Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/620610
National Catholic Forester 12 At the Jesuit retreat center that I love in Oshkosh, WI, there is a small chapel located away from the main center of buildings. It is called the Sacred Heart Chapel. Retreatants gravitate there to spend time praying before the striking statue within. From the name of the chapel what would you expect to see inside? Probably you would be looking for a statue of the Sacred Heart. But what the sculptor depicts is more refl ective of today's Gospel than of a bleeding heart. The image is of Jesus seated and embracing a young child. Spend even a few moments alone with the statue and you cannot help but be moved. Something will stir within. Prayer will come easily. First ... You look at Jesus, his warmth, tenderness, and welcoming; his eyes expressive of God's love for each of us. Then you notice the child, which could be either a girl or boy, totally at peace and content, immersed in the unconditional loving embrace of God. You fi nd yourself longing for what you see and actually for what God longs for as well. It's all about the relationship. What happens when one comes in contact with this image of the Sacred Heart is what Jesus describes in the Gospel. The Gospel is not about Old Testament laws. It's about God's plan; what God desires more than anything else. He desires us, our hearts, and our willingness to say "yes" to relationship. That is why we are here. God made us male and female so that we could begin to experience the intensity of the intimacy of sharing God's way of loving with each other. The world in which the Creator blessed marriage is the world before sin. There is a need for law in a world where sin and hard hearts cloud people's judgment and sometimes lead them to make selfi sh choices rather than self-giving choices. God's design for all of creation is that it be harmonious and whole. Though creation is broken, through Christ, we move toward harmony and wholeness. Every time we celebrate the Mass, we are saying yes to our longing for this wholeness, for our marriages, our families, for all of our relationships. We want what God wants and what God desires to give us. What stands in the way of harmony and wholeness is hardness of heart ... our own or another's. Jesus wants to restore the rightful place of God's self-giving love. This is what we are made for, nothing less. Being faithful to God's kingdom is ideal. There is tension in the Gospel, the tension we feel between our own desire to love freely and totally and what sin does to frustrate our desires. We need to hand it over to the One who can free us. Jesus tells us "Accept the kingdom like a child, embrace it and be embraced by it." FATHER CURT SPIRITUAL ADVISOR It's all about the relationship FATHER CURT'S REFLECTION January 17 July 17 February 21 August 21 March 20 September 18 April 20 October 16 May 15 November 20 June 19 December 18 2016 MASS SCHEDULE Holy Family Parish in Chicago is delighted to off er Mass in memory of living and deceased members of the National Catholic Society of Foresters. Masses have been designated at 9:45 a.m. on these Sundays: