June 12
Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart
The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Today's Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30
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| Photo created by Google AI Image Creator |
Jesus didn't say come to me
if you have it all together or come to me when you've cleaned yourself up or
figured it out or when you stop making the same mistakes. He looked out at
the crowd of tired people, broken people, people carrying weight they couldn't
name and burdens they couldn't put down, and He simply said:
Come to me. All of you. I
will give you rest.
Moses told the people of
Israel something that should have stopped them immediately. God didn't choose them
because they were the greatest nation. God chose them because He loved them. No
other reason. Just love deciding to love and nothing else.
That is the Most Sacred Heart
of Jesus in one sentence. A heart that loves not because we earned it, but
because that is what it does. It loves. Relentlessly. Without condition.
Through every sin and every failure and every moment we look away, and every
time we come crawling back.
St. John said it as plainly
as it can be said: God is love. Which means every time you have ever been loved
by anyone or anything, you were touching the hem of something infinite.
I feel unworthy most of the
time. I know my sins better than anyone except God, and I talk to Him about them
constantly, on my walks, in my prayers, in the quiet hours before the world
wakes up. I know He forgives me. I know He loves me. But I still wish I could
do better and give more. I pursued a priestly life twice, and twice God
redirected me back into the world to serve him differently. I think I finally
understand why. I am serving the Lord on Rosary Road Trips through our Rosary
Makers Ministry, plus all that I do at the shrine, my daily blog, and the
outreach that our Rosary Ministry has around the world. Yes, it's a very
different pulpit, but it's still the same Lord whom I serve. I give my life to
my Lord; there are no self-seeking goals, only to serve Him is all I seek.
Our Lady's Immaculate Heart
and the Sacred Heart of Jesus have never been separated. Not at the
Annunciation. Not at Calvary. Not now. She showed her heart to the children at
Fatima, pierced with thorns, surrounded by the sins of the world pressing into
the heart that loved the world most. She wasn't asking for devotion to herself.
She was clearing a path straight to His.
Two hearts. One direction.
Always toward God the Father.
Something to sit with today:
Where are you carrying
weight right now that Jesus has already invited you to put down, and what is
stopping you from accepting that invitation?
Our Lady's Immaculate Heart
and the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are not two destinations. Our Lady is
clearing a path, as she always has, straight to Jesus.
Surrender not just the
burden but the self that has been gripping it. Give Him your life, all of it, as
a living sacrifice. Always put Jesus first. In the morning. In your decisions.
In all your fears. In your failures. He is not waiting for you to get it right.
He is waiting for you to come.
So, what is still stopping
you?
Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely given. Freely shared.
