Dear Friends,

I recently wrote about "The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Love without Measure." This weekend I would like to delve deeper into God's longing for us. God has created us out of Love: our existence, our natural gifts and talents flow from Him, and through Baptism and Eucharist, we receive many individual graces. What a Love!

Jesus is the full expression of God's love, and it therefore goes without saying that the best choice we can make in life is to choose Christ above all things. This weekend ends the month of June, which is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; however, the end of the month is not synonymous with the end of the importance of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ (the Second Person of the Trinity) in our lives.

Our country has recently been consecrated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and that is a great honor and a great invitation to all of us to remain connected with the Lord whose Heart was bruised for our offenses. It is a privilege for each and every member of our family, our parish and faith communities to have a special devotion to Jesus Christ, whose Heart is full of love and compassion, always embracing us and an expression of God's immeasurable Love towards humanity.

Tomorrow we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sts. Peter and Paul: Apostles and Pillars of our Faith. Their lives testify to the power of choosing Christ over all other things. Look at what happened to Peter: after he had denied Jesus three times and Jesus asked him three times if he loved Him, Peter replied, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." -John 21:17.

St. Paul sums up his relationship with the Lord with these words: " ... / even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things, and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith." -Philippians 3:8-9. Just like the Samaritan woman at the Well, St. Paul abandoned his past life and chose the Love pouring were fortified to forth from Jesus' Sacred Heart. In turn, they evangelize the Good News.

Christian discipleship demands that we make Christ the priority of our individual and community lives. As the Gospel puts it, "I am the fruitful vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit ..... Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me." -John 15: 1, 2, and 4.

We dwell in God, and God desires to dwell in us. God has gifted us with "the fullness of divine life in Jesus." Authentic discipleship requires reordering one's life according to a new identity and a new allegiance grounded in divine truth. Christian identity originates not in emotional choice but in sacramental transformation. St. Paul's reminds us that those who were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death.

Choosing Christ above all is not an external sacrifice imposed on the believer. It is a logical consequence of what baptism has already accomplished. Paul's argument is clear: If we have died with Christ, then our old attachments cannot be the primary determinants of our choices. If we live with Him, then our fundamental reference point must be His lordship.

Therefore, allegiance to Christ supersedes all other loyalties because baptism has reconstituted the believer's identity at the deepest level. Jesus in today's Gospel says, "Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." The contrast between "will lose" and "will find" reveals that self- preservation is ultimately self-destruction, while self-giving in fidelity to Christ is the path to genuine life. This echoes the Shunammite woman's experience in this Sunday's first reading: those who make space for God without seeking reward receive life beyond expectation.

Choosing Christ above all is not an abstract spiritual ideal; it is a daily pattern of decision-making rooted in baptismal identity. It shapes how we manage relationships, resources, time, moral choices, and the willingness to endure misunderstanding or sacrifice for the sake of truth. Remain in Christ and love one another. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning: great is your faithfulness." -Lamentations 3:22-23.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for our salvation.
St. Joseph and St. Andre Bessette, pray for us.
St. Peter and St. Paul, pray for us.
Jesus, I trust in you.
I LOVE YOU.

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