God is our Father

“When you pray say "Our Father……."

We all are part of the large human family; the same blood flows in our veins. Since we are all of us descendants of Adam. Having the same source, we are all, accordingly, brothers; and wonderful happening; Jesus Christ, Son of Mary is also our brother. Sharing God as our Father not only are we able to, but we also must call him "Our Father". In this way we express the solidarity which exists among us, and the communal sharing of each other’s gifts.
United by such strong links - so many and so sacred, how can we fail to love each other, sustain each other, share our resources? Branches of the vinestock which is JESUS and of which the fruitful sap is the Holy Sprit; members of this great Mystical Body - of which the saviour is the Head and the Heart - we hold everything in common in our midst. What glory! What an honour! What an advantage! Let us think of this when we say "Our Father!"  (Meditations Vol I p 598 – 99)

It is no small thing to be a man or to be a woman. We are all of us brothers and sisters, destined for happiness and Life. With Jesus who has taken a body, a heart, we become links in this huge chain of solidarity which leads us to the Father, to OUR Father. No one should be excluded. To quote the song (Hymn?): "one is not a follower of Christ (Christian) all on one’s own - one is not a Christian except alongside others. Let us then slake our thirst at the spring flowering from the Pieced Side and let us not be afraid to testify to this love which is the source of life and growth.

Jesus sitting in the midst of the learned men.

"Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart"

What do we see? Uncreated wisdom - the eternal light which enlightens everyone who comes into this world, infinite knowledge which is the source of all in the midst of the Doctors - for Jesus is all those things: seated in the midst of the Doctors. What profound (deep) humility! How it shows up our pride! How often we try to show off our knowledge and win admiration for the gifts bestowed on us by God; how often we reveal our conceit in our relations with our neighbour - even in the performance of our sacred duties - forgetting God’s abhorrence of pride; forgetting that humility is the mark of real knowledge. Let us beg this virtue from the Heart of Jesus which is its source.

(Meditations Vol I 147-148)

Through Jesus, God has entered into dialogue with humans. God does not love us from afar. In Jesus, he places himself near each one of us. Through the example of Jesus each of us is invited to live in brotherly dialogue with each other, loving with those who are near us.
At times our words have neither head nor tail - our comments are harsh and wounding - our chief aim being to strengthen our own opinion.
Jesus teaches us respect, tenderness and sweetness.
Let us draw from the very Heart of Jesus the humility which promotes agreement, and the gentleness which in truth is the basis of peace.

The Heart of Jesus - Centre and confluence of all

"I saw a new heaven, a new earth"

The word having issued from the Heart of His Father, causes the world to rise out of nothing, and from the Heart of the Word made flesh, the Heart pierced on Calgary - I see rising into view a new world: the world of the elect. And this world full of grandeur and fruitfulness, inspired by the mystical body of Christ who will keep it going on earth. Right up to the end of time; it will live with this divine life throughout all eternity……..
This world of the elect must also have its sun to give it light and life, its ocean to make it fertile, its treasures. to enrich it, its King to govern it - well the Heart of Jesus will be all that!

The new world - a utopia? A dream? A reality?
The Christian is someone or something-of-a-realist, who keeps his gaze turned towards heaven but his hands and feet engaged in action on this earth. So - the new world - couldn’t it be this immense and marvellous work-place-designed for humans - where one reads a notice: "sign-on!"
To the Heart of Christ let us go to draw the necessary strength to be the workers of the new world - bold and courageous workers of this new world, which is in the process of coming into being even this very day.

Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life"

Jesus Christ loves his sheep. He loves them with a love that is eternal. Seeing them straying, without a guide, in the thorny thickets of life. His Heart is moved: he has come down from Heaven to lead them, and has declared himself to be their shepherd. Gathering them beneath his cloak, he has inscribed their names in the Book of Life. He knows them with a knowledge born of delight, but it is on condition that they will recognise him as their only leader and their shepherd - that they will follow him where ever he goes and will listen to his voice.
To avoid disaster, let us place ourselves without delay under the leadership of the Good Shepherd. Jesus loads his sheep with good things. Not only does he bestow on them lights and graces but he nourishes them - and with what food! It is his own substance! In the Holy Eucharist he gives them his blood to drink and his body to eat. What more can this divine shepherd do for this sheep? That is not all: after having screened them in danger, heaps upon them all the marks of his unspeakable love, nourished them with his very flesh, he gives them the assurance that they will never perish and that he will give them eternal life. How can one not thank this adorable saviour for so much goodness?

