Entering the Sacred Heart
A teacher asked, “If there are twenty sheep in the pasture and two of them leave, how many are left?” One boy replied, “None.” “How can that be? You don’t know your Math,” the teacher said. “You don’t know sheep,” the boy replied.
And he was probably right. If two sheep leave, what do the rest do?
On the feast of the Sacred Heart, I came across Ezekiel 34:11-16, about scattered sheep. Sort of like the congregations of many parishes on a given Sunday morning. “When it was cloudy and dark,” these sheep scattered from the flock.
“I will bring them back to their own country,” says the Lord. “And pasture them upon the mountains…the ravines…they shall lie down on good grazing ground.” Now that is a wonderful promise, and God keep his promises. He will give us rest. “The lost I will seek out.” The strayed will be brought back. “The sick I will heal.”
And that is not just referring to physical illness. How peaceful it will be when we come back to the flock and join in the worship of the church. What blessings will be ours. What security.
The love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus challenges us. Picture a heart pierced for our love. Karl Rahner wrote, “We look at the heart of the Lord and a decisive question for eternity fills our innermost being. We ask Jesus: Do you love me? Do you love me in such a way that this love generates a blessed eternity?”
We remember Jesus asking Peter three times, “Do you love me?” In all honesty we are often distrustful of the love of Jesus for us. “If we ask Jesus, ‘Do you love me?’” Father John Klassen says, “the question draws us into the mystery that brushes up against us, that invites us into the heart of Jesus.”
We are standing in the faith, hope and love, in the life of the Spirit, we entered into in Baptism. We will be overwhelmed by the mystery that is love – submerged in the reality of the mystery of God. The Heart of Jesus is always open and welcoming us back.
As you enter the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris, your eyes are drawn to a huge mosaic of the risen Christ, welcoming everyone with open arms. His wounded heart is surrounded by burning flames and adorned with a crown of thorns. This is the vision Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque was given in 1673.
Jesus told her, “My Divine heart is inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular.” Jesus offered himself completely in his love poured out on the cross. Even as he died slowly, his Sacred Heart continued to burn for each one of us. He still gives us his infinite treasures of peace, healing, mercy and love.
In his frequent apparitions to Sister Josefa Jesus revealed his absolute love for sinners. "Never shall I weary of repentant sinners, nor cease from hoping for their return, and the greater their distress, the greater My welcome. Does not a father love a sick child with special affection? …So is the tenderness and compassion of My heart more abundant for sinners than for the just.”
Do not be afraid to enter into the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He has said, “ I am Love. My Heart can no longer contain its devouring flames. I love souls so dearly that I have sacrificed my life for them [for us].”
(584 words)
