Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Dt 7:6-11
1 Jn 4:7-16
Mt 11:25-30

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”   This invitation pours out from the heart of Jesus, a heart that knows very well our human suffering from his own personal experience.   The most compelling message about God’s nature revealed through the life of Jesus is that God loves us.  But it is a message of divine compassion for us that does not promise to take away our sufferings, but an offer to walk with us through our sufferings.   God loved us before we first knew about God.   Preparations were made in advance by Jesus to compensate for even our most grievous failures.

Religious art over the centuries of Christianity has depicted Jesus in various manifestations of his Sacred Heart:  a human heart form pierced by a sword and surrounded by a crown of thorns, an image of Jesus with arms outreaching and rays of light flowing from his heart.  The Divine Mercy image is another outstanding example.  But the most eloquent image of Jesus’ heart of love for us is the crucifix.    Love poured out to his death so that we may have his life forever.   Jesus endured his passion because he knew that his love to death would release us from our sins.  As Jesus was undergoing his execution he still found strength to focus on those around them in acts of compassion.  He blessed the group of women who wept for him as trudged toward Calvary.   On the cross he made an excuse for us as he pleaded for our forgiveness, “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.”  His compassion reached to one of the criminals dying with him that day, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  And as he hung close to death he thought of his mother and one disciple.  He gave them to each other’s care.

Today’s feast is an invitation to us to turn your heart toward Jesus because love always seeks a return of love.   To Jesus our even feeble return of love is worth his sacrifice.  What can I do for him today?

Fr. Patrick Geinzer, C.P.
St. Paul of the Cross Monastery
Pittsburgh, Pa.