Entrance Antiphon Ps 33 :11.19
The designs of his heart are from age to age, to rescue their souls from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
Collect
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we who glory in the Heart of your beloved Son and recall the wonders of his love for us, may be made worthy to receive an overflowing measure of grace from that fount of heavenly gifts. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
FIRST READING
“The Lord set his love upon you and chose you.”
A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 7:6-11)
Moses spoke to the people, saying, “You are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the Lord loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and merciful love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them; he will not be slack with him who hates him, he will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day.”
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 103: 1-2.3-4.6-7.8 and 10 (R. 17ab)
R/. The mercy of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all within me, his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and never forget all his benefits. R.
It is the Lord who forgives all your sins,
who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with mercy and compassion. R.
R/. The mercy of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear.
The Lord does just deeds,
gives full justice to all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel. R.
The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.
He does not treat us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our faults. R.
SECOND READING
“God loved us.”
A reading from the first Letter of Saint John (1 John 4:7- 16)
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
The word of the Lord.
ALLELUIA Matthew 11:29ab
Alleluia. Take my yoke upon you, says the Lord; and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. Alleluia.
Gospel
“I am gentle and lowly in heart.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 11:25-30)
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Today’s Reflection
Jesus’ heart, aflame with infinite love, lavished on us his self-sacrificing and unconditional love and forgiveness and regained for us the status of the children of God. The heart of Jesus, so full of love for us, shed its last drop of blood in total love for us in obedience to the will of his Father. A heart is a symbol of love but Jesus’ heart was not merely a symbol pointing to some virtue or quality but to love itself. It was his heart that was pierced, pouring out the incomparable, unequivocal and self-sacrificing love for us that we may be cleansed of all our sins and possess eternal life. May the heart of Jesus envelop us in his infinite love and wash us of all our sins so that we find in Jesus’ heart the source and infinite Ocean of mercy and forgiveness.