By DD Emmons, OSV News
Every liturgical year, on the third Friday after the Feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Traditionally, the heart symbolizes the totality of the human being, and the heart of Jesus represents his eternal love for us. This solemnity offers the opportunity to acknowledge that love and show repentance for the times we have ignored it. Jesus chose Margarita María Alacoque, a young nun of the Visitation order in Paray-le-Monial, France, as an instrument to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the whole Church.
This ancient devotion was born when a Roman soldier pierced the side of our crucified Savior with his lance, and from His heart flowed blood and water, a sign of divine grace. Throughout the centuries, saints, theologians, writers and faithful have recognized in the Sacred Heart an inexhaustible source of blessing, mercy and love. For a long time, however, this devotion was cultivated in a personal way.
The visions of Marguerite Marie Alacoque
In the 17th century, Catholicism came under attack by the spread of Protestantism and the heretical beliefs of Jansenism. Although the Jansenists were Catholics, they claimed that only a chosen few would reach heaven and promoted the fear of God. They degraded the humanity of Jesus, including his Sacred Heart, and promoted a return to the rigorous penances of the past. Both Protestantism and Jansenism affected the fervor with which the faithful lived in many of the Church's teachings.
It was in this context that, since 1673 and for more than 18 months, Sister Margaret Mary claimed to have received a series of visions in which Jesus himself showed her his Sacred Heart as a sign of his love for all humanity. In these revelations, he confided to her that she had been chosen as an instrument to make known and propagate devotion to his Divine Heart throughout the Church.
In one of the visions, Jesus appeared to him with his Divine Heart surrounded by flames, crowned with thorns, with the wound still open and a cross brighter than the sun rising above him, as described in "The Beauties of the Catholic Church", by FJ Shadler.
St. Margaret Mary recounted that Jesus told her that, in spite of having given his life for love of mankind, he was treated with irreverence, coldness and ingratitude. She wanted the world to recognize the love he constantly pours out, represented in his Sacred Heart, and that reparation is offered for so much indifference.
First Friday Communion
Jesus asked Sister Margaret Mary to initiate a personal devotion to his divine Heart, receiving Holy Communion every first Friday of the month and dedicating an hour of prayer the night before, in order to ask for forgiveness and to make reparation for the lack of love of humanity.
In another of the visions, Jesus asked her to establish a feast day in the Church to honor his Sacred Heart. On that day, the faithful were to go to Mass, receive Holy Communion, profess their love and offer acts of reparation for the offenses caused by humanity. The devotions of First Friday and of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we celebrate today are based on these visions. The love and compassion of the Heart of Jesus dispel the heresies of Jansenism.
When St. Margaret Mary first tried to explain her visions, many around her doubted her. It was St. Claude de la Colombière, her Jesuit spiritual director, who recognized her holiness, fervor and sincerity. However, although some came to believe her, being a cloistered nun, she could not do much to promote these revelations outside her community. So it was St. Colombière and St. John Eudes who continued to spread among the faithful and the Holy See the request to establish a feast in honor of the Sacred Heart.
Pontifical approval
The Vatican gave its universal approval in August 1856, under the pontificate of Pius IX (1846-1878). In 1899, Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), encouraged by Catholics around the world, consecrated humanity to the Sacred Heart.
Today, the devotion is celebrated every first Friday of the month, and the solemnity is part of the Church's liturgical calendar. This devotion is expressed through numerous prayers, and is depicted in miles of images, including the image of Our Lord holding His flaming, compassionate and merciful heart. Many homes are consecrated to the Sacred Heart.
During Eucharistic adoration we venerate the Sacred Heart in our prayers of blessing: "May the heart of Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored and loved at all times and in all the tabernacles of the world, until the end of time".
