Friday - June 19, 2020
During painful times, when you feel a terrible void, think how the capacity of your soul is being enlarged so that it can receive God-- becoming as it were, infinite as God is infinite.
~~St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
During painful times, when you feel a terrible void, think how the capacity of your soul is being enlarged so that it can receive God-- becoming as it were, infinite as God is infinite.
~~St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
June 19 2020
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Lectionary: 170
Reading 1DT 7:6-11
Moses said to the people:
"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;
he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth
to be a people peculiarly his own.
It was not because you are the largest of all nations
that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,
for you are really the smallest of all nations.
It was because the LORD loved you
and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,
that he brought you out with his strong hand
from the place of slavery,
and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed,
the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant
down to the thousandth generation
toward those who love him and keep his commandments,
but who repays with destruction a person who hates him;
he does not dally with such a one,
but makes them personally pay for it.
You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments,
the statutes and the decrees that I enjoin on you today."
"You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God;
he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth
to be a people peculiarly his own.
It was not because you are the largest of all nations
that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,
for you are really the smallest of all nations.
It was because the LORD loved you
and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers,
that he brought you out with his strong hand
from the place of slavery,
and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Understand, then, that the LORD, your God, is God indeed,
the faithful God who keeps his merciful covenant
down to the thousandth generation
toward those who love him and keep his commandments,
but who repays with destruction a person who hates him;
he does not dally with such a one,
but makes them personally pay for it.
You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments,
the statutes and the decrees that I enjoin on you today."
Responsorial PsalmPS 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10.
R. (cf. 17) The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.
Reading 2 1 JN 4:7-16
Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.
This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.
remains in God and God in him.
AlleluiaMT 11:29AB
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord;
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord;
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 11:25-30
At that time Jesus exclaimed:
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
******************************
The Sacred, Thumping Heart of Jesus
At first I felt embarrassed that others would notice me kneeling there. But then the presence of Jesus became strong, not only in the Sacred Host that was hidden behind the closed Tabernacle door, but in Spirit in front of the Tabernacle. Mind you, I am no visionary, but what I experienced can best be described as a keen awareness that Jesus wanted to show me his Sacred Heart. I "saw" him open the robe that covered his chest (it reminded me of Superman peeling off his shirt). I expected to see an image of the Sacred Heart similar to what artists have painted for holy cards.
That's not what I saw. It was a live, beating, pumping, thumping heart. A human heart "on fire" with the glow of pure light -- a "fire" of tremendous love, an often-suffering but powerful love.
How sacred his love truly is for you and for me and for everyone! It's without flaw or sin. It's complete and all-consuming. It suffers for us when we sin. It suffers with us when we are hurt by the sins of others. And it's as real as your own beating heart.
Jesus did not lose his human body when he ascended to heaven. The heart in his glorified body did not stop existing. The reason why the Church gives us this special feast day to commemorate the Sacred Heart of Jesus -- and the reason why Jesus shows his heart to us -- is because it symbolizes his love, pierced for us on the cross but forever alive, real, and unconditionally caring.
Problems and unanswered prayers cause us to doubt the liveliness of Christ's love. The inability to feel his love pumping through us seems to prove that it's not always here. Our unworthiness seems to prove that he should not make it available to us.
However, these doubts dissolve away when we give to others the love that we seek from the Lord, for it's in giving that we receive, it's in doing that we understand, and it's in taking action that we become aware of what is real. By giving his sacred love to the people around us, our hearts beat in unison with his Sacred Heart. Then we understand what we hear in today's first reading: "The Lord has set his heart on you and chose you!"
You were chosen by God to be loved and to love others on his behalf. Remember this: The same doubt that you've felt is also what others are experiencing. Who in your life needs proof that God loves them? Who's in a bad mood? Who needs a kind, calming, caring word of encouragement and hope? Because you have within you the Sacred Heart of Jesus, you are the proof they need that God's love is real. Give it to them and you will find the proof that cures your own doubts!
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, grant me the grace to recognize in the trials an opportunity to surrender myself entirely to You. Thank You, my God, for seeking me so earnestly and for loving me so much. Amen.
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God Bless You.....
The Rosary Family
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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