Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has an ancient history. At the beginning of devotion to the Sacred Heart we find references of the Fathers of the Church to the Sacred Wound of the Side of
Jesus. In time, devotion to this Sacred Wound led to devotion to the Sacred Heart. From this Sacred Wound, with the Blood and Water, the Church and the Sacraments were born. The Blood, symbolized the Holy Eucharist and the Water, symbolized Baptism. As Saint Ambrose (circa 397) stated: "The Water cleanses us,
the Blood redeems us."
Another theme that the Fathers
of the Church contemplated was that, at the Last Supper, Saint
John leaned upon the breast of Our Lord and thereby received Divine Wisdom. Saint Augustine (circa 430) explains that Saint John drank-in "sublime secrets from the innermost depths of Our Lord's Heart." Saint Paulinus (circa 431) taught that this was
how Saint John received the wisdom to write his Gospel and the Apocalypse. In a later age another theme that was considered was that we should spiritually "enter wholly into the Heart of
Jesus, into the Holy of Holies." Saint
Bernard (circa 1153) explained that the piercing of Our Blessed Lord's side reveals His
goodness and the charity of His Heart for us. Another writer taught that no sweetness or tenderness could be found
that could be compared to that of the Heart of
Jesus.
Saint Lutgarde (circa 1246), had visions of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus. When once asked by Our Lord what gift she wanted, she
replied: "I want Your Heart." To which Jesus responded: "I want your heart." Then Our Blessed Lord granted the Saint a very special grace. He mystically exchanged hearts with her.
Saint Lutgarde is the first known mystic to receive this grace. Saint Bonaventure (circa 1274), the Franciscan and a great theologian, wrote:
"Since we have
reached the most sweet Heart of Jesus, and it is good for us to abide in It, let us not
readily turn away from It. How good, how sweet it is to dwell in Thy Heart, O good Jesus!
Who is there who would not desire this pearl? I would rather give all else, all my
thoughts and all the affections of my soul in exchange for It, casting my whole mind into
the Heart of my good Jesus. Who is there who would not love this wounded Heart? Who would
not love, in return, Him Who loves so much?"
So great was Saint Gertrude's love for the Sacred Heart that once, when
Saint John the Apostle appeared to her, she
asked him why he did not write of the Sacred Heart. He
replied, "Because I was charged with instructing the
newly-formed Church concerning the mysteries of the Uncreated Word." Saint John then told Saint Gertrude
that the grace
of learning of the Sacred Heart was reserved to her century, to rouse it from its lethargy so that it would be inflamed with the great worth of Divine Love. Saint
Gertrude prayed:
"Through Thy
Wounded Heart, dearest Lord, pierce my heart so deeply with the dart of Thy love that it
may no longer be able to contain earthly things but may be governed by the action of Thy
Divinity alone."
Once, when Saint Gertrude's friend,
Saint Mechtilde, was praying for a woman who was suffering, Our Blessed Lord said to Saint Mechtilde that the woman should, with
childlike simplicity, bring each of her troubles to Him, and that she should seek consolation in His Compassionate Heart. Saint Mechtilde taught that Jesus has given us the gift of His Sacred Heart so that,
when suffering,
we can seek our refuge and our consolation there.
Two of the mystics from the group known
as the "Rhineland Mystics" in Germany referred to Our Lord's Heart. The Dominican
Johannes Tauler (circa 1361) encourages one to take refuge in this sweet
Heart, which is open to those who give their hearts to Jesus. Blessed Henry
Suso (circa 1366), also a Dominican, once had a vision of an Angel taking his heart from him and uniting it in rapturous love to the Heart of Jesus. The
Carthusian monks were among the earliest religious orders to be devoted
to the Sacred Heart. The Carthusian, Ludolph of Saxony
(circa 1378),
wrote:
"Our Lord's
Heart was wounded with the wound of love for our sake, so that, loving Him in return, we
might enter through that open wound into His Heart and there live inflamed with His love,
just as iron cast into the fire becomes incandescent."
