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He will go after the lost one until he finds her.

On this feast of Jesus’ Sacred Heart, there is no explicit language about the heart in any text, but it is about an extraordinary form of love that we associate with the thought of the heart. The Gospel shows this in all its paradox. After all, the shepherd takes care of his whole flock evenly, so how are we to understand that he leaves ninety-nine in the wasteland (actually in the desert) and only cares about the one who wandered away? As can be seen, here the risk is not considered, counted, or thought of if the majority remains unprotected; it only looks at the danger that threatens one, as if it only matters to him. There is no thinking about what the hopes for success are.

God is not indifferent to whether a few people are lost, although most of humanity is saved. The human heart, which here becomes a vessel of divine love, does not think like this; a loved and irreplaceable person is vital to him. As a rule, believers who celebrate the feast of Jesus’ Sacred Heart have no idea how much God loves each individual; so many saints expressed the idea that Christ would die on the cross even then, if only one single person needed redemption. This idea seems a little heated to us, but it draws its legitimacy from this parable of Jesus. And not only worrying about one sheep, the joy of finding it again is described. One can say with certainty that each of the ninety-nine is loved equally by the Good Shepherd: after all, they are all sinners for whom Jesus dies on the cross, not an anonymous mass, but unique persons.

Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

The second reading underlines what has just been said. What is given as lost in the parable is actually what has fled from God, is far from him, and is hostile to him. The love of the Good Shepherd does not rest on any mutuality; it is love that, through its perfect surrender, strives to arouse this mutuality. The sheep, which is saved and carried on the shoulders of the shepherd, begins to judge how dear it is to the shepherd and what it owes him. However, this parable was not intended to evoke this reciprocity; the love of Jesus is present in all circumstances. The reading also does not speak of love that is already committed and corresponds to God, but only of the certainty that we are already hidden in God’s love and have achieved “reconciliation”. Whether this certainty obliges us to respond to this love or instead that this response of love is spontaneously created in us will be able to be judged by everyone who realizes what has been said.

I will look for the lost.

The Old Testament text of the first reading repositions the love of Jesus’ heart at the heart of God. God wants to “seek out his flock himself”, bring them back “from all the places where they scattered in foggy and cloudy time”. Here we are shown that the human heart of Jesus, to whom we attribute this unique personal love, it is not a prototype – as if God’s love acquired this quality only during the incarnation – it is rather a more comprehensible expression of the incomprehensible love that the eternal God has had for his creatures forever.

 Could anything be more opposite than fire and water? Can. It’s fire and ice. It might seem that these opposites cannot be combined: either the fire dissolves the ice, or the water from the ice extinguishes the fire. And yet … look at the consequences that a hailstorm will leave behind. Nothing can resist it: pieces of ice falling from the sky can destroy almost everything, and if something is saved, it is engulfed in flames ignited by lightning. Today we celebrate the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul – people who differed from each other in their social origin, education, and temperament, like fire and ice. Peter, hard as a rock – and Paul, wandering around the world at that time like a wave of fire. And yet God united them for joint action, and God chose them to build the Church. And they finally succeeded thanks to God’s power, which can combine fire and ice into one.

Peter came from Bethsaida, a small village located in Lake Gennesaret. It is difficult to talk about any special education with Peter, and his Galilean origin forced others to treat him a little condescendingly (, it was said: „whether something good can come from Galilee?“). Peter was a simple fisherman from a backwater village of the empire at the time. He was married. The Gospel mentions the healing of his mother-in-law. Paul came from Tarsus – a metropolis with about two hundred thousand inhabitants. He came from the tribe of Benjamin, from which the first king of Israel also came. Paul was born a Roman citizen and was granted specific privileges. He wove carpets, but he was also very educated. He was an ardent follower of Judaism, ready to send all apostates to their deaths. Among these apostates, he also included followers of the emerging Church of Christ, which St. Peter then headed. When one of them was stoned, Stephen, Paul, who was too young to join the stoners officially, guarded their clothes. Paul had never met Jesus before His passion and resurrection. His conversion to faith resulted from a later encounter with the Son of God. The revelation of Christ surrounded by light brought him to his knees, blinded him, and when Paul’s sight returned, his life changed from the ground up. With good news, which he previously considered heresy, he arrived in the farthest corners of the empire at the time. He never started a family – he submitted his whole life to the Gospel.

