Reflection on Today's Readings, the Solemnity of Sacred Heart of Jesus, Year B, June 11th, 2021
Texts: Hos.11:1, 3-4, 8c-9; Ps. Is.12:2-3, 4bcde, 5-6; Eph. 3:8-12, 14-19; Mtt. 5:20-26
Today we celebrate a heart that loves endlessly, the Heart of Jesus Christ. It is the Divine love we celebrate, the love which became human in Jesus Christ: Heart is the seat of feelings and it is proper to human nature, not the divine. We therefore celebrate how God has come to love us in human way. Hence, He says, in today's first reading, _"I bent down to them and fed them."_ God loves us without reservation. This is clear in the first reading as God says, _"When Israel was a child, I loved him"._ We are the Israel, His people. Inspite of our offences, He says, _"My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come to destroy."_
He goes further to tell us how He has demonstrated His love of us. The Egypt from which He called us is the slavery to sin. He shows His love by caring for us, He nurtures us physically and emotionally. He nurtures us physically by teaching us to walk, and emotionally by enfolding us in His arms. Inspite of all this, we fail to acknowledge Him. Though He showered His love and compassion on us, He came down to our level, we still failed to acknowledge Him. He puts it thus: _"but they did not know that I healed them, I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who raises an infant to his cheeks, and I bent down to them and fed them."_ This shows the importance of today's celebration; it helps us to acknowledge His love for us.
St. Paul, in today's second reading, reminds us of the unsearchable riches and plan of salvation that are hidden in the the sacred Heart of Jesus. We come to know the unsearchable riches and the plan of salvation when we are established in love. St. Paul puts it thus: "that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Our hearts must take after the Heart of Jesus. By this, we are called to conform our hearts to that of Jesus Christ. It is by love we share in the riches of the Heart of Jesus.
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank You for Your love and care, help us to love that we may know the depth of Your love and share from the riches enclosed in Your Heart. Amen.
FR. Andrew Olowomuke
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