During the month of June, the Church honors the Sacred Heart of Jesus with proper solemnity. Following the seventeenth century apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in Paray-le-Monial, France, in which Jesus revealed his desire for this pious devotion, Pope Pius IX established the Feast of the Sacred Heart in the Church’s universal liturgical calendar. Since then, the papal magisterium has applauded devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a counterpoint to false ideologies of love rampant in every age.
The ecclesial milieu in which Saint Margaret Mary received the apparitions of Jesus reveals the urgency of the now-popularized devotion. Jansenist heresies, which envisioned God as a severe judge incapable of mercy, influenced much of seventeenth century France. Priests often denied penitents absolution, creating an atmosphere of scrupulosity and fear. Only divine intervention could curb this dour view of Christian charity, inviting the faithful to renew its trust in the merciful Lord. Indeed, in 1928, Pius XI described the providential origin of the devotion of the Sacred Heart, writing, “The Jansenist heresy, which was hostile to love and piety towards God, was creeping in and preaching that God was not to be loved as a father but rather to be feared as an implacable judge; then the most benign Jesus showed his own most Sacred Heart to the nations lifted up as a standard of peace and charity portending no doubtful victory in the combat” (Miserentissimus redemptor, no. 2).
In our own day, false images of love easily surface in the public square, perhaps not with Jansenist fervor, but no less foreign to Christian sentiment. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us that love cannot exist apart from sacrifice. In his encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of this kind of love, writing, “The cross is Jesus’ most eloquent word of love. A word that is not shallow, sentimental or merely edifying. It is love, sheer love” (Dilexit nos, no. 46). This June, Catholics rejoice in the devotion of the Sacred Heart, reminding the world that God is not to be feared, but loved; and true love reaches its summit when it is shared in sacrifice for others.
