Jun 12 — Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
The devotion to the Sacred Heart (also known as the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Cor Iesu Sacratissimum in Latin) is one of the most widely practiced and well-known Roman Catholic devotions, taking Jesus Christ’s physical heart as the representation of his divine love for humanity.
This devotion is predominantly used in the Roman Catholic Church and in a modified way among some high-church Anglicans, Lutherans and Eastern Catholics. The devotion is especially concerned with what the Church deems to be the long-suffering love and compassion of the heart of Christ towards humanity. The popularization of this devotion in its modern form is derived from a Roman Catholic nun from France, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, who said she learned the devotion from Jesus during a series of apparitions to her between 1673 and 1675, and later, in the 19th century, from the mystical revelations of another Roman Catholic nun in Portugal, Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart, a religious of the Good Shepherd, who requested in the name of Christ that Pope Leo XIII consecrate the entire world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Predecessors to the modern devotion arose unmistakably in the Middle Ages in various facets of Catholic mysticism, particularly with Saint Gertrude the Great.
– Wikipedia
Deu 7:6-11
1 Jn 4:7-16
Mt 11:25-30
…everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
I once heard from a priest said that the greatest love story every told is the one about Jesus Christ. For anyone who has yet to encounter the love of God, that story is lost on them. It is the same with this line in today’s second reading, for “everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love.” We know God only when we have experienced his love for us.
Honestly, the kind of love I grew up with is one that’s distant, and one that’s not vocalised – your typical traditional Chinese family who doesn’t express love outwardly. I lived with my grandparents until I was seven, before moving back to live with my own family. The only love I came to know is that of my mother, who used to shower me with secret goodnight kisses, hold my hands, and pamper me as the baby in the family. Sadly, I only got to know that love for just about 12 years before she passed on. My father, on the other hand, only knew that to love is to provide for us financially.
Then came ‘BGR’ (boy-girl relationships) and even then, I didn’t get a good picture of what love truly meant. It was often broken and imperfect. Perhaps our marriage vow of ‘for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part’ is the closest thing to God’s meaning of unconditional love. Yet even then, many fail to live that vow fully. Bless that priest, who used to say that marriage vocation is the hardest of all. Nobody taught me how to love unconditionally. I didn’t see it in my parents or loved ones. Until I met Jesus.
As Christians, we’ve been told that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). But how many of us truly understand what that means? When Jesus begged, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want” (Matthew 26:39), his obedience is a kind of sacrificial love that is even harder for us to understand. I thought to myself, which father or parent would sacrifice his child this way? It’s definitely not the kind of love we’d approve of. Yet, this is the mystery of God’s love for all of us. He loves us so much that he would send his only son, Jesus, to suffer and die for us, so that we have the hope of returning to our eternal home.
I only came to know/experience the sacred heart of Jesus, thanks to the intervention of Mother Mary. Little did I know that my participation in ‘33 Days to Morning Glory’ – a DIY retreat in 2015 — was the start of my conversion and faith journey. I didn’t understand the readings and the retreat went on like a blur, ending with a consecration to our Lady of Fatima. Thereafter, at retreat after retreat, I started to fall deeply and madly in love with Jesus. Even though I don’t have a real relationship with Mary, I knew it was her all along. She’s always working hard behind the scenes, filling in for the maternal absence as my spiritual mother all these years.
My personal encounter and love relationship with Jesus happened during the Prayer Experience Retreat. I have since been building a relationship with him. Over the years of understudying Jesus’ ways, I slowly come to understand what God’s love is about. Why do I feel so energised talking to anyone who is remotely interested in talking about faith and Jesus? Why is it that I feel this constant desire to reach out to the elderly every time I see them struggle even a little bit? Why do I feel this compulsion to offer a smile to anyone who’s offering a service, just to let them know that they are appreciated and not forgotten? This must be love — the love that Jesus has been filling my heart with.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Cynthia Chew)
Prayer: Dear Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, whose love for us is infinite and still a mystery to many. We are so unworthy, yet you love us still. We shall love you with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.
Thanksgiving: Thank you, Lord, for always being slow to anger, showing kindness and mercy. Fill our hearts with your joy, peace, faithfulness and love. Amen.
OXYGEN 
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