The Yearly Review of Saint Philip Neri International Seminary Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest A. D. 2019 Dear Friends, “Behold this Heart, Which has loved men so much, that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to show them Its love.” It was with these words, spoken to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque at the convent of Paray-le-Monial in June 1675, that Our Lord himself described his heart. Is this just a mawkish form of devotion overemphasizing God’s love? That is at least how many Jansenists chose to understand it, but nothing could be further from the truth. Nos ergo diligamus Deum, quoniam ipse prior dilexit nos (I Jn. IV, 19). Let us therefore love God because God first hath loved us. To return love for love: this is the key to understanding devotion to the Sacred Heart. This beautiful devotion, as Father Jean Croiset put it, “is essentially an exercise of love: love is its object, and its principal motive; and it is love which must be its principal end” (La dévotion au Sacré‑Cœur de N. S. Jésus‑Christ, Jean Croiset, SJ, Notre-Dame des Prés, Montreuil-sur-Mer, 1895, p. 3-4). We offer our warmest thanks to his Eminence Cardinal Burke who very kindly agreed to contribute to this issue. These pages are intended simply to help the reader come to a better knowledge of this devotion, so necessary for our times. For all those souls whose charity has grown cold, there is an urgent need to manifest the burning furnace of charity, fornax ardens caritatis, that is the Sacred Heart. In this way the Sacred Heart will be able to reign more completely in our own hearts, over our families, and over our nations; and this will be true principally thanks to the beautiful practice of commemorating the Nine First Fridays. May Our Lord bless this modest work, undertaken for his honour, and may he pour out his graces on all who read it. I wish you a fruitful and happy reading, God bless you. Canon Philippe Mora Rector of the Seminary Cover: Mosaic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Cathedral of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States. Right: St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and the Infant Jesus, Chatighy, 1884, Visitation of Paray-le-Monial (from À tout cœur, an album by the Museum of the Visitation, Moulins). Last Page: Statue of the Royal Heart of Our Lord, venerated in the House of the Royal Heart, Mother House of the Sisters Adorers, Gricigliano. Back Cover: Saint Francis de Sales contemplatng the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the Gesù, the Institute’s church in Nice, France. © Olivier Anrigo. The Sacred Heart of Jesus The Theology of Devotion to the Sacred Heart 2 The Sacred Heart in the Holy Scriptures 4 Devotion to the Sacred Heart during the Middle Ages 8 The Apparitions at Paray-le-Monial 12 The Twelve Promises 15 The Nine First Fridays Devotion 18 The Immaculate Heart of Mary 20 Saint Francis de Sales’ Devotion to the Sacred Heart 22 The Sacred Heart and Family Life 26 The Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy 28 The Theology of Devotion to the Sacred Heart he different devotions to the mysteries of Our Lord Jesus Christ are addressed to the entirety of his person, but nevertheless Excerpts from Auctorem fidei (1794), the T papal bull condemning the errors of the Synod each one considers him in a particular moment or aspect of his life. For example, at Christmas we honour of Pistoia: Jesus’ birth, at Passiontide, Jesus’ suffering, at Easter “Likewise in the fact that it reproves the his resurrection, etc. worshippers of the Heart of Jesus, for the reason Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a direct conse- that they do not consider that it is not possible quence of the Incarnation and is not associated to to worship with the cult of latria the most holy any particular mystery or moment of our Lord’s Flesh of Christ, or any portion of it, or even life. It focuses on his Heart in its love, in its deepest his Humanity as a whole, separated or severed sentiments, and in its virtues. from the Divinity. As if the faithful when they adore the Heart of Jesus, separated it or severed And so devotion to the Sacred Heart comprises from the divinity. When they worship the Heart two elements: a sensible element, or the heart of flesh; of Jesus, they worship the Heart of the Person and a spiritual element, or what the heart of flesh of the Word, to whom it has been inseparably represents. It is important to bear in mind that in united. In the same way the bloodless Body of reality these two elements are one, in the same way Christ during its triduum of death was neither that a sign and what it signifies can be