When praying the Litany of the Sacred Heart, I am always struck most particularly by the invocation: Heart of Jesus, Desire of the Everlasting Hills…

And at the start of the year this invocation is even more striking. We spend these days re-examining our life more intensely. We have spent the Christmas octave with family and friends, full of joys and even sorrows, disappointments, difficulties, sadness, loneliness…

We are looking forward with fears, excitement, anxieties…. hope. This is for big things in our life, but also the small things. And this is good.

I am often speaking with friends and family about the reality of friendship, the reality of simply maturing in relationships. There are many joys in friendships, and there can be intense difficulties or uncertainties on account of our weaknesses and our failings.

One thing is sure. One thing is absolutely necessary in our daily life. That is, we need to foster a relationship, a friendship with Christ. He alone is the Desire of the Everlasting Hills; He alone can satisfy those desires which come with every beat of our heart.

And this is not a pious platitude. It is not simply a devotion in the sense of affections and emotions. It is a practical matter — a very real and substantial matter, a relationship with a Person, Christ. And why hesitate entering into that friendship. And, entering into that friendship every day anew. Why put off gazing into the eyes of a Lover so true?

Every day the questions in your life may multiply. You may have more questions today than you did yesterday. But what must become more simple is your “yes” to God. It is in that simplicity that you will begin to find your true desires and find them satisfied. A satisfaction overflowing, abundant, infinite, eternal.

Jesus, Desire of the Everlasting Hills, have mercy on us!