April 9, 2025 - Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Artist Sister Mary of the Compassion, OP (1908-1977)

Last Monday, I was walking with colleagues near the University’s Chapel of the Immaculate Conception and noticed a young man gazing at the statue of the Sacred Heart. I don’t know how long he had been there, but he seemed rather mesmerized. I asked, “Isn’t it beautiful?” He immediately responded, “It really is.” Then, for emphasis, he said again, “It really is.” I wanted to continue the conversation, but I had the definite impression that I was interrupting the student’s conversation with Christ. I hope that he stayed a while longer and that his time before the Sacred Heart impacted the rest of his day, maybe his entire life.  

That evening, I was told that this week’s Lenten sketch (“All shall be well”) would be the towering image of Jesus, His Sacred Heart clearly visible, and a person seated next to him. I hope that the young man also has that sense of serenity that “All shall be well.” 

During this past weekend, I read the memoirs of a priest who survived Dachau; he began his book discussing the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Poznań, Poland. Unveiled and consecrated in October 1932, it would stand prominently in the city for seven years until the Nazi occupation in 1939. After forbidding all residents from stopping and praying before the statue, and arresting those who dared defy their order, the Nazis ordered the statue destroyed. Using the statue for target practice, they seemed to enjoy seeing it shatter into thousands of pieces. Eventually, the pieces were melted down, but not before residents saved a few pieces--the fingers of Christ. It was an act of defiance against the Nazis—and an act of love toward Christ. 

I think of the Polish people, particularly priests, who would be arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. How many of them may had prayed before this statue or countless other statues of the Sacred Heart throughout Poland. Might they have carried the image in their hearts? 

It always has struck me that the vile motto of the Nazi concentration camps was “Work shall set you free,” but how many of the prisoners were strengthened and consoled by a freedom foreign to the Third Reich? They knew a spiritual freedom that came from a relationship with God, hearts close to the heart of Christ—a freedom that knew the truth: “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  (John 8:31) 

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus bring us to that type of freedom that stems from a relationship with Christ—freedom that does not depend on exterior circumstances but gives us serenity and consolation even in the darkest of times.  

Enlighten, O God of compassion, the hearts of your children, sanctified by penance, and in your kindness grant those you stir to a sense of devotion a gracious hearing when they cry out to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Roman Missal)

Dianne Traflet, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Administration and Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology

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