Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Fr. Gregory Boyle’s book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion was first published in 2010. Maybe you’ve heard of it, even read it. I recall reading it with one of my sons in their adolescence. Drawing on experiences with the gang-intervention program (Homeboy Industries) that he founded in Los Angeles, Fr. Boyle crafted the real-life stories of God’s grace and mercy touching and softening the seemingly hardest of hearts. It quickly became a New York Times bestseller.
Today’s readings and the Church’s celebration of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus brought this book to mind. Each of today’s readings speak of God’s love and, in some cases, God’s heart. Not exactly tattoos on the heart, but in today’s first reading (Deuteronomy 7:6-11) about the Israelites being chosen by God we find similarly intimate imagery, “the Lord set his heart on you and chose you...It was because the Lord loved you….”
Our second reading (from the First letter of John) tells us that God is love and it is “not that we have loved God, but that he loved us….” God has acted first in loving us.
And lastly, the gospel passage (Matthew 11:25-30) is also based on God’s love and tells of the rest we can find in Jesus who is “meek and humble of heart.” We are invited, “take my yoke upon you and learn from me...and you will find rest for yourselves.”
It seems to me that God, specifically through Jesus, is offering us God’s heart. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, God has been offering God’s love and seeking our love in return. This celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is another opportunity for us to accept Jesus’ invitation for greater intimacy with and through Him as He continues to open His heart to us – God’s heart of “boundless compassion.”
Like a modern version of the Song of Songs (8:6a), “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm;” perhaps Jesus has set each of us like a “tattoo on His heart.” And we are invited to do the same.
No matter the imagery, we are invited to greater intimacy with God who IS love and who chose us first. How will we respond?
~Eileen Miller