(Dt.7:6-11; Ps.103:1-4,8,10,17; 1Jn.4:7-16; Mt.11:25-30) "He has loved us and has sent His Son as an offering for our sins." Who better to hear from on this blessed feast than John, the Lord's beloved disciple, whose words indeed continually breathe the fact that "God is love" and who eternally exhorts us to "love one another." John cannot but speak of the love God has for His children and the love we must offer in return; and all of our Scripture today echoes his understanding and calls us to be washed in the blood of Christ. In our gospel Jesus calls unto the hearts of all: "Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you." He invites His little ones: "Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart." O so gentle and humble of heart is the Lord our God… so loving, so kind! David sings of Him so well in his psalm of praise and thanksgiving: "Merciful is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness." Why does God's king "bless the Lord" with "all [his] being" today? Because "not according to our sins does He deal with us." Because of His forgiving grace – this greatest sign of His love, embodied in His only Son. And so, as Moses says to all the people in our hearing on this holy feast, we should "love Him and keep His commandments," for He is "the faithful God who keeps His merciful covenant down to the thousandth generation." Yes, this covenant of love has been fulfilled in Jesus' blood, in Jesus' heart from which His blood does come, and "when anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God"; then we "come to know and believe in the love God has for us." And to whom does the love of God come so readily? Who finds such faith in the Lamb of God and knows that "He pardons all [our] iniquities" and "crowns [us] with kindness and compassion"? Jesus in His prayer to the Father states, "What you have hidden from the learned and the clever you have revealed to the merest children," and this is confirmed by Moses, who tells the Israelites, "It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set His heart on you and chose you, for you are really the smallest of all nations." It is not the strong and the wise of the world the Lord showers His love upon, but the humble and the lowly. These know the love the mighty and humble, gentle Lord holds in His Sacred Heart. Alleluia! Brothers and sisters, "it was because the Lord loved you… that He brought you out with a strong hand from the place of slavery." Let your soul "find rest" in that merciful love this day, and let it share that love with all others. Written, read & chanted by James Kurt; produced by Roger Fortney. Music by Roger Fortney; used by permission. ******* O LORD, how you love us! sending your only Son to die for our salvation – let us come to Him this day and know your love. YHWH, so loving you are that you share your very self with us in the Person of the Son of God, in Jesus the Christ. How is it love come to us so truly? How is it you, who are love, make yourself known to us in such a real way? It is because you are love and desire therefore to share love with us, your poor creatures. O LORD, you forgive all our sins, you heal all our ills… all that is evil you take from us that we might be one with you who are love. O that we might have a heart so humble and lowly as your own! that we might truly come to know your love, that we might truly come to be your own children. Let us share your love with one another and we shall find ourselves living in your love. In you let us take our rest, O LORD, in your Sacred Heart. Jesus is your very heart and His blood you would have course through our veins. O let His Heart beat in our own, that overwhelmed with His love we might become one with you in Heaven. Give us your Spirit of love this day to make us your own people, your own flesh and blood.