Peter’s path to Jesus was not spectacular; he accompanied Jesus from the beginning of His teaching. Christ finally liked him significantly: he ordered him to come to him on the water, and when Peter doubted and began to drown, he saved him. He ordered him to pay the tax with a coin, which he miraculously pulled out of the fish muzzle. Peter was in the group of closest disciples who always accompanied Jesus. When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet in the supper room, he began with Peter and seated him by his side during the Last Supper. Peter took up the sword in the Garden of Gethsemane and cut off the ear of his Master’s servant of the high priest, and then went to the high priest’s courtyard, where he managed to penetrate thanks to John’s patronage. Here he experienced something exactly opposite to what Paul would experience in Damascus: Paul the persecutor became a zealous disciple, while Peter, the closest disciple, became a traitor. Fortunately, he was able to cry bitterly.

Jesus looked at him with love, and Peter could already answer Christ’s question sincerely after Jesus’ resurrection: „Lord, You know that I love You“. Some people think these two individuals could not work together in one place, because they differed so much in their personalities. After all, we know that there was a strong exchange of views between them regarding Christians from the Gentiles. But legend has it that they last met in Rome, in prison. There, they were supposed to live together for a specific period, so that, on the same day, but in different places, they would sacrifice their lives for Christ. From St. Peter and St. Paul, we can learn from Paul that the agreement does not write our history of our natures, but by God, who knows how to combine fire and ice to create a force capable of proving unimaginable things.

Feast day: June 26

* January 9, 1902, Barbastro, Spain

† June 26, 1975, Rome

Origin of the name Josemaría: compound of José (Joseph) and María (Mary)

Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer was born on January 9, 1902, in Barbastro, Spain. His parents were José and Dolores. He had five siblings, three of whom died at an early age. His parents gave their children a deep Christian upbringing. His father worked in a textile shop, but in 1915 the business went bankrupt and the family moved to Logroño, where his father found another job. It was in this city, at the age of sixteen, that Josemaría first felt God’s call. In the snow, he saw the barefoot footprints of a monk from the Order of Discalced Carmelites. At that time, he had no idea what God expected of him, but he knew one thing: he wanted to become a priest. When he was eighteen, he entered the seminary, first studying in Logroño and later at the seminary in Zaragoza. At the same time, he studied civil law as an external student at the University of Zaragoza. His father died in 1924. A year later, he was ordained a priest. He served as a priest first in a rural parish and later in Zaragoza.

1927 with the bishop’s permission, he moved to Madrid to complete his doctoral studies in law. The year 1928 is considered the beginning of Opus Dei. Josemaría began to preach the thesis that every person can become a saint. Therefore, while devoting himself to his studies and to the sick and poor, he began to give spiritual exercises to consecrated persons and lay people. During the civil war in Spain in 1936, he had to go into hiding and eventually fled Madrid to southern France, where he remained until the end of the war. 1939 he returned to Madrid, completed his studies, and led countless spiritual exercises. In 1946, he moved to Rome, where he studied at the Lateran. He participated in the Second Vatican Council and closely followed its proceedings. He became a consultant to two Vatican congregations. During his stay, he made several trips to various countries in Europe and overseas. The work he founded gradually spread and gained more and more recognition throughout the world. Josemaría died on June 26, 1975, in Rome. He was beatified in 1992 and canonized in 2002.

