As Jesus was teaching in the Temple
area he said, "How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of
David? David himself, inspired by the holy Spirit, said: ´The Lord said to my
lord, "Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your
feet."´ David himself calls him ´lord´; so how is he his son?" (The)
great crowd heard this with delight.
( Mark 12:35-37)
Introductory Prayer:Jesus,
your love for us is measureless. We cannot fathom it with our poor minds and
hearts. Nevertheless, I ask you to give me the grace to experience something
more of your love in this meditation. Let me understand it in a deeper, more
complete way. This is the month the Church reflects more decidedly on your
Sacred Heart. This is also First Friday, a day particularly dedicated to
remembering the love of your heart which was pierced on the cross as you laid
down your life for us. Lord––again I ask you––may I experience your love in
this meditation.
Petition:Lord
Jesus, increase my love for you.
1. The Messiah.
Surrounding the life of Christ is the ongoing and contemporary discussion about
the Messiah. We see an example in today’s Gospel. In John’s Gospel, we read how
Andrew, after his afternoon with Christ, went and found his brother Simon and
exclaimed, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41). The woman at the well
speaking to Christ tells him, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When he comes
he will proclaim all things to us” (John 4:25). Yet, no matter how intense
their longing for the Messiah, they far underestimated what God would do for
them through that Messiah, destining them for “adoption as his children through
Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will…” (Ephesians 3:5).
2. The Heart of the Messiah.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). This
Son, this Messiah, communicates the love flowing from his heart. St Margaret
Mary records these words of Christ: “Behold this heart which has so loved men
that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order
to testify its love.” All that our Messiah has wanted to do was to communicate
his love to us. But how many obstacles all ages have put up as barriers to his
love. Christ at the Last Supper kneels down
as if to beg the apostles to allow him to love them through the gesture of the
washing of the feet. He has to convince Peter that this love is what makes
souls part of him, belonging to him as one loved by him. Have we truly
understood the love of the heart of the Messiah?
3. The Response to Love is Love.
Freedom makes love possible. Without it there can be no love. Man is free and
therefore man can love. He can respond to God’s love with love. Yet, how many
do not respond with love! As the Sacred Heart told St Margaret Mary, “In
return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence
and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt they have for me in this
sacrament of love.” What has my response been to Christ’s heart? How often do I
try through my love to make amends for the coldness of so many souls who do not
respond with love?
Dialogue with Christ:
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, burning with love for me, thank you for the love you
have shown me, calling me to the Christian faith. Thank you for drawing me to
spend time with you in my daily meditation. You are the desired of all nations.
You are the meaning of our lives. You are the strength and consolation of every
day. Help me to understand your love. Help me to believe in love. And make this
reality in my life something I can communicate to others.
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