Every Time We Look at the Sacred Heart

James Douglas Conley, elevated today to the episcopacy, (aux., Denver,) has a most interesting history. A convert, this beautiful incident related in his homily at Vespers last night is a tiny but obviously significant part of that history: (via Rocco at Whispers, http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-rockies-conley-friday-dawns-early.html, emphasis mine.)

Shortly after my conversion to the Catholic Church, I ... spent the winter at a Benedictine monastery in France, trying to figure out just what God wanted me to do with my life.
... I left the monastery to visit and pray at some of the famous Catholic shrines in France.I had heard about the apparitions of the Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary, and so I set out on foot with backpack in tow, for Paray le Monial.
I ended up hitch-hiking most of the way, and I arrived at the little French village in the late afternoon in the pouring rain.
I had not made any prior reservations, of course, and so I did the logical thing.
I knocked on the door of the Rectory where the parish priest lived.
He was a kind old priest, and he told me that there were some empty rooms over in the old seminary which had since closed down.He gave me a key, and I made my way over to the seminary. I found one of the rooms and changed out of my wet clothes.
The room was very old, but it was warm and dry. There was a small wooden desk against one wall, and so I sat down and began to write a letter to my mother.I pulled out the desk drawer, and the only thing in it was a small crucifix -- this crucifix.
I took the crucifix in my hand and turned it over. And there on the back of the crucifix, in French, was engraved a date.
The date was June 6, 1878.
I thought nothing of it until I realized that the present date was also June 6 -- of 1978, exactly 100 years later to the day, from the date on the back of the crucifix!
I didn’t have a clue as to the date’s significance, but I did know that the crucifix was meant for me – and so I took it with me and have kept that crucifix to this day.
For me, this story from Paray le Monial, the home of the Sacred Heart and the coincidence of the date on the back of the crucifix, was an affirmation that Jesus loved me, that he laid down his life for me and that his guiding hand was with me, even though I didn’t know where he was leading me.
It came at a time in my life when I wasn’t sure where to turn to next. It gave me the confidence to forge on, in faith and in trust, knowing that God was watching over me and guiding me and that I was on the right path.
Every time we look at a crucifix or a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we should be convinced that God loves us. He sent his only son who died for us to save us. He continues to draw us into the love of his Sacred Heart. He beckons us to lay down our lives in service to the Lord and to each other.