The Furnace of Love Unveiled
Luke Luke 15:3-7

Fr. Jijo Kandamkulathy CMF
Claretian Missionaries

Today, we contemplate a mystery carved not in stone, but in flesh: the pierced Heart of Christ. The Church invites us to gaze upon an image both raw and tender—a heart crowned with thorns, ablaze with fire, wounded yet pouring out mercy. This feast, born from the visions of mystics and the Church’s deepening reflection, is not mere sentimentality. It is an icon of God’s most startling revelation: Love does not reign from a throne of gold, but from a cross of wood.

Jesus Himself reveals the very rhythm of this Sacred Heart: the relentless pursuit of the lost. Think practically! What shepherd in his right mind leaves 99% of his flock vulnerable in the desert to chase one stray? It’s bad business! It’s risky! The sensible thing is to cut your losses. But Jesus says, this is what God is like. The Sacred Heart operates on the mathematics of mercy, not profit. It values the one with the same intensity as the ninety-nine. It takes enormous risks for the least, the last, the lost. Why? Because that heart cannot rest while one of its own is missing. This is the first shock of the Sacred Heart: God’s love is fundamentally unreasonable by our standards. It prioritizes the wanderer over the secure.

Notice the shepherd’s posture. He doesn’t drag the sheep, scold it, or make it walk back in shame. He lifts it onto his shoulders. The weight of the lost one becomes his burden. The journey back isn’t a punishment for the sheep; it’s a triumph for the shepherd. And his emotion? “Great joy” Not relief, not satisfaction – joy! This is the fire burning in the Sacred Heart: the sheer, exuberant delight of restoring what was broken, of finding what was missing. This joy is the energy that sustained Jesus through rejection, betrayal, and the Cross. His heart finds its deepest fulfillment not in the company of the perfect, but in rescuing the imperfect.

The shepherd doesn’t celebrate alone. He calls his friends and neighbors: “Rejoice with me!” The recovery of the one becomes a feast for the many. The Sacred Heart isn’t a private devotion; it’s the pulsating core of a new community. This feast we celebrate today isn’t just about Jesus’ physical heart; it’s about the kind of community His heart creates: one where the return of the sinner is the greatest cause for celebration, not suspicion or comparison. A community secure enough in the Shepherd’s love for the ninety-nine that it joins Him in rejoicing over the found one, rather than resenting the attention they get. The Sacred Heart breaks down walls of elitism and self-righteousness.

Here’s the ultimate revelation of the Sacred Heart: Heaven’s priority is restoration, not maintenance. God isn’t primarily keeping score of our failures; He’s scanning the horizon for our return. The “righteous” who feel no need for repentance often risk the subtlest sin: spiritual complacency, forgetting their own need for mercy. But the repentant sinner? They experience the raw, overwhelming power of grace. They know the weight lifted from their shoulders. This encounter generates an explosion of joy in the heart of God – a joy so intense it eclipses the steady state of the seemingly secure.

That wounded heart on the Cross, crowned with thorns, is the ultimate sign of the Shepherd who left the security of heaven to plunge into the dangerous “desert” of our broken world. The lance that pierced His side revealed the fountain of mercy (blood and water) promised to every lost sheep. The thorns? They represent the pain of our wandering, borne by Him. The fire? The unquenchable passion of His seeking love.

Christ’s heart is a furnace of divine love with a gravitational pull toward society’s rejected ones. He touched lepers—the “untouchables” quarantined by ritual law—restoring not just health but shattered dignity. He dined with tax collectors—collaborators with Rome, viewed as traitors—seeing beyond their corruption to their hunger for belonging. He welcomed “sinners”—the morally condemned—declaring, “I came not for the righteous, but for sinners” (Mk 2:17). This burning love actively dismantles human hierarchies. Where culture saw contamination, Jesus saw sacred humanity. Where religion saw unworthiness, He saw potential. Where power saw expendables, He saw beloved children.

If you feel lost, hear the Shepherd’s steps approaching. Your wandering hasn’t exhausted His love; it activates His pursuit. Your burden is meant for His shoulders. Look up – He’s searching for you with joy in His eyes.

If you feel “secure”, check your heart. Does the return of a “lost” soul fill you with the Shepherd’s joy, or with unease? Are you part of the welcoming community, or part of an invisible wall? The Sacred Heart calls us beyond self-focus.

Learn to become an echo of the Shepherd’s heart. Who is the “one” in your family, workplace, or community feeling lost, excluded, or burdened? How can you, in Christ’s name, seek them out, lift a burden, and share the joy of reconciliation.

© Claretian Publications, Macau
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025