Lesson from Fr. Paulus | Christ’s Heart Beats for Us

Christ's Heart Beats for Us

My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is a man for others. As we read at the Matthew Gospel (Matt 9:36-10:8), His heart overflows in concern and compassion for the suffering crowds of people following him around.

Jesus sees how much they long for a better life, for a deeper understanding of the meaning of life. He is not indifferent to these crowds: he cares. They matter to him. And Jesus hasn't changed. He is not indifferent to us.

He knows our hidden sufferings, fears, hopes, and dreams, and he cares about them. We matter to him. Our needs are his needs. By giving us a glimpse of Jesus' heart, this passage reminds us of that. And we constantly need to be reminded of it. Otherwise, our faith gets distorted and reduced to a few rules, a list of dos and don'ts.

The whole project of Christ's life, from Bethlehem to Calvary, consisted in winning back for us that we had lost by sin: hope, eternal life, meaning, friendship with God, lasting joy, enduring peace. All he wants is to reap a harvest of souls for his Father's house.

Jesus' teaching shows us the way. His miracles convince us of this teaching. His suffering, death, and resurrection plant the new Tree of Life, whose fruit we receive in the Eucharist. Not one word, not one deed, not one thought of Christ's earthly journey was for himself.

Jesus lived entirely to please his Father and to save sinners. Even at the peak of his atrocious suffering, as he hung writhing and dying on the cross, his heart did not turn in on himself, but continued to focus on us, as he prayed: "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

Christ has a beating heart even now, as he sits enthroned in heavenly glory, and it beats for each one of us.

The Little Mermaid's Dad [Story for Father's Day]

That's the kind of love Christ has for us, and it's the kind of love we are all called to live. This is why examples of noble self-sacrifice are so often present in great art and literature, even in non-Christian cultures.

They even make their way into popular culture. Here I share with you one of Walt Disney's classic movies which is an adaptation of a German fairy tale The Little Mermaid.

In the film version, a mermaid, the daughter of King Triton, the Lord of the sea, falls in love with a human prince. Deceived by the false promise of a wicked sea witch, the mermaid ends up selling herself into the witch's power through her efforts to win the prince's love.

When King Triton hears of his daughter's plight, he rushes to her rescue. But since the mermaid had freely made a deal with the witch, the king has only one option: he must let himself be locked up in the witch's prison to set his daughter free. His love is so great that, of course, he is willing to make the sacrifice.

It is a beautiful story, and it rings true - there is something right and noble about sacrificing oneself for the good of others. That's love - that's God's love, which goes much deeper than emotions, and we are created in God's image, so deep down we all want to love like that. But, in The Little Mermaid's case, King Triton's love for his daughter was a natural love.

Today is a Father's Day. I wish all fathers have a good health and blessed. Because every father would do the same, and we all have experienced the beauty of this natural, self-sacrificial love at work in our fathers. But Christ takes this natural love and super-naturalizes it. Christian love extends this self-forgetfulness not just to members of our immediate family, but to everyone.

That's why our Church is called "Catholic," which comes from the Greek word meaning "universal." This is also why everyone calls a Catholic priest, "Father": he is a living image and representative of God's supernatural, unconditional, universal love for all his children.

Finding Happiness by Giving It Away

My dear brothers and sisters, Christ's heart beats for others, for us. And we, as Christians, are called to follow in Christ's footsteps. This means that we are called to love the same way that Christ loves: thinking first of all not of ourselves, but of those around us.

There is a paradox here. We are called to love without seeking a reward, and yet, when we do love that way, we automatically receive the greatest reward of all: happiness.

Here on earth, we can never experience perfect happiness. This is a fallen world, filled with evil, and we are fallen human beings, faced with an endless gauntlet of struggles and problems. But when we respond to those struggles as Christ responded to his - with love, with self-sacrifice - we grow in wisdom, experience internal joy, and discover the meaning and purpose for which we were created.

True, we can't be perfectly happy here on earth, but when we follow Christ's example of self-forgetful love, we experience the next best thing: the interior strength and joy that comes from knowing without any doubt that we are on the one true path to the perfect happiness that God has in store for us.

This is what Jesus meant when he said, "Those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). It is also what he meant when he said; "There is more joy in giving than in receiving" (Acts 20:35). We find happiness in this life when we work for the happiness of others.

Today, Jesus will show his love for us once again in the sacrifice of this Mass, and he will give himself to us in Holy Communion. When he does, let's ask him to give us the grace we need to follow his example, caring more about the needs of others - whether family members, colleagues, classmates, or next-door neighbors - than about ourselves.