Returning love for love
By Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone
“Love is love” is an inane bumper-sticker phrase of the secular culture that we increasingly see and hear repeatedly, an apparent nod of approval to distorted views of human identity and perceptions of love, even to the point now where we see depravities flaunted in the streets, celebrated by organizations and amplified by media outlets.
For us as Catholics, though, this month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart, which represents something very different: an invitation to be witnesses to the divine love of Jesus to a self-absorbed world deceived by darkness and blinded by confusion. Contemplate our Lord’s Sacred Heart: pierced through as He lay in the sleep of death on the Cross, pouring forth water and blood, signifying for us the life-giving sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. The image of Jesus’ Sacred Heart emphasizes for us the tender, passionate love that Christ holds for every human being. His heart is the very source of love, pierced for our sake, aflame with compassion and crowned with thorns in solidarity with our human suffering. In secular society where betrayal, division and apathy dominate, the reality of Christ’s love is both healing and inspiring.
The devotion to the Sacred Heart was popularized by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French nun and mystic who lived in the 17th century. Her many writings were based on intimate conversations with Jesus, where He shared with her the importance of making acts of consecration to His heart. We do this by relying on His grace and dedicating our lives to returning His love with our own. We are called to renew this consecration on a regular basis. A sidebar to this column is an example of a consecration that is customarily prayed on Fridays or on the first Fridays of each month.
St. Margaret Mary’s writings are not the first time we read in the history of the Church about meditations on the heart of Jesus. They stretch back to the ancient Church fathers and other spiritual luminaries who referred to His heart as a symbol of His love for humanity. Here are some examples.
St. Justin Martyr (~100–165)
A Christian apologist from the second century, St. Justin Martyr said Christians are “carved out of His heart as from a rock,” referring to the pierced side of Jesus as the source of all graces.
St. Ambrose (340-397)
A doctor of the Church and Bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose described the heart of Jesus as a source of living water when reflecting on Psalm 33. He said, “Drink of Christ, for He is the fount of life. Drink of Christ, for He is the stream whose torrents brought joy to the city of God. Drink of Christ, for He is peace. Drink of Christ, for the streams of living water flow from His bosom.”
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
St. Augustine was a student of St. Ambrose, so we might expect that St. Ambrose influenced St. Augustine’s reflections on the heart of Jesus. St. Augustine said that our hearts, the very core of our being, have an ultimate purpose, which is to be united with the heart of God. “You have
made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You” is a quote that has reverberated over the centuries.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
“Who can refuse a return of love to a Heart so loving?” said this Cistercian abbot who had a profound love for the heart of our Savior. “How good and pleasant it is to dwell in the Heart of Jesus!” he said. “Who is there who does not love a heart so wounded?”
St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1302)
The litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus includes the meditation, “Heart of Jesus, formed by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mother, have mercy on us.” St. John the Apostle rested upon this beating heart at the Last Supper. St. Gertrude, Benedictine nun and mystic, was reported to have had many spiritual encounters with Jesus during her life. In one of her most known revelations, St. John said to Gertrude, “Come, spouse of my Master, together let us lay our heads on the most tender bosom of the Lord, in which all the treasures of heaven and earth are enclosed.” Gertrude asked the Apostle why he never wrote about the “loving secrets of the Heart of Jesus Christ.” He said his mission was to record “words of deep meaning upon which human intelligence might meditate forever, without ever exhausting their riches; but to these latter times was reserved the grace of hearing the eloquent voice of the Heart of Jesus.”
These early spiritual luminaries laid the groundwork for the revelations of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and out of this great intuitive knowledge came the 12 promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we know today (see sidebar).
Let us pray that we not follow, like a caboose on a train, the secular slogan “love is love,” but instead embrace true devotion to Jesus in His Sacred Heart, where we are challenged to “return love for love,” as St. Margaret Mary put it: We ought to make a total gift of ourselves to Him who has completely given Himself to us.
Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
I (N.), give and consecrate to the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, my person, my life, my actions, my pains and sufferings, so that I may be unwilling to make use of any part of my being save to honor, love, and glorify the Sacred Heart. It is my unchanging intention to be all His and to do all for love of Him. I renounce at the same time with all my heart whatever can displease Him. I, therefore, take You, O Sacred Heart, for the only object of my love, the protector of my life, the pledge of my salvation, the remedy of my weakness and inconstancy, the atonement for the faults of my life, and the secure refuge at the hour of my death.
The Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary
1. I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2. I will establish peace in their homes.
3. I will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
5. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
6. Sinners will find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Lukewarm souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9. I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.
10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart.
12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the first Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.