At the center of the plaza in front of the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament is the statue of the Child Jesus extending his Sacred Heart towards us. The heart of a child, broken of it's innate narcism, recognizes the blessings Christ brings to us in some moment of silence. For most of us, those childhood moments form the closest and purest connections to God we will ever have. it is the closest we will ever come to touching the Sacred Heart of our Lord.

The reason is once we leave the narcism free window of youth, our lives get busy. Our lives fill with noise and competition needed survive in the adult world. The moments of peace needed to connect to God in the manger, at the Sermon on the Mount, on his cross, or arising from the dead in his glorious triumph over death get crowded out on the clock. The devil uses our fallen world to challenge your attempts at connection to Christ using trials to us at work, his mocking us when our children go astray, or physical ailments used fogging our mind and blocking reception of God's treasures bestowed on us.

We should not lament on this spiritual torment. We must accept it, and revel in the few moments of childlike joy we do get when our hearts open to the Lord. We must treasure those moments as a triumph over the forces of Satan, and know this constant spiritual battle is the one the Lord encourages us to have. A heart constantly striving for the Lord is one which never leaves faith or hope aside, and provides a path where charity can flower.

See the striving heart, the one cutting through the distractions of the world, is a mature heart seeking Jesus Sacred Heart. The striving heart completes the circle of spiritual life for those blessed with a childhood connection to the Lord. See if charity flows through your heart to others, you again stripped yourself of narcism like you did as a child. In the charitable acts you will build not just a moment of joy, but the potential for an eternity of heavenly joy with Christ.

-ehw

P.S. Thanks to Mom for the inspiration for this blog post!