Symbol of Divine Love

The Lord set his heart on you and chose you [Deuteronomy 7:7].

In his book, Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life, Walter Cardinal Kasper, considers the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which the Church celebrates today. "In many centuries," Kasper writes, "veneration of the sacred heart of Jesus functioned as a special expression of faith in God's love and mercy." In Jesus' heart, "we recognize that God himself has a heart for us, who are poor, in the broadest sense of the word, and that he is, therefore, merciful. In this way, the heart of Jesus is an emblem of God's love, which became incarnate in Jesus Christ."

Historically, the devotion to the Sacred Heart has been especially associated with the 17th-century visions and revelations received by Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690). Her Jesuit spiritual director, Saint Claude la Colombiere, helped her to spread the devotion, which in time became strongly associated with the Jesuits, who have promoted it vigorously over the centuries.

In the words of one contemporary local Jesuit, Fr. James Martin: “the Sacred Heart is nothing less than an image of the way that Jesus loves us: fully, lavishly, radically, completely, sacrificially. The Sacred Heart invites to meditate on some of the most important questions in the spiritual life: In what ways did Jesus love his disciples and friends? How did he love strangers and outcasts? How was he able to love his enemies? How did he show his love for humanity? What would it mean to love like Jesus did? What would it mean for me to have a heart like his? How can my heart become more "sacred"? For in the end, the Sacred Heart is about understanding Jesus’s love for us and inviting us to love others as Jesus did.”

Especially on this annual solemnity of the Sacred Heart, this message of God’s overwhelming love and mercy may be especially well worth meditating upon on in this unloving, troubled time.

Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Saint Paul the Apostle Church, June 16, 2023.

Photo: Sacred Heart Altar, Saint Paul the Apostle Church. Given to the church in 1891, the statue shows Jesus inviting all to take refuge in his Sacred Heart. Inscribed n the gradine are the words Dilexit nos in finem ("He loved us to the end").