Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus which celebrates the most tender love and mercy of our Lord. The readings at mass today make us meditate on how our Lord pours out this love to all in a truly gratuitous way. The First Reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel (34:11-16), presenting the image of God as shepherd, demonstrates how he seeks out and embraces all his sheep but most especially the ones who need particular care. “Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. (…) I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, shepherding them rightly.”This same image is taken up by our Lord Jesus in the gospel today from Luke 15:3-7, when he speaks of the man who leaves his ninety-nine sheep in the desert to go after the lost one until he finds it. The parable is actually an allusion to the mission of Jesus to seek out the sinners and bring them back to the arms of the Father. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is, in fact, a reminder of the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord for the sake of us all.
And I’d like to make this present, and “translate this today” by contemplating on a picture which a Filipina friend in Rome sent me lately (see above). This is the class picture of her 2 kids, Dean and Ken (see if you could pick out the Filipino kids in the picture). I enjoy contemplating the variety of personalities here, as well as the peaceful and loving countenance of the two teachers. And I thank the Lord for the blessing: through these loving women and men around us, through the children who receive their care and love, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is “alive and well!”
