Mt 11:25-30
At that time Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
Today the Church wants to show us especially the love of the Saviour. Through a so-called private revelation the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus found its way into the liturgy of the Church. To Saint Margaret Maria Alacoque, Jesus had said: “Behold This Heart Which Has So Loved Men!”
Indeed, we will never finish discovering the magnitude of Jesus’ love for His Father and for us mankind. The certainty of this love must penetrate our whole being, to lead us to a better understanding of God’s Being. In fact, we live from love and for love.
In a way, also on the Feast of Corpus Christi the Heart of Jesus was shown to us, for in the Eucharist it is always alive and beating, ready to satisfy the hunger of those who suffer under the tribulations of life and are in search of peace and healing. In the Holy Eucharist we can find the Heart of Jesus in all its meekness, inviting us to abide in His love. Teachers of the spiritual life recommend a time of silence after receiving Holy Communion, so that the grace given to us in Christ’s Eucharistic presence may permeate our hearts and we may become ever more receptive to His love. But the Eucharist is not only a remedy to strengthen the weak and needy; it is also the ” wedding Feast of the Lamb “, to which we have been invited so that we may already in this life enjoy Christ’s presence and receive a guarantee of His love.
In today’s Solemnity we are invited in a special way to contemplate the love of Jesus. On the one hand, His “uncreated” love; that love with which He has loved us from all eternity together with the Father and the Holy Spirit; that love which led Him to the point of becoming man for our salvation. On the other hand, also His “created” love, that is, that love with which He loved us as human beings, even to the point of dying on the cross for us.
Every day and in the most diverse ways this love comes to meet us, if only we learn to discover it.
In today’s Gospel, the Lord shows us the goodness with which He draws to Himself those who suffer under the burden of this life, so that in His Heart they may find rest. His Heart is the place where we can rest and feel at home, where we receive comfort, where we find the certainty that we are not alone.
Suffering is particularly hard to bear when one does not feel understood or has the impression that one is becoming a burden to others. However, the Lord assures us that the yoke of those who come to Him will be transformed, for it will become the yoke of Jesus. The Lord does not promise that all the burdens and sufferings of life will be lifted from us; but He assures us that His redeeming love will transform them.
On the other hand, the love of Jesus seeks to be reciprocated, for we know that love only finds its fullness when it is reciprocated. Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Annum Sacrum, formulated this truth in the following terms: ” There is in the Sacred Heart the symbol and express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love in return.”
This is the purpose of the devotion and the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Perhaps it is a mystery that is only revealed to simple souls, to whom the Lord refers in today’s text. Once the soul has tasted something of divine love, it wants to immerse itself more and more in the mystery of this infinite love which surrounds it. Thus it begins to understand the love Jesus has for it.
When one experiences divine love and tries to correspond to it, the path of following Christ takes on a special radiance and one can move forward with much greater ease and agility. Little by little, the path of faith is no longer seen as a mere obligation to be fulfilled, but as an invitation that comes from love. And this love gives us wings!