News
Our 10th annual LAYERS OF LOVE BLANKET DRIVE begins this weekend and runs through February 28 . Your donated blankets will be given to impoverished families living in the San Diego/Tijuana region.
Please drop off your new or gently used blankets at Sacred Heart Ministry Center (there is a box in the front office: 8:30-4:30 M-F) or contact Lily Roughneen at (619) 865-1257 for pick up. Thank you!
The House of Love
"Do not be afraid, have no fear," is the voice we most need to hear. This voice was heard by Zechariah when Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, appeared to him in the temple and told him that his wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son; this voice was heard by Mary when the same angel entered her house in Nazareth and announced that she would conceive, bear a child, and name him Jesus; this voice was also heard by the women who came to the tomb and saw that the stone was rolled away. “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be afraid.” The voice uttering these words sounds all through history as the voice of God’s messengers, be they angels or saints. It is the voice that announces a whole new way of being, a being in the house of love, the house of the Lord. . . . The house of love is not simply a place in the afterlife, a place in heaven beyond this world. Jesus offers us this house right in the midst of our anxious world. Henri Nouwen
"I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells."
PSALM 26:8
📷 United in the Lord’s Prayer pre-pandemic
An enemy whom God has made a friend,
A righteous man discounting righteousness,
Last to believe and first for God to send,
He found the fountain in the wilderness.
Thrown to the ground and raised at the same moment,
A prisoner who set his captors free,
A naked man with love his only garment,
A blinded man who helped the world to see,
A Jew who had been perfect in the law,
Blesses the flesh of every other race
And helps them see what the apostles saw;
The glory of the lord in Jesus' face.
Strong in his weakness, joyful in his pains,
And bound by love, he freed us from our chains.
-M. Guite
🎨 Saint Paul, by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (c. 1657)
Monday, Jan 25, 2021
FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL, APOSTLE
Turn things around
It is arguably the biggest about-face in history: Paul goes from passionately persecuting Christians to converting to Christianity and becoming one of its most important champions. And it’s a hard-to-beat conversion story: falling off a horse and encountering the risen Lord. But it’s a story that happens in the hearts of Christians all the time: Life knocks you down while going the wrong way, and you’re not ready, willing, or able to see the truth—and then somehow Jesus changes everything. By the grace of God, it happens to you again and again. Paul is proof that it’s never too late, that you’ve never made too many mistakes, that you’re never too far gone to keep turning yourself around.
TODAY'S READINGS: Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22; Mark 16:15-18.
“Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
#takefiveforfaith
217. Social peace demands hard work, craftsmanship. It would be easier to keep freedoms and differences in check with cleverness and a few resources. But such a peace would be superficial and fragile, not the fruit of a culture of encounter that brings enduring stability. Integrating differences is a much more difficult and slow process, yet it is the guarantee of a genuine and lasting peace. That peace is not achieved by recourse only to those who are pure and untainted, since “even people who can be considered questionable on account of their errors have something to offer which must not be overlooked”.[206] Nor does it come from ignoring social demands or quelling disturbances, since it is not “a consensus on paper or a transient peace for a contented minority”.[207] What is important is to create processes of encounter, processes that build a people that can accept differences. Let us arm our children with the weapons of dialogue! Let us teach them to fight the good fight of the culture of encounter!
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle
Acts 22:3-16
Paul addressed the people in these words:
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia,
but brought up in this city.
At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law
and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
I persecuted this Way to death,
binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.
Even the high priest and the whole council of elders
can testify on my behalf.
For from them I even received letters to the brothers
and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem
in chains for punishment those there as well.
“On that journey as I drew near to Damascus,
about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,
‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’
And he said to me,
‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’
My companions saw the light
but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me.
I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’
The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus,
and there you will be told about everything
appointed for you to do.’
Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light,
I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.
“A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law,
and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
came to me and stood there and said,
‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’
And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him.
Then he said,
‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will,
to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice;
for you will be his witness before all
to what you have seen and heard.
Now, why delay?
Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away,
calling upon his name.’”
#dailyingodsword
🎨 Caravaggio THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells us that his Father takes care of even the smallest things, like flowers. Jesus says to notice them so that we will see how the Father takes care of us (12:22–31). Wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t notice these small, simple ways God was showing care for us? How God was telling us he loves us?
If we look at life through this lens, it’s nearly a game—a scavenger hunt—to find that small, simple moment, hold it in our hands, and cherish it. Where will God reveal himself to us today?
January 24 2021
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Word of God Sunday
Come and see is the simplest method to get to know a situation. It is the most honest test of every message, because in order to know, I need to encounter, to permit the one I have before me to speak, to allow his witness to reach me.
- Pope Francis
#worldcommunicationsday2021
Encounter that becomes culture
216. The word “culture” points to something deeply embedded within a people, its most cherished convictions and its way of life. A people’s “culture” is more than an abstract idea. It has to do with their desires, their interests and ultimately the way they live their lives. To speak of a “culture of encounter” means that we, as a people, should be passionate about meeting others, seeking points of contact, building bridges, planning a project that includes everyone. This becomes an aspiration and a style of life. The subject of this culture is the people.
Excerpt: FRATELLI TUTTI
Pope Francis Encyclical
On Fraternity and Social Friendship
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect on this new encyclical.
