Loving is hard. Isn't it?
I admit that I often fall very short of loving the unlovable. But, whether you resonate with that or not, we can at least all agree that loving another human being is packaged with both joy and pains.
Contemplating on love and the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, it might be tempting to say that it was easier for Jesus to love his neighbour because he was God. Well... you're right, he is God, but he is also fully human. He didn't come down to Earth to pretend to have a body, acted to be in pain as he hangs nailed on the cross, or made loving the sinners look easy. He came down for real—human body, soul and even emotions. There is much evidence of this peppered throughout the New Testament. Pope Paul VI affirmed this when he wrote:
"He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice, and loved with a human heart." (Gaudium et Spes, 22)
The truth that the Sacred Heart speaks to us today is, the human heart has the capacity and endurance to love— even until death. Jesus' model of love stamps our hearts with hope that we, too, can love as he did. God delights in our efforts to reconcile and to bring peace and mercy wherever we are planted.
Before we search for opportunities for heroic acts to display our extraordinary ability to 'love', maybe we're simply called to love to restore our broken families, forgive friendships that have wounded us, and be powerful witnesses of the healing.
He understands our human hearts— all our brokenness, weaknesses and shortcomings that cause us to love imperfectly. Therefore, let the Solemnity serve as a reminder that Christ meets us where we are; He draws us to Himself to give us the grace needed to heal the wounds hindering us to love through His Sacred Heart.
Let us pray,
Jesus meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us. Amen.
Your brother in Christ,
J
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