In this month, the faithful are invited to venerate, honor, and imitate more strongly Christ’s generous and faithful love for all without distinction.
Newsroom (07/06/2022 09:00 AM, Gaudium Press)
The month of June is dedicated by the Catholic Church to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During this month, the faithful are invited to venerate, honor, and imitate more strongly Christ’s generous and faithful love for all without distinction.
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
This devotion, although it has existed since the beginning of the Church, gained more intensity on June 16, 1675, when Our Lord appeared to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque showing her His Heart surrounded by flames of love, crowned by thorns, with a cross and an open wound from which blood gushed out.
“Here is the Heart that loved men so much, and spared nothing until it exhausted and consumed itself to witness to them of its love. In recognition, from the majority I receive only ingratitude: for their irreverence and sacrilege, for the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of love,” Our Lady said to the Saint.
Symbology of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Each of these details has an explanation and symbolism. The Heart is the noblest organ, symbolizing the love that God has for us and that led His Son to become incarnate and redeem us. The Cross symbolizes not only the one He carried to Calvary to consummate the redemption, but also our sins, indifference and lack of Faith. The Thorns symbolize the lukewarmness of souls who do not pray, do not receive the Sacraments, easily forget their obligations, and do not seek to correct their faults. The wound of the spear symbolizes those who attack him, blaspheme, worship Satan, and abandon the Church. And the flames represent the furnace of love, of mercy that Our Lord has for men.
Adoration of God’s Love
Pope Benedict XVI once said about this feast that, “the contemplation of the ‘side pierced by the lance,’ in which God’s infinite will for salvation shines forth, cannot be considered, therefore, as a passing form of worship or devotion: the adoration of God’s love, which found its historical-devotional expression in the symbol of the ‘pierced heart,’ remains indispensable for a living relationship with God.” (EPC)
Compiled by Camille Mittermeier
