Praying for the reparation of sins on the feast of the Sacred HeartPope's September document on the Sacred Heart of JesusThe Sacred Heart of Jesus illuminated by the moon"Dilexit nos" is the fourth Encyclical Pope Francis invites the faithful to renew their devotion to the Heart of Jesus. The words that give the title to the text are from the Letter to the Romans of St. Paul, when he points out that "He has loved us" (Rom 8:37), in reference to the love of Christ for mankind.
Taking advantage of the 350th anniversary of the first demonstration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus In 1673, the Pope, in his homily to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the pope gathers the reflections of previous magisterial texts and the experience of various saints to propose this devotion to the whole Church today.
The encyclical underlines the love of God for his children and contrasts it with other forms of religiosity that are multiplying in our day "without reference to a personal relationship with a God of love" (87). In the face of these ideas, Pope Francis proposes a new deepening of the love of Christ represented in his holy Heart.
The importance of the heart
Once the love of Christ has been discovered after a personal encounter with Him, man is capable "of weaving fraternal bonds, of recognizing the dignity of every human being and of caring together for our common home", ideas set forth in the social encyclicals. Laudato si ' y Fratelli tutti. The Pope asks the Lord to have compassion and pour out his love on a world that is "surviving amid wars, socio-economic imbalances, consumerism and anti-human use of technology".
The first chapter addresses the risk of "becoming insatiable consumers and slaves to the gears of a market" (2). It exhorts us to return to the fundamental questions about the meaning of life, my choices and who I am before God (8).
The Pope maintains that the current devaluation of the heart comes from "Greek and pre-Christian rationalism, post-Christian idealism and materialism," which has emphasized concepts such as "reason, will and freedom" to the detriment of "heart. Instead, for the Pontiff, it is necessary to recognize that "I am my heart, because it is what distinguishes me, configures me in my spiritual identity and puts me in communion with others" (14).
A reflection on the human heart, in the light of the heart of Jesus and Christian revelation, can lead us out of individualism. The spirituality of many saints shows that "before the Heart of Jesus, alive and present, our mind, enlightened by the Spirit, understands the words of Jesus" (27). This reflection has social consequences, because the world can change "starting from the heart" (28).
Gestures and words of love
The second chapter analyzes various Gospel scenes to draw conclusions about Christ's gestures and words, for they are full of "compassion and tenderness" (35).
In the third chapter, the Pontiff reviews various reflections on the Heart of Christ throughout history. Citing the Encyclical "Haurietis aquas" of Pius XII, he explains the meaning of this devotion, centered on "the love of the Heart of Jesus Christ, which includes not only divine charity, but extends to the sentiments of human affection" (61). Quoting Benedict XVI, it contains a triple love: the sensible love of his physical heart "and his double spiritual love, human and divine" (66).
The Heart of Jesus, synthesis of the Gospel
The visions of some saints devoted to the Heart of Christ "are beautiful stimuli which can motivate and do much good", but "they are not something which believers are obliged to believe as if they were the Word of God". Now, as Pius XII reminds us, neither can it be said that this cult "owes its origin to private revelations". On the contrary, "devotion to the Heart of Christ is essential to our Christian life, insofar as it signifies the full openness of faith and adoration to the mystery of the Lord's divine and human love, to the point that we can affirm once again that the Sacred Heart is a synthesis of the Gospel" (83).
The exposition of these ideas allows the Pope to propose devotion to the Sacred Heart to counteract "the new manifestations of a 'spirituality without flesh' that are multiplying in society" (87). On the contrary, the Pope proposes a personal spiritual experience united to a community and missionary commitment (91), starting from meditation on the pierced side of Christ and the enormous spiritual fruits it has produced.
The devotion of the saints
The encyclical cites many saints who shared the spiritual fruits of devotion to the Heart of Jesus. In addition to the aforementioned St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the text also includes Therese of Lisieux, Ignatius of Loyola, Faustina Kowalska, Claude de la Colombiere, Francis de Sales, John Henry Newman, Charles de Foucauld, Paul VI and John Paul II. It also underlines the importance of the Society of Jesus in the expansion of this devotion.
From the Heart of Christ to all men
The fifth and last chapter deepens the communitarian, social and missionary dimension of devotion to the Heart of Jesus. Looking at the history of spirituality, the Pontiff recalls that the missionary commitment of St. Charles de Foucauld made him a "universal brother": "allowing himself to be shaped by the Heart of Christ, he wished to welcome into his fraternal heart all suffering humanity" (179).
The Encyclical recalls once again with St. John Paul II that consecration to the Heart of Christ "must be assimilated to the missionary action of the Church herself, because it responds to the desire of the Heart of Jesus to spread in the world, through the members of his Body, his total dedication to the Kingdom" (206). He also turns to St. Paul VI to warn of the risk that in the mission "many things are said and many things are done, but the happy encounter with the love of Christ cannot be brought about" (208). We need "missionaries in love, who still allow themselves to be conquered by Christ" (209).
