The Sanctuary of Solace

Debra Black reflects upon the sanctuary Jesus provides us as an escape from the chaos of daily life.

From that moment I set up a little cell in my heart where I always kept company with Jesus. (Diary of Saint Faustina, 16) 

Our increasingly complex world 

It might possibly be a scientific fact that the more we possess, the more problems we have stemming from our possessions! Technology should simply life but instead creates its own form of busyness. Cooking used to be simple, but acquiring so-called time-saving gadgets entice us to expand the normal three-course meal into a seven-course affair. Meanwhile on the Internet, extraverted personalities find endless ways to interact with friends and strangers alike while introverts plummet into an abyss of secluded hangouts.  

We engage in these to satisfy the emptiness that only God can fill. But these also provide diversion from being with our Father. Let’s face it: the human person was designed with a desire to be cared for and loved by God, and yet we have a fear of the vulnerability and trust that this demands. Trusting in our Father God is particularly difficult. Human fathers and authority figures, who can only love us to the extent of their own brokenness, are the only models of fatherhood we know. Psychological and emotional injuries further inhibit us from imagining what true fatherly love is like.  

The Lord protects the simple; I was helpless, but He saved me. (Psalm 116:6)

The Father's love: covenant and fidelity 

Yet it was God our Father who sent His only Son to walk the earth with us, revealing to us His love. Rather than being a God of anger and wrath, He is one of covenant and fidelity. Far from a distant watchman, He is close to us in every breath. God indeed hears your cries and appeals. The fact that you are still here, breathing, testifies that He has kept your soul from death. Natural and evil forces in the world could snuff out your life in any given moment, but He has granted you to arrive at this very hour. Your helplessness moves Him to pity, and from pity to rescue you.  

“Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” (John 8:10-11) 

The Sacred Heart: a healing, merciful embrace

Jesus promised to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque that sinners would find the source and an ocean of infinite mercy in His Sacred Heart. So often shame and scruples prevent us from accepting His gift. We simply need to turn to Him with a contrite heart to receive the love and healing of His merciful embrace. While people in our lives, and our culture, mock us for choosing to live righteously, Jesus crowns our efforts with peace, humility, meekness, and kindness. If we permit, He will grace the smallest details of our lives, His Spirit working in and through us. We must be confident in His faithful love from which this never-ending stream of mercy flows. 

Jesus is our sanctuary of solace, our refuge of relief. All it takes is a mere moment, a thought of Him, to enter into His Sacred Heart and He will draw you with cords of Divine love into the eternal dance of the Trinity.  

See, days are coming ... when I will make a new covenant … I will place My law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ... Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know Me ... for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin. (Jeremiah 31:31, 33b, 34b)  

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

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Copyright 2024 Debra Black
Images: Canva