Carry Me in Your Heart

Emptied of tears,
Sweat of Blood on Your brow,
Your Heart is aching to near death.
Slowly You open Your eyes to the world again
As You hear the sounds of Your approaching trials.
One of Your own comes to You.
Smiling, he kisses the Lord of Love
And seals his pact with darkness.
"Would you betray your Master with a kiss?"
You speak one last time to Your chosen son.
How deeply he pierces Your Heart
Using a symbol of Your very substance, Love,
To turn You over to the powers of darkness.
 
One last time Your eyes, filling with tears,
Look deep into his soul
Searching for a remnant of Your Love.
But his eyes turn away and the
Clouds of darkness overcome him.
 
The crowd gathers to witness Your betrayal.
Brandishing clubs and sticks
Where once were palm branches
So recently hailing You as King,
They now curse You as criminal.
 
The Voice of Your Father
Speaking words of Love
Quiets Your racing human heart
Filling it with the Divine.
His Voice in Your Sacred Heart
Speaks of the Love
That brought You here.
Closing Your eyes to their hate,
Their lust for power,
You sink into the Divine Heart
Surrounding Yourself with the Peace
That can only be found
In the Heart of the Sacred
And in knowing of the Father's Love.
 
Their arms are upon You,
Yet You are untouched.
The wait is over;
It now begins.
Deeper in Your Heart You sink.
You are seeing a homecoming
Of the lost children
Running into the arms of the Father.
The Face of Love puts on Joy
As His children return to His Heart.
Your Sacred Heart burns with this Love;
For this Spirit of Love and the Joy of the Father
You hand over Your Body to be broken,
Your Heart to be pierced,
Resisting nothing in Your Passion for Love.
 
You search the Eternal Memory
To find my face.
You look deep into my heart.
In Your Silent Voice You ask:
Will you come to my Heart
If I give You my Life?
Kneeling to Your Sacred Heart of Love,
I bury myself in You.
Together we are carried off
Into the dark night of death.
As You walk that Way to Your Cross
You carry me in Your Heart.
 

A Face of Love
 
The dusty path stretches out before You
Filled with jeering, angry crowds.
Your knees give way under the weight of Your Cross.
That precious face, still so soft with love,
Hits the hard stones of the walkway.
 
There, face down in the street,
You feel the full weight of Your humanity.
You whisper Your Father’s Name
As this earth You created holds You to it
In its magnetic, uncompromising grasp.
Closing Your eyes, You think of Home with Your Father.
The crowds roar turns to angelic songs of praise
As Your head spins from Your ordeal.
 
Just a little further, Your tearful Father beckons.
It is almost finished.
Prodded, kicked, spit at, tossed around,
Once again You lift up from this earth;
You offer Yourself again to His Plan of Love.
 
You look at the unforgiving crowd
Searching for eyes of love and compassion,
Wanting comfort that this is not all in vain,
That there will be someone who will be saved
By Your Sacrifice of Love.
Each face is memorized in Your Heart
And is like another scourging upon this Sacred Heart.
 
There, in the crowd, You see one!
Eyes full of tears, reaching out to You!
“Jesus!” the panicked voice cries.
“Jesus!” again in desperation and desire.
Your eyes meet in tearful, loving union.
The Flames of Your Heart leap,
Your graces pour out like a river.
The face of love is pushed away and lost in the crowd,
But the memory remains in Your Heart
Inspiring the strength to draw the Cross to You once again,
To lift it to Your bruised and torn shoulder
And walk that dusty path again.
 
O Sacred Heart of Love and Longing,
Draw me to You, keep me in Your Heart.
Help me to be for You that face of love
That Your thoughts of me
Will be like a caress, not a scourging;
That Your Sacrifice will save.
 
O Tears of the Father,
O Sacrifice of the Son,
Bring Your Spirit of Love!
 
 

Hearts Must Speak
 
They laid You down
On a cold slab of rock.
Motionless You lay as the rock,
Your body already chilling,
Soon to be cold.
We prepare Your body to be wrapped,
Cleansing the dirt and dried blood
With what we have:
Our veils, our wraps,
The ends of our skirts, our tears.
Cleansing the wounds of Your head,
My heart pierces with every new puncture
I discover in Your Precious Head.
My heart cannot contain my sorrow
Nor my love for You even now.
 
Your lips, now cracked, swollen,
Bruised, caked with blood,
Once spoke the Words of Life,
Once healed our hearts,
Our souls, our bodies,
Now silent.
In their silence,
The Words come rushing through,
The Words from One whose actions
Did not betray the Truth,
The Words that echo
Through our minds and
Swell our hearts with Your Love,
Now silent in this cold body
But flooding our hearts still.
As I wrap Your head
With Your burial cloth, I whisper:
If Your lips must be silent
Then our hearts must speak!
 
Your Sacred Heart
Pouring out its contents still,
Lies exposed
Through the gaping wound in Your side.
How Precious its Love was to us,
How empty the world now
In the stillness of this Heart.
As we veil Your Heart with the burial cloth
A chill sets in in a world that has
Lost her lover.
Widows of Your Sacred Heart,
We bury our hearts with You
To be returned only with Your Heart's return.
 
