The Meaning of the Heart
[Matthew 11:29]
It’s heart season. Go into Walgreens and there are hearts everywhere. You’ll see paper hearts, chocolate hearts, candy hearts and more. We’re approaching Valentine’s Day, February 14. For many this is a day of love or a night of romance. Meet your sweetheart for dinner or dessert? For others, it is a day of heartbreak— recalling a broken relationship and or love that was not returned.
What does the heart mean? What does love mean? The image of the heart is all over our culture. We text it in emojis, see it on coffee mugs [I ❤️ NY], and write it on greeting cards [“Luv you!”]. The heart can be affectionate, warm, and playful.
In the Scriptures we see the true meaning of love, found in ‘the heart.’ In psalm 139, we read, “Lord, You have searched me and you know me...Search me, God, know my heart; try me, know my thoughts.” The psalm is a prayer of offering– wherein I desire to share my ‘whole heart’ with the Lord.
Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises, “I will give you a new heart, a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh [36:26].” Here God promises to renew us from within. Our hearts are wounded, tired, and broken; worse, some are of these wounds are ‘self inflicted’ through my own sins. God made my heart and desires to reshape my heart through His love and grace.
Finally, in Jesus, God has a beating, living heart. “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” [Matthew 11:29]. How can we encounter the Heart of Jesus? In a busy world, how can we hear God speaking in the quiet of our hearts?
Join us for a weekend retreat at Sacred Heart in Sedalia CO! Jesus invites us: “Come away with me to a quiet place and rest!” [see Mark 6:31]. We’re only a few weeks into the new year of 2026. We’re days away from Valentine’s Day– and Ash Wednesday is February 18! Perhaps your heart is saying, “I need a retreat!” I just finished my own retreat at a Jesuit retreat center in a nearby state. I need this time away each year, this time in quiet, this time of renewal in the Heart of Jesus. I know I’m starting the new year right by making time for a retreat; I hope you’ll do the same.
We’re offering several retreats during Lent and the Easter seasons. Sign up today!
https://www.sacredheartretreat.org/weekend-retreats-near-denver
The Sacred Heart is calling to us. Pope Leo XIV put this image on his papal crest. The US bishops will consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart in June. Pope Francis wrote his final encyclical on the Sacred Heart. For Pope Francis, the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius are a true “training of the heart, for in them we sense and savor with the heart a Gospel message…. Anyone who follows the Exercises can readily see that they involve a dialogue, heart to heart” with Jesus (Dilexit Nos 46, 144).
At the start of this new year, let’s offer our hearts to the Heart of Jesus. Let us make time to go away with Christ on retreat. Let’s trust that He will renew and strengthen our hearts in 2026.
Fr Joe Laramie SJ