By Naresh Namindla, CSC –
Readings: Rom 2: 1-11; Lk 11: 42-46
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, through whom the devotion to Sacred Heart of Jesus was spread. One day as she was praying alone in the chapel she was overshadowed by Divine Presence in which she heard the voice of the Jesus, inviting her to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Her religious Superior and the members of the community did not believe in her visions and judged her as deceiving and fraud. It was her confessor who wrote about her visions and made it known to public and spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Through the first reading, St. Paul invites us to be aware of our behavior and actions before we could judge others. ‘If we judge people we have no time to love them,’ says Mother Teresa. We often judge others but forget to practice what we have just judged. St. Paul warns this type of people to change their behavior and learn to do good to others so that they may be granted eternal life on the judgment day.
In the gospel reading we see Jesus using harsh words on Pharisees to mend their behavior on what they believe. We often try to be noticed by everyone to gain popularity in the community. We do things that are inappropriate for the sake of pleasing others and to get a good name. By doing it we show the wrong image of ourselves to others, and its exactly for this that Jesus is harsh on them.
Today’s feast and liturgy invite us to become the sharers of God’s love by spreading the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. God loved us so that we may live. Respecting his love to us, we should become an instrument of the same love that pours out from his heart.