Gospel Reflection- Monday, June 20, 2022
Gospel Reflection- Friday, June 24, 2022
Photo by Jonathan Dick, OSFS on Unsplash
Today’s gospel passage comes to us from the Gospel of St. Luke, and, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we find that this passage offers us a glimpse into the very reality and mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
"What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' (Lk 15 3-5), the Lord says. In the strangely delicious irony of this passage, the unparalleled love of God is revealed. “What man among you”, the Lord poses, “having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?”. The irony, of course, in the passage is precisely that the answer to this question is a blunt “most of us”. It seems illogical, irrational, even opposed to common sense that one would leave the heard for one stray sheep. And yet, this is the love of God. It exceeds all logic, rationality, and even common sense.
I once heard a small meditation taken from and old book of contemplative works by an American monk that read, “God knows me and loves me singly and individually, and just as truly as He knew no other, or loved no other. He loves me no less because He loves millions of others. He loves me because He made me, because I am in His Divine Image.”. Isn’t this the mystery of the infinite love of God shown forth in the Heart of Jesus? As I heard a wonderful Trappist nun once say, “Love would fulfill its divine destiny between God and me alone, and yet include all mankind.”.
This is the love that we live in, the love that we all possess, but often fail to realize. Let us realize it, believe it, and live in it.
So, then, let us love one another as He has loved us. Count on my prayers. God bless.
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