June 27, 2025 // Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 15:3-7
Reflect on the Word //
“He’s really cute.”
My heart twisted as I tried to picture the young nephew whom I had never seen and whose name I didn’t know. As my mom related to me all she had discovered, my brain was forced to swat away the suspicion that social media had undeniably confirmed: My estranged brother had welcomed a second child into the world more than a year before and had kept this little boy’s birth—and his life—from the rest of our family.
I didn’t let on, but the news gutted me, especially since I had been praying fervently for reconciliation with my older sibling for several years. Are my prayers even making a difference, Lord? I wondered. After all, didn’t this grievance point to only greater strain and disunity?
As I placed my hurt in the Heart of Jesus, I imagined how much more hurt He must be when His beloved ones stray.
“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?” (Luke 15:3-4)
Jesus’ question from Luke’s Gospel reveals the attentiveness and intensity of love that encapsulates the Good Shepherd’s Heart, which we celebrate and adore today in our Lord. Any shepherd knows the flock is not complete unless every sheep is safe and accounted for. Jesus notices when one of His own is not close to Him, and the separation pains Him so much that He cannot rest until the one He seeks is found.
Sister, we are precious and irreplaceable to the Lord, as are the friends and loved ones we pray will return to the fold. But we don’t have to rescue them. Christ, our Good Shepherd, lovingly pursues the lost with a Heart that is open and aching for reunion. Our part is simply to point the lost lambs to His Love, a Love that won’t give up the search until every wounded and wayward soul is nestled near His Heart.
For it is within this Most Sacred and Merciful Heart that we find our way home.
Relate to the Lord // Place your lost loved ones in the Sacred Heart of Jesus today. Trust Him to bring them home.
