Jesus loves us!
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a mystery to Non-Catholics and even to some Baptized Catholics. The experts trace it’s origins from the Last Supper to Saint Justin, the Martyr, to visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1671 and again to visions of Saint Faustina Kowalska in 1931.
There is no mystery. Jesus loves us. Today only 30% of the United States believes in God. Nonetheless, Jesus loves us. That is the mystery dispite our sinful nature Jesus loves us. He forgives us and has mercy on us. His love is limitless.
People who deny Jesus only look at the rules and what we are not supposed to do. Unfortunately, we don’t focus on the goodness of Jesus love for us. We focus on the rules. Jesus wants us to do the right thing and He hates the evil, but the door of forgivness is always open. I feel sorry for people who believe that they are unforgiveable. We have failed if we don’t tell someone the rules, but we also must leave the door open to Jesus’s willingness to love and forgive. His mercy is limitness and is not bound by our finite view of His love for us. We don’t sit in the judgement seat.
In the 17th Century France there was a Jansenist Heresy, which was a very Puritanical definition of mankind. It was a “Hell Fire and Primstone” view of human kind. It denied the fact that salvation was determined by predestination and nothing a person could do to accept God’s grace.
Now some parts of the Catholic world today will celebrate the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist and the Feast of the Sacred Heart on Sunday. Whenever you celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart. Remember the words of Romans, The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us. We were still helpless when at his appointed moment Christ died for sinful men. It is not easy to die even for a good man – though of course for someone really worthy, a man might be prepared to die – but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This love is the love of the Sacred Heart.
In 1985 my buddy, Dennis, and I went to New Zealand. In New Zealand they drive on the left side of the highway. We were driving on a two-lane country road and saw a storybook scene in front of us. The road was entirely blocked by a shepherd and a huge flock of sheep.The shepherd knew that we were delayed but we had no agenda and let the story unfold. He was the nicest man. He was a World War ll veteran. He loved American because he and his buddies would “borrow equipment” from the well-equiped American Allies. On his homestead he showed us how they sheared sheep by hand and he was so generous that he invited us for a lamb super. He was a total stranger but showed the love of Jesus as only a shepherd could do. “What man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he found it? And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours? “Rejoice with me,” he would say “I have found my sheep that was lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.“
We are never unforgiveable. Jesus through His amazing Sacred Heart loves us and wants to be that one out of 100 that He is looking to bring back to the fold. This is the message of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Also, pray for peace in the Ukraine.
