A picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hung in many living rooms of Catholic homes for many generations. The image spoke then (and still speaks) of the self-giving love of Christ, an unlimited love most totally shown upon the Cross. The pierced heart of Christ proclaims that greater love predicted by Jesus when He said: “No one can have greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
The image of the Sacred Heart echoes St. Paul’s words, “I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” St. John, for his part, gives us one of the shortest yet most profound statements about God in all of the Bible: “God is love.” He adds that “God’s love was revealed when God sent into the world His only Son.”
Let us rejoice today that Jesus is the supreme revelation of our God – whose very nature is love. All authentic love is life-giving and that is uniquely true of Jesus Himself. He invites all who are burdened by life’s cares and Crosses to come to Him and to find rest, peace, and hope. If we even glimpse the tremendous love of God for us it can transform our hearts. It can empower us to love one another as God has loved us.
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Let us pray. “The Bread you give, O God, is Christ’s flesh for the life of the world; the cup of His Blood is your covenant for our salvation. Grant that we who worship Christ in holy mystery may reverence Him in the needy of this world by lives poured out lovingly for the sake of the Kingdom, where He lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.”
