The love that burns, the moral of the message, and against golf resorts

Happy Friday friends,

The bishops of the United States yesterday consecrated the country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

I think there can be a tendency to give events like these only a passing and even slightly patronizing notice. How many times has the country been consecrated to one or other title of Christ and Our Lady over the years? Isn’t it just a bit of liturgical re-branding, really?

I get that way of looking at things. But it’s a mistake.

We, our country, us as a people, need these moments. We need to be constantly rededicating ourselves to God, constantly returning to Him, begging Him to conform us in mind, heart, and soul, to His Son.

I find the Sacred Heart to be an especially apt manifestation of the divine love for this country at this time. Amid the pageantry of the 250th anniversary of American independence, there is — or should be — a desire to recollect, and if necessary relitigate, what this country is, and who we as a people are.

Most especially, what animates us, defines us, and lends us purpose?

There is much in our history to encourage and inspire. But there is also just as much that should prompt us toward