Here’s a heartening story to round out this Month of the Sacred Heart. Did you know that the newly renovated Crypt Chapel beneath Saint Mary Cathedral in Lansing is now dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus? The dedication, pictured, took place on Saturday, May 30.
It’s one of the last acts of Father Karl Pung, pictured below, as Rector of Saint Mary Cathedral. Father Pung, who has has served in that post for the past nine years, will tomorrow become the new pastor of Saint Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing. Good luck, and God bless, Father Pung!
So, here is his explanation of why he dedicated the Crypt Chapel to the Sacred Heart. Father Pung says:
"I've always had a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Having Jesus' heart is critical to spreading the Gospel. Loving God's people, loving the world as he loves the world, as he aches for the world — and unless we have that ache too, well, the spread of the Gospel can feel mechanical. He really wants it to be done out of love and for love. It’s that ache that put him on the Cross, that ache that kept him on the Cross, that ache that has brought the world back to him."
“The Lord just put it on my heart that the Crypt Chapel should be dedicated to his Sacred Heart. Providentially, that was before I even knew that the U.S. bishops were dedicating the country to the Sacred Heart. So I think that came as a little act of confirmation that the Lord wanted this. I’m happy that this devotion is now expressed within our cathedral.”
