Today we mark the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. When Blessed Basil Moreau founded the Congregation of Holy Cross, the religious community that established and continues to animate the University of Notre Dame, he entrusted the priests of the order to the patronage of Jesus’ Sacred Heart. We are grateful to share today’s reflection from a Holy Cross priest and Notre Dame alumnus, Father David Tyson, C.S.C., ’70, ’74 MAT, ’12 Hon. J.D.

There is a legend in the Catholic Church that the soldier who pierced the side of Christ in this Gospel, whom we know as St. Longinus, experienced a sudden conversion when the blood of Jesus ran down the shaft of the spear onto his hands. When he touched his eyes with his hands, the truth of our Lord, which was previously hidden from Longinus, became immediately clear.

From darkness to light, from duty to choice, from hatred to love—in an instant the hardened heart of the soldier became one with the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

St. Longinus’ conversion story provides a glimpse into our devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This devotion helps us to align our hearts (symbolically to mean our love) with Jesus’; to ponder the depth of his love for us, including his wounds; and to see the manifestations of his love in our lives, in his Church, and in the world.

This contemplation of the Most Sacred Heart compelled St. Longinus to commit his life to Christ’s love, and it has inspired countless others to do the same, including Blessed Basil Moreau. In founding the Congregation of Holy Cross, he named the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus as patron of his community of priests, a patronage that has guided and protected Holy Cross for more than 175 years.

Our reflection on the love of Christ is not complete if our focus is exclusively as “recipients” of the great gift of this love for us. Certainly, we are the beneficiaries of the profound and infinite love of Jesus, which we see, as did Longinus, in gazing upon the cross. But to engage more deeply in this love, we must understand not just the gift, but the Giver. And to know the Giver, we must touch His Most Sacred Heart.

Our devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us of the fullness of his love for us and calls us into a deeper communion with him. As we come to know the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we come to know his virtues and his teachings, his inner life and his infinite love. We will find our lives transformed as did Saint Longinus, so our eyes will see his truth, our hands will hold his body and blood, and our hearts will love as the Master has loved us.