Statuary on the facade of the Duomo, The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy, 2012, taken by Martha M Wiggins
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.
One of the prayers I read daily as part of a Spiritual Communion (where you invite Jesus to come into your heart just as He would in the Eucharist even though you are not physically there to receive Him) is the following:
“O Jesus I turn toward the holy tabernacle where You live hidden for love of me. I love You, O My God. I cannot receive You in Holy Communion. Come nevertheless and visit me with Your grace. Come spiritually into my heart. Purify it. Sanctify it. Render it like unto Your own. Amen.”
It always humbles me, for there is no greater heart than that of Jesus who sacrificed His life for my salvation. There is no heart with a greater capacity for love than that of Jesus who allowed Himself to be tortured and crucified out of His never ending love of me. There is no heart with a greater capacity for mercy and forgiveness than that of Jesus who took all of my sins, along with the sins of the whole world, and carried their full weight on His back. There is no heart with a greater capacity for life than that of Jesus who allowed Himself to be nailed to the Cross of my sins so that I might live in Life Eternal with Him and God The Father.
In this prayer I invite Him into my heart. I ask Him to make my heart like His. To ask this and truly desire it is a most humbling experience. I must never pray it lightly. To have a heart like His is to be purified, to be sanctified. It will take time, and yet, if I am open to Him, it will happen.
