Why
the Heart?
Shortly
before the
visit of
Pope John
Paul II to
France in
October of
1986 an
excellent
article
appeared in
a Belgian
Jesuit
theological
review
entitled
"John Paul
II at
Paray-le-Monial
or why the
'Heart'?"
[1] It is a
question
which many
of the
faithful may
ask with
regard to
devotion to
the Hearts
of Jesus and
Mary: Why
the Heart?
Jesus as
King and
Lord of the
Universe —
yes! Mary as
our Mother
and Queen —
yes! But why
their
Hearts?
Isn't such
an emphasis
outdated,
passé?
Now I
willingly
grant that
there have
been and are
a great many
saccharine
and maudlin
"objects of
art"
(unfortunately,
probably the
bulk of
them!)
depicting
the Sacred
Heart of
Jesus and
the
Immaculate
Heart of
Mary and
innumerable
"gushy" and
sentimental
hymns
written in
their honor
(One need
only think
of "To
Jesus' Heart
All Burning"
in the old
Saint
Basil's
Hymnal in
this
regard). But
obviously
even abuse
cannot
negate
legitimate
use and the
official
magisterium
of the
Church
continues to
propose
devotion to
the Hearts
of Jesus and
Mary to the
faithful
with no
hesitation
or
apologies.
While there
are many
legitimate
ways of
responding
to the query
"Why the
Heart?"
(e.g. the
history of
spirituality
and private
revelations),
I will do so
from the
perspective
of the papal
magisterium,
specifically
that of Pope
John Paul II
who shows
himself to
be
particularly
sensitive to
the
preoccupations
and
questions of
our day. For
instance, in
1985 Pope
John Paul II
gave 12
Angelus
addresses on
the Sacred
Heart of
Jesus [2]
culminating
in a
marvelous
exhortation
inviting us
to unite
with the
"admirable
alliance" of
the Hearts
of Jesus and
Mary.[3] In
1986 he
dedicated
the same
number of
Angelus
messages to
this theme
[4] and
personally
presented a
letter to
the Superior
General of
the Jesuits
at
Paray-le-Monial,
site of the
apparitions
of the Lord
to Saint
Margaret
Mary,
encouraging
the Jesuits
to continue
promoting
this
devotion
whose
"essential
elements" he
said "belong
in a
permanent
fashion to
the
spirituality
of the
Church
throughout
her history;
for since
the
beginning,
the Church
has looked
to the Heart
of Christ
pierced on
the Cross,
from which
blood and
water flowed
forth as
symbols of
the
sacraments
that
constitute
the Church;
and, in the
Heart of the
Incarnate
Word, the
Fathers of
the
Christian
East and
West saw the
beginning of
all the work
of our
salvation,
fruit of the
love of the
divine
Redeemer.
This pierced
Heart is a
particularly
expressive
symbol of
that love".
[5]
And
categorically
I can say
without a
moment's
hesitation
that he has
spoken more
frequently
of the Heart
of Mary than
all of his
predecessors
combined.
(On this
topic alone
I have
amassed well
over 150
pages of
references
in the
magisterium
of Pope John
Paul II.)
Now again to
the
question:
Why the
Heart? In
virtually
every
culture
heart means
much more
than the
physical
organ which
is
considered
the
pre-eminent
"vital sign"
and which
pumps blood
through the
body; it
implies
love,
affectivity,
attitudes,
feelings,
emotions,
courage. It
speaks of
one's
interior, of
one's inmost
being. Here
is how a
contemporary
German
author
testifies to
the popular
use of the
word herz in
his language
(and one
readily
notes how
parallel the
usage is in
English):
"We give
"hearty"
greetings
and "hearty"
welcomes. I
speak "from
the bottom
of my
heart", and
we speak of
"brave",
"good" and
"true
hearts". I
may do
something
"with all my
heart"; I
have
something on
my "heart";
we "pour out
our hearts";
we "take
something to
heart"; we
"set our
heart on"
something;
we know
"heartbreak";
we say that
someone
"wins
another's
heart",
"loses" or
"gives" his
heart; we
"take
heart",
"take our
heart in our
hands",
"wear our
heart on our
sleeves".
Something
"goes to our
heart"; we
are
"heartily"
sorry;
indeed, our
heart
"bleeds" for
someone. We
go through
life with a
"heavy" or
"light
heart", a
"merry" or
"sad heart".
This by no
means
exhaustive
catalogue
shows that
our language
is certainly
not so
heartless.
Nor has the
symbol of
the heart
lost any of
its
expressive
power. Tests
may have
shown that
traffic
signs can be
ambiguous,
but every
child knows
what a heart
carved on a
tree means."
[6]
Here popular
usage
testifies to
what the
Pope refers
to as "the
richness of
anthropological
resonance .
. . which
the word
'heart'
awakens." He
says:
"This
word evokes
not only
sentiments
proper to
the
affective
sphere, but
also all
those
memories,
thoughts,
reasonings,
plans, that
make up
man's
innermost
world. The
heart in
biblical
culture, and
also in a
large part
of other
cultures, is
that
essential
center of
the
personality
in which man
stands
before God
as the
totality of
body and
soul, as I
who am
thinