A REFLECTION FOR THE SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF SACRED HEART
When Shakespeare wrote these words
in 1598 for his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, his audience back then
knew exactly what he meant. Just as we
do today. It’s one of those facts of
life—obstacles always get in the way of true love. And it’s as true for God as it is for men and
women. Not of course when it’s a
question of the love that the three Divine Persons of the Trinity have for each
other. But when God created man, it’s an
altogether different story. God has
always wanted to share his perfect love with Adam and Eve and their
offspring. He wanted us to enjoy his
love for all eternity in heaven. But
first, just a little test to prove ourselves worthy of that love. A test called “life”.
How’s your life going? Is it running smoothly? Of course not, because Shakespeare was
right. Nor can we blame our problems on
God, from whom only good things come. He
has loved us with a perfect love since the day of creation. Before we were even conceived, God knew us
and loved us. He loved us so much that
he died for us. And what has been our
response? Look around at the world. Are we seeing a lot of love going on out
there? Real love?
This week we all saw the video of
a man walking down the street, and without any reason whatsoever, striking a
92-year-old woman in the head and knocking her to the ground. With zero visible emotion, he just walked on,
leaving her bleeding on the sidewalk. We
were all sickened by this. We were
appalled. We were disgusted. But mostly we are frustrated and angry when
we find out this man has been arrested 103 times since 2005 and he’s still out
on the streets beating up little old ladies.
This single act epitomizes the current environment of lawlessness, where
apparently only “Black Lives Matter” and godless thugs are taking over our
streets and our cities, and even the very minds of our fellow-citizens.
God knew all this would happen
when he first created Adam. And yet he
loved us all, giving us the free will that so many abuse to do the devil’s work
of chaos and anarchy. These followers of
Satan for whom we feel such disgust, he loved and died for. The love of the Sacred Heart knows no bounds. And he still hopes to receive man’s love in
return. As it says in today’s Gospel, he
still seeks the sheep that was lost.
So the course of God’s true love
may not be running smoothly right now, but that’s our fault and not his. No matter how angry, afraid, or frustrated we
may feel, we must never lose that love of God that keeps us sane. When we can’t turn for comfort to our
government, our civil leaders, or even our Church, we are reduced to placing
all our trust in God alone and the love he has for us that faileth never.
Our Sunday falls this week within
the Octave of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
St. Peter’s Epistle message today couldn’t be clearer for the times we
live in—place yourselves “under the mighty hand of God… casting all your care
upon him; for he careth for you.”
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