Today in our Church we celebrate the gift of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a solemn feast for us. Whence did this feast become a facet of our devotions? Surely most know about Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque and relate her to this feast. However, this seventeenth century mystic is a second comer to the devotion. Four centuries earlier Saint Gertrude also brought the devotion to the public. The characteristic of St. Gertrude's piety is her devotion to the Sacred Heart, the symbol of that immense charity which urged the Word to take flesh, to institute the Holy Eucharist, to take on Himself our sins, and, dying on the Cross, to offer Himself as a victim and a sacrifice to the Eternal Father (Congregation of Rites, 3 April, 1825).
The devotion to the Sacred Heart seems to make some Catholics uncomfortable. Pictures of a heart, often surrounded by a corona of thorns bring about reactions. And here is an interesting thought for you today: as a priest, this blogger wonders why such symbolic pictures and devotions create upsetness. During the last year I was asked to officiate at several weddings. I was genuinely surprised that there were no reactions to "sights" that I encountered as many bride's maids or matrons came down the aisle almost flaunting their breasts. It was almost a show of mammary nudity. I recall one young "usher" about twelve years old, standing there, open-mouthed staring at one particular woman whose dress -- or the lack of it -- was showing entirely too much of "God's leather to the weather," as a Jesuit friend used to say in such circumstances. Yet, yet. No one said a word of uncomfortableness. Even when I ask older women at the reception if they had seen the "sights" and, if they did, what there reaction was. In every response, "Oh, that's the way they dress now." Sorry, hardly a suitable answer.
The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a devotional practice -- probably for very few -- that
can bring us closer to an understanding of the incredible love Jesus has given us in his own suffering. The following are two parts of a lengthier prayer to the Sacred Heart.
Divine Jesus, You have said, "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you." Behold me kneeling at Your feet, filled with a lively faith and confidence in the promises dictated by Your Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary. I come to ask this favor: Mention your request).....Sacred Heart, whatever may be Your decision with regard to my request, I will never stop adoring, loving, praising, and serving You. My Jesus, be pleased to accept this my act of perfect resignation to the decrees of Your adorable Heart, which I sincerely desire may be fulfilled in and by me and all Your creatures forever.
