By Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM Cap.
Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. My first memory of this devotion goes back to when my parents bought a framed image of the Sacred Heart. They asked a priest from our parish to enthrone it in the living room of our home. My parents, my brother, and I gathered behind the priest as he hung it on the wall, blessed it, and recited the following prayer, which today is even available on the Internet:
Almighty and eternal God, who approve the painting and sculpture of images of your saints, so that whenever we look upon them we may be reminded to imitate their works and their holiness; we beseech you to deign to bless and sanctify this image made in honor and memory of the Most Sacred Heart of your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; and grant that whoever, in its presence, may suppliantly adore and honor the Most Sacred Heart of your only-begotten Son, may obtain through his merits and intercession grace in this life and eternal glory in the world to come. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
So in my early years, I had the sense that our home and our family were now under the care and protection of Jesus, and that just as Jesus had loved us, as depicted in his Most Sacred Heart, so too we ought to love Him.
Only later, many years afterward, did I grasp the theological meaning of the image.
This realization came about because I came to know St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, to whom Jesus, as the Sacred Heart, appeared in her Visitation Convent in Paray-le-Monial, France. When He appeared to Margaret Mary and showed her His heart, what she saw portrayed within Jesus’ open breast was a heart burning with the fire of His love. A crown of thorns encircling His heart symbolized the suffering He endured for the forgiveness of sins.
There was also the wound from the centurion’s lance, from which water and blood flowed: the purification of the life-giving water of Baptism and the most precious blood of the Eucharist. Above the sacred heart was embedded a cross, the sign of Jesus’ all-consuming tenderness.
What I had come to know became even more vivid when I had the opportunity to go to Paray-le-Monial. While teaching at Oxford, I organized a pilgrimage to Assisi for a group of Catholic students in order to pray at the tomb of St. Francis. I decided that a stop in Paray-le-Monial would be worthwhile both for spiritual reasons and to have a day of rest.
In a large, crowded English van with the steering wheel on the right, I drove all night, a night in which it was pouring rain. When we arrived at the convent early in the morning, the sisters, who were expecting us, invited us to a magnificent breakfast and then sent us to bed to sleep for a few hours.
Later that same afternoon, my pilgrim students and I celebrated Mass in the very chapel where the Sacred Heart appeared to Margaret Mary. My story reaches its climax here. The students and I perceived, as the liturgy progressed, a growing sense of holiness. The chapel and all of us within it were surrounded and absorbed by the vitality of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. In Holy Communion, we were all subsumed into the benevolent heart of Jesus. After Mass, as we walked through the sunlit town, we all remarked on what we had just experienced: the loving heart of Jesus.
We arrived in Assisi the next day and prayed at the tomb of St. Francis, as we had always intended to do. But we had to admit that the high point of our pilgrimage was our time in Paray-le-Monial. Yes, our visit to Assisi was blessed, but it paled in comparison to what we experienced in a small town in the heart of France. The Sacred Heart of Jesus even eclipsed the stigmata of St. Francis, and rightly so, for Francis’ wounds were but an imitation of the pierced heart of Jesus.
The month of June is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This year, on June 11, as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the bishops of the United States consecrated the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Given the moral and political state of our beloved nation, it is right and fitting that such a dedication has taken place. The following is the prayer that the bishops have requested be recited by all the faithful.
O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: You know the longings of our hearts and desire that we enjoy friendship with You. From Your pierced side You have poured forth the fountain of life for which we thirst. Your heart burns with love that all peoples may return to a right relationship with You. We celebrate the abundant gifts You have given to this nation, founded on the self-evident truths that our Creator has endowed all persons with the right to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness. We make reparation for the offenses against You and against human dignity that have taken place in this nation. May our hearts be united to Yours, so that our families and communities may enjoy peace and happiness; that broken relationships may be reconciled, injustices repaired, and the wounds of our land healed. May Your holy Catholic Church serve as a sign pointing all peoples to Your infinite love. O Desire of the Nations and Center of History, we ask You to bless these United States of America. You who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
About the author
Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap.
Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, a prolific writer and one of the most prominent living theologians, is a former member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission. His most recent book is the third volume of Jesus Becoming Jesus: A Theological Interpretation of the Gospel of John: The Book of Glory and the Passion and Resurrection Narratives.