Reflection for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

Today's Word

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.


Today's Reflection

We think of Saint Paul as a great missionary, a great teacher, a great letter writer.

He was also a man of deep prayer, and his letters give us access to the content of his prayer, the way that he prayed, who he prayed for.

Clearly, prayer was at the heart of his life as a missionary, a teacher, a pastor, a letter writer.

This morning’s second reading gives us one of the most beautiful of all Paul’s prayers.

In that prayer, Paul prays that God would give the power through the Spirit for our hidden self to grow strong.

Our hidden self growing strong is equated there with Christ living in our hearts through faith.

When Christ lives in our hearts, then our hidden self, our core, grows strong.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart, the heart of Christ, his hidden self, but that reading from Paul puts the focus on our heart, our hidden self.

Paul’s prayer is that Christ would live in our hearts. In a sense Paul seems to think of all of us, all of the baptized, as called to have a sacred heart, a heart in which Christ lives through faith.

To speak of the sacred heart of Christ, of Jesus, is to speak of his loving heart.

Paul refers in that reading to the love of Christ which is beyond all knowledge.

We never fully grasp the extent of Christ’s love in this life.

His love was most fully revealed, most accessible to us, on the cross.

The blood and water flowing from the side of Christ that the gospel reading refers to suggests the outpouring of his life-giving love, a love stronger than death and sin.

This is the love that is beyond all knowledge; it is more than our minds can grasp.

All we can do is place ourselves before this love in our poverty, surrender to this love in faith.

If we can do that, Christ and his love will begin to live in our hearts through faith, and our hearts will reflect something of his sacred heart.


Resolution

Let's resolve to love the Sacred Heart, imbibe the value of love so that something of his love will flow from our human hearts to bring life to our world.


Good Morning

Have an awesome Day

Happy Feast of the Sacred ❤️

God bless you and your family🙏