Illustration: Sacred Heart of Jesus by Pompeo Batoni (1708–1787)
Pope Leo’s homily for The Eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Stadium “Gran Canaria” – Thursday, June 11, 2026
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1st Reading: Deuteronomy 7:6-11
Moses said to the people: ‘You are a people consecrated to the Lord your God; it is you that the Lord our God has chosen to be his very own people out of all the peoples on the earth.
‘If the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, it was not because you outnumbered other peoples: you were the least of all peoples. It was for love of you and to keep the oath he swore to your fathers that the Lord brought you out with his mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know then that the Lord your God is God indeed, the faithful God who is true to his covenant and his graciousness for a thousand generations towards those who love him and keep his commandments, but who punishes in their own persons those that hate him. He is not slow to destroy the man who hates him; he makes him work out his punishment in person. You are therefore to keep and observe the commandments and statutes and ordinances that I lay down for you today.’
2nd Reading: 1 John 4:7-16
My dear people,
Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love has never known God because God is love. God’s love for us was revealed when he sent his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him.
This is the love I mean—not our love for God, but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes away our sins. My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God. But as long as we love one another, God will live in us, and his love will be made complete in us. We know that we are living in him and he is living in us because he has given us his Spirit. We ourselves have seen, and we testify that the Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God has God living in them, and they in God. We have known and believed that God is love. Anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them.
Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30
Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.
Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.
Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
‘Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.
Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.
Pope Leo’s Homily
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
After a day filled with encounters and sharing, I am celebrating this Eucharist with you. First of all, I would like to thank the Lord for all the good being done here every day.
I entrust to Him the efforts of everyone here, as well as the suffering witnessed on this earth.
During this Mass, I also invite you to pray together for the brothers and sisters who lost their lives at sea.
We will place all of this on the altar along with the bread and wine as we begin, with the evening celebration of the Vigil, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to whom all of Spain is consecrated.
Let us ask the Lord that, at this moment, the same sentiments of humanity, mercy, and compassion found in the Heart of the Savior may be alive within us.
Let us be guided by the readings we have listened to in our meditation,
In the first reading, God reminds the Israelites of his gratuitous love for them.
He chose them not because of their special privileges, abilities, or merits, but because of his pure love for them.
He will always love them, even when they do not respond to his love because of a hardened heart.
This is the love of God, in which our vocation to love is rooted.
It is not based solely on calculation or feeling.
Nor can it be reduced to mere philanthropy.
Rather, it permeates our entire existence.
It is a fire for the soul, a light for the mind, and an irresistible impulse toward freedom. It is both a peace and a torment for the heart.
It beats in harmony with other hearts and involves the whole person.
Love is inscribed in human nature.
More than that, love is a prerequisite for a fulfilling life.
In this way, love is revealed to us through the humanity of the Savior and the movements of His Sacred Heart. It remains unchanging and faithful, even in the face of misunderstanding, rejection, fear, sadness, and human resistance.
It is precisely in the face of God, who is always “in love” and who desires our good and full happiness unceasingly, that we recognize a way of life.
We learn a new way of living and building relationships, discerning decisions with a different criterion, and experiencing a renewed and attractive style of communion.
In this context, Pope Francis spoke of the love of Christ and affirmed that “the best response to the love of His Heart is love for our brothers and sisters.”
He added, “There is no greater deed we can offer Him than to return love with love.”
“Returning love with love” is the marvelous exchange to which the Gospel calls us.
We allow ourselves to be drawn into it by translating the infinite measure of God’s love into the generosity with which we serve Him every day.
We serve Him by serving our brothers and sisters, especially those most in need, the defenseless, and those who cannot reciprocate.
This is precisely what happens on this island: receiving, sharing, and selflessly giving.
However, the generosity of the Heart of Christ does not stop there.
He commits himself to helping every human being not only survive, but also regain trust, flourish, and grow in their uniqueness for the good of all.
In this context, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that love, “to which Jesus Christ bore witness with his earthly life, is the essential driving force for the true development of every person and of all humanity.”
In the second reading, St. John reminded us that “God sent his only Son into the world, that we might have life through him” (1 John 4:9).
His words echo those of Jesus, who said he came so we might have life and have it abundantly. Jesus also instructed the healed paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and walk!” (Mark 2:9).
In these words, we recognize an invitation to embrace suffering with maternal tenderness and, at the same time, to prepare and strengthen the wounded so they may rise and set out anew on the path to free and dignified living.
Indeed, our charity should not be limited to merely providing help.
Rather, it should integrate people into the life of the community so they can find spiritual, intellectual, and physical fulfillment and their place in it with dignity and creativity.
Only then will our encounters become an opportunity to sow seeds of hope on humanity’s path toward a better future, even in the face of difficult and painful events.
However, In the Gospel, in the light of the word of God that we have heard, I would like to reflect on another characteristic of the Heart of Christ: humility (Matthew 11:29).
Jesus’s heart is humble, which is why it is not heard by the “wise” and “prudent,” that is, those who think they are self-sufficient, know everything, and do not need God or others.
Deafened by the noise of their own omnipresent, restless “I,” they lack the silence necessary to hear the hidden pulse of love in themselves and their brothers.
Prosperity often blinds us to the point that we believe our happiness can only be fulfilled if we manage without help.
Jesus, on the other hand, teaches us the opposite.
In order to experience true joy, which stems from love, we must step down from our arrogant pedestals and embrace humility, which unites us as brothers and sisters.
St. Augustine said: “But where love is, there is peace; and where humility comes, there is love” That’s exactly how it is. True humility breeds love, and love breeds peace.
Only through humility can we truly know ourselves and love one another.
We can meet each other, give ourselves, and forgive ourselves with honesty.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today, we honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
We often depict it as a heart crowned with thorns and burning with fire, as St. Margaret Mary Alacoque envisioned.
Let us remember that we are the living presence of the Lord in the world.
Therefore, let us look at one another with respect and trust, not only today but always. In this spirit, let us renew our commitment to lovingly make up for “the deficiencies of Christ’s afflictions” in ourselves for the good of the Church (cf. Col 1:24).
May we be inflamed by the love of His Heart and bring His mercy and peace so that wars may cease and a new, reconciled humanity may grow around us.
