The Fire of Divine Love: Weekly Message for 06-25-2019

Dear Friends in Christ,

This week we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, a day to appreciate the depth of Our Lord’s love for us.

Salvation history is a history of God loving his Beloved and wooing her back when she strayed. The Lord didn’t choose the Israelites in the Old Testament to be his People because they were numerous or talented, and he didn’t choose us, his disciples, for that reason either: he chose us because he loved us. He didn’t woo back his Beloved with flowers and candies, but with loyalty, dedication, and sacrifice. We have all strayed, but that has never diminished Our Lord’s love for us. All he expects in return is that we love one another.

Love, like a flame, is meant to ignite hearts and spread, and that is what Our Lord ardently desires: not only that our hearts are aflame out of love for him, but that we spread his love as well after making it our own. The Holy Spirit ignites our hearts with the love of God, beyond any selfish or limited love.

Whenever we remember the Sacred Heart, Our Lord invites us once again to take up the burdens of love and remind ourselves that the secret to shouldering those burdens is to be, like him, meek and humble of heart. Meekness and humility of heart are what show the dividing line between a selfless love and a selfish one. When we contemplate the Lord’s Passion, and the meekness and humility of heart with which he faced it, we should have no fear about shouldering our own crosses out of love.

Our retreat guide Fire and Thorns: A Retreat Guide on the Sacred Heart of Jesus may help you contemplate the love of Our Lord more deeply. In contemplating the Sacred Heart, wounded out of love for us, we know what is the most pleasing to his Heart: to show him that we appreciate his love by loving him and loving others, and by showing Our Lord that we “get it” by making reparation for all those people who spurn and reject him, knowingly or unknowingly.

Let’s live this week contemplating the Heart of Jesus and trying to console him through showing love and understanding toward him and toward others.

May the Heart of Jesus, burning with love for us, inflame your heart to love him and others more deeply.

Father Nikola Derpich, L.C.