By Lavoisier Fernandes –
The image of the Sacred Heart is iconic at many home family altars: Christ with a short beard and long hair, His heart aglow with divine light, pierced by a lance wound, encircled by a crown of thorns, and surmounted by a cross. This image powerfully reflects Christs sacrifice and love.
Every June, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, often accompanied by the touching hymn Sweet Heart of Jesus by Daniel O’Donnell, which speaks of Christs boundless love and mercy, calling on Him to warm and transform our hearts with His grace.
On October 24, 2024, Pope Francis released his fourth encyclical, dedicated to the Heart of Jesus Christ: Dilexit Nos (“He Loved Us”). His first three encyclicals, each with a distinct outward-looking message, address different dimensions of faith and relationship. Lumen Fidei reveals how faith acts as a guiding light, transforming our understanding of the world. Laudato Si’ urges us toward ecological awareness and highlights the interconnectedness of all creation. Meanwhile, Fratelli Tutti shares a prophetic vision of universal fraternity and peace. Together, these works explore our place within the vast scope of creation and emphasize our responsibilities to one another.
But Dilexit Nos is something different, deeper and is inward-looking to the heart, which Pope Francis describes as “a core that lies hidden beneath all outward appearances, even beneath the superficial thoughts that can lead us astray”. He also describes it as “the locus of sincerity, where deceit and disguise have no place”.
Dilexit Nos brings a sense of completion to the body of Pope Francis’s encyclicals. It is a very wide-ranging easy to read encyclical, touching on many simple moving heart to heart themes, away from the intellectual and it is difficult to do the entire thing justice. I highly recommend reading this document to fully appreciate the Holy Father’s compelling call, which invites us to explore the deepest aspects of ourselves—the raw and naked truth of who we are in the presence of our all-knowing and all-merciful God.
Let’s explore some key extracts and insights from Pope Francis’s encyclical.
The Significance of the Heart: The Holy Father sets out initially at defining why the symbol of the heart is still relevant today to express the love of Jesus Christ (DN 2). He says that defining the heart is challenging as the terms meaning can be imprecise and points to the innermost, most mysterious aspects of human nature (DN 10). But Pope Francis highlights several qualities exploring the meaning of the heart.
- Heart as a locus of desire and the place where important decisions take shape (DN 3): it unites the rational and instinctive aspects of the person. Both the higher faculties and the passions pass by the heart.
- Heart as a core lying hidden beneath all outward appearances (DN 4), even our own superficial thoughts that can sometimes mislead us.
- Heart as a locus of sincerity (DN 5): it indicates our true intentions, so deceit and disguise have no place there.
- Heart as the locus of love (DN 21): it is in the heart that people become who they are meant to be, since the human being is created to love and be loved.
Declining Importance of the Heart in Contemporary Society: The Holy Father talks about the diminishing regard of the heart in today’s world filled with consumerism, hypocrisy and materialism.
- Contemporary society, dominated by consumerism, alienation, and technology leads people to risk losing their core (DN 9).
- Still, this devaluation of the heart precedes our contemporary society, being influenced by pre-Christian (Greek) rationalism and post-Christian idealism and materialism, in various forms. Since the heart is difficult to define, many people, influenced by those philosophies, prefer to value the intelligence or the will, as these feel safer and easier to control (DN 10).
- Even in Christian contexts, theology has long marginalized the body and emotions, viewing them as pre- or sub-human due to the influence of Greek philosophy (DN 63).
- However, this depreciation of the heart may lead to a stunting of our personal centre, since love is the one reality that can unify all others (DN 10).
The Heart/Love as a Unifying Element: The Holy Father addresses about how the heart is the unifying glue.
- By counteracting the fragmentation brought on by individualism, it acts as a remedy for societal narcissism and self-centeredness (DN 17).
- It is the only way to reconcile diverse minds and wills within a community, enabling individuals to come together as brothers and sisters. “Our hearts, united with the heart of Christ, are capable of working this social miracle” (DN 28).
- It provides a synthesis between self-knowledge and openness to others, as well as between personal uniqueness and willingness to self-gift (DN 18).
- It also helps bring harmony to the fragmentation of our own personal history, making sense of what may seem hopelessly shattered in us (DN 19).
- Ultimately, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the unifying principle of all reality, since “Christ is the heart of the world, and the paschal mystery of His death and resurrection is the centre of history” (DN 31).
The Sacred Heart of Jesus: The Holy Father shares about Jesus’ ministry as described in the Gospels that touched the hearts of all especially the sinners and the marginalised.
- Proximity, closeness, encounter: Jesus allows Himself to be touched by sinners and the marginalized. Even when He is healing, He does so in close contact with those He heals (DN 34—36).
- Gaze, compassion: He looks upon the crowds and those who seek Him with compassion (DN 39—41).
- Words, as invitation, but also filled with emotion: He speaks to those who encounter Him, but these words do not exclude emotion (DN 43—44).
- Cross: Jesus’ most eloquent word of love (DN 46).
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: The Holy Father explains that devotion to the Sacred Heart should lead us to experience Christ’s love deeply, inviting a personal, intimate spiritual connection rather than a superficial non genuine engagement.
- As theology often dismissed feelings to the domain of the potentially inhuman, spirituality resolved in practice what theology left unresolved in theory (DN 63). The sensus fidelium filled this gap, grounding the devotion theologically (DN 154).
- This devotion is not the only way to encounter the love of Christ, nor can it completely express it. Still, it is an especially privileged way to do so (DN 83).
- As a private devotion, it’s not something the faithful are obliged to believe. Nevertheless, it’s a highly beneficial devotion. Also, taking into consideration the centrality of Jesus’ love in our faith, it cannot be said that it owes its origin to private revelations (DN 83).
- The object of worship is the living heart of Christ, not its representation (DN 50).
- Worship isn’t for the Heart’s own sake; it is about loving Him and allowing ourselves to be loved by Him (DN 50).
- The Sacred Heart is enfleshed and thus speaks of earthly realities, so it should not be made too abstract (DN 51).
- Two spiritual currents must go hand-in-hand: the Heart of Jesus is, at the same time, a source of the sacraments and of grace (from the side of Jesus, the water of the Spirit poured forth), but also a source of contemplation that becomes a personal encounter of love (so that the access to grace isn’t seen as a kind of magic, but rather as a direct relationship of friendship with Him) (DN 96, 106, 108).
- Also, this devotion doesn’t distract or separate us from Jesus and His love, but points towards Him and it (DN 51).
- The Sacred Heart’s devotion is not a relic of the past, but remains invaluable even today, since that Heart has never ceased to love (DN 149).
Lavoisier Fernandes, born and raised in Goa, is currently based in West London. His faith is “work in progress”- and a lifelong journey. He has always been fascinated by the Catholic faith thanks to his Salesian schooling and his passion is podcasting, theology, the papacy, volunteering.
He has hosted the ‘Talking Faith’ series for Heavens Road FM Catholic Radio, connecting with ordinary men and women within the Catholic faith, other faiths and examining issues affecting both Church and society and has also hosted the ‘Heart Talk’ series for Shalom World Catholic TV. In 2018 one of his podcast -Mental Health and the role of the Catholic Church was shortlisted for the Jerusalem awards in UK. Presently contributes for the Goa Diocesan magazine – Renovação, Mumbai Diocesan magazine – The Examiner, the only digital Indian Catholic portal – Indian Catholic Matters and the Faith Companion Magazine in England.