Scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus | USCCB
Today
we celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is usually
commemorated on the Friday after the Second Sunday after Pentecost.
This
beautiful devotion shows us the love that Christ has for all of us. In one of
his writings, St. Bonaventure wrote, “…consider how great and worthy is he who hangs on the cross for you. His death brings the dead to life…” and “It was a divine decree that permitted one of the soldiers to open his sacred side with a lance. This was done so that the Church might be formed from the side of Christas he slept the sleep of death on the Cross.” Christ willingly went to the
cross to die for our salvation.
In our gospel for today we hear Christ describe the
Good Shepherd. Christ is that Good Shepherd looking far and wide for those who
are away from God through sin. Once the sinner has returned to the loving
embrace of Christ in His Church, our Lord is overjoyed, like the Good Shepherd
that is described in the gospel.
As we pray today to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us
reflect on the words of St. Paul in today’s second reading to the Romans, “The love of God has
been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to
us.” God’s love for us is infinite, and He wants us to always to turn away from
sin and to always turn towards Him out of love and devotion. Further, as we
continue our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let us pray for those in
our family that may be away from the Church and any devotion to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It will be through our prayers that our family and friends will come
back into relationship with Jesus and find that peace that can only come from
being in relationship with the Lord.
Finally, as we pray to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus, let us remember what St.
Teresa of Calcutta is quoted as saying: “Do not let the past disturb you. Leave
everything in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and begin again with joy.”
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteRomans 5:1-5 is very precious to me, because this was the Scripture reading that the LORD gave me on the Saturday evening of my first retreat at Mary Reparatrix Retreat Center in March 1981 when I was struggling with a faith crisis--the same retreat where I first met you & Jeanne Clancy & JoAnn (later to become Sister JoAnn) Bonauro. A few years later I came into the Catholic Charismatic Renewal & was prayed over for baptism in the Holy Spirit. When we had a Life in the Spirit Seminar in our prayer group sometime later, a woman whom I think was a consecrated religious sister gave one of the teachings & said that we can experience Baptism in the Holy Spirit more than once. At that retreat I had not known about Baptism in the Holy Spirit, but in retrospect I realize that the way the LORD touched my heart & "opened the floodgates" on that evening of our retreat was an experience of Baptism in the Holy Spirit.