After Jesus chose the apostles in Mark’s  Gospel, the sentence is. He chose them to stay with him. If a  Christian is to maintain his identity in this world, he must live with Jesus. In the Gospel of John, we read Jesus’request. I want those whom you have given me to be with me. We know it; if we love someone, we want to be with that person. And we express this wish, for example, by visiting each other. We will show our joy when we meet. It is almost unbelievable that the Son of God wants to be with us. A person lets himself be distracted by various things and forget that he should be with Jesus. We are not supposed to be alone. Jesus didn’t want to be alone either. He called on the apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane: Stay with me and watch with me. But the apostles fell asleep. And Jesus said to them. You couldn’t watch with me for an hour. Many people are not with Jesus, nor do they find it strange. This doesn’t mean we have to hold some worship services. A husband can be connected to his wife even when he is at work. He can talk to other women, but he has only one wife in his heart. Whoever is not with Jesus is not a Christian. The Lord Jesus said that whoever is not with me is against. There is no, nobody’s territory. When we are not with Jesus, we will not experience the joy of being with Jesus. In the past, people began every work with prayer. That is, they did not want to do anything without Jesus. And it was right. What would it be like if the spouses did not make their decisions together, but each on their own? Would there be unity between them? As we are with Jesus, we are filled with inner peace. We are not helpless because we have someone stronger behind us. A well-known Trappist, Troar wrote. We must not leave the God of action for the sake of action for God. Today, the value of labor is much higher than that of being. The essence of the spiritual life is that we are gradually transformed into Jesus, So we can say with St. Paul. I live, but I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The essence of Jesus’s life is to adopt the spirit of Jesus and  act on it. We are to be united with God in love, and this connection is our highest or greatest happiness. It is not important how much we do outwardly, but whether we are united to Jesus. Many have done great things. And it meant nothing to God. It doesn’t matter how fast we go, but to persevere on the road. Not a successful of Peter is a picture of the human effort to act without  God. That doesn’t mean he didn’t know , but he didn’t call a Lord to do it. And there comes a moment in our lives when our strength is no longer enough. Sometimes human failure makes us, that we turn to God. Of course, it would not be right for us to ask God to support us in our vain thoughts, We need to adopt the mindset of Jesus.

God has called man to love and live as a child of God. But many people are not aware of this. Therefore, they do things that God does not call them to do, and they are dissatisfied with themselves. A person tries to fill his emptiness by working or entertaining himself. The actual value of man is what man is in God. But to learn to live this identity of yours, this dignity of yours, it’s not like that. It has to do with the fact that a person has to accept himself. But most of us come across it. How can a person accept himself if others do not accept him? A man doesn’t like himself if others do not love him. We can’t force anyone to take us, to love us here. However, it is essential to know that God accepts and loves us as we are, without distinction. And we can say that a person lives precisely because he is accepted. If God had not accepted him, he would not have lived. You can’t build your birth house. He is born into it. He can’t choose his mother, either. She is given to him. Our Lady has received her identity from God. For her, it didn’t matter what people said or thought. God accepts us not because we have done something. Or because of the way we are. The value of a person is not in what a person does, but because he is. The fact that we are children of God is our most extraordinary dignity. To have no respect for man is to oppose God Himself. Man is great because he came out of the hands of God, and God accepted him. God accepts man as beloved. If a person realizes this, he will solve the most significant problems of his life. Such a person is free from fear and knows how to accept others. If a person accepts God’s acceptance, he can say yes to God and others. At the same time, my weakness and wretchedness bother me.  For my greatness is that I am a child of God. The fact that a person wants to solve everything alone and without God is the cause of his restlessness. Many people want to do it themselves. To get rid of my own and shortcomings. If I can’t do it, I’m very disappointed. Despite failures, I remain a child of God. God bless us and wants us to do good. It’s essential to know.

Name as God’s will …
Dear brothers and sisters, when a child is born, one of the first things his parents should do is give him a name to address him throughout his life. Parents should choose this name and agree on it before the child’s birth. When the child is born, they already give him the name, but there may be a split because they cannot agree. One likes one name, the other likes another, or they want to name the child after their parents, grandparents, and the like. And so it is in today’s Gospel.

During today’s St. John the Baptist feast, we also heard about a conflict. The conflict is about what the child of Zechariah and Elizabeth will be called. According to tradition, a name is given after the child’s father or some relative, but when the child is born, they ask what name they will give him, and Elizabeth says that his name will be John.

We see that society, or those who come and rejoice with Elizabeth, want to name the child after his father, Zechariah. However, we see that Zacharias also approves of the name John. This conflict between parents and society shows us that it does not matter what the child’s name will be. After all, it’s just a name, but behind that name lies something more profound, critical, and symbolic.

