THE Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was last Friday, however, the Sacred Heart Shrine moved the celebration to June 17, with the nine-day novena masses starting Wednesday, the eighth of June.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart began about the year 1672. On many 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. 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, which will be 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 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’ love for us and His all lovable 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 proof 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 that "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.
The Saturday following the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the reserved for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and above all, her virginal love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all persons.
Two elements are essential to the devotion, Mary’s interior life and the beauties of her soul, and Mary’s virginal body. According to Roman Catholic theology, soul and body are necessary to the constitution of man.
It was in 1855 that the Mass of the Most Pure Heart of Mary formally became a part of the Catholic practice. Traditionally, the heart of Mary in artwork is depicted with seven wounds or swords, in homage to the seven sorrows of Mary. Also, roses or another type of flower may be wrapped around the heart.
Veneration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary generally coincides with the worship of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. However, there is a difference that explains the Roman Catholic devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is especially directed to the “Divine Heart,” as overflowing with love for humanity. In the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on the other hand, the attraction is the love of her Immaculate Heart for Jesus and for God.
A second difference is the nature of the devotion itself. In devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Roman Catholic venerates in a sense of love, responding to love. In devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, love is formed from study and imitation of Mary’s yes to God as the mother of Jesus. In this devotion, love is more the result, than the “object” of the devotion; the object being rather to love God and Jesus by uniting one’s self to Mary for this purpose and by imitating her virtues, to help one achieve this.
History of the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is connected in many ways to that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Christians were drawn to the love and virtues of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and this paved the devotion from the beginning.
Early Christians had compassion for the Virgin Mary, and the Gospels recount prophecy delivered to her at Jesus’ presentation in the temple, and that her heart would be pierced with a sword. The image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary with the pierced heart is the most popular representation. St. John’s Gospel further invites us to the attention of Mary’s heart with its depiction of Mary at the foot of the cross at Jesus’ crucifixion.
St. Augustine tells us that Mary was more blessed in having born Christ in her heart, than in having conceived him in the flesh.
Novena masses for the feast of the Sacred Heart are ongoing at the Sacred Heart Shrine. Masses are at 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.