by Maryla
The heart is seen as the essence of a person, universally recognised as the wellspring of human emotions and love.
In artistic expression or everyday life, we hear words such as ‘heart-rending’, ‘heart’s desire’ and ‘heart-throb’. We speak of someone as being warm or kind-hearted, cold or hard-hearted. Depictions of hearts seem to abound at all times, and most especially in the run-up to St Valentine’s Day, popularly dedicated to ‘sweethearts’.
The heart, then, is a symbol of our imperfect human love. How much more readily, therefore, should we recognise, honour and love the heart of Jesus, not just as His heart of flesh but as the symbol of perfect love.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to Jesus Christ Himself. Pope Pius XII in his encyclical, Haurietis Aquas (On Devotion To The Sacred Heart) states:
“It (the Sacred Heart) is a symbol of that divine love which He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit but which He, the Word made flesh, alone manifests through a weak and perishable body, since ‘in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.’
“It is, besides, the symbol of that burning love which, infused into His soul, enriches the human will of Christ and enlightens and governs its acts by the most perfect knowledge derived both from the beatific vision and that which is directly infused.
“And finally — and this in a more natural and direct way — it is the symbol also of sensible love, since the body of Jesus Christ, formed by the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, possesses full powers of feelings and perception, in fact, more so than any other human body.”
The following text taken from the Catholic Encyclopaedia provides further insight as well as a beautiful context for devotion to the Sacred Heart:
“From the earliest days of the Church, Christ’s open side and the mystery of blood and water were meditated upon, and the Church was beheld issuing from the side of Jesus, as Eve came forth from the side of Adam. It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that we find the first unmistakable indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Through the wound in the side, the wounded Heart was gradually reached, and the wound in the Heart symbolised the wound of love.”
It is by this wound of love that Our Saviour obtained our redemption. His every word, action, command and miracle, His institution of the Eucharist, His passion and death, His gift to us of His Mother, His founding of the Church and sending of the Holy Spirit, all flowed from the fount of love – His Sacred Heart.
Yet through the ages this heart that beats with love for us has been scorned, rejected, pierced by our sins.
For this let us make reparation. Let us console Our Lord and Saviour. Let us acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Creator, Redeemer and King, by repenting, and by resolving to serve Him. Let us consecrate ourselves and entrust our loved ones and indeed the whole of humanity to His Sacred Heart.
Sacred Heart devotions and the Nine First Fridays
The Lord Himself spoke of devotion to His Sacred Heart to a French Visitation nun, St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690). St Margaret Mary received a series of visions of Christ, as she prayed before the Blessed Sacrament in her convent at Paray-le-Monial. He spoke to her of His love and the hurt caused by man’s indifference to this love. He asked her to spread devotion to His Most Sacred Heart and this she did most humbly, with the permission and approval of her superiors and confessor.
Here, taken from her writings, are the promises that Jesus made through His Servant
St Margaret Mary to those who practise devotion to the Sacred Heart:
1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will he their refuge in life and especially in death.
5. I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart
12. In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.
With regard to the nine First Fridays devotion:
1. Our Lord required Communion to be received on a particular day chosen by Him.
2. The nine Fridays must be consecutive.
3. They must be made in honour of His Sacred Heart, which means that those who make them must practise the devotion in a spirit of love for our Lord.
4. Those who make the nine Fridays are not dispensed from any of their obligations or from striving to overcome temptation and to live a life of virtue. Rather, abundant graces are promised to those who make the nine Fridays in order to help them carry out these obligations and to persevere to the end.
5. Perseverance in receiving Holy Communion for nine consecutive First Fridays helps the faithful to acquire the habit of frequent Communion.
6. The practice of the nine First Fridays is most pleasing to our Lord since He promises such great reward. (Therefore Catholics should be encouraged to endeavour to make this devotion.)
7. Sacramental confession within the octave of the first Friday and a prayer for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff are required in order to obtain the indulgence attached to this devotion.
8. All attachment to sin, even venial sin, must be absent.
Prayer by St Margaret Mary:
O Heart of love,
I place my trust entirely in You.
Though I fear all things from my weakness,
I hope all things from Your goodness.
Brother Burrito
Catholicism Pure & Simple
Gertrude
kathleen
mmvc
teresa
The Raven
”8. All attachment to sin, even venial sin, must be absent.”
Easier said than done.
MARYLA doesn’t mention it here, but I seem to recall that, if one does the ‘First Fridays, he or she is assured not to die while in a ‘State of Sin.’
Can anyone confirm this?
…or is that the third Thursdays?
On closer reading, it seems that number 12 answers my question with a ‘yes.’
It puts me in mind of an amusing incident one of Gironella’s excellent Civil War trilogy, in which a Nationalist militiaman, being aware of this promise by Jesus, and having done the First Fridays himself, makes sure he is permanently in a ‘state of sin’ by regular visits to brothels, etc., thus ensuring he will not be killed in that state, and fighting with supernatural bravery in the meantime.
Makes sense to me…
A beautiful post, Maryla. It is exactly what we need too at this moment in the short history of our group effort on this blog. The way everyone has rallied around in these days has been superb. We are a diverse group but if we can only focus on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, rather than individual projects or our own ‘message’ to the world, prompted by egotism, so much more will the good Lord bless our efforts in his name.
Sola Dei Gloria
toadspittle @14.40
Point 4 of the post’s final section covers this. I’m no theologian, but I think the militiaman’s attitude could be a sin of presumption (?) or of putting God to the test…
Perhaps not quite the ‘win, win’ situation he believed himself to be in.
Wouldn’t risk it, toad!
MMVE
True enough. Presumption. Another sin. They getcha comin’ and they getcha goin’ do they not?
SAINT MARGARET MARY
”From early childhood, Margaret was described as showing intense love for the Blessed Sacrament (the Eucharist), and as preferring silence and prayer to childhood play. After her First Communion at the age of nine, she practised in secret severe corporal mortification (including carving the name “Jesus” into her chest as an adolescent) until paralysis confined her to bed for four years.”
Copied out of Wikki. If it is true, comment on my part is unnecessary. What would we do with her nowadays? And we’d be right…
I find it disturbing when people get instructions from God.
”The Yorkshire Ripper ” (back in the news, I see) used to get them. Go and kill prostitutes, said God.
So did a woman in the Mid West about ten years ago, when I was working on a paper there.
God told her to kill her two children. So she did. Would it have been a sin for either her or Sutcliffe (‘the Ripper’) to disobey?
When I mention Abraham, people say, ”Oh, that’s Old Testament stuff!”
On this blog, we get instructions from Frere Rabit, but he hasn’t told me to do anything bad yet
Don’t hold your breath, Burro…
”Kill the Wabbit!”
I´ve been curious for a long time about Sacred and Immaculate Hearts. They seem rather strange to me. Why pray to and venerate a particular part of somebody who´s supposedly your Mother/Brother/Shepherd/Mediator, when you presumeably can just talk to him or her directly, person-to-person? Or am I just being a thick old Prod again?
And what happens if you´re halfway through your First Fridays devotions and something awful happens and you miss a Friday? Do you lose all the credit you built up through the previous Fridays, or do you have to go back to Square One and start over? Who in heaven keeps track of all this?
”And what happens if you´re halfway through your First Fridays devotions and something awful happens and you miss a Friday? Do you lose all the credit you built up through the previous Fridays, or do you have to go back to Square One and start over?”
…Asks the beautiful Rebrites…(what an atavar!)
Yes, it’s just like playing Mumblypegs.
”Who in heaven keeps track of all this?”
The Recording Angel.
There. Sorted that.
You beat me to it about the Angel!
You and rebrites should get a room.
What an immoral suggestion, Brother Burrito. I thought this site was for pure Catholics!
