed the norm of settling down and raising a family. Otherwise, he was fully a part of the life of Nazareth. Jesus had wept at their funerals and danced at their weddings.

First Friday Reflection for December 2015

First Friday Reflection for December 2015

This image brings to mind the understanding of the ONENESS of the heart of Christ in the world today. I see two hearts, intimately joined. Through these two hearts, which I envision beating as one, I see the river of light and life running and pouring forth. This outpouring of love is learned from Christ by all those who seek to know Christ and are loved by Christ.Life brings with it both light and darkness as illustrated in this piece of art.

First Friday Reflection for July 2015

This image of the Sacred Heart, as traditional as any image could be, held a place of honor in my husband’s family home on the living room fireplace mantel. It was there before he was born and it remains there today. Each evening, his parents would gather the family around it for the family rosary. When I first saw it, in the ‘70s, I was fascinated by the warmth and peace that seemed to radiate from the image – a human with a heart, yet divine.

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