Today we celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Heart inflamed and burning with love for you and me! Lord, may my heart burn with love for you and for my fellow human beings, men and women of all races, of all cultures, of all nationalities! I give you my heart, Lord, when it is "hot" and when it is "cold" or "lukewarm." I give you my heart, not because I feel like it but because I will it. I will that my heart be engulfed in yours, embraced in your love and mercy. I pray with the psalmist of today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 103: "Bless the Lord, O my soul; all my being, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul; and forget not all his benefits." Right now, burdened by the oppression of the coronavirus and the restrictions put upon us to keep us safe from contracting this lethal disease, it is easy, Lord, to forget all of your benefits! They exist even when I do not acknowledge them or even when I am totally unaware of them, like the sun behind clouds or shining on the opposite side of the world, where it is daylight hours right now!
Lord, in today's Gospel, Matthew 11: 25-30, you say to all of us: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." We do come to you, Lord. We place all of our burdens in the center of your Heart aflame with love for us. Teach us your meekness and humility, Lord, especially when we want to rebel against the reality of this day's world: its being ravaged by the coronavirus, its people of color being gunned down even when the life of a law enforcement officer is not in danger, a world in which violence is erupting during peaceful demonstrations and encouraged by leaders of our country.
Let us remember what Jesus also tells us in today's Gospel, namely, that all "things have been handed over to me by my Father." The world is in Jesus' hands and that truth gives us reason to not lose hope in the good things to come!
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