As a parish we have raised the flag of the Sacred Heart on our property as a reminder that we are called to love with the Heart of Christ - which presupposes the teachings of Christ and His vision for love and sexuality. (Dignitas Infinita 55-60; CCC 2331-2400)
We would also like to direct our parishioners to Cardinal Leo’s Message on the Month of the Sacred Heart:
“The Sacred Heart which depicts Christ’s physical heart, pierced and surrounded by thorns calling to mind his suffering and imbued with the inextinguishable flame of his love, is ultimately the only symbol we really need which underscores our human dignity, our call to holiness of life, Jesus’ sacrificial love for humanity, how precious we are to him and how ugly sin is as an offence to him. We should all honour the Sacred Heart in every home, parish, school, convent, hospital and Catholic institution.
“Symbols are important as they convey meanings in what they represent, and they point beyond their own reality to something else, someone else. Our very own Catholic symbols help us to deepen our faith and shape our prayer life, not to mention the lives we lead and the choices we make. They are like bridges joining together the material and spiritual worlds, and reveal to us the Gospel truths. They showcase what our values are, what is important to us and how we intend to live our faith. We need to make sure that the symbols we use are consistent with our Catholic faith and not borrowed from ideological fora, promoted by lobby groups and endorsed by political movements. We ought to honour and respect our traditions and not compromise the integrity of the faith by using symbols that are contrary to God’s divine revelation. We do good to use our own symbols to tell our own story without resorting to trendy, misguided and inadequate symbols that do not represent us as Catholics but rather contribute to confusion, distortions and ambiguities about what the Catholic faith truly teaches regarding the human person, human nature, and natural moral law.”
— His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo
Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto