Have you ever thought about how the Word of God gives you life? In His Word, in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, God actually speaks to us – and His words have power to change us, to conform us to His love and mercy, to His Sacred Heart (for example, His words give us the Most Holy Eucharist).
The life-giving, life-affirming, life-changing words of Our Lord in the readings from this Sunday’s Mass affirm that neither Satan nor death have the last word. Rather, God has the last word! In the first reading and the Gospel, God speaks to us about doing His will (Genesis 3:9-15 and Mark 3:20-35). For Eve and Adam, they listened to God, but then disobeyed Him. They needed to seek His redeeming mercy. For the disciples of Jesus Christ, they listened to God and strove by God’s grace to do His will in their words and deeds. They knew and proclaimed that with the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption (Psalm 130). As Saint Paul states, “Brothers and sisters: Since we have the same spirit of Faith, according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we too believe and therefore we speak, knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in His presence…, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in Heaven.” (1 Corinthians 4:13-5:1).
When Jesus sees us sinning, He is moved with pity for us in the tenderness of His Sacred Heart for mankind, for He is the source of all compassion and love. His words in the Sacrament of Confession can heal us, as He speaks through the priest: “I absolve you from your sins…” When people follow Him and seek His mercy, especially in the Sacrament of Confession, and strive to be in communion with Him, Jesus tells us that “all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them” (Mark 3:20-35). At the same time, He warns us to not be against Him, to not sin against the Holy Spirit (when someone rejects His mercy and refuses to repent). Rather, He calls us to be with Him, to be one with Him in His Sacred Heart, to repent of our sins, to seek and embrace His mercy, His loving forgiveness.
For you and me to have the Heart of Jesus, we need to pray, to spend time with His Word and go to Him regularly in His Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Confession – all the while asking Our Lord to give us a good heart, capable of having compassion for other people, realizing that the true balm for the suffering and anguish in this world is love, charity. As disciples of Jesus Christ, may we offer the love, the charity of Jesus to all whom we encounter each day, proclaiming the Truth with love – for in doing so we are loving God and neighbor and we will experience true joy. Let us turn to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, His mother (feast days we just celebrated this past Friday and Saturday), and ask for the grace we need to love as God loves us, in words and deeds.
With peace and prayers in Christ,
Fr. William
Saint Clement Parish 