GIFT OF HEART, GIFT OF LOVE.

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June 19 2020: Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - A.

A German proverb says, “What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.” And a Nilotic proverb adds, “If you have a lot, give some of your possessions; if you have little; give some of your heart.”

We are in a century where people use sign language more than we could imagine. We would think to be at the ages before the discovery of the writings, the period of the hieroglyph. Beside the official language of the people with physical impediments, the mutes and the deaf, the social media is the greatest horizon today of sign language. On social media, all is said in pictograph, symbol, and ideogram. In this sense, when one means that he is happy, there are the emoji of a smiling face. The one who is grieving or sad shows a face full of tears. When you love something, you give a heart. The heart is the symbol and source of love. Where love is, there too is the heart, as Jesus could say in Mt 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us: "The Son of God… loved me and gave himself for me." He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, "is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that… love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings" without exception.” (CCC.478).

There is a dictum that, “man should think with his brain and love with his heart.” We are celebrating today the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. We are called to see how Jesus gave us his heart, how he gave us all himself out of love until the last drop of liquid flowed from his heart, blood, and water. Celebrating this solemnity, we glory in the Heart of Jesus, the undefiled and wonderful love that overflowed as a fount of mercy and boundless treasure of God’s love.

In the first reading, Moses reminds the people of Israel that God chose them to be his holy people. He tells them that the Lord their God set his love upon them and chose them. The love of God for his people played for their liberation. Because he loved them, the Lord freed them from the house of servitude, from slavery from Egypt. Here, the image portrayed to Israel is that of a merciful Lord. The implication of that action of God is a call to the people to love him back. For, love begets love and faithfulness.

The second reading comes as a beautiful canticle of love. St. John sings the love of God and invites the Christian community to love back each other. John says, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.”

What a beautiful definition of God. God is love. That is his nature, that is his identity, that is his expression. And St. John can go farther adding that it is because of that love that God sent his Son, his only begotten into the world. Therefore, in our relationships with each other, we are urged to build on love. For, where there is love, there is God. People who show love to each other, those who give love, incarnate God. Because giving love is giving God to those you love. And John can say, “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.”

In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus exhorts his followers to take upon themselves his yoke, that is, to take upon ourselves his love. No one can be a disciple of the Lord if he does not take upon himself the same love Jesus has and try to love as he did. The image of the yoke is very evocative. In farming, to lead an ox and make it work docilely, it is loaded with a yoke. These are heavy and burdensome loads. The Lord instead brings a release. First, these words refer to the relationship of Christ’s disciples to the Mosaic Law. Here, Jesus expresses his invitation to a new type of discipleship. Using the traditional image of the Law as a “yoke” that overwhelms those who are subject to it, Jesus invites to freedom. That is to say to go from the love of the Law to the law of Love. The Lord shows to be the greatest and authoritative interpreter of the Law. Therefore, he promises refreshment and shelter in his wisdom school, the school of love. All who thirst for wisdom, all genuine searchers for God are invited to find rest in Jesus, the expression of God’s love. For, only in him can a man learn God’s wisdom, the wisdom of love. When one finds dwelling in Christ, God’s love, everything becomes light.

The Lord uses also the image of children to whom his mystery is revealed, while it is kept hidden to learned and those who pretend to have all wisdom and science. Children are the simplest expression of love. That is not only because of their childish and innocent way of loving but also and mostly because, in them, love is expressed in humility and genuineness without any fantasy or hypocrisy. Children know better how to give heart.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus speaks to us of the Lord’s love for us. It is a love that gave himself without reserve and not counting what it could cost him. In return, we too should be able to give our love to each other and give truly our hearts in serving and loving others without hypocrisy. In this present pandemic situation, we should truly learn to give our hearts to the needy by showing them our love and closeness. In so doing, God will really dwell in us and us in him.

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