Reflections from the Heart – August 28, 2022

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Fr. Ivan Olmo

“Humble yourself and you will find favor with God.” When I contemplate the heart of Jesus, I find myself wonderfully lost in the divine will and the beauty of the things of heaven. I lose all sense and concept of time, space, presence. I find myself gently flowing and slipping into the ocean of God‘s infinite love and his divine mercy. It’s so wonderful to lose all sense of having to be concerned with tracking time or worrying about what comes next or what may or could happen or having to measure out success or progress. I can simply be me and enjoy God. I can enjoy the grace of his awe-inspiring presence, his gentle kindness, his beautiful loveliness, his loving concern for me. I can simply enjoy being — being still, being loved, being me. What a great and awesome feeling to be free. To be lost from the world and to be found in God. To be found in the great ocean of God’s holy person and in the midst of his holy presence where I am a mere breath of moisture. I am little less than a drop of water in the vast body of God. Yet, God knows me. He sees me in a particular way. He recognizes me in a unique and individual way. God is amazing. He can identify me, poor little created cloud of vapor that I am from all other moisture, from all the dewfall, from every drop of water in the universe. In the ocean of God’s love, he easily and clearly sees me. God’s ocean is beyond measure. No one can ever measure the depth or width of God’s love. No one can imagine the height or the vastness of his great mercy. Yet, God invites us to bathe and swim in the ocean of his glory. When you look at the Sacred Heart of Jesus, what do you see? Can you feel the warmth of his love, taste the goodness of his ever-flowing grace, smell the sweetness of his holy innocence? Can you imagine being loved so much, so perfectly, so profoundly, so completely? We are invited to pray to the heart of Jesus and ask him for the particular grace that our own hearts may become meek and humble like his. We are encouraged to ask for the grace to have an interior disposition of gentle patience especially in the midst of hardships or moments of suffering. Let us joyfully and prayerfully radiate an exterior posture of lowliness, humbleness, submissiveness just like Jesus.