Today
we celebrate the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From time
immemorial, man has been “physically” placing in his
heart the best and the worst of the human race. Christ shows us his,
with the scars of our sins, as a symbol of his love for men, and it
is from this very Heart, where past, present and future History is
revitalized and renewed, where we can contemplate and understand the
joy of He who has found what He had lost.
«Celebrate
with me for I have found my lost sheep» (Lk 9:6). When
we hear these words, we always tend to place ourselves in the group
of the of the ninety nine upright who do not need to repent and
observe “from the distance” how Jesus offers the
salvation to a number of our acquaintances who happen to be much
worse than us... Not at all!, Jesus' joy has a name and a face. Mine,
yours, his..., because of our sins, we all are “the lost
sheep”; so we better stop adding fuel to the flames of our
arrogance, while we think we are fully converted.
In
the times we live in, where the concept of sin is played down or is
even denied, where the Sacrament of Penance is considered by some
persons as something hard, sad and obsolete, the Lord, in his
parable, speaks only of celebration, and He does not do it
only here, but actually all throughout the Gospels. Zaccheus, after
having been forgiven, invites Jesus to eat to celebrate it (cf. Lk
19:1-9); the prodigal's father forgives him and offers a party for
his return (cf. Lk 15,11-32), and the Good Shepherd rejoices
for his found lamb that had wandered off the trail.
St. Josemaria said a
man «is worth his heart's worth». Let us meditate from
Luke's Gospel whether the price —which appears in our heart's
price tag— compares with the ransom the Sacred Heart of Jesus
has paid for each one of us.
