p. 3The Sacred Heart, Inspiration of Unselfishness in the Catholic Home

The favorite worship of the world is the worship of self. An ill-ordered self-love is the canker that eats the vitals of modern society. Men think only of themselves, plan only for themselves, care only for themselves, and disregard and trample on the rights and interests of others if those interests and rights interfere with the pleasures and gain which they desire for themselves. From this selfishness spring many of the disorders of individuals and of nations. From this are born public and private wars. The injustice and oppression exercised against the poor, the disputes that agitate society, have for the most part their root in a love of self, which seeks more than it can justly claim and refuses to give due consideration to the rights and claims of other men.

On the other hand, the religion of Christ, our Lord, is the religion of the love of God and of one’s neighbor for the sake of God. “Little children,” said our Lord, “love one another; as I have loved you, do you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.” We are thus bidden to make the love of the Sacred Heart for us, the measure of our love for one another. The imitation of the Sacred Heart of our Lord, the following of His example of disinterested charity, will cure in our hearts the disease of self-love which is epidemic in our times. Looking on the image of Christ’s Sacred Heart, we are forever reminded that it becomes us, as His followers, to practice always a most unselfish charity for our neighbor.

For this reason the devotion to the Sacred Heart should be in Catholic homes an antidote against selfishness, that sore plague which so hinders and destroys the happiness and holiness of the home. Selfishness is contagious and deadly in the family circle. If there are one or two of the family group who insist overmuch on their own rights and privileges, are unwilling to make sacrifices for the common good, are disobliging and perverse, and have forever to be humored and waited on, the presence of these selfish ones sours the atmosphere of the home and begets a spirit of uneasiness and disputing which goes far toward making the home a place of contentiousness and trouble, instead of the haven of repose from the sorrows and labors of life, which it should be, for all its members.

Those, therefore, who practice devotion to the Sacred Heart in their homes, should consider carefully before God whether they honor that most amiable Heart by the imitation of our Lord’s self-sacrificing charity and complete unselfishness. They should make it one of the chief marks of their devotion, to manifest toward all, that obliging and serviceable spirit which conciliates love and harmony and casts out the spirit of self-seeking and self-love.

It is easy for the mother of a family to practice this self-sacrifice, because God has put in the heart of a mother the instinct to spend herself for the benefit of her children. But the other members of the family should look to it that all the self-sacrifice and thoughtfulness for others be not left to the mother. They should lead, or go before, one another in charity, as St. Paul expresses it, trying who shall be beforehand in helping, ministering to, and encouraging and consoling the other members of the family circle. This unselfish love will show itself in many spontaneous and beautiful ways, if only it is cultivated by devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Moreover, such unselfishness is contagious and will spread itself from one, or a few, to all the members of the family circle, if all are equally desirous of practicing the imitation of the Sacred Heart. The contemplation of the great love of our Lord for us, and of His divine unselfishness and self-sacrifice in manifesting that love, will make us desire to show a similar love and unselfish serviceableness to others. They in their turn, understanding the source and reason of that love, will be fired to imitate also the love of the Sacred Heart.

Our Lord has let us know that in no other way can we more truly serve and please His Sacred Heart, than by thus serving and helping others for His love. “Amen, I say unto you,” He declares to us, “whatsoever you have done unto one of these My least brethren, you have done it unto Me.” And like an echo of the words of His Divine Master, St. John cries out: “If they do not love their neighbor whom they have seen, how shall they love God whom they have not seen?”