Ezekiel 34:11-16 / Romans 5:5-11 / Luke 15:3-7
The heart can be understood in various ways. Scientifically and medically speaking, it is understood as a vital organ.
Psychologically speaking, the heart is understood as the center of emotions and feelings.
Morally speaking, the heart is the seat of good or evil, because out of the heart flows our words and actions that define us as a moral being.
In today's feast of the Sacred Heart, we celebrate God's unconditional love for us that is expressed in the heart of Jesus.
That heart of Jesus is expressed in the gospel as a shepherd who would do the ridiculous thing of leaving the 99 behind to go looking for that lost sheep.
And when he found that lost sheep, he would carry it on his shoulders and rejoice and call for a celebration.
What we would write off and "forget it", Jesus would write it in the palm of His hands (Isa 49:16) and remember by heart.
Today we are invited to enter into the heart of Jesus to experience love, forgiveness and healing.
In His heart, we come to see that Jesus, in His love for us, died for us while we are still sinners and hopeless in our sin, in order to reconcile us with God.
May our heart be like that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so that we can forgive and even love our enemies, and give thanks for those who show God's love to us.