Nine months ago, even before John’s conception, an angel appeared to Zechariah in the temple and informed him that his prayer had been answered. A child was born to him, whom he named Johannes. Here, we hear God’s will through the mouth of Archangel Gabriel. However, Zechariah doubted and asked the angel how it would happen when he and his wife were old. Despite the appearance of a supernatural being, the angel standing before God’s face doubted.

We see what bad doubt can bring, not only in faith, but also in seeing and looking itself. Zechariah not only believed in God and worshiped him, but also saw the angel himself. However, doubt brought punishment – Zacharias was speechless. He was silent throughout his wife’s pregnancy. Indeed, silence is very symbolic because it brings thinking and listening. Even though silence may not immediately be a punishment in the sense of something negative, it can come as something positive, so Zechariah deepens his faith. We see the result when he stood against society and fulfilled God’s will. The child’s name was John, as the angel said.

It is an excellent example of the birth of the great prophet John the Baptist and of his parents’ testimony. They had to fight and were not made of roses, but God’s grace came through persistent prayer, faith, and trust, perhaps even through falls and corrections, as we see in today’s story when Zechariah confessed and confirmed God’s will. 

Without Christ, no suffering has meaning. Jesus combined incompatible realities on the first side, love for his father, and on the second side, love for man. It is as if we humans are incapable of loving this world and loving God at the same time. People want to live; they want to enjoy. Man becomes a slave to matter and rejects God. But then again, there are people. Those who are convinced that if I love God, I can’t love this world. But it is possible to love this world in God. God saves man by forgiving and sacrificing himself for man. The human perversity is that man rejects God, rejects his love. Man wants there to be no god. This is an absolute sin. God also forgives, for where sin has multiplied, your grace has multiplied still more.

In the past, when people were guilty. They recognized that they were sinners. They made sacrifices and begged God for forgiveness. Let us remember King David, who wrote in his psalm. I have sinned against you, sinned against you, and done evil in your eyes. But today’s modern man does not recognize sin. And that’s why he doesn’t even ask God for forgiveness. For many people, the fact that Jesus was crucified rose from the dead has no meaning.  They have entirely different values. They do not understand what God is doing. Today’s modern man wants to live without God. No, it’s not that today’s man wants to be against God. Practically, many people live as if God did not exist. People had a dilemma in the past: how much time to devote to work in this world and how much to God. Today, people have problems other than working efficiently to make this world a better place and bring me wealth and joy.

Sometimes, people tear out a sentence from the Gospel and consider it the basis of Jesus’s teaching. It is as if the entire Gospel is only self-denial and the cross. Understanding self-denial and the cross correctly is a matter of understanding them correctly. St. Paul writes, “The mystery of the cross is foolishness for those who are on the road to perdition.” We know that the cross belongs in some way to every person’s life. Either people accept the cross or oppose it. Why did Jesus receive the cross? Jesus says Whoever wants to follow me,let him take up his cross and follow me. Jesus encounters, let’s say, with the cross, then, when to help the sick. When he healed on Saturday, Jesus knew that the leaders of the Jewish people were seeking his life. But that didn’t discourage him. For Christ, the suffering of the cross was, of course, evil, but he accepted it as a necessary evil to save man.

The cross is associated with the Good News. It shows that man is so dear to God’s sake that he sent his only-begotten son to the cross. The cross is a sign of salvation. Jesus goes to meet the cross, knowing it will cost him a lot of strength. But with the knowledge that man’s salvation will be connected with this. For us, the cross is a sign of love that is given completely. Jesus wants to tell us that the root of love is when man does not think of himself at all. One should not forget what it cost God, so that a person can live for all eternity. People are afraid that God will ask them to do something. The cross is a tribute to sin. True Christian sacrifice does not consist in inventing what to give to God, but in allowing God to provide him with a gift. And that a person does not want the gift of salvation is the greatest perversion. One must realize that if one wants to pass on God’s love, it is associated with suffering, but with suffering that has meaning.