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5th Jul 2020

Finding peace

Sunday, July 5th, 2020

Today is one of my favourite passages found in Sacred Scripture. It’s worth taking it out again and reflecting deeply upon it: “ ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’”

Its a very medicinal passage for the soul: when our souls are heavy and tired and hurting it is a great passage to make us stop and do that one essential: spend time in silence with the Lord, with blatant warmth and fire and light, with the Consoler. It is one of the most important because it highlights the core not just of Christian living, but of human necessity: resting in the Creator who loves and knows who I am. And this rest gives rest - because we don’t have to do anything, we don’t have to prove anything. We can just rest, loved and held. And the burdens are eased and the wounds salved. This is why this text is so crucial. We’re meant to be doing it every day, for a long time. We need it. 

And it is no accident that it comes straight after the sentence where Jesus praises the Father for revealing to the little ones what is hidden to the great and the wise. Happiness is not found in being great and wise. Happiness is found in Jesus: in dwelling with him and the Father and the Holy Spirit at the heart of the Trinity. All the saints are great of course: but these great ones of ours all say the same thing - rest in Christ, remain in Christ, abandon yourself to Christ. And as Jesus says: “you will find rest for your soul.”

“Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.” says Saint Augustine.

“Pray with great confidence, with confidence based upon the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray.” says St. Louis de Montfort

“Truly the way of the Lord is Jesus meek and humble of heart. It is an extraordinary way. If we are meek and humble of heart, He will pierce our hearts quietly. And we will receive streams of living water of compassion. And we will be transported to eternal life” Servant of God, Pierre Goursat (E027)

My friends let us urgently review our life today and make sure every day we have at least 10 minutes of silence, 10 minutes of peace and security and love, with Jesus - who really is standing there all the time, wanting to spend time with us.

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About the Podcast

The Furnace
The Furnace is a free brief daily homily podcast by a priest of the Emmanuel Community for the Archdiocese of Sydney. The aim of the podcast is to proclaim the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the "glowing furnace of love" (St Gertrude the Great).
Why The Furnace? Quite simply because most people in Australia, and the
world, can no longer get to Mass, or even into a church. The point of these
podcasts is to bring people a share of the Mass in the Word of God and prayer.
But why the name? Because the Heart of Jesus is a “Furnace of love”. This
is how St Gertrude the Great describes it. As she prays:

O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
fountain of eternal life,
Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love.
You are my refuge and my sanctuary.
O my adorable and loving Saviour,
consume my heart with the burning fire
with which Yours is aflamed.
Pour down on my soul those graces
which flow from Your love.
Let my heart be united with Yours.
Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things.
May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions.
Amen

The point of these homilies is first of all to share this with everyone - to
share the love of God’s heart with every human heart. There is nothing original
about that. This is, basically, all priests are ever trying to do. And it’s the only
real point of the Catholic Church: invented by Christ to share Christ, starting
from his pierced heart on the cross on Good Friday. It’s only fitting that at this
time each of us are being refitted with slightly larger crosses that our creator
comes to meet us from the cross with his own heart pierced and broken.

There is so much I could say about the Heart of Jesus - but I would have
to go on forever, because his Heart is infinite. So I’ll finish with the invitation of
another of the great saints of the Sacred Heart, St Claude la Colombiere:
May the Heart of Jesus Christ be our school! Let us make our abode there . . .

Let us study its movements and attempt to conform ours to them.
My friends, lets enter Jesus’ heart together.

It’s not just me recording it, or just you listening to a recording.

I rely on your prayers, and as I write and talk I am praying for each of you. And
in any case, there is no such thing as a Christian doing something by themselves:
like the Trinity, where one is, the others are. So let’s enter together, for Jesus is
standing in front of us now, with his heart wide open, to enter and experience
his love, his healing, his teaching, authentic freedom - and eternal life with him.