In the Sacred Heart, every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is hidden.
The Heart of the Lord Jesus is the starting-point of the holiness of each one of us. From the Heart of the Lord Jesus let us learn the love of God and understanding of the mystery of sin.
-St. John Paul II
What is the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS is a symbol of the meek yet intense love our Savior has for every person. It is the embodiment of the desire of Our Lord to have all men and women participate in the life and love of the Holy Trinity. It is traditionally depicted as consumed with flames and encircled with the crown of thorns. It is also portrayed as pierced by a lance and surmounted by the cross. This imagery brings to mind the Passion which Jesus underwent to reconcile the earth to God the Father, and the tragic experience of suffering which He redeemed for our sake.
The devotion towards the Sacred Heart began to take shape because of certain mystics who lived during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Preceding this, in the early years of the Church, there was no distinct veneration of the Sacred Heart. The Church Fathers and early theologians went to great lengths to establish the true identity of Jesus and to stress His role in bringing us to God the Father. However, it was not until the Middle Ages that spiritual reflection was dedicated to the Heart of Jesus itself. The first sign of an emerging devotion to the Sacred Heart can be found in the revelations of St. Lutgarde of Aywières, who was born in the twelfth century.
Key Figures in the History of the Sacred Heart
St. Lutgarde
ST. LUTGARDE HAD A POWERFUL CONVERSION after living in a Benedictine Monastery for several years with little taste for the spiritual life. She was described as very beautiful and kept relations with several suitors as she looked for an opportunity to leave the monastery and become married. One day, while relaxing in the parlor with a suitor, she had a vision of Jesus who showed her the fresh Wound in His side from His Passion. This vision was enough to set her life on a whole new course, toiling for the Kingdom of God through a religious vocation. She was inflamed in her heart by a desire to love Jesus purely and wholeheartedly, and progressing quickly in the spiritual life, she eventually became prioress of her community and a spiritual counselor for many.
St. Lutgarde underwent many mystical experiences including a vision of Jesus in which she asked to exchange her heart for His own Heart. This simple gesture of desire and intimacy is a core idea which underpins much of the spirituality of the Sacred Heart. The Sacred Heart is “patient and kind,” it embodies the humility and faithfulness of the Beatitudes, it gives without seeking in return. In effect, it is the heart that each Christian is called to exemplify. Therefore, by exchanging our hearts for the Heart of Jesus as St. Lutgarde did, we begin to take on the identity that Christ calls us all to. Complete conversion is the message of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, and by extension the mission and purpose of the Enthronement.
St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn
ABOUT A CENTURY AFTER St. Lutgarde, St. Mechtilde of Helfta became another link in the history of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. St. Mechtilde had been given many gifts within her vocation of nun and abbess. She was very musically inclined as a singer and composer, and was marked by a spirit of humility and gentleness. She was told in one vision to greet the Heart of Jesus first thing each morning and offer Him her own. Also, many messages she received from the Lord are consistent with the revelations which were made to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque 400 years later, that special graces come to those who revere the Holy Heart and Wounds of Christ:
My Wounds are so efficacious that they drive away all langour from men’s souls. Some men have such weak, trembling hearts that they never dare to trust in My tenderness and they try to fly from Me. If they would take refuge in My passion, honoring tenderly My wounds, I would deliver them from all fear.
-Jesus to St. Metchilde
St. Gertrude of Helfta
ANOTHER KEY RELIGIOUS SISTER and mystic in the development of the Sacred Heart Devotion is St. Gertrude of Helfta, St. Mechtilde’s spiritual daughter and a nun of the same abbey. She once had a vision in which she placed her head on the Chest of Jesus, just as John the beloved disciple had the privilege of doing at the Last Supper. As she rested her head, she was able to hear the beating of His Sacred Heart. She was also told by St. John the Evangelist that the Sacred Heart would be a revelation to later ages when charity was fading from people’s hearts.
My Wounds are so efficacious that they drive away all languor from men’s souls. Some men have such weak, trembling hearts that they never dare to trust in My tenderness and they try to fly from Me. If they would take refuge in My passion, honoring tenderly My Wounds, I would deliver them from all fear.
-Jesus to St. Mechtilde
Image Sourced From St. Matthew Monroe
Revelations made to St. Margaret Mary
THE SACRED HEART DEVOTION CULMINATES with the revelations made to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the seventeenth century. Having been slowly diffused into the spirituality of the Church over the centuries since the Middle Ages, St. Margaret Mary was the first to stress the Sacred Heart’s importance and value for the entire Church, along with the specific graces which accompany its veneration.
St. Margaret Mary’s most famous contribution to the Sacred Heart devotion is the Twelve Promises which were given to her by Jesus in a vision. See our page on the Twelve Promises for more on St. Margaret Mary and her visions. She also was told to promote the devotion of the Nine First Fridays which was to be made for the reparation of sins against the Most Sacred Heart.
St. Margaret Mary’s Legacy
ALTHOUGH HER EFFORTS IN ESTABLISHING a devotion and feast day for the Sacred Heart were harshly scrutinized during her life and in the century after her death, the body of visions and devotions which St. Margaret Mary passed on ultimately became incorporated with fervor into the universal heritage of the Roman Church. Many popes over the centuries have seen the immense value of devotion to the Sacred Heart, including Pope Leo XIII (who consecrated the world for the first time to the Sacred Heart in 1899), Pope St. Pius X, and Pope St. John Paul II. The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus now takes place every year on the Friday after the Feast of Corpus Christi, and has been given the status of a Solemnity.
Continued Developments in the Twentieth Century
IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, the revelations of the Divine Mercy to St. Faustina Kowalska can be closely tied to the revelations made to St. Margaret Mary of the Sacred Heart.
St. Faustina has a life and body of visions which are surprisingly comparable to St Margaret Mary because she too was entrusted personally by Jesus with a devotion which He wanted to make known to the whole world. Jesus spoke to her at length about the great need for people to believe in His Merciful Heart and desired for a feast day to be held in honor of His Divine Mercy. The symbol which consistently reoccurs in her visions is the white and red lights that pour out from the Heart of Jesus and cover the world..
My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners. If only they could understand that I am the best of Fathers to them and that it is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy.
-Our Lord to St. Faustina
The Need in Our Time
THE DEVOTION TOWARD THE DIVINE MERCY revealed to St. Faustina contributes to a deeper understanding of the Sacred Heart and why we should adore it. The Love of Christ is always manifesting itself as higher and greater than all the evils of each age. Jesus comes to us in our own time with clear signs of His love and mercy to strengthen and edify us, so we do not lose hope when our own faults seem to overwhelm us. The Sacred Heart and the Divine Mercy which flows from It is truly a revelation for our time to overcome the indifference and cruelness which is being normalized each day.
The tragedy of evil has made its way into the heart of our culture, and families across the world are suffering from fragmentation, deception, enslavement to sin. However, as Christians, we take hope, and it is in this spirit of Hope that the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary should be made. We have a meek and tender King who overcomes all and makes all things new. Enthroning Him in the midst of your home will bring down many graces and combat the evils of our time.
Immaculate Heart of Mary ->
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
-John 12:31-32