In contemplation of the Sacred Heart, Jules Chevalier experiences this burst of gratitude: to give thanks, to give himself completely and forever, to give more than himself - to found a congregation of men, a congregation of women and a Third Order, so that always and everywhere the Sacred heart of Jesus may be known and loved.
To give Thanks, even today, whatever may be our state of life, in our daily living:
A smile given or returned, a handshake, a "first step" which sometimes costs - a little word - all these small signs by which we are alive.

Creation - Word of God

"As to you, even the hairs of your head are numbered"

Just as God hates nothing that he makes, - just the opposite, it is from love that he has created.
The atom - a being of "nothing" - even that he has loved even as an angel - loved with an eternal love. How could he hate it after having created it? To destroy it would be an act of hatred, above all, - it is the function of hate to suppress. Besides this atom is a Word of God - a written word. If we had microscopes sufficiently powerful to study its depths. What would they not say to us! Would God efface this word? Why would he? You can imagine that I stroke out a word as being of no use or not quite right - but God? No - there is nothing for God to efface: What he says is well said and is spoken for eternity.
It is for Christ that the atom exists, as well as the suns and the angels and so far removed as the unknown connections may be, they suffice to protect the atom from annihilation. Does not our heart love everything that touches those we love. What then is Gods love for it considering this love for us? Do not be afraid humble atom, imperceptible grain of dust on the fringes of nothingness where God has left you do not fear!. However, close to you is the bottomless abyss, you will never fall in: you belong to Christ - and what belongs to Christ does not perish.

God is love and love is his only gift. Each of us is an "I Love You" dart from the Heart of God. In his exuberance of love, God gives to us each one of his creations, so that we may love and respect them: unfortunately our heart is sometimes too attached to appearances. We find ourselves "measuring out" our love - while the Love of God is infinite. Created in the image and likeness of our brother Jesus, we are in working union with him, shoulder to shoulder with all the poor, all the marginalized, all the little ones. Contemplating the Heart of Christ may we be able to grow in this love which has no limits - and to be the Heart of God here on earth.

Everything has been created in a Word of God

"The Word was made flesh, and has lives in our midst"

Every created thing is a day opened onto infinity. Looking across it, it is into the infinite that your glance plunges - a field without limit - of light and truth. Everything sources as an entrance to penetrate this field. A grain of sand leads to it as well as the sun or an angel. But however small this gate or entrance we do not think to weigh or measure from behind the infinity which it opens to us. Or again, every created being is a word of God. There then is the general and common judgement of every created thing.
God, God alone is able to understand himself in all his depth. Take a word of the Bible - if God enlightens you, this word on which you meditate will appear to be a world. The more you will plumb its depths the more you will find them immense. This is what the Saintly Fathers used to do, and what wealth of riches they have drawn from these inexhaustible depths! It is the same for every created thing - and especially of God. When he creates he speaks of God. In the Bible he speaks in human language - but if he places in a human word, unfathomable depths how much more in those divine words which we call creatures let us fear or be afraid. This weakness which pursues us here below and gets to us everywhere - in heaven, nothing will cause it - there, no one experiences it. The last of created things will be, like God, a bright ever-new, a book without end, and every page producing for us, new unfoldings.

(The Sacred Heart of Jesus - p.329)

In Jesus and through Jesus we have access to the Father. We are coupled to the Father and so, open to the infinite, to eternity. To see - to receive "the other" as a gift from God, with gratitude, respectful of the other person’s mystery, to meet up with "the other" as someone with whom you can converse - person with whom I am able to hold a true and constructive dialogue - as Jesus did with Simon, John, Mary. All that is the work of the Spirit in us: to regard him as an infinite being - who is able at every moment to reveal to us his novelty (his uniqueness!).
In becoming man, God has said to us that man is able to become God.