Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 2025
Before we look at today’s Scriptures, let’s look back even before king Saul and King David to the time when the Israelites were led by Judges. The greatest of these was Samuel. In the first book of Samuel, chapter 8, we see a picture of Samuel when he was old, probably pushing seventy, and he had appointed Joel and Abijah as deputy judges down in Beersheba. Here’s the author’s judgement of the two men: “His sons, however, did not walk in his ways but turned aside after dishonest gain, and they took bribes and perverted justice.” So the elders of Israel came to Samuel and demanded that he appoint a king over them. Samuel prayed, and the Lord answered with a recollection from long before.
“Listen to the voice of the people regarding all that they say to you, because they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have abandoned Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you as well.” God was their king. Except for David and a couple of others—Hezekiah and Josiah—all of the kings of Israel and of the divided kingdoms were total jerks who led the people to disobey the Law God had laid down for them. Disaster was bound to follow.
Ezekiel lived in Babylon in the wake of one of those disasters. He and many other leaders had been stolen from Jerusalem and made to work in Babylon, where Ezekiel was called to prophesy to them. When we enter the story here, Jerusalem had just fallen the second time and Ezekiel is telling his fellow exiles why. “Shepherd” is code in these verses for the kings, the leaders of Israel. God is seen as a true shepherd who has just arrived to find the little guys of Israel scattered like sheep with nobody to care for them. So He tells Ezekiel that He Himself will become their shepherd. He will seek out those who are lost and bring all of them into one flock and eventually lead them back to the Holy Land.
If you haven’t guessed yet, Jesus, who is the Second Person of the Trinity and True God, is in His human nature like a shepherd for all of us who believe in Him. As always, He is the fulfillment of Law and Prophets. He told us so. The psalmist then sets all that to music, to a hymn of thanks and praise.
How has Jesus done this for us, bringing us together into one Church, one Faith, one Flock? The Chief Shepherd is also the Lamb of God, a sheep Himself whose blood, shed on the cross, He offers continually to the Father in the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ Jesus proved His divine love for us by dying for us and doing that even though we were sinners. And there’s more. He shares His Body and Blood sacramentally in our Communion—with Him and in Him. Thus He sustains us in our walk of faith, hope and charity in this life, and helps us grow into images of Himself by His grace. He owes us nothing. All is His freely given grace. Jesus allowed His Sacred Heart to be pierced by a soldier’s javelin so that the water symbolizing our faith in Baptism, and the Blood we share in Communion to flow for all who are called and respond in faith.
There can be no better Gospel on this great, solemn day of celebration, than what Jesus told the hypocrites of Israel about His shepherding the flock. "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?” Hey, the logical answer to this question is “none of us would do that!” Leave 99% of your property to go after the 1%? That’s economic nonsense. But not to Jesus. His Heart overflows with so much love that He will search everywhere for the one lost soul and lovingly return it to His flock.
Do you feel worthy of that much attention? Do you feel worthy of His sacrifice? None of us is worthy, but Jesus loves us anyway. Let’s all turn to Him, worship His Sacred Heart and repent of our sins and ask Him to keep us always close to Him and keep us always safe with the other sheep in His flock, preparing us for a heavenly eternity with the true God.
