The Spiritual Life: What is the Sacred Heart?

In my interview on “The Spiritual Life” podcast with the talented Jesuit Cristóbal Fones, S.J., now the executive director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, we talk about his work, his prayer, the pope’s intentions, Ignatian spirituality, music and, not incidentally, the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

This devotion has been a feature of Jesuit spirituality since at least the 17^th century. While still widely known among Catholics worldwide, it perhaps doesn’t have the same reach as it had a few decades ago, when, at least in the United States, you would regularly find images of the Sacred Heart in Catholic homes. That’s unfortunate, because it is a powerful devotion (and a personal favorite).

But what is it?

This excerpt from an article I wrote about the Sacred Heart devotion a few years ago may help you understand that part of my conversation with Cristóbal. 

The devotion began with the mystical visions of Jesus and his Sacred Heart as revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a Visitation Sister living in the French town of Paray-le-Monial. As is often the case, the sisters in her community were highly doubtful about her reported visions. At one point Margaret Mary was told in prayer that God would send her “his faithful servant and perfect friend.” Shortly afterwards, the mild-mannered St. Claude la Colombiere, a Jesuit priest living nearby, was assigned to serve as her spiritual director. Later, Margaret Mary would have a vision that showed their two hearts (hers and Claude’s) united with the heart of Jesus. 

From that point the two worked together to spread the devotion, which became strongly associated with the Jesuits, who promoted it with vigor in the following centuries. As the devotion flourished, the paintings, mosaics, sculptures and yes, oleographs proliferated. So did parishes, hospitals, retreat centers, schools and universities named in its honor. Everything you know that is named “Sacred Heart” (including the great church of Sacré Coeur in Paris) stems from these two people—and Jesus of course.

(By the way, Fr. Claude wasn’t thought of too highly by his brothers either. Jesuit communities used to have a house “historian,” who would record the events of the community life. The final few days before Claude’s death were recorded as follows by the house historian: “Nothing worthy of note.”)

In time, though, devotion to the Sacred Heart fell off to such an extent that Pedro Arrupe, S.J., then the superior general of the Society of Jesus, had to remind his brother Jesuits in 1981: “I have always been convinced that what we call ‘Devotion to the Sacred Heart’ is a symbolic expression of the very basis of the Ignatian spirit.” He told them that the Sacred Heart is “one of the deepest sources of vitality for [my] interior life.” Yet Father Arrupe acknowledged, “In recent years the very expression ‘Sacred Heart’ has constantly aroused, from some quarters, emotional, almost allergic reactions.” 

Those “allergic reactions” mean that we are missing a powerful and vivid symbol of the love of Jesus. For the Sacred Heart is nothing less than an image of the way that Jesus loves us: fully, lavishly, radically, completely, sacrificially. The Sacred Heart invites us to meditate on some of the most important questions in the spiritual life: In what ways did Jesus love his disciples and friends? How did he love strangers and outcasts? How was he able to love his enemies? How did he show his love for humanity? What would it mean to love like Jesus did? What would it mean for me to have a heart like his? How can my heart become more “sacred”? For in the end, the Sacred Heart is about understanding Jesus’s love for us and inviting us to love others as Jesus did.

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network invites us to pray with the Pope’s intentions every day. Underlying all of this is the love of Christ, expressed so beautifully in the enduring image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.