Day 8: Giving My Heart to the Sacred Heart in the Garden

Welcome to Day #8 of our Heart-to-Heart Mini-Retreat!
If you missed any earlier days of this Retreat, you can find them here.

Can you believe how quickly this all flew by? Today is the last day.  ♥️And, friends, there’s something on our hearts which we want to ask each of you.♥️

Have Catholic Holy Hour’s guided Holy Hours or retreats touched your heart? Could you spare just $7, as a way of helping us to grow the Gethsemane Institute? Why $7? There are over 4,000 active members worldwide who receive our free guided Holy Hours. If each of those 4,000 members gave merely $10… or even only $7, we would reach our goal easily!

So, please don’t think any gift is too small. If all you can give is a widow’s mite… it can make all the difference in the world! If you can give $15 or $20, then, phew! That is as though two people gave at that rate! If you can give $27 or more, we offer special thank-you gifts to our donors,

If Catholic Holy Hour has ever touched your heart and you’re able to give… thank you from the bottom of our hearts! If you are unable to give, please know that we are still very much here for you, and always grateful for your prayers.

Here’s another way you can help: do you know anyone who could donate, or who might even be in a financial position to give at a Founding Member level of $500 or more? Please share your passion for this apostolate with them so they may have the chance to consider it!

Can you please, in your charity, share our gofundme with your friends or social networks? And don’t forget to invite your friends to join our free guided Holy Hours! We are here for you… and for anyone you invite to join us.

♥️Let’s pause for just a moment to contemplate the fire He put in each one of our souls… the fire that longs for Him, the fire only He can quench. That is the passion we want to share with a world full of longing for God.

♥️The Gethsemane Institute hopes to continue and expand the work of Catholic Holy Hour… giving hearts longing for God a place to rest… with Him, and FOR Him.♥️

As St. Augustine reminds, speaking of the heart: “You have made us for yourselves, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” We contemplate these saintly and wise words as we listen:

As this song reminds, “When we feel like giving up… when we feel like giving in…His love is the reason to keep on believing.”

So why are we doing ALL of this with the Gethsemane Institute? We WON’T give up. His love is the reason. Join us.

To God be ALL the glory, honor, and praise.

See you in the Garden.

I

Six healings, carved in wood, sealed in gold leaf
of paralytics; blind men; deaf and dead;
surround the Sacred Heart statue, relief–
of mercy. As I pray, above my head,
the Savior points to His Heart, set aflame,
a Trinity of fingers raised. His eyes
are lowered—for He knows each person’s name,
and broken heart, and waits, for He is wise.
The floor is hard and cold, but I am home:
there in the chapel-silence with my Lord.
Before its reredos, under its dome,
my blindness, deafness, deadness dies. Restored,
I leave, enter the traffic, crowds, fresh air—
longing to run back to my golden prayer.

II

Longing to run back to my golden prayer,
I think of the first panel: Matthew Nine—
the Paralytic: healed from his nightmare
of motionlessness, took his mat—walked fine,
and with his sins forgiven, felt a weight
had left him as he rose. How many times
we’re paralyzed by sin; it chokes our gait
as though thorn bushes trespass on our climbs.
How many times we’re frozen, numb with pain
and when we’re told “your sins are forgiven,”
after Confession—it’s like light through rain
as we walk out, relieved we were driven
to stop the old familiar ache, confess—
pick up our stretchers, rise—released and blessed.

III

Pick up our stretchers. Rise, released and blessed:
that is the way it feels to move again
after we’re paralyzed. What if the rest
we face is not limb’s numbness, but death’s pain?
The Master took the dead little girl’s hand
and called it sleep, then guided her awake.
What loss will He not transform, understand,
and resurrect? His Sacred Heart can take
dead skin and make it living flesh. That girl
would ride, like Lazarus, the tide from death—
to life, a second chance, a blinding whirl
of light returned, a rushing tide of breath.
Whatever we have in us that is dead—
know He can make it beautiful instead.

IV

No. He can make it beautiful instead.
Don’t doubt it. He transfigures, rises, heals.
Two blind men followed Him once, and they spread
their arms out, crying, making their appeals.
He asked if they believed, He touched their eyes,
and at His touch, their eyes were opened. Just
imagine their first sight: the greatest prize—
His face: those shining eyes, broad smile. Our trust
in Him will heal our blindness, too. The scales
will fall. We’ll blink at all His brightness, like
a child looking east on sunrise trails.
He does not give what we deserve: a strike—
rather, a gentle touch, eyes filled with sight.
It’s He who drags the dawn into our night.

V

It’s He who drags the dawn into our night,
opens what has been closed. There was a poor,
deaf man with speech impediments, whose plight
moved Christ. Like He was opening a door,
He brought back sound and clear words to the man
with His command, “Ephphatha! Be opened!”
The man asked for Christ’s touch: a prayerful plan
that we should emulate, not just cope, and
settle for what is broken. So we ask
for what is closed within us to swing wide,
our ears and tongue to be healed, to unmask
our pretenses, and stop trying to hide.
Ephphatha! That comes back to me in prayer—
thinking of His Heart, golden as a flare.

VI

Thinking of His Heart, golden as a flare
upon the chapel statue, open wide
to priest’s incense or pilgrim’s trembling prayer,
imagine ten lepers, freed of their pride
all calling out: Have pity! Only one
returned. Let us pray: let that one be me,
saved by faith, drawn by gratitude to run.
Let’s be as loud with our thanks as our plea.
In fair Bethesda were five porticoes
at the Sheep Gate Pool, where an ill man lay.
Old and frail, his skin was corticose.
Three decades there; it seemed he’d rather stay,
complaining than be healed, but Christ said, Rise!
Like stirred water, Love came as a surprise.

VII

Like stirred water, Love came as a surprise
inside the gold chapel, under its dome.
Restored—my blindness, deafness, deadness dies.
There with the Sacred Heart, there I am home—
The chapel’s where I trust, let go of shame,
and give my heart. He waits there with His wise
gaze lowered—for He knows each person’s name,
his Trinity of fingers, raised. Those eyes!
The Savior points to His Heart: burning grief,
love, mercy. As I pray, above my head,
around the Sacred Heart staue, relief—
of paralytics; blind men; deaf and dead;
all these who were made new through grace, belief—
Six healings, carved in wood, sealed in gold leaf.

—Annabelle Moseley, from Our House of the Sacred Heart

Together we pray: Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Thine.

If you missed any of these Heart to Heart Mini Retreats?
Find them all here
Miss the latest Guided Holy Hour?
You can find the latest Holy Hour here.