Sacred Heart and St. Lutgard

As of Saturday, St. Lutgarde's day, I will have been going to the Abbey of Gethsemani for one year. Sacred Heart is tomorrow, and that marks my first Solemnity at the abbey. I believe it is important to mark those days in a person's life when remarkable things happen. Those are our red letter days. Days when God interacts in the course of our life.

St. Lutgarde (d.1246) the Cistercian mystic of Aywieres, Belgium had visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. When once asked by Our Lord what gift she wanted, she replied: "I want Your Heart." To which Jesus responded: "I want your heart." Then Our Blessed Lord granted the Saint a very special grace. He mystically exchanged hearts with her. St. Lutgarde is the first known mystic to receive this grace.

My experience of the Heart of Infinite Compassion was responsible for my recent conversion to the RCC. Those words sunk into my own heart -- Look into my Heart of Infinite Compassion -- and put me on the path that lead to totally new ways of seeing my spiritual life, God, and most of all, the full love of Jesus.

So from here onward I shall observe St. Lutgarde's day as my Patronal Feast.