An Affair of the Heart

by Bishop Joensen | November 13, 2024

This month of November spans one of my favorite feast days, All Saints, then inclines toward the conclusion of the liturgical year with the Solemnity of Christ the King before winding up with our most religious national holiday, Thanksgiving. There are several spiritual and familial reasons to feast, even as we know that many in our world and in our midst are trying to eke by on a daily basis. While chatting recently with Tony, who periodically stops by my residence looking for a little support, his face lit up when he mentioned the turkey that a community organization would soon drop off for him and his girlfriend. Many folks these days are not waiting until December’s “Giving Tuesday” to extend generosity and charity to their brothers and sisters in need.

Just prior to November, Pope Francis offered us a spiritual bouquet of sorts to adorn our prayer space, desk, or night stand in the form of his most recent encyclical letter, Delixit nos, “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.” The title is taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans 8:37, “He loved us.” The encyclical marks next year’s 350^th anniversary of the conclusion of the apparitions of Jesus’ Most Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. 

I find the encyclical to be one of the most moving, soul-filling messages of Francis’ pontificate for a host of reasons: (1) the Holy Father weaves together the Scriptural testimony to Jesus’ compassionate attachment to us with the spiritual witness of luminous saints such as Margaret Mary Alacoque and Claude de la Colombière, Thérèse of Lisieux, Francis de Sales and Jeanne de Chantal, Charles de Foucauld, Faustina Kowalska, Vincent de Paul, Teresa of Calcutta, John Paul II and more; (2) he amplifies our own fresh diocesan vision statement, “Cultivating Connections in Christ” by his mention of “encounter” (39 times), friend and friendship (24 times) and communion (six times); and (3) Francis enlists turns of phrase and images that evoke our human sensibilities.

It’s almost as though he’s been peering through grandma’s kitchen window the day before Thanksgiving when he observes, “No algorithm will ever be able to capture, for example, the nostalgia that all of us feel, whatever our age, and wherever we live, when we recall how we first used a fork to seal the edges of the pies that we helped our mothers and grandmothers to make at home. It was a moment of culinary apprenticeship, somewhere between child-play and adulthood, when we first felt responsible for working and helping one another” (Dilexit nos/DI n. 20).

Yet just when the smell of baking pies wafts over us and our eyes water from fond memories of past Thanksgivings at Grandma’s house, Francis proceeds to sting our consciences to make acts of reparation for the times we have not let our own hearts be a “guest house” for Jesus (n. 17; see also n. 165). But more often than not, he coaxes us to embrace our mission to freely spread the “waves of [Jesus’] infinite tenderness” in this world (n. 197).

Reminiscent of St. Thérèse’s “little way” of love, Francis cites an earlier Francis (de Sales) in commending not only the heroic acts of fidelity we might perform, but the little ways in which we win Christ’s heart and love: “I mean the acts of daily forbearance, the headache, the toothache, the heavy cold, the tiresome peculiarities of a husband or wife, the broken glass, the loss of a ring . . . the sneer of a neighbor, the effort of going to bed early in order to rise early for prayer or communion, the little shyness some people feel in openly performing religious duties.” “Be sure that all these sufferings, small as they are, if accepted lovingly, are most pleasing to God’s goodness” (Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life cited in DN n. 178). I’ll bet most of us spending time with family during the coming holiday will have plenty of occasions to make such little acts of love as we bear with one another in close quarters!

There’s so much more in this lavish “bouquet” of a message the Pope presents as a tribute to our King and Savior Jesus. It’s also his way of winning our hearts over again to the Lord who cherishes us and wants to befriend us on our level of life, only to draw us into his Kingdom company with his Father in the Spirit. 

May I suggest, in addition to the daily Mass readings, that the encyclical might well serve as spiritual food for reflection well beyond November into the weeks of Advent, when we prepare ourselves to again receive the Word who takes on a heart of flesh.

I don’t know if I’ll be preparing our family’s traditional scalloped corn dish for the Thankgiving table. But as I anticipate celebrating 9 a.m. Thanksgiving morning Mass—THE supreme act of thanksgiving—at St. Ambrose Cathedral, I recall so many moments recently beholding God’s in-breaking love for which I give thanks. A small sample:

• The permanent deacon who got teary-eyed with joy when his son brought his beautiful little granddaughter into Church just before Mass
• The seven St. Malachy School students from Creston whom I interviewed who have either already or will receive initiation sacraments as they enter the Church
• The pre-marriage preparation meeting with an Hispanic-Anglo couple whose wedding I will officiate in a few weeks in which they recounted how their dating led them to both start going back to Mass
• The occasions when I get to simply hang out with our Des Moines priests—at our annual workshop, our clergy study days, at the recent Andrew Dinner where I listened to the panel of younger priests and Monsignor Larry Beeson as they radiated their love for Jesus and the priesthood—I get to be a priest for and with these guys!
• The Wednesdays and other times when I hear confessions and am so moved by the contrition and desire of penitents to receive mercy and love more truly, more constantly
• The July National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis where night-after-night, 55,000 people in Lucas Oil Stadium fell silent in Eucharistic Adoration; and then on Saturday afternoon lined the downtown streets, publicly acclaiming their love for those who embody the heart of Jesus as religious women and clergy
• The diocesan Pastoral Center staff, with whom I look forward to collaborating most every day, with their readiness to challenge, discern, counsel, and creatively inspire me, all the while keeping me from taking myself too seriously
• The young man with tattoos and chains lining his arms who was humble enough to ask for something to eat, and was so grateful to be given a bowl of soup
• The elderly couple who accompany each other in the communion procession, one using a walker, hanging on to one another for dear life until they can hang on to Jesus, their dear life
• The call I received not long ago from a former student who now works with children with special needs, who told me that whatever I said to him seven years ago in the confessional kept him from committing suicide
• Watching my Mom in silent, tear-filled vigil before the casket of her only sibling, our uncle, Father Ralph Simington
• The gift God offers me each day of serving you, the people of the Diocese of Des Moines, whose fervent faith, disarming humor, and genuine humanity— whether born in Iowa or from a place far away—display the many profiles Jesus presents to us as together we seek his face

Thank you! I love you! O Jesus, make our hearts more like your own!