The Sacred Heart and Alcoholism

Barefoot’s World had a piece on how Sr. Ignatia created the “Sacred Heart Badge” for those admitted to St. Thomas Hospital as an incentive to maintain their recovery and as a “merit badge” to show their progress. Number 9 wrote about it earlier, also quoting the same source: Sacred Heart Badge (the 1st white chip).

The Sacred Heart is an old Catholic devotion dating back centuries. It focuses on the human nature of Jesus (the heart long being considered the center or source of human emotion). As Jesus had become human to redeem us for our sins, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus concerns the Divine Love of God for us, and our response to that is our reparation for our sins. We sin, we repent and we make reparation.

In light of this, that the Sacred Heart was chosen as a symbol of recovery is not surprising. In our recovery, we are making reparation for the sins we had committed in our addictions. And in our recovery, we accept and respond to the love God has for us. We know we messed up and abused the gifts that God gave to us. But despite all of that, He still loves us as His prodigal children and always takes us back no matter how bad our sins. As long as we repent and try to amend our lives we are on the right path.

No sin is greater than God’s ability to forgive. Our repentance has to be sincere, and we have to make a best effort at amending. But no matter how evil, we can be forgiven. No matter how often we fall, we get right back up.

I wrote this as Friday is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

(Via About Catholicism.)

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

(Via CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA.)

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Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)