The great Dominican mystic, Saint
Catherine of Sienna (circa 1380), one day said to Our Lord: "Sweet, Spotless Lamb, You were
dead when Your Side was opened. 'Why, then, did You allow that Your Heart should be thus
wounded and opened by force?" Our Lord answered:
"For several
reasons, of which I will tell you the principal. My desires regarding the human race were
infinite and the actual time of suffering and torture was at an end. Since My love is
infinite, I could not therefore by this suffering manifest to you how much I loved you.
That is why I willed to reveal to you the secret of My Heart by letting you see It open,
that you might well understand that It loved you far more than I could prove to you by a
suffering that was over."
Julian of Norwich (circa 1416), the English
anchoress and mystic, tells us of the following vision she had:
"Then Our Lord
looked into His Side and rejoiced. By this sweet look He had me gaze within this Wound. He
showed me a fair, delectable place, and large enough for all mankind that shall be saved
to rest in peace and in love. And therewith He had me recall His dear-worthy Blood and
precious Water which He let pour out for love, and He showed His blissful Heart."
A Carthusian, Dominic of
Treves (circa 1461), wrote:
"In this most
sweet Heart of Jesus, is found all virtue, the source of life, perfect consolation, the
true light that enlightens every man."
The Italian Poor Clare Nun Blessed Baptista
Varani (circa 1527) honored and also shared in the sufferings of the sorrow-filled Heart of Jesus. When she asked Jesus how great was the sorrow of His Heart, His answer was: "as great as the love
which I bear toward My creatures." Our Blessed Lord told Blessed
Baptista that the sorrows of His Heart were so great because so many people are in mortal
sin.
The Carthusian, called Lansperguis (circa 1539), recommended that
people have a picture of the Sacred Heart to foster their devotion. He encouraged that the picture be placed where it would be easily seen so
that by seeing it, holy love would be kindled in the soul. He also encouraged that this picture be kissed with affection. This is perhaps the first reference to encouraging people to have a
picture of the Sacred Heart. Saint Teresa of Avila (circa 1582), the great Spanish
Carmelite mystic and "Doctor of
Prayer," explained that we should make the
Sacred Wound our place of refuge.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart, as we know it, began about the year
1672. On repeated occasions, Jesus appeared to Saint
Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, in France,
and during these apparitions He explained to her the devotion to His Sacred Heart as He wanted people to practice it. He asked to be honored in the symbol of His Heart of flesh; He asked for acts of reparation, for frequent Communion, Communion on the First
Friday of the month, and the keeping of the Holy Hour. When the Catholic Church approved the
devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, she did not base her action only on the visions of Saint Margaret Mary.
The Church approved the devotion on its
own merits.
There is only one
(1) Person in Jesus, and that Person was at the same time God and man. His heart too, is Divine - it is the Heart of God. There are two things that must always be found together in the devotion to the Sacred Heart: Christ's Heart of flesh and Christ's love for us. True devotion to the Sacred Heart means devotion to the Divine Heart of
Christ insofar as His
Heart represents and recalls His love for us. In honoring
the Heart of Christ, our homage lingers on the Person of Jesus in the fullness of His love. This love of
Christ for us
was the moving force of
all He did and suffered for us in Nazareth,
on the Cross,
in giving Himself in the Blessed Sacrament, in His teaching and healing, in His praying and working. When we speak of the Sacred Heart, we mean Jesus showing us His Heart. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God's infinite love. The Human Nature which the Son of God took
upon Himself
was filled with love and kindness that has never found an equal. He is the perfect model of love of God and neighbor. Every day of His
life was filled with repeated proofs of "Christ's love that surpasses all knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19). Jesus handed down for all time the fundamental feature of His character: "Take My yoke upon your shoulders and learn from Me, for I am meek and
humble of Heart" (Matthew 11:29). He invited all, refusing
none, surprising friends and rivals by His unconditional generosity. The meaning of love in the life of Jesus was especially evident in His sufferings. Out of love for His Father He willed to undergo the death of the Cross. "The world must know that I love
the Father and do just as the Father has commanded Me"
(John 14:31). The love that Jesus bore toward us also urged Him to undergo the death of the Cross. At the Last Supper, He said, "There is no greater love
than to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John
15:13) The Heart of Jesus never ceases to love us in heaven. He sanctifies us through the Sacraments. These are inexhaustible fountains of grace and holiness which have their source in the boundless ocean of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I will give them all the graces necessary for their
state in life.