A REFLECTION FROM BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., on the new encyclical by His Holiness Pope Francis
It has been 68 years since the publication of a papal encyclical devoted exclusively to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Pius XII, encyclical Haurietis Aquas, “You will draw waters,” May 15, 1956.) In it, Pope Pius XII encouraged devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, urging Catholics to reflect upon the mystery of God and his love so as to be transformed by it.
The encyclical can be read HERE.
Since the late 17th century, devotion to the Sacred Heart, has been drawn from the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a French Visitation nun and mystic to whom our Lord revealed his wish to be honored through the symbol of a heart, his own “pierced heart.”
Pope Pius XII wrote that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:
… rests on that principle whereby we recognize that His Heart, the noblest part of human nature, is hypostatically united to the Person of the Divine Word. Consequently, there must be paid to it that worship of adoration with which the Church honors the Person of the Incarnate Son of God Himself (21).
… The other reason… arises from the fact that His Heart, more than all the other members of His body, is the natural sign and symbol of His boundless love for the human race. “There is in the Sacred Heart,” as our predecessor of immortal memory, Leo XIII, pointed out, “the symbol and express image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ which moves us to love in return (22).