one and the separated nor severed from the divinity, but same reality. remained worthy of adoration in the tomb.” Devotion to the Sacred Heart because the Heart is the emblem of Divine Love. comprises two elements: We know from our experience that our heart reacts a sensible element, or the physiologically to our mental states. This reaction is part of human nature; and, far from being a tempe- heart of flesh; and a spiritual ramental weakness, it participates in our natures’s element, or what the heart of dignity. flesh represents. During his earthly life, Jesus’ Heart was the heart of a perfect man, and so it also experienced these Theologians explain that there are two objects reactions. In particular we can suppose that Our in this devotion: a principal devotion, Love; and a Lord’s Heart reacted to that sentiment of love which secondary devotion, the Heart. But these two objects he showed on several occasions during his public are not really distinct; one necessarily implies the other. ministry (Jn. XIII, 1; Mk. X, 21; Jn. XIII, 25; the allusions to the disciple Despite the opinion of many Jansenists who held whom Jesus loved, etc.) that Divine Love should be the exclusive object of this Everything about Our Lord’s sacred humanity is devotion, the Heart itself is honoured as well, precisely worthy of adoration, but the Church does not usually 2 Disputation of the Blessed Sacrament, Raphael, 1509 separate one aspect of the whole divine Person as Pius XI wrote that, “There was nothing dearer to the object of a special cult, but the nobility, dignity Jesus’ heart than to enkindle in the hearts of men the and importance of this vital same flame of love that was organ justify an exception burning in his own. Better to being made. Father Croiset There was nothing dearer achieve this end he desired describes this devotion with that the devotion to his Most a beautiful comparison: to Jesus’ heart than to Sacred Heart be established “The Sacred Heart of Jesus enkindle in the hearts of and diffused in the Church.” Christ is at least as closely men the same flame of And so the wonderful associated with that divine promises that Our Lord love, for which this devotion love that was burning in made to Saint Margaret is meant to inspire our gra‑ his own. Mary in favour of those titude, as his sacred wounds who practice devotion to are with his sufferings, and the Church intends to his Sacred Heart should come as no surprise. inspire feelings of gratitude and love for his suffering What can we expect from such a love? And of by a devotion to his wounds.” what will a soul not be capable, once it has acquired What is the characteristic act of devotion to the this devotion which returns love for love? Sacred Heart? It must certainly be an act of love, as indeed we learn from the revelations made to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. In beatifying her, Pope 3 The Sacred Heart in the Holy Scriptures he soldiers therefore came; and they is, of the most Sacred and Adorable Heart of the divine broke the legs of the first, and of the Redeemer” (Encyclical Letter Haurietis Aquas, 15th May 1956, n°23). “ T other that was crucified with him. But Thus, by examining the images that foretell the after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was devotion to the Sacred Heart, we can in a sense already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the relive the gradual spiritual awakening that took place soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately historically under the mysterious dispositions of the there came out blood and water” (Jn. XIX, 32-34). The Bible is a profound mystery of unity. The Crucifixion, Pietro Perugino, 1483 Old and New Testaments are essentially united: if we do not take their mutual influence into account, our understanding of what we read will sooner or later be diminished. In the Old Testament, Christ is foretold; in the New Testament, he is made manifest. Saint Augustine goes so far as to say that, “The New Testament was hidden in the Old, but now the Old Testament reveals itself in the New” Novum Testamentum in Vetere latebat; Vetus nunc in Novo patet (P. L., l. 34, col. 623). God chose a human heart as its sanctuary, and so it seems fitting that the mystery of Jesus Christ be announced by various deeds and prophecies that all evoke the same image: the sign of a Heart both human and divine; a Heart that loves and suffers; a Heart that offers up every last fibre of its being.“It is of course beyond doubt,” affirms Venerable Pius XII, “that the Sacred Books never make express mention of a special worship of veneration and love made to the physical Heart of the Incarnate Word as the symbol of his burning love.