The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Year B)

Readings: Hosea 11.1, 3-4, 8c-9; Isaiah 12.2-3, 5-6; Ephesians 3.8-12, 14-19

With such frequent appeals to 'patriarchy', across so many different areas of life, it might seem strange to be invited, as we are by today's readings, to think of God as a father of infinite tenderness. Yet contemplating this very unusual image for God might help us to remember the kindness, playfulness, attention and love of so many fathers for their children. This is not to deny the contrary experiences of people at the hands of fathers who are disturbed, angry, cruel and uncontrolled. But the positive experiences of others - hopefully the majority - are not to be denied either.

So Hosea gives us the wonderful picture of God dealing with Israel as a father helps his infant son as he takes his first steps. He still needs that little harness which was used in the past to guide the child, giving it the freedom to venture on its own while at the same time helping it to stay on course and to stay upright. The father raises his little son to his cheeks, perhaps also stooping down to comfort or to encourage him for the efforts he is making. "My heart is overwhelmed", the Lord says through the prophet, as our hearts are often overwhelmed at the miracle of new life, the beauty of it, the joy of seeing a child begin to walk by itself.

And, God says, it is from that reservoir of mercy and love that I will act, even when my people, now grown up, reject and ignore me. We see that reservoir burst its banks, flowing from the cross as the heart of Jesus is opened with the lance. Blood and water flowed out - a crucial moment as the verification given in the gospel reading tells us. These represent the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist in which the Father continues to bring his children to life, a new and eternal life, and stoops down in the mystery of the Eucharist to caress their cheeks, to nourish them as they learn to walk in that new life.

Now, after Christ, we know that all this is the work of the Trinity which God is. The Father, through the Spirit, now strengthens his children from within. It is no longer an external harness that is used to guide and protect them. The Father sees to it that Christ dwells in their hearts so that they might learn from this Father and be in their turn rooted and grounded in the love which God is. It is God's life and it is the life God wishes to share with his people, the Trinitarian life of mutual knowing and loving.

And it is not just poetic licence to speak of God's tenderness as infinite. God's gentle approach to us, in Christ and the Spirit, will help us to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love which surpasses knowledge. The human father wishes his child to grow and to flourish, to be happy and fulfilled. Likewise God, as our loving Father, wishes to share all he has and is with us. Wonder of wonders, it means being filled with the fulness of God: infinite tender love.