Being fully God and fully human, Jesus has a human heart and that human heart is the heart of God.
For centuries, devotion to the wounded heart of Jesus has allowed faithful Catholics to focus on his passion and death. The Sacred Heart represents his infinite love and mercy for all men.
In 1675, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque had a vision of Jesus’ heart and began to spread the devotion. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted with a wound on the side and wrapped with thorns. It is crowned with a cross and surrounded by flames.
All of humanity was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Pope Leo XIII in 1899.
The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated by the Church nineteen days after Pentecost, falling on the Friday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
The entire month of June and the first Friday of each month are also dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The heart that loved so deeply:
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus consists of love and reparation:
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.
John 19: 32-34
The heart is the seat of love:
His heart is literally on fire with love for you:
More than a metaphor for the love of Jesus:
Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave Himself up for each one of us: “The Son of God. . . loved me and gave himself for me.” He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, “is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that. . . love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings” without exception.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 478
“Make my heart like unto thine.”:
The bond between Jesus’ humanity and his divinity:
An indication of who Jesus truly is:
The heart of God burns with compassion! On today’s Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus the Church presents us this mystery for our contemplation: the mystery of the heart of a God Who feels compassion and Who bestows all his love upon humanity. A mysterious love, which in the texts of the New Testament is revealed to us as God’s boundless and passionate love for mankind. God does not lose heart in the face of ingratitude or rejection by the people He has chosen; rather, with infinite mercy He sends his only-begotten Son into the world to take upon Himself the fate of a shattered love, so that by defeating the power of evil and death He could restore to human beings enslaved by sin their dignity as sons and daughters. But this took place at great cost—the only-begotten Son of the Father was sacrificed on the Cross: “Having loved his own who were in the world, He loved them to the end”. The symbol of this love which transcends death is his side, pierced by a spear. The Apostle John, an eyewitness, tells us: “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 19 June 2009
A wounded heart, thorns, a cross, and fire:
The month of June is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
The wonder of man:
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