Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus takes place, annually, on the third Friday after Pentecost which in the pre-Vatican II liturgical calendar corresponded with the octave or eighth day after Corpus Christi. Beginning on December 27, 1673, continuing for eighteen months, a series of visions took place in the monastery of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (Visitandines) in Paray-le-Monial, to one of the members of that religious community who was known as Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque. During those visions, in addition to the Lord Jesus asking her to work for the introduction of the feast of the Sacred Heart after the Octave of Corpus Christi, the Lord revealed to Saint Margaret Mary several other ways that were to be considered as spiritually fruitful in venerating the Sacred Heart of Christ – the concept of a holy hour on Thursdays and the reception of the Eucharist on the first Friday for nine consecutive months.
The devotion’s classic iconic depiction focuses on the Heart. Poetically, the heart is a symbol of the human center—our emotions, loves, passions, desires, the force of the will. In his book The Sacred Heart of the World: Restoring Mystical Devotion to Our Spiritual Life, David Richo writes: “Our heart is the soft center of the egoless self and it has one desire: to open. The heart is the capacity to open.… It contains our ability to reach out so it is the antidote to despair.… Contemplation of Jesus’ Heart shows us how deep we really are, how vast our potential for love, how high our aspiration for the light.”
The Israelites knew how powerful blood could be. When they saw blood spill out of a person or an animal, resulting in death, they easily equated blood with life. So, when the blood was lost, also life itself was over or threatened. And life, they knew, and the blood that symbolized it, were gifts from the living God. The drops of blood that fall to the floor in the emergency room, the stream of blood from a deep wound: nothing so graphically reminds us of our own mortality. The inner Heart of Jesus was exposed by His side being pierced with what came to be known as the Holy Lance, also called the Spear of Destiny or the Lance of Saint Longinus. The piercing of Christ’s side during the Crucifixion is recounted in Saint John’s Gospel, “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out” (Jn 19:33-34). This final wound to Jesus’ body is the fifth of the Five Holy Wounds of His Passion, and that soldier has traditionally been identified as Longinus. According to Christian tradition, Longinus suffered from an eye malady and was miraculously healed by the water and blood that fell from Jesus’ side when he pierced the Lord’s body with that lance. Longinus is usually identified as the converted centurion in Mark 15:39 who stated, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Finally, according to a pastoral letter from the Most Rev. Donald J. Hying, the Bishop of Madison, Wisconsin, renewed devotion to the Sacred Heart implies many undiscovered benefits, “Every word, action, gesture and attitude of Jesus manifests a perfect, pure and selfless love for each human person. If love means willing the good of the other, completely free of self-interest, we see the perfection of such charity in the burning heart of Christ. Lest we think that such a love is naïve, simplistic or easy, the Sacred Heart shines forth, crowned with thorns, pierced and bleeding. The crucifixion of Christ is the terrifying path through the valley of darkness and evil which God himself walks, embracing everything sinful, broken, and dead that ensnares and destroys us. By remaining silent before His persecutors, praying for His killers, loving a dying thief, and asking forgiveness for sinners, Jesus shows that the unconditional, infinite, and divine love of His heart is the only force that can heal the world of its hatred, sin, and rejection of God. By taking upon himself the totality of human evil committed by every person of every time, Christ refracts this overwhelming darkness into the light of the Resurrection.” Ametur Cor Iesu – Loved Be the Heart of Jesus.
Immaculate Heart of Mary—Five First Saturdays
Ametur Cor Mariae
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is tied to a passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke that speaks of Mary’s heart, “and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed” (Luke 2:35). In that same chapter of St. Luke’s gospel, the evangelist reports that Mary “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19), so that within her heart she might ponder over them, again and again. Later on, Saint Luke recounts the prophecy of Simeon that the heart of the Virgin Mother would be pierced with a sword. This image (the pierced heart) is the most popular representation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. St. John’s Gospel further brought attention to Mary’s heart with that Gospel’s depiction of her standing at the foot of the cross during her Son’s crucifixion. St. Augustine said that because of her steadfast faith, Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the cross; the Bishop of Hippo gave her the title Cooperator of Redemption (De Sancta Virginitate, 6; PL 40, 399). Her cooperation, he believed, took place through her charity.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary signifies, first of all, the great purity and love of the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary for God. This purity is manifested in her being born without the stain of original sin, her fiat or yes to the Father at the Incarnation, her love for, and cooperation with, the Incarnate Son in His redemptive mission, and her docility to the Holy Spirit, enabling her to remain free of the stain of personal sin throughout her life. Mary’s Immaculate Heart, therefore, points us to her profound interior life where she experienced both joys and sorrows, yet she remained ever-faithful.
Nature and dignity 