On the Feast of the Sacred Heart we meditate in a special way on the mystery of God's love for us. This mystery also teaches us about ourselves, for it reveals to us in greater depth the meaning of our existence: "You are a people sacred to the Lord", Moses told the people of Israel, and this doctrine recurs throughout the Old Testament, especially in the Prophets and the Psalms. So Jeremiah teaches us the depths of God's love: "I have loved you with an everlasting love and so I am always constant in my affection for you" (Jer. 31:3) and Isaiah affirms: "You are precious in my eyes" (Is. 43:4).

All the teaching of the Old Testament comes to fruition in the New Testament, as St John declares so simply and so eloquently: "God loved the world in this particular way that he gave his own son" (Jn. 3:16).

Since God is love (1Jn. 4:8, 16), all God's work has its origin, its meaning and its purpose in love. Out of love God created us, out of love Jesus redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit of love is poured out into our hearts (Rom. 5:5) to make us holy in love.