At a certain
point you say
to the woods, to the sea,
to the mountains,
the world,
Now I am ready.
Now I will stop and be wholly attentive.
You empty yourself and wait,
listening...
Annie Dillard
INVITATIONS - a reflection
Esmey Herscovitch, RSCJ
For me it is significant that the gospel reading for this year’s feast of the Sacred Heart also occurs on two other occasions not long after the feast - 14th Sunday in Ordinary time and Wed. and Thurs. in the 15th week of Ordinary Time. It is a recurring gospel passage in the liturgy and is both invitational and encouraging. I offer a few reflections.
A few years ago at a liturgy for the opening of the school year the priest in his homily the told of a small child who, if asked by her mother ‘How much does Mummy love you’, would stretch out her arms as far as she could saying ‘this much’. One day when her mother took her into a church she caught sight of the crucifix and exclaimed, with her arms outstretched as far as she could stretch, ‘Look, Jesus loves me this much!’
Those outstretched arms on the cross invite us, as does the
gospel reading fr
om Matthew 11: 25-30, in three ways: -
We are invited to come to him –
we are invited to enter into the heart of Jesus thus also entering into the
heart of God, into the heart of the world with all its struggle and pain; but we
are invited, too, to be refreshed and sustained.
We are invited to share his yoke – to be for the heart of the world the heart of
God as we accompany others, share their lives, sustain them in carrying their
burdens.
We are invited to learn from him
– enter into his designs, learn of his longings and of his love for the world as
well as for ourselves.
Twice in this passage Jesus promises “you will find rest” – the rest that comes
from the reassurance of being loved and of being accompanied, whatever the
struggle or darkness.
This quotation from Noel Davis perhaps sums up these invitations
BE, SIMPLY
BE,
IN THE STILLNESS OF MY HEART
THAT MY HEART MAY BE IN ALL YOU DO.