Beloved Parishioners,

The greatest truth ever revealed to humanity is not just a doctrine, a law, or a philosophy. It is the simple truth that God is love and that God loves us. From the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation, the Bible tells the tale of a God whose very nature is love. The Apostle John captures this truth in its most concrete form: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).

God’s love is first revealed in creation itself. We were created because God desired to share His goodness and His life. Thus, we were fashioned for communion with Him. This insight was beautifully expressed by St. Augustine in his Confessions when he prayed: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Augustine’s words reveal a fundamental truth about the human condition. The human heart bears within itself a yearning for God. Only in Him can our deepest desires find rest.

The immensity of God’s love for us becomes even more evident after humanity’s fall into sin. Although sin wounded the relationship between God and humanity, divine love did not abandon mankind. Instead, God initiated a plan of redemption. This divine love reached its highest manifestation in Jesus Christ. The Gospel proclaims: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). Here we discover the true measure of God’s love: it is self-giving, sacrificial, and unconditional. As St. Paul writes, “God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

It is this mystery that Pope Francis sought to highlight in his encyclical Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”). The Holy Father reminds the Church that the Sacred Heart of Jesus is not simply an object of devotion but the living revelation of God’s infinite love. According to Pope Francis, the contemporary world suffers from fragmentation, loneliness, superficiality, and a loss of authentic relationships. In such a world, the Heart of Christ stands as the answer to humanity’s deepest needs. In contemplating the Heart of Christ, we discover that we are infinitely loved and valued.

Again, God’s love is not meant merely to be admired; it is meant to be received and reciprocated. The more we experience God’s love, the more we are transformed into instruments of that love. This is why the love of God can never be separated from the love of neighbor. The same Lord who commands us to love God also commands us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:39). In fact, the trueness of our love for God is measured by our love for others. As St. John boldly teaches, “Whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20).

God’s love therefore calls us beyond ourselves. It summons us to move from selfishness to service, from indifference to compassion, from pride to humility. The one who has truly encountered the love of Christ cannot remain indifferent to the needs of others. The Heart of Christ must become the model for our own hearts.

In a world wounded by hatred, division, injustice, and indifference, we are called to become living witnesses and ambassadors of God’s love. We are invited to encounter Christ in the poor, the sick, the lonely, the marginalized, and the forgotten, in such a way that our acts of kindness, gestures of forgiveness, and works of mercy become a response to the love we have first received from God.

May we therefore open our hearts to the immense love of God revealed in Christ. May we allow that love to heal our wounds, transform our lives, and inspire our actions. And having received such a great gift, may we become channels of that same love to every person we meet. For indeed, God loves us—and our greatest vocation is to love Him in return by loving one another.

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