Commentary
Friday, 6/19/2020, The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Destruction Is for Those Who Hate God
First Reading Commentary: Deuteronomy 7:6-11
Moses told the Israelites that they were God’s chosen people and that they should obey God’s commandments because God would bring destruction to those who hate Him and disobey Him. Jesus expanded on the message from Moses by letting us know that God’s chosen people do not belong to any one race of people alone. Anyone who loves God and believes in Him is among God’s chosen people.
Most of us do love God but it is a contradiction to say that we love God with sincerity in our hearts when we fail to love others and break His commandments. It is a sad fact that too many people who foster racial hatred in our world today, claim to love God. There is no room for any kind of hatred at any degree in a person’s heart if their love for God is sincere.
There are those who have no respect for God’s Will or His law because they have no faith. But most of us do have faith and we do love God but because we are broken and weak, we still sin.
But God knows the difference between those who sin because they are weak and those who sin because they do not believe. God does not promise destruction to those who love and have faith in Him in spite of their brokenness. Instead, God promises salvation. It is for this reason that the Father sent the Son. It is also for this reason that the Son gave us the Sacrament of Reconciliation—Confession.
There are two important facts about God that Moses shared with the Israelites. 1- God is faithful. 2- God keeps His merciful covenant down to the thousandth generation toward those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Does God have to be faithful to us? Did God have to make a covenant with us? No is the answer to both questions. We need God to have faith in us and we need God’s mercy. We need God to want us to be with Him because we are nothing without Him and cannot get to Him by ourselves. We are all broken and we are all sinners and as a result, without God’s mercy and forgiveness, none of us can reach Him.
This is why we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is because the Sacred Heart is full of mercy and forgiveness that we are able to achieve salvation.
God Is Love
Second Reading Commentary: 1 John 4:7-16
The message from John in today’s reading from his first letter is simple. God is love! If we are able to love, it is because God is in us and we are in God. We are not capable of true love if God is not in our hearts. It is impossible for us to obey the Second Greatest Commandment of loving our neighbor if God’s love is not within our hearts. We cannot achieve salvation and be with God in heaven if God’s love is not within our hearts.
Everything that we can think of and say about God will point to love because God is love. Everything that God has done for us and everything that God will ever do for us is because of God’s love. So, as we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are celebrating love—God and the dedication of His love to us and the fact that through the love that is in our hearts, God is with us.
It's OK. That’s What I Came For. I Got This.
Gospel Commentary: Matthew 11:25-30
Jesus exclaimed, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike…No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
I love how Jesus often uses so few words to say so much. The first thing to notice here is that Jesus gave praise to the Father. This is one of many times on record that Jesus prays to the Father although we do not always hear what Jesus says to the Father. This is one occasion where we do. The only thing I am going to say is that if Jesus, who is God the Son, gives praise to the Father; it might be a good idea for us to do the same and when Jesus gives praise to the Father, He sets an example for us to honor our parents.
It is the truth that has been hidden from the wise and the learned. Once again, we have to take the dictionary and throw it out of the window. To understand what Jesus said, we need to know that the wise and the learned were the Pharisees and scribes and anyone else who would not listen. Jesus was making reference to all those who thought that they knew it all but rejected Him. So, it is not that anything was really hidden from them—they refused to hear it.
The truth has been revealed to the childlike. The childlike are the people who listen to Jesus in the same way that a child listens to his or her parents. These people not only hear the truth, they also follow the ways of Jesus and obey His commandments just like children follow and obey their parents. These are the people who love and trust Jesus because they put their faith in Him the same way that little children trust their parents. These are the reasons why Jesus told us to be like children.
We cannot know everything there is to know about the Father or the Son because they are the First and Second persons of the Trinity. They are God and they created us. We cannot understand all of the mysteries of God with our human minds in this life here on earth. That brings us to the next thing that Jesus said. Jesus said that He would reveal the Father to whomever He wished. Simply put, those are the people who enter the Kingdom of Heaven and I bet; they will be the childlike.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Sometimes, we may feel like we should not give God anymore troubles to worry about. Or maybe we may feel guilty for laying another problem in God’s hands. Some of us may not even think of giving our troubles to God. But in this Gospel, Jesus is telling us to give Him our problems. In a sense, Jesus is saying, “It’s okay. That’s what I came for. I got this!”
Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart…For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Jesus is telling us that life will be a lot easier and a lot better if we follow Him. There is no labor and there is no burden in heaven but we have to follow Christ in order to get there.
Jesus is also telling us that if we take His yoke and follow Him, instead of being burdened by the law which is the commandments, we will find the reward promised in the Beatitudes of eternal rest in Him. When we know this and accept it in our hearts, nothing in this life can defeat us because Jesus has our backs.
