By Sister Meredith, O.C.D.

On the feast of St. John the Evangelist (December 27) in the late 1200’s, a nun living in Thuringia (now Germany) had a vision of Jesus and St. John.  This nun was St. Gertrude and she saw herself standing on the right of Jesus with St. John to the left of Our Lord.  They were both reposed on Christ’s Heart and St. Gertrude, experiencing extreme sweetness and delight, asked St. John why he had not proclaimed to the world how sweet it was to lean on the Heart of Jesus.  He answered:

“My mission was to write of the Eternal Word.  . . but the language of the blissful pulsations of the Sacred Heart is reserved for latter times, that the time-worn world, grown cold in the love of God, may be warmed up by hearing of such mysteries.

Would you agree that St. John could be describing our times now where hearts have grown cold to the love of God?  We certainly agree.  St. John gives his prophetic message not without hope for he proclaimed that the remedy would be that hearing of such mysteries would warm our hearts once more.  The mystery he refers to is the love and mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  It is simple, yet profound.

God loves you and me just the way we are, wounds and all.  He loves us to the extent of suffering brutal torment, dying on the cross as a criminal, naked and vulnerable for all to see, then rising in order that we might share in His glory.  He loves us now, exposing His vulnerable bleeding Heart, as an image of the host in the tabernacle, drawing us close to Him without fear or condemnation.

His love is not contingent on our performance, our deeds, or that we have it all together.  His love simply IS and He cannot deny Himself.  When we know this in the depths of our hearts, we can forgive ourselves and others, effecting the warmth and fire of a Love that overcomes every pain and sin imaginable.  May our time-worn world be warmed by the blazing fire of God’s unconditional love for each of us!  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus we implore, that we may ever love you more and more!