The heart is a universal image for love. So, in the church, the "sacred heart" of Jesus became an image to express God's divine love. The scripture readings in the weekday liturgy this year centre on one of the more striking images used by Jesus, and by prophets and poets before Him - the shepherd caring single-mindedly for his sheep, even to the point of folly. In the case of Jesus himself, that "folly" was the sacrificing of His own life to save all those given into His care by His father. When Jesus talked about a shepherd searching for just one lost sheep from a flock, He was responding to criticism that He mixed with and ate with people known to be 'sinners'. He was saying how wild and extravagant God's love is for just one person in need. How valuable, after all, is one sheep out of a hundred? Is it worth risking and leaving all the others to stray? But when you lose something and go looking for it doesn't it become more valuable in your eyes? So, finding someone/something lost gives a more intense joy than the ordinary enjoyment of caring and appreciating. In Jesus, God cares immensely for each one of us especially the weak, needy, lost, 'sinners'. He loves totally!

And our response ? Surely it can't just be in words but expressed in really loving and caring for the sinners of our world as Jesus did.