From the Heart of the Shepherd

From the bulletin for The Ascension (Jun 01)

Ascension

June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In Pro Ecclesia Sancta, we say that our spirituality is that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For us, honoring the Sacred Heart is more than just a devotion or a set of practices. It is a complete way of engaging the Christian life. In fact, I would say that responding with loving devotion to the Heart that has so lovingly devoted Himself to us is the Christian life, in its simplest expression. Here, then, is a little primer on the devotion of devotions and “summary of our religion,” to use the phrase of Pope Pius XII. 

The History. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is often traced back to St. Margaret Mary of Alocoque, to whom Our Lord appeared and revealed the contents of His Heart, begging that it be venerated in the Church through specific practices of piety such as communions of reparation, holy hours of adoration, and the institution of the feast of Sacred Heart in the Church. 

Yet St. Margaret Mary was neither the first nor the last to receive such messages from Jesus. Rather than the originator of the devotion, she is better understood as the saint through whom Heaven gave definitive form to something that had been gestating in the heart of the Church since the Incarnation of the Word. In fact, the essence of this spirituality centered on the human Heart of God is already contained in the Gospel of John chapter 19: Christ thirsting for our love, how He “loved us to the end” by laying His life down for us on the Cross, the Heart that was “pierced for our offenses” and opened for us, that we might enter in, the Blood and living water that poured out from It for our salvation and sanctification, and the loving response of the disciples to this excess of self-giving love: to reverence the Body of Jesus and to receive Him lovingly into the “tomb” of our heart. 

The Iconography. The emblem of devotion to the Sacred Heart is what St. Margaret Mary saw in actuality: the human heart of the Savior, wounded by the lance of our sin and crowned with the thorns of mankind’s indifference, aflame with divine love, and crowned with the Cross. The heart is the symbol not just of love but the deepest center of the person; the Heart of Jesus is a symbol of the Person of Our Lord, the Incarnate Word, who has taken on our human flesh–becoming vulnerable in the process–and revealed the eternal love of God in that human nature. The heart is exposed in order to remind us that Jesus does not treat us as slaves, but as His friends; He shares everything He has and is with us (cf. Jn 15:15). It’s significant, therefore, that in many images of the Sacred Heart, just as in the apparitions to Margaret Mary, Jesus is offering His Heart to us. He offers us Himself, His person, His love to us. The great mystery, and Our Lord’s great cause of grief, is that so few are interested in receiving Him. 

Practices & Promises. I’ve already mentioned several of the practices associated with devotion to the Sacred Heart. These are not pious inventions, but responses to real requests from Jesus Himself: receiving Holy Communion in reparation for sin on First Fridays, keeping Christ company in a mystical way during His agony in Gethsemane on Thursday nights, and celebrating the great solemnity in honor of the Heart of Jesus each June. To these we can add the practices of enthroning an image of the Sacred Heart in the home or at one’s place of work, consecrating oneself or family to the Divine Heart, and carrying pocket-sized images of that Heart (“badges”) on one’s person in remembrance of Him. 

Those who show their love for the Heart of Jesus in these ways are promised tremendous blessings. St. Margaret Mary’s diaries contain many staggering promises that Jesus made respecting those who honor His Heart, including peace in their homes, comfort in their afflictions, success in their endeavors, growth in fervor and perfection, the gift of converting hearts, and (most importantly) the assurance of final salvation. 

Today is Day 1 of what could be a deep dive into the abyss of love that is the Heart of Jesus. How will you respond to the opportunity?

From the Heart of the Shepherd: Sixth Sunday of Easter