The month of June is dedicated to the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the Heart of Jesus we worship God’s love for humanity. This is the foundation of Christian culture. Saint Marjeta Marija Alacoque (1647-1690) owes a great deal of credit to the expansion of this devotion. How can devotion to the Heart of Jesus be understood and cultivated today? It is not simple piety, mere sentimentalism. In any case, this piety is not irrational, but rather open to the reality in which we find ourselves; based on the message of the Bible. It is necessary to make an effort to understand this mystery and live it correctly.
Collaboration of heart, brain and hands
Emotions, reason and actions become destructive if they are not connected to each other. Bare intellectuality is futile. Sentimentalism leads us to moral inconsistency. Fideism causes terror and violence. Today’s dominant culture offers a superficial, illusory and egotistical vision of love. Christians come from Christ and live “through Christ with Christ and in Christ”. Christ died the most shameful death for love of us. True love also involves generous self-sacrifice and suffering. In artistic depictions, the Heart of Jesus is wounded and surrounded by a crown of thorns. The wound and the crown of thorns communicate what is real – God’s love.
A flame of fire surrounds the Sacred Heart of Jesus
God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. The fire represents the power of Christ’s love that transforms us. Without acknowledging our responsibility and without spiritual struggle against evil, we cannot experience true love. Fire is a sign of Pentecost and Mercy. Jesus’ disciples are called to spread the fire of God. The devotion to the Heart of Jesus is the remedy for today’s humanity, which has abandoned God and acts heartlessly against the laws of nature and the harmony of creation.
Bogdan Vidmar
Nova Gorica, 20 June 2024
