23 June 2017
Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
In the Johnny Lee song “Looking for Love,” Lee laments how his search for love was always “in all the wrong places.” In many ways, Lee’s song is a short version of Augustine’s Confessions. The two men, though separated by 15 centuries and an ocean, both recognized that they had hearts which did not know how to properly love. Both of them tried to find love “in too many faces,” trying to find “traces of what I’m dreaming of.” It was a long, tiring search for love, one that wore out their imperfect hearts.
The turning point for each likewise came when someone else showed love to them, and taught them how to love. Lee rejoices and asks God to bless the day that “You came knockin’ on my heart’s door/You’re everything I’m looking for.” Once Lee has an experience of true love, he himself learns how to love, and his heart is able to settle down. Augustine, likewise, experiences the love of God, recognizes how poorly his own heart had been at loving, and learns a far greater love than he ever could have imagined.
On the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, John tells us in his first letter that “[in] this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He has loved us.” It is hard for us to really know how to love before we have experienced love, and it is impossible for us to love perfectly until we have experienced God’s perfect love. This solemnity celebrates God’s perfect love for us. Jesus has come down to us and shown us divine love in human terms. His Sacred Heart has come knocking on our hearts’ doors, and our search for that perfect love can finally come to an end.