You will Love the Lord Your God

O my last Watch before the Tabernacle my reading from Fr Racine moved from how much God loved me to the question of how much I loved God.   He quoted the First Commandment "Thou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart ad all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength"  

Now if Jesus was to appear on the altar at next Sunday's Mass, face the community and ask the question "Those of  you who really love me will you put up your hands"    Knowing that He knows our hearts, just how many people would indeed put up their hands?   Would it be the majority, would it be half, would it be a minority, or perhaps just one or two people?   Some might ask "What do you mean?    How will I know if I really love you?    Jesus will answer as he did in the Gospels,  "If you love me you will keep my Commandments"   At this perhaps some who enthusiastically put their hands up will quickly take the down again.

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" Jesus also said.  

So I contemplated on Jesus being the Way.    We often talk about people in the Church being 'on a journey'   This is certainly what Jesus meant.   Yes, we are on a journey but our journey is in the company of Jesus, and He protects us by showing us the Truth and sharing with us his Life.   it is a very safe path to heaven.   But let us emphasise that we are not in the search of Truth at journeys end for it is the Truth that is leading us on this journey.   As long as we love Jesus and keep faithful to His words and his commandments we will reach the end of our journey and eternal life..   But what is this Life he talks about.   We know we cannot have life in us unless we eat the flesh of the :Son of Man and drink his Blood.    so that is one description of the life he talks about.    It is the life of Grace, the beautiful gifts he pours out upon us.

Perhaps we find the Commandments, particularly in this day and age the Commandment about adultery, too much for us.    We start arguing with Jesus on the way and take another path.   Yet surely our hearts should tell us that we must trust Jesus and not make excuses for not obeying his commandments.    Following your own conscience,  saying it is too difficult a path, being attracted by the so called joys of the world, find us stopping on the track and preferring another  way to the One Jesus marked out for us.    How foolish we are not to love Jesus enough to trust him.    "My burden is light, my yoke is sweet" Jesus tells us, but no, we cannot kneel before Him in love and although he is in the Tabernacle waiting for us eery day, we would rather avoid Him, and pretend he is not really there. yet pretend we are doing HIM the favour by turning up for Mass on Sunday.

O Sacred Heart of Jesus I implore, the grace to love you daily more and more.  

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