A Heart for Love
Last week I wrote “What Is Need in the World” as my reflection on the first portion of Pope Francis’ recent encyclical, Dilexit Nos (October 24, 2024). Today I would like to continue to offer my own reflection on what Pope Francis writes in Dilexit Nos. Please note that this is not so much a study of his encyclical as my reflection upon reading it. There are significant portions that I do not comment on. If you read Dilexit Nos for yourself, you might find those portions important for your own reflection.
While I do not refer to them in my articles, I will note that I recently read Fr. John Croiset’s The Devotion to the Sacred Heart: How to Practice the Sacred Heart Devotion (Trans. by Fr. Patrick O’Connell, B.D. Charlotte, NC: TAN Books. 1988.). This is a heavy read but very information. I am presently reading The Sacred Heart of Jesus by Mgr. Louis Gaston de Segur (Translated from the French by Ryan P. Plummer. St. Louis: Lambfount. 2024.)
The Sacred Heart Devotion has been given to us because our Lord wants us to know his love for us. In Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis (34) points us to Jesus’ words, “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15). God did not create us to be his slaves. He created us to love us. His love for us is absolute. So, when humanity sinned, Jesus “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance,” (Philippians 2:7).
Why did He do this? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
As Pope Francis writes, Jesus “seeks people out.” He wants to encounter us. He wants us to encounter him. Pope Francis points us to the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4:4-42). She grows in her understanding of who Jesus is through her encounter with him (on the theme of encounter see my homily for this Sunday, 2nd Sunday of Lent Year C).
Jesus does not condemn anyone in his encounters. John 3:16-17 clearly states condemnation is never our Lord’s intent. He comes to save us. While He does not condemn us, He does say to us what He said to the woman caught in adultery, “Go, and from now on do not sin anymore” (John 8:11).
Pope Francis points out that Jesus does not merely encounter people from a distance. He touches people (Dilexit Nos, 36). Pope Francis provides Matthew 8:3 as an example, “He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately.” People with leprosy were forbidden physical contact so as to not spread leprosy. Jesus knew this. In their isolation, He provided physical contact. He did this in the love of his Sacred Heart.
Jesus wants us to love. Pope Francis reminds us of Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:13, “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” (37). We are called to be willing to make sacrifices but not for the sake of the sacrifice. We are called to sacrifice in the name of mercy. True mercy is rooted in love.
Pope Francis then talks about “Jesus’ Gaze” in the way He looked at people (providing Mark 10:21 as an example, Dilexit Nos, 39). Pope Francis speaks of the Jesus’ listened to people (providing see Matthew 8:10 as an example, Dilexit Nos, 41). Do we not feel loved when we feel people make eye contact and listen to us? In the love of his Sacred Heart, Jesus listens to everything we say.
Pope Francis then points us to Jesus’ invitation to come to him in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Pope Francis then reminds us that Jesus makes this a permanent invitation in John 15:4, “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” Jesus seeks a permanent relationship with us.
It is no secret that in loving others, we face pain at times. Pope Francis reminds of how Jesus wept when Lazarus died (see John 11:35, Dilexit Nos, 45). He reminds us of the agony Jesus experienced in the garden, knowing full well what was to come (see Mark 14:33, Dilexit Nos, 45). Jesus even felt forsaken but He did not give up on what He was to do in his love for us (see Mark 15:34).
Pope Francis then explains that “Devotion to the heart of Christ is not the veneration of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus. What we contemplate and adore is the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented by an image that accentuates his heart” (Dilexit Nos, 48). We do not make an idol of his heart. This could lead to a violation of the Commandment against idolatry (see Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 5:8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2129-2132).
Pope Francis then writes of the image of the Sacred Heart
It is understandable, then, that the Church has chosen the image of the heart to represent the human and divine love of Jesus Christ and the inmost core of his Person. Yet, while the depiction of a heart afire may be an eloquent symbol of the burning love of Jesus Christ, it is important that this heart not be represented apart from him. In this way, his summons to a personal relationship of encounter and dialogue will become all the more meaningful. The venerable image portraying Christ holding out his loving heart also shows him looking directly at us, inviting us to encounter, dialogue and trust; it shows his strong hands capable of supporting us and his lips that speak personally to each of us (Dilexit Nos, 54, emphasis added).
It is unfortunate that, as Pope Francis writes, love and the human heart “do not always go together” for in our hearts we hold “hatred, indifference, and selfishness” (Dilexit Nos, 59). These take up space in our hearts that is meant for love.
In the perfect love of his Sacred Heart, there is nothing Jesus will not do for us. We see this in his Passion depicted in The Stations of the Cross.
If we truly want to know love, we need to let go of today’s world’s obsession with “free time, consumption and division, cell phones, and social media” in favor of what God offers us in the Eucharist (Dilexit Nos, 84). We thirst but these worldly things are not what we thirst for. We thirst for the love of God. In his divine love, Jesus says, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink” (John 7:37-38). God has always offered his Divine Love to his people as a free gift. “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, buy grain and eat; Come, buy grain without money, wine and milk without cost!” (Isaiah 55:1). Do you truly accept this gift?
I will end here for now. I have already written more than I expected in this article. When one writes about God’s love for us in his Sacred Heart, it is hard to contain how much one writes.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff