Reflection for Friday, June 27, 2014: Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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Authors
Simmons, Joe, S.J.
Issue Date
2014-06-27
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Essay
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en_US
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Abstract
I don't have any nieces or nephews - not yet at least - but I do have a lot of friends with young children. A few weeks ago a friend's son, Leo, celebrated his First Communion. I couldn't attend, but sent a card with a small donation to his 'college fund'. His thank you note was simple: | |"Thanks for the cold, hard cash. (I mean it.) Love, Leo." | Underneath, his mother added, "P.S. We miss you. (We mean it.)" | |Surprised though I was, I had to laugh at his candor, and I remembered why I love kids. Talking with a child is a welcome break from the usual angling and self-conscious posturing that direct our adult interactions. Kids share effusively and without guile, a quality that seems to rarify with age. To ask a child what she thinks or feels, is to enter a world wholly other than grown-up conversation. Simplicity and candor abound! Think about a conversation you've had with a young nephew, daughter, or grandchild recently. Wasn't it easy? | Today's Gospel reading from Matthew hints that prayer with God might look like something similar: | At that time Jesus exclaimed: | "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, | for although you have hidden these things | from the wise and the learned | you have revealed them to little ones." | Prayer need not -- perhaps should not -- look like staid adult conversations. Jesus offers that we do well to speak from the heart in conversation with God, and leave aside "wise and learned" prattle for a while. As the Rumi Sufist poet put it, "Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment." | Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a very important feast for the Society of Jesus and for the wider Church. When we let "heart speak to heart" (cor ad cor loquitur, a term from Augustine's Confessions) - Jesus' to ours, and ours to His -- we speak as one close friend to another. Put simply, we need not overthink, or be too grown up, in our prayer. | We need only speak as friends -- or even as a child -- with the one who says, in no uncertain terms, "Let the children come to me." | Something tells me that...He means it. | +Ss. Margaret Mary Alacoque and Claude de la Colombiere, pray for us!
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University Ministry, Creighton University.
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These reflections may not be sold or used commercially without permission. Personal or parish use is permitted.
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Lectionary Number: 170