28th Week in Ordinary Time (B) : Saturday 16th October 2021

On this Feast of Saint Margaret Mary, let us reflect on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which she promoted so strongly in the Church. She did not create the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the Sacred Heart of Jesus is simply a very definite and concrete expression of the divine love of God for his creation.  It is an affirmation that God’s loving mercy has been part of divine revelation during all the ages.

Deuteronomy (7:7) teaches the Chosen People that God did not choose them because they were the largest nation on earth but simply because he set his love on them. And in his Gospel, John 3:16 teaches us that God loved the world in this way that he gave his only begotten Son, a doctrine that reaches a climax in Johns first letter, when he declares God is Love 1Jn 4:8, 16.  And since in God all is one, God’s love is his mercy. Unfortunately, some people become confused when an apparently “new” doctrine such as divine mercy is promulgated, as if we had to choose one or the other. God’slove is merciful love as his mercy is loving mercy.

Lord Jesus, may your gift of faith to us console us with the eternal doctrine that God the Father’s love and mercy for us together work towards our eternal salvation.