READINGS
1.Hosea 11:1-4,8-9 (God’s love for His people is portrayed in
warm, emotional terms)
2.Ephesians
3:8-12,14-19( The abundance of God’s
gracious mercy)
3.Gospel: John
19:31-37( The rich grace flowing from the
pierced side of Jesus)
MEDITATIONS
AND REFLECTIONS
Today’s scripture are
in a very special way rich and evocative on the theme of God’s love. Prophet
Hosea always uses feminine imagery for God, who holds his children to his cheek
as the mother who do likewise to her children. St Paul in letter to the
Ephesians also puts emphasis on this same love of God to us. Our Gospel today
recalls the moment in the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby a soldier
pierced the side of Jesus Christ to testify that really he died. The evangelist
underscores the blood and water which flowed from the pierced side of Jesus by
alluding to the testimony of eyewitness. Thus comes an invitation to us all to
contemplate on the theme of self-emptying. “ They will look on the one whom
they have pierced.”
Based on the “Heart of Jesus”as the symbol of love,
the Church always had a devotion to Christ as the incarnate love of God. As
John’s the evangelist puts it “ God loved the World so much that he gave His
only son that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal
life.”( Jn 3:16). This verse when linked with today’s theme of our reflection
and the gospel we learn and understand the self emptying of Jesus to us all is
a symbol of God’s love for us.
Historically the
devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus started with Cistercian monks around the 11th
Century. Nevertheless, it was not until 1670 that the idea of the feast of the
sacred heart of Jesus was elevated by publicly by St. Jean Eudes ( 1602-1680).
The devotion gained a great momentum through the vision granted to Margaret
Mary Alacoque in the convent of Rue de
Bac (paris) whose intense devotion to the Heart of Jesus urged her the
treasures of Jesus’ Heart goodness, convinced that he had chosen her specially
for this work. In the following century many people requested Rome to
officially recognize the feast of the sacred heart of Jesus, however their
request were turned down without success. But in 1775 at the request of the
Queen of France the Papacy allowed the Feast of the sacred Heart of Jesus to be celebrated in France. A century later
at the petition of France bishops, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the
universal Church with an emphasis on the need for reparation for sins and
abuses whether personal or social. Today, the devotion to the sacred Heart of
Jesus is centered around the Heart of Jesus emblem of divine love.
When we tend to think
of heart we think it as the seat of emotions, however, during the time of Jesus
it was understood as the seat of will or desire. Love actually is not rooted in
the emotions rather love is rooted in the will and in our desire. The example
of the good shepherd in the bible (John 10:11) “ I am the good shepherd. The
good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” With this example we can
understand that the shepherd in the gospel is an image of Jesus because when
one of his hundred sheep went missing he decided to look for it because it was
his will that the sheep would not remain lost. He wanted to bring it back into
communion with the flock. In celebrating this feast we celebrate his desire and
will to love us. Jesus identifies his will to God’s will as he declares it in
the gospel according to John’s gospel that “the will of him who sent me is that
I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.”(Jn6:39). The lord is ever
looking for us because he wills, desires us to be in communion with him.
Hakuna maoni:
Chapisha Maoni