The Sacred Heart of Jesus

On Friday, July 1st, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a very important holiday for Christian spirituality. The heart has always been seen as the "center" or essence of a person ("the heart of the matter," "you are my heart," "take it to heart," etc.) and the wellspring of our emotional lives and love ("you break my heart," "my heart sings," etc.). Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is devotion to Jesus Christ Himself, but in the particular ways of meditating on his interior life, His threefold love, His divine love, His burning love that fed His human will, and His sensible love that affects His interior life. From the earliest days of the Church, Christ's open side and the mystery of blood and water were meditated upon, and the Church was beheld as issuing from the side of Jesus, as Eve came forth from the side of Adam. It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that we find the first unmistakable indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Through the wound in the side, the wounded Heart was gradually reached, and the wound in the Heart symbolized the wound of love. General devotion to the Sacred Heart, the birthplace of the Church and the font of Love, were popular in Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries, especially in response to the devotion of St. Gertrude the Great (b. 1256). But specific devotions became even more popularized when St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a Visitation nun, had a personal revelation involving a series of visions of Christ as she prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. She wrote, "He disclosed to me the marvels of his Love and the inexplicable secrets of his Sacred Heart." Christ emphasized to her His love, and His woundedness caused by Man's indifference to this love. My brothers and sisters, I invite you to take a few moments to ponder this great mystery of Jesus' heart. At the heart of the Lord is all that our soul needs, we should not lose this great opportunity! ■ Fr. Agustín, Pastor