Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Every year, we observe the solemnity of the most sacred heart of Jesus. This is ultimately a feast about Jesus' love for us, as Father John Croiset writes in his book on the devotion, because the human heart is a symbol of love. God asks us to return love for love, as John writes in today's second reading (1 John 4:7-16): "God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him."
How do we learn to love? This is mystifying for many of my students, who have grown up on the love stories they encounter in romantic comedies, and who think that love must, ultimately, be an emotion. If they feel it, the love is there; pretty simple. So they seek ways, at least in a romantic sense, "to keep the spark alive." Another way they think is that true love must be large and bold, the kind of thing that makes a person propose on national television, for instance.
But I actually think remaining in love is a pretty difficult thing. I only have to think of my own household and all the times we snipe at each other to realize that trying to love each other is the great task of each day. And love is an action, primarily, not a feeling. How often do I really "feel" loving at 3 am when the baby is crying and I'd rather just be sleeping? But it is that we go and help the baby that demonstrates the love, despite the feelings.
Another important part of today's readings is that they focus on "small" things. The first reading (Deuteronomy 7:6-11) discusses how God "set his heart" on Israel, the smallest of nations. Indeed, God gave his love for Israel NOT because they were great, but because they were small and in need of mercy and grace. Similarly, Jesus reflects that God reveals things to those who are small and humble (Matthew 11:25-30); the people who are the smartest and most powerful are not the ones who see their need for God.
And so in our practice of love, our focus must be on trying to love the best we can, and sometimes those loving practices might seem small to others. The devotion to the Sacred Heart seems, to many, to be nothing but a few words and a 30 minute mass once a month. Loving acts will not necessarily seem bold. But it is precisely because of that fact that we also become humble and so God is able to meet us more and more. Today, let us be thankful for God's love for us and seek ways to love others as well as we can.
- Jana M. Bennett