The WORD
today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/062317.cfm)
reminds me of God's divine love for us.
Today is the feast of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus. It reminds us of Christ's intense and divine love for
us.
What
comes into mind when one sees an image of a heart?
Some,
probably the scientists and physicians, would associate heart with science and
remember one of the most important organ in the human body.
Well,
that is true.
However,
I believe most of the people would associate heart with love. And I believe that
is what Jesus, through the readings today, wants to tell us.
In the first reading we see God
taking care of us, his flock. He loves and takes care of us. He protects us. Nanjan sya kahit hindi natin alam, kahit hindi natin
napapansin or pinapansin. His love is unconditional, na kahit hindi mo I
acknowledge, kahit hindi ka magpasalamat, hindi sya titigil magmahal. He is willing to die for us. To protect us. To
guide us. To save us. And that is exactly what Jesus did for us.
In the second reading, we see
the first reading concretized. Hindi na
concept yung pagmamahal ni God. Hindi
na theoretical yung shepherd willing to die for his sheep. We see
that this love is true. While it is easy to love our family, friends and those
who love us, pero mahirap mahalin ang
kaaway. Mahirap mahalin ang sumasakit sayo.
But this is exactly what Christ did. He
loved us while we were still sinners. He did not wait for us to
change and love him before loving and saving us. He died for us while we were
still sinners. While we were still hurting him. He died to save us. That's how
he loved us. That's how he proved his love for us.
God
invites us to love him and to love others. In the second reading, he also tells
us to remain in his love. In the gospel, God wants us to love him and follow
him and come to him. Love should be an action. A decision.
God loves you even if you don't
love him.
Do I
know that God really loves me so much? Do I value God’s love for me? IS it
enough for God to tell me how special and worthy I am, or do I still look for
love and affirmation of other people to make me feel good about myself? How can
I love others and make them feel God’s love?
May
we always remember how much God loves us, and live to make that love alive in
the world.
Father God,
Thank you for
today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for your reminder. Thank
you for loving me, even if I am unworthy. Lord, I am sorry for sinning and
hurting you. Pero Lord salamat, kasi kahit pasaway ako, that does not stop you
from loving me. Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for loving me even
if I hurt you. Thank you for dying for me. Lord, help me value to your love for
me and may I find my worth in your love and not in others. May I always
remember how divine your love for me is. Today and every day, may I always
remember how much you love me, and may I be a vessel of your love to others.
Use me to make your love more alive in this world. Amen.
Blessed
day!
In
Christ,
-g-
June 23, 2017
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lectionary: 170
Reading 1DT 7:6-11
"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;
he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth
to be a people peculiarly his own.
It was not because you are the largest of all nations
that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,
for you are really the smallest of all nations.
It was because the LORD loved you
and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,
that he brought you out with his strong hand
from the place of slavery,
and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed,
the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant
down to the thousandth generation
toward those who love him and keep his commandments,
but who repays with destruction a person who hates him;
he does not dally with such a one,
but makes them personally pay for it.
You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments,
the statutes and the decrees that I enjoin on you today."
Responsorial PsalmPS 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Reading 21 JN 4:7-16
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.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.
This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.
AlleluiaMT 11:29AB
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord;
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 11:25-30
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
No comments:
Post a Comment