Heart of Jesus, King and Center of All Hearts

All for Jesus, all in Jesus, all with Jesus!

By Father Anthony Wolf

Jesus the King of the Heart! What a wonderful thought! The faithful lover of Our Savior sets up a little throne in her heart, and decorates it with the choicest flowers of virtues – bright red roses of love, pure white lilies of chastity, dainty little violets of humility. The incense of prayer lends a sweet odor to the little throne chamber. Since the chamber is so small, all worldly things are thrown out, to make room for the noble King. When all is ready, the faithful lover goes to meet her King, and to escort Him to His throne.

What a joy to have Jesus as King in our hearts! It is not hard then to make Him the central point of our lives. When He is near, we can whisper to our Beloved even in the midst of very hard work. Sometimes when we forget Him for a while, He speaks all of a sudden. Then the little heart melts in love. He is a marvelous Lover! He does not care to wait till we come to the chapel before He speaks. He breaks into our thoughts during our most absorbing work. When perchance our hearts are tempted to give some attention to a creature, He comes quickly and draws us to Himself, lest we be trapped in the nets of human affection, and be led away from Him. When creatures treat us rudely, He is at hand to console, and oh, how powerful His consolation is! One word of His drives bitterness out of the soul at once.

When sickness comes, He is present as a powerful protector. The faithful soul knows that no real harm can come to her, but rather that the sickness will only be a great gain, a great advantage. When the terrible dark clouds of temptation break over the soul – when all is so dark that eyes are useless – it is then that His voice in the dark brings courage and peace to the frightened soul. My God! What a comfort that is!

When the bright sunny days of heavenly grace come, He, as a little child, makes our hearts rejoice. What a mystery! The great God of the universe, tiny as a child, playing with one of His creatures! Who can fathom such love? No one could have dreamed it possible! God playing with a little creature, in order to incite the heart of the creature to a greater love for God! Is it possible? Oh, happy the soul who knows God’s goodness in this regard! Truly it is heaven on earth! One minute of that heavenly bliss is worth a lifetime of toil.

Jesus, the Center of the heart! Yes, He is the very life and center of the heart if we consecrate our hearts to Him – if we make Him the King. He is the King if we allow Him to rule over our thoughts, and affections – despising what He despises, loving what He loves, planning nothing except for Him, thinking of nothing except for His sake, desiring nothing but to do His Holy Will.

When all we do, all we have and are, when even the lowly things as eating and sleeping are consecrated to Him and to His Glory, we have in truth made Him the King of our hearts, and He will make Himself the Center of our lives.

All for Jesus, all in Jesus, all with Jesus! Let this be our motto, our very life’s principle! Heart of Jesus, King and Center of all hearts, have mercy on us.

Source: Meditations on the Litany of the Sacred Heart by Rev. Anthony Wolf.

Previously published in The Tilma, Summer 2001.