The six-inch drop

I had been a Catholic for many years before I heard about 'the six-inch drop' - the short drop from head to heart, in other words the conversion of our faith from an intellectual or cerebral affair to an affair of the heart. For those of us like myself who are somewhat cerebral - who live very much in our heads, in the world of our thoughts - there can be quite a battle to open up our hearts fully to the Good Lord. Today's Feast of the Sacred Heart is one of the frequent precious reminders in our faith that He wants right into our heart's depths. Surely the devotion to the Sacred Heart is very close to the spirit of Carmel, infused as it is with a sense that the heart's love is what is most pleasing to Jesus. Today is also the Feast Day of Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew, who was so close to the heart of Teresa. I like to think of Teresa dying in her arms, it is somehow a vision of tenderness, that tenderness embodied in devotion to the Sacred Heart. The more I share my heart with Jesus, the more I will be able to share it with others.