The Feast of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus | Friday 16 June 2023

Today is Friday the 16th of June, the feast of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Salt of the Sound sings, ‘Abide With Me’.


Abide with me: fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, O abide with me
(Abide with me)
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O thou who changest not, abide with me
(Abide with me, abide with me)
I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me
(Abide with me)
Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee
In life, in death, abide with me

Today’s reading is from the First Letter of St John.

1 John 4:7-16

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

Today’s reading, for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, are some of the most beautiful words ever spoken or written in the human language. Jesus, the human face and heart of God, is the embodiment of God’s love. What words struck you as you heard these words about Jesus? What makes them important to you?

John talks about God’s love for us and God’s promise to abide or live within us through love. How do those words strike you? He claims that in whatever relationships of love we live, God lives in us. How do you feel when you hear this?

As this reading is repeated, what strikes you particularly? Spend time resting on whatever words touch your heart and let them take root in you.

We are told that our experience of love helps us to know God and this knowledge and love of God helps us to learn how to love others. We are also reassured that the loving Spirit of God dwells within us. What do you want to say to God when you hear this message of reassurance? Spend some time to say what is in your heart.


Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.