Well actually, we cater for all of them. Have you seen yoda’s latest movie: “The Impure Strike Back”.
Rebrites:
To address you question seriously: yes, if anything happens to prevent you continuing with the
nine First Fridays, you do have to return to square one and begin the devotions all over again. This
may seem hard, but it does make completing the nine First Fridays a great achievement. In the past
I have attempted them two or three times and never succeeded in completing them!
Sadly, I don’t think I ever shall now, as no parish locally celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass on a
Friday.
Can I ask an ‘Art History’ question please? Why oh why is the artistic manifestation of religious devotion so much more tasteful/genuine/organic/exalted/sublime during the Middle Ages (arguably reaching its height around the 12th century?) than after the Italian Renaissance? (and particularly during the 19th century?). WHAT HAPPENED to make Holy Pictures so ‘gooey’ and OTT? (I blame Raphael!). High German religious art of the 15thc (cf V&A) is most moving- and TRUTHFUL); Carravaggio was fantastic but you should read about his life…the Pre-Raphaelites went way back for inspiration, as did Eric Gill- but if the later saccharine portrayals of Christ & his Blessed Mother reflect some kind of deterioration in the religious imagination- how do we account for it?
Does nobody else think this matters? The Anglo-Catholics cared about it- Aesthetics does surely BETRAY a certain type of spirituality- why was the 19th century generally a problem, as was the Rococo/Baroque? Could it be a question of fundamental insincerity?/a lack of wholeness in holiness?
Just compare the statue of the smiling virgin of Chartres with later Madonna examples…somehow the artistic energy is fake after then (not all, obviously). Pugin obviously thought he’d better go way back for Architectural/Theologial inspiration, as did George/Giles Gilbert Scott.
Here is another puzzle- I found some of El Greco’s religious art nauseating (maybe my bias), then came across what I considered to be a ‘truly’ holy picture- of his mistress!!
Rembrandt’s etchings of scenes from the Life of Christ are phenomenal- but they’re homely, not ‘floaty’, humble & grounded, not- well- ‘camp’.
I’m not saying anything about the picture at the head of this article…(Hindu holy pictures tend to be airbrushed and saccharine too). Poor God…
Hi Reb! Amazing seeing you here! Just goes to show what we have achieved here in twenty four hours, dunnit? (I’ll be with Barbara Reed and her pilgrim donkeys in a few hundred kilometres time… Long long rest. No broken paws this time! Ultreïa!
Burro writtied: “Frere Rabit… hasn’t told me to do anything bad yet.”
You think I’m a soft touch, don’t you Burro? You just want me to say, “Go my servant Burro and do to death the norty Jamie troll,” and that will make it all right, don’t you?
Stupid Burro thinks I was born yesterday…
Rebrites
Your confusion about Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart : When we celebrate these feasts (Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin – August 22nd) we are celebrating the sinlessness of the Blessed Virgin. We believe that Mary was created immaculate, and therefore the grace of God streamed into her soul without hinderance. Her sinlessness and purity directed her every action to God. Her heart was considered by the Church the pattern and model of all virtues.
The Sacred Heart is well explained by Maryla above and the Feast (Pre Vatican 2) was always celebrated on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, but is now celebrated on the Friday following the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, with the Feast of the Immaculate Heart on the Saturday and are now regarded as Solemnities not Feasts.
I bet that’s really clear isn’t it?
Rebrites,
These devotions and their sources (saints, apparitions, mystical experiences) are always thoroughly examined by the Church. Such processes can last decades or even centuries. Once the Church approves them for our use, we are free to choose the ones we want to incorporate into our prayer life. They are not necessary for our salvation, but they can certainly help us advance in the spiritual life. If Jesus chose to remind humanity of His unfathomable love through the image of His Sacred Heart, then it is not for us to suggest that He might have communicated this to us in a different way? Every part of His humanity and divinity is worthy of our veneration. We venerate His Name, His Holy Face, we call on His precious Blood for protection and we adore the wounds He sustained for our sins. We have the beautiful Good Friday custom of venerating the Cross by touching or kissing the pierced feet of the Crucifix. In each case the devotion serves to draw us into deeper spiritual realities and holy mysteries. This in turn helps us grow in faith, hope and love. I hope this helps.
