Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 5th July, 2026

Newsletter 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 5th July, 2026.pdf

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In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” Our Mother said the same thing to St Juan Diego when she appeared to him in Guadalupe, Mexico (1531). She said: “Hear me and understand well… Nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Are you not happy in the fold of my mantle? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything!” Our Lord wants us to know how much He loves us. St John the Apostle was privileged to experience this love as he rested his head on Our Lord’s Heart during the Last Supper. Tradition has it that he experienced a Divine Love, a Love that only the angels and saints in heaven are privy to experience. Today Our Lord is inviting us to rest our head on His Heart and to keep our head on His Heart always. In 1673 on the feast day of St John the Apostle, December 27th, Our Lord appeared to St Margaret Mary. Our Lord showed His Sacred Heart and invited her to rest her head on it. He said: “My Divine Heart is so full of Love… that no longer is it able to contain within itself the flames of burning charity…it must manifest itself in order to enrich men with its precious treasures. He then took her heart and put it within His. She described this: “As a tiny atom being consumed in His burning furnace.” Our Lord then told St Margaret Mary that He would like everyone to receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month and to do a Holy Hour once a week, and to place an image of the Sacred Heart in every house (to have a reminder of His Love). The most famous of the apparitions took place in June 1675. St Margaret wrote: “While I was praying before Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Monstrance, Our Lord revealed His Heart to me and said: ‘Here is the Heart which has so loved men as to ‘spare nothing’ for them, ‘exhausting’ and ‘consuming itself’ in order to prove its Love for them.’” (Our Lord reduces Himself to a beggar to prove His Love for us). Our Lord’s love for us is so great that He is prepared to extinguish Himself, which He did at Calvary. The wounds of the crucifixion didn’t kill Our Lord. It was his Love for us that killed Him. On another occasion she wrote that Our Lord said to her: “My Sacred Heart is an inexhaustible fountain of Love…and it is still the same every day in the Blessed Sacrament on the altar…” St Margaret once made a vow which she wrote in her blood: “All for the Eucharist, nothing for me.” It is useless to attempt to describe the saints’ burning love for the Eucharist. When she was not able to receive Holy Communion, she broke out in ardent expressions of Love like these: “I have such a desire for Holy Communion that if I had to walk barefoot along a path of fire to obtain it, I would do so with unspeakable joy.” As a seminarian I was visiting Paray-La-Monial in France; the chapel where Our Lord appeared to St Margaret Mary. There was an all-night vigil. The next morning, I was greeted by a young nun who had spent the night in adoration in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I don’t know if I have ever met anyone so full of joy. (This is not surprising as the Eucharist is the Sacred Heart). In today’s Gospel, Jesus said: “Come to Me … I will give you rest.” Our Lord wants us to come to Him, especially in the Blessed Sacrament because, in the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lord’s Heart “exhausts” and “consumes itself” for love of us.