As the sounds of the stone rolling into place
Echo in our shocked minds and empty hearts,
Your promises fill the air.
Walking away from the tomb,
I hear those words again
Speaking to my heart.
Did You not say
Death had no power over You?
Did You not say
You would never leave us?
A strange wind stirs our hearts
As we gaze back to that tomb.
Did You not do all You said You would do?
Our hearts burn within us with Your Words,
With Your Love, and stir us to Hope.
If Your lips must be silent
Then our hearts must speak!

A Litany of Hearts

Divine Eternal Heart of the Father,
-Open our hearts to Your goodness and tender care.
 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, our Merciful Savior,
-Open our hearts to love You and You in others as You loved us.
 
Holy Spirit of Divine Love,
-Inspire in us Your Love that we may love like You.
 
Most Precious Heart of our Divine Savior
-We open our hearts completely to You.
 
Most Precious Body of our Divine Savior
-We open our lives completely to You.
 
Most Precious Blood of our Divine Savior
-We open our souls completely to You.
 
Divine Heart, so great was Your Love...
 
That Your Divine Heart sent a messenger to
Your people asking to be allowed to enter our hearts and our world in your words to our Mother Mary.
-May we always cradle Your Heart in our hearts.
 
You formed in Your Divine Heart a human Heart to reconcile our broken relationship with
You.
-May we always cradle Your Heart in our hearts.
 
Your Precious Heart descended to a human Heart beating for us.
-May we always cradle Your Heart in our hearts.
 
Your Precious Blood formed for our Salvation moved in Your Heart for us.
-May we always cradle Your Heart in our hearts.
 
You left Your Father’s arms and Your Mother’s womb and entered our human world for us.
-May we always cradle Your Heart in our hearts.
 
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, so great is Your Love for us...
 
That You spoke Your Words of Life and Love inflaming our hearts.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You healed our bodies and souls making us whole in You.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You formed the Love and Sacrifice of Your Heart and the the Passion of Your desire for our love into the Bread and Wine at our table that we may receive You into our hearts and bodies every day.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You poured out Your Love and Mercy from Your Heart inflamed for us at the Garden of Gethsemane surrendering Your Body to save our souls.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You suffered the abandonment of Your friends.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You suffered the humiliation of the trial before Your priests, Your governors and Your
people.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You suffered the scourging in Your Body and in Your Heart from our sins.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You suffered carrying our Cross for us.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You suffered silently our instruments of torture and our hardened hearts.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
Your Hands of Grace were pierced for us.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
Your Body was pounded and stretched, frozen into Your gesture of Love.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
Your Body was left hanging until Your Life was fully drained for us.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
Your forgiveness and mercy were spoken even then.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
Your Sacred Heart was pierced for us releasing Your Blood and Water of our purification and return to Grace.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
You were cast aside by the world into Your Mother’s arms and Your Father’s Heart.
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
O Sacred Heart of Sacrificial Love
-Help us to love You as You desire to be loved.
 
O Savior, Divine Heart returned to us in Your Resurrection
-Let us enthrone You in our hearts forever.
 
O Savior, Sacred Heart walking among us
-Let us enthrone You in our hearts forever.
 
O Sacred Heart in Your Holy Spirit of Love with us all days
-Let us enthrone You in our hearts forever.
 
O Savior, returned to the Father but with us still in Sacrament and Spirit
-Let us enthrone You in our hearts forever.

(Let us pray...)
O Sacred Heart, help us to keep Your Love alive
Living as You lived,
Loving as You loved,
Sacrificing as You sacrificed.
 
O Sacred Heart, take us into Your Heart to be with You forever,
Rejoicing in Your Love and Mercy.
Dear Sweet Jesus, help us to love You as You desire to be loved.

My Sacred Life

My Heart,
Sacred Furnace of Love
For My people,
Moves in its depths
Stirring its sweet treasures
Calling forth a precious soul
Created from Love,
Adorned with graces,
Lovingly poured from My Sacred Heart
Into the chalice of my children’s hearts and bodies;
Those hearts calling forth and longing for love,
Those hearts I gift with these precious souls.
My most perfect gift of Myself once again
In the disguise of a helpless infant.
 
Helpless, I trust My Self to you,
My daughters, my sons.
Helpless, again on my Cross,
Will you reject Me?
Will you crucify me?
Will you humiliate Me and make Me worthless?
Will you choose comfort and pride
Over my Precious Life and Love?
 
Once again before the Pilate of your hearts
I stand alone, helpless, humiliated.
No compassion do I feel
For my Life standing before you.
Once again the crowds scream:
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!
We did not plan Him.
He is in the way!
He makes us uncomfortable.
He reminds us too much of the Truth!”
 
Your lies scourge my Body once again
And again and again.
Will it ever stop?
Will you see My face in these tiny ones
As you strip them of everything, even life?
And slash their spirits further with your lies?
 
This Precious Child, so near Life,
So close to My Will and plan,
So close to My Heart,
My Sacred Heart is crushed, burst open,
As you cut My Body from My head
At the very moment of my birth.
The Blood and the water pour forth.
And as if that isn’t enough for you,
Just as on my Cross,
You must cast your final blow,
Sucking the very life from me.
Then, cast aside at the foot of
My Cross of your making,
My Mother weeps for Me again
In all her children of the Cross,
Her martyrs who gave their lives to Me
Before breathing their first breath.
 
My hand and My Heart
Reach out to my Precious Ones.
Awake, dear ones, in My Heart
For you are home now,
Safe in me.
As you have shared in my death,
So shall you have my Life.