SACRED HEART OF JESUS

 11 JUNE 2021: MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS, HOS 11. 1, 3-4, 8-9; EPH 3. 8-12, 14-19; JOHN 19. 31-37

 

Focus: In a culture where advanced culture is equated with lack of heartiness and sensitivity, the festivity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is a challenge to foster a culture of heart

1. This feast of the most sacred heart of Jesus reveals and confirms to us that our God is a God of heart. That is, a God who values us so much, who loves us without end, always radiating upon us the rays of His care, a God whose heart burns with the flame, the fire of passion. It never gets cold, it never becomes lukewarm, but always passionate, always zealous.

2. Even if we are weak and fragile, even if we fall often, even if we make so many mistakes, even if we fail in our fidelity and sincerity, even if we lack in our responsibilities and duties, even if we do not deeply believe, live, and witness how we must like the believers, like the children of God and disciples of Christ, even if we often wound that beloved heart of Jesus - still despite all our weaknesses, faults, unfaithfulness, and unworthiness, God loves us. Jesus never fails to love us.

3. This fact of the love of God, so faithful and persevering, is today a matter of great comfort and encouragement. Especially in our times, in our society, where and when, unfortunately, the ambience and the culture of love, of the warmth of heart, of tenderness, of sensitivity, is diminishing, but instead a culture of hatred, rancor, indifference, violence, and evil is increasing, this celebration of the heart, of love, is a confirmation, a call, a challenge, and a guide for a way of living of love.

4. Today the Lord comforts us that he always pours his love over us. See what a tenderness and steadiness of God’s love in the first reading from Hosea: “When Israel was a child, I loved him … it was I who taught to walk. I took them up in my arms … I healed them. I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love. I bent down to them and fed them”. So, never doubt that God loves us, even if sometimes we are surmounted by difficulties, upset by afflictions, beset by unfavorable situations. Trust in God. Trust in his love. Feel the warmth of his heart. Experience the passion, the fire of his love. Be open and docile to the marvel of his love.

5. Not only this but also we are called to foster a deep love for him. Love God. Let us be gripped with a passionate feeling, a powerful bonding with the Lord. Many times we feel a lot of interest, enthusiasm, anxiety, and concern for many things. But how much is the intensity and depth for the Lord? How do we cooperate with God's commitment as He promises: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove your heart of stone and put back a heart of flesh "(Ezek 36. 26). That is, a heart that is warm, tender, sensitive, and caring, a heart that is open, which understands, accepts, forgives, and helps.

Direction: Let us grow such a heart towards God and towards others. Let us open our hearts to God and to our sisters and brothers. Let us widen our hearts. Let us guard them, heal, enrich, transform our hearts so that our hearts also become like the sacred heart of Jesus.