I am hardly qualified to respond, but are you perhaps including in your critique, those awful “girly” Christ pictures of recent tat art? The sort you see in the emporiums near shrines? The real Christ was a man familiar with sorrow, and a man who laboured hard. According to Isaiah, he was no “model”.
And the barbie-doll perfect representations of the the Blessed Mother? The real one had worry lines from an early age, from all she had to go through, but her face would have been lit from within, and have laughter lines around the eyes. I have seen Nuns with faces like that.
…and just look what devotional “art” and statuary have done to St. Therese of Liseaux. She looks like a deer-in-the-headlights supermodel in a habit. Which wouldn´t be so different from all the other treacly nun saint statues you see, except we have actual photographs of Therese. And she wasn´t exactly an eyeful. Most of us aren´t either, which makes her all the more likeable, her treacly writings notwithstanding.
Her (translated) writings are from over a hundred years ago. Compare their style with her contemporaries, ie verbose. She was also a sentimental young woman.
Agreed, she was no oil painting, but I find her face disarmingly attractive. Like yours!
Please take into consideration that these are the observations of a tired old burrito, high on barley.
Bernini, in sculpting his Ecstasy of St Teresa (of Avila), did a Baroque photoshop on the saint – who, like the rest of us, had the looks the good Lord gave her.
Pliers at 22.31….
Makes a point that is worth a whole ‘thread.’
Taste, is an impossible subject to discuss rationally, but the successive degrading of church art is not in question. The reason is simple. The worse things get, the more popular they are with people. Look at Murillo. (best with the eyes half closed)
My God, I’m beginning to sound like M******r.
The pic of Saint Margaret Mary on here is a case in point. Did she really look like Brittany Spears?
Moreover, since I am Toad, and on topic, the silence – regarding her (Margaret, that is not Brittany) teenage behaviour and, by extention, her questionable state of mind in later life – has met with a deafening silence so far.
We must look more deeply into the question of sexual hysteria in young female saints, I think.
That WOULD be popular.
It is an interesting topic, Toadspittle. Research suggests that religious ecstasy is accompanied by the production of serotonin and other chemicals in the brain similar to those found during pair-bonding (mother with child, or man with woman – the chemicals are the same). The saints themselves have always interpreted the experience in terms of love, sometimes in fairly highly charged language.
I interpret this as suggesting that God allows some of us to bypass intermediaries and fall in love with Him directly. Of course, you may prefer to put it down to evolutionary forces, and a misdirected youth.
It struck me in Avila, in the Saint Teresa museum, the other day.
There were some additional ‘exhibits’ – one was Saint Teresa of Liseux, and another two or three, whose names I shamefully forget – who were saints or ‘blesseds’ and who were all sickly, heard/saw visions/voices and died in their twenties.
Not altogether dissimilar to Pascal and Kierkegaard, both unwell, died young. Not by any means ‘nuts’ at least, not very. Though, as I get older, being ‘nuts’ seems a quite reasonable option. That’s probably why I’m on here.
Must quote Pascal again, although I suspect I did so very recently. If so, sorry:
”Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness.”
“God wanted to save those who have faith, through the foolishness of the message that we preach,” wrote St Paul (1 Cor 1:18).
The madness of God!
It has been a major theme in the writings of the saints. St Catherine of Siena wrote in the 14th century “You [God], deep well of love, it seems you are so madly in love with your creatures that you could not live without us!”
toadspittle, it looks like we’re in good company!
St Catherine of Siena began her love affair with God during her teenage years. St Joan, of course. And the little children of Fatima, Bernadette of Lourdes. An extensive list could be made by those more knowledgable than I.
Does being sickly predispose one to seek union with God? Is it a matter of having time on your hands to contemplate (combined with a pious upbringing and the appropriate disposition, presumably)? Francis of Assisi and Ignatius Loyala are two I can think of who turned to God during a time of convalescence – one from illness and one from an injury.
How many potential saints have we lost because they were watching the Simpsons, I wonder?
You make interesting points. Joyfulpapist.
Are you suggesting ‘The Simpsons’ possess healing properties?
Thought not.
Misericordia2. Would you allow me to clarify your words “sadly I don’t think I shall…because no local parish celebrates the Latin Mass on a Friday”.
Whilst most of us here would prefer to attend a Latin Mass, it is, correctly as you say, not always possible. In regard to the devotion of the 1st Friday, attendance at Holy Mass – in whatever Form it is said is perfectly ok. The Sacrament is valid.
I mention this to re-assure anyone who might be thinking of practising this devotion and might consider the Tridentine Form of Holy Mass to be a prerequisite. It’s not – thanks be to God.
I can highly recommend a fantastic book called ‘The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus’ by Fr John Croiset SJ (TAN books ISBN: 9780895553348). https://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/Devotion-To-The-Sacred-Heart-Of-Jesus Please let others know about it.
The cover states that this book “is not ‘just another book on the Sacred Heart devotion’, but it can be truly said to be THE book on this devotion. Written by the spiritual director of St Margaret Mary, the book comes from the pen of a man intimately familiar with every aspect of the revelations given by Our Lord to this famous saint; thus the book is actually the ‘key’ to understanding the importance and the centrality of the Sacred Heart devotion for our lives as true Catholics. But even more than being THE book on the Sacred Heart devotion, Fr Croiset’s work is a revelation to us all just why so few people become great saints, just why so few Catholics – despite going frequently to the Sacraments – fail really to grow in the life of grace and make great progress in the spiritual order. ‘Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus’ was actually commissioned by Our Lord Himself through St Margaret Mary, and as the author neared completion of it, the Saint told him that Our Lord said it was so completely in accord with His wishes, that it would never be necessary to make any change in it. Later she revealed to Fr Croiset that it was Our Lord Himself who had inspired him with the ideas in this book and that it was so pleasing to Him that ‘none other but Himself could have arranged everything so much to His wishes . . . ”
Now if that hasn’t whetted your spiritual appetite . . . ! I think most English Catholic booksellers stock this book. I hope this info has been of help.
Wow, what an original way to keep editors from adding mistakes to your copy, and taking out the really good parts! Just tell them “the Saint told me that Our Lord said (this document) is so completely in accord with His wishes, that it would never be necessary to make any change in it.”
Wait til my friends at the Newspaper Guild hear this one!
Well, Patphillips did say it was a ‘fantastic’ book.
This, by a woman who was in the habit as a youngster, it seems, of carving the name of Jesus into who knows what part of her body?
First we make sure Margaret Mary can’t get her hands on any sharp objects.
Then we sedate her. Then we call for the van…Then we canonise her.
REBRITES:
Your friends at the Newspaper Guild are all Commies. The Generalissimo would have know what to do with them!
Patphillips:
Who got the royalties?
Thank you for your recommendation Patphillips. Have ordered the book and look forward to reading it.
Ignore the cynics – I would!
I rush to inform the more tightly-wound among us that I was funning around with the author of the fabulous book cited above, and not the Sacred Heart himself. Or itself. (Although Jesus — always more than the sum of his parts — consistently proves himself able to withstand all types of cynics, critics, pharisees, even scribes!) If only his more fastidious followers were so sturdy in their beliefs, and not so ready to take offense.
Twas a journo too long, I fear. But I gotta believe that Our Lord laughed a time or two.
Reb.
patphillips,
Thank you very much for recommending this book.