By Sister Jeannine Marie, O.C.D.
In this year as we celebrate family, we now move to that difficult time of life known as adolescence. We also look at the tenth promise of the Sacred Heart which gives to priests, who practice the devotion, the power to touch the most hardened hearts. No, parents, He is not talking about your teens! The Sacred Heart wants us to know that there are no obstacles to His love for us. His love for us is free. Do we believe this?
Teens have reached a point in their young lives when they want to spread their wings of independence. But what does it mean to be free? The natural desire to express one’s uniqueness flows from the fact that each of us in our own way must reflect God. Every person is a gift from God that is unrepeatable. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes.” Where does one learn to follow this compass to the good? In our families.
Mother Luisita, as a young woman, also struggled with her independence. It was through the love of her family that she learned that true freedom lies in what Saint John Paul II called, the “Law of the Gift.” The more you give of yourself, the more you receive. This month, let us give generously of ourselves so that we can truly be “born free!”
