Sacred Heart of Jesus

Cogitationes Cordis ejus in generatiónem:
ut éruat a morte ánimas eórum et alat eos in fame.

The thoughts of His Heart are to all generations: to deliver their souls from death and feed them in famine.

(Introit for today - Psalm 32: 11-19)

The Sacred heart is many things: It is an image, it is a feast, it is a popular devotion in Catholicism. But above all things, it is an indicator towards an important theological foundation of Christendom. In the encyclical Haurietis Aquas, Pope Pius XII asserts that;

It is altogether impossible to enumerate the heavenly gifts which devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has poured out on the souls of the faithful, purifying them, offering them heavenly strength, rousing them to the attainment of all virtues.(Paragraph 2)

His predecessor, Pius XI, was even so bold as to say;

Is not a summary of all our religion and, moreover, a guide to a more perfect life contained in this one devotion? Indeed, it more easily leads our minds to know Christ the Lord intimately and more effectively turns our hearts to love Him more ardently and to imitate Him more perfectly. (Miserentissimus Redemptor)

Therefore it seems clear that this devotion is particularly relevant for thinking of our religion in this day and age. So what is this devotion all about?

The perfect way to visualise the basis of the devotion is through the Gospel accounts. St John records in his account of the Gospel (7:37-39);

on the last and great day of the festivity, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and let him drink that believeth in Me. As the Scripture saith: Out of his heart there shall flow rivers of living waters.' Now this He said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in Him.

This vision given by our Lord reaches its perfect fulfilment on the cross, where in the moments after His death the centurion pierces His side with a lance, sending forth a stream of blood and water. The symbolism behind this has been taken to reflect the waters of Baptism which cleanse our soul, and the blood of the new covenant given to us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which instils in us divine Grace, uniting us to Christ's sacrifice and atonement. Through His pierced side, the Holy Spirit thus flowed upon His Church.

But let me take a step back. For the Sacred Heart this year has been instituted as the beginning of a year dedicated to the Priesthood. Pope Benedict has chosen the feast of the Sacred Heart, today, to inaugurate this year. That is why I have chosen the image above: Jesus arrayed in sacerdotal vestments thus symbolising His Divine Priesthood. This consists of Him being the perfect mediator between God and Man, since He is God made incarnate, in the flesh. By sharing in our humanity, Jesus shows us a perfect example of Divine Love. The ministry of the Priesthood is closely connected to this for a variety of reasons which I'm sure we will learn more about in this coming year. From my point of view, the way the Priest makes present the reality of Christ, calvary, the real presence of Our Saviour in the Mass, on the Altar. Furthermore, the Liturgy shows us an image of the Priest in our everyday lives: feeding us with Christ's Love in a tender and sober way, especially evident in the distribution of communion on our tongues like lambs in his flock.

In the image above, Christ is represented on the Cross, for it is here that he makes manifest his Divine Love in the most perfect way, recalling that His institution of the Priesthood and the Eucharist began before the crucifixion during the Last Supper as part of one single act (see the way Mary Magdelene holds the precious Chalice at his feet). Christ is therefore crowned as King in heaven but also victim, the image of the suffering servant of Isaiah's prophecy, symbolised in St John's apocalypse by the lamb standing, as it were, slain.

Through His merits, which He has earned for us on the Cross, we partake in the Holy Trinity and become objects of a love which is constantly outpoured, ready to be received. As we are reminded in the classic image - his heart is burning with love for us, like the Just Father for his Prodigal Son. This love is without condition, and we cannot earn it. We can, obviously, partake by praising the Father for sending us such a gift. We resign our weakness and our failing to His Sacred Heart in confession. He urges us to reciprocate His love in this manner, but moreover by displaying His love in our own everyday lives. It all begins with Christ and His Sacred Heart.