Sunday Meditation: Everyone Has a Heart to Love With

My spiritual reading yesterday kept leading me to the "heart" of the matter starting with the daily devotional from the SSPX which examined "purity of intention." A good question for each of us is this. Does my action come from a heart filled with love for God or other lesser motives? People can perform the same external actions with very different results in the eyes of God:

We can go to Mass out of routine or out of obligation, or else simply to see a particular person. We can also go to Mass out of love of God. Externally, the actions are the same, but in the eyes of God they are each very different. The same external act will be meritorious for some, not for others, depending on the purity of their intention. It is the same for our duty of state. We can set to work out of obligation, out of pleasure or out of love of God. The same action is meritorious for some and not for others. [Source]

The Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

James Tissot (1836-1902)

Jesus had nowhere to lay his head in life; he goes to his death with nothing except the scorn and hatred of his enemies and the betrayal of most of his friends. Only Mary and a few of the women and St. John were there to be with Him at the foot of the cross. O Jesus, through the intercession of Your Immaculate Mother, give me the grace never to betray You again.