HONESDALE – Saint Mary Magdalen Church, a worship site of Saint John the Evangelist Parish in Honesdale, welcomed a special visitor earlier this month.
On the evening of Aug. 7, a traveling icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus made a special stop at the Wayne County church for a reverent and prayerful Holy Hour.
The event, hosted by the local Knights of Columbus Council 363, centered on the love and mercy of Christ symbolized in the Sacred Heart.
“We were privileged enough to have the traveling icon of the Sacred Heart visit our area,” Donald Vivacqua, Grand Knight of the Honesdale Council, said. “Our District Deputy arranged it. They were looking for a place and we said, bring it here, so we had this wonderful event tonight.”
Vivacqua described the experience as humbling and deeply moving.
“It was a visual representation of how much Jesus loves us. (It’s) an image that I can use in my prayer when I think about the Sacred Heart,” he added.
The icon depicts the most famous image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, painted in 1767 by Pompeo Batoni and is now venerated in the Church of the Gesù in Rome.
The reproduction bears the blessing of Pope Francis, through the Papal Almoner, and is one of more than 300 icons traveling the world for veneration and use in prayer services.
For Vivacqua, the icon’s presence served as more than a religious symbol, he sees it as a teaching tool.
“The more exposure that we get and the more we talk about it – especially some of the prayers that we went through tonight – illustrated how people can view the Sacred Heart and how the Sacred Heart is for all of us,” he added. “Christ is just there for us to adore, and His heart loves us.”
Thomas Kurtek, District Deputy of the Knights of Columbus, was instrumental in bringing the icon to Honesdale.
“I just hope it will encourage devotion to the Catholic faith,” Kurtek stated. “It makes me feel there is hope in this world.”
Both Kurtek and Vivacqua expressed gratitude to Father William J.P. Langan, pastor, Saint John the Evangelist Parish, for hosting the event.
Following the event, families were encouraged to enthrone the Sacred Heart in their homes by placing an image of the Sacred Heart in a place of honor. This devotion was inspired by Jesus’ promise to St. Mary Margaret Alacoque to “bless every place in which an image of [his] Heart is exposed and honored.”