Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (2020)
Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (2020)
When I was on my directed eight day retreat the last two years, I went to pray at a little gazebo on the grounds of the retreat center several times. The first day I went in to meditate I noticed that the gazebo was dedicated to the Sacred Heart. But the statue inside was not what I expected. The statue depicted a man with a child beside him. The man had his arm around the child and the child looked at the adult holding him with an expression of trust and affection.
I though that maybe this was a statue of St. Joseph and the boy Jesus. But I was told that this was indeed a depiction of the Sacred Heart. It seemed to me that this was a comforting statue, but not what I was expecting. I am used to artistic depictions of the Sacred Heart to be statues of Jesus pointing to his own heart superimposed over his chest.
I did not know what to make of this until I recently read a book by Gerald May on addiction and grace. He reflected on the love of God and what that love is like. He said that the love of God is like the love of a parent for a child. Ideally, a child does not have to earn love. They are loved by their parents simply because they are.
We don’t need to earn God’s love by our deeds and virtue. We are loved simply because we exist, and God made us. Our Lord holds us in his arms and gazes on us constantly with an affectionate glance. It is a gaze that will never waver. What better image could we have for the feast we celebrate today.
I say to you, “Happy Feast Day.” I hope that you feel the Lord’s embrace on our parish feast day.
Reflection Question:
1. Do I feel like I must earn whatever love I experience? Do I have people in my life who would love me no matter what?
2. In the ancient world the heart was considered the place where all emotions emanated in a person. At what times in my life has my heart burned with love?
Dear Parishioners,
This Saturday at 4 p.m. our livestream Mass will originate from our church. We hope to have some new equipment up and running by Saturday afternoon. It will be nice to have a livestream Mass with some actual bodies in the pews. I would admit that it has been hard looking into a camera lens and trying to relate. When you make a joke, no one laughs and if you make a profound point there is no way to judge if people are grasping what you say.
I will be deciding on a Mass schedule and livestream schedule over the next 48 hours. We do know that we will have one 8 a.m. Mass in church all next week. The livestreaming will depend on how ready we feel we are to work with the equipment daily. We are trying to keep a lot of balls in the air. Thank you for your patience.
May our Lady and the Angels and Saints smile on you today.
Fr. Mark