No Greater Love
Introduction by the Celebrant
Because our vision is narrow and limited, people pictured the great and unnameable God as inaccessible in a distant, fortified palace, wherein he withdrew after creating the world and people and where people’s sins could not harm him. Yet even in the Old Testament God made himself known as a God who loves and cares and who is deeply involved in human history. He fell in love with people, chose himself a nation and made a covenant with them. When his people became unfaithful as they could not really understand that God loved them, he showed himself with a human face and a heart that could be wounded and bleed in his Son Jesus Christ, to tell us: See how far love can go. Can you now believe in my love, accept it, and love me in return? It is the loving heart of God we celebrate today as we honour the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
First Reading: The Song of God’s Slighted Love
God loved his people with a tender love and guided Israel with a loving hand. Even when his people became unfaithful he did not have the heart to abandon them.
1 Reading Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9
Thus says the LORD:
When Israel was a child I loved him,
out of Egypt I called my son.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
who took them in my arms;
I drew them with human cords,
with bands of love;
I fostered them like one
who raises an infant to his cheeks;
Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,
they did not know that I was their healer.
My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not a man,
the Holy One present among you;
I will not let the flames consume you.
Responsorial Psalm IS 12:2-3, 4, 5-6.
R. (3) You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.
God indeed is my saviour;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my saviour.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
R. You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.
Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.
R. You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
R. You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.
Second Reading: The Riches of Christ’s Love
Paul thanks God for the grace that he was allowed to preach everywhere the riches of Christ’s love. He prays that all Christians might become aware of the depth of this love.
2 Reading Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19
Brothers and sisters:
To me, the very least of all the holy ones, this grace was given,
to preach to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ,
and to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery
hidden from ages past in God who created all things,
so that the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known through the church
to the principalities and authorities in the heavens.
This was according to the eternal purpose
that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
in whom we have boldness of speech
and confidence of access through faith in him.
For this reason I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Alleluia Matthew 11:29ab
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord;
and learn from me, for I am meek and gentle of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Christ, the Paschal Lamb Slain for Us
John speaks of Christ on the cross as the suffering servant and the Passover Lamb; his pierced heart becomes a wellspring of life and love for all.
Gospel John 19:31-37
Since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath,
for the Sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately blood and water flowed out.
An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true;
he knows that he is speaking the truth,
so that you also may come to believe.
For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled:
Not a bone of it will be broken.
And again another passage says:
They will look upon him whom they have pierced.
Commentary:
Here, on this Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is a fitting piece from ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ by Nikos Kazantzakis:
Sunrise found Jesus and John the Baptist sitting above the Jordan in the hollow of a precipitous rock. All night long the two of them had held the world in their hands, deliberating what to do with it. Sometimes one took it, sometimes the other. The one’s face was severe and decisive: his arms went up and down as though he were actually holding an axe and striking. The other’s face was tame and irresolute, his eyes full of compassion.
“Isn’t love enough?” he asked.
“No,” answered the Baptist angrily. “The tree is rotten. God called to me and gave me the axe, which I then placed at the roots of the tree. I did my duty. Now you do yours: take the axe and strike!”
“If I were fire, I would burn: if I were a woodcutter, I would strike. But I am a heart, and I love.”
Blessing
The love in the heart of Jesus
is more than sentiment.
It means commitment with one’s whole person,
whatever the cost and the consequences.
May this be the heart to transplant in us
and may God bless you all,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace, and let the love of Christ be the root and foundation of your life.
R/ Thanks be to God.
– Jesus meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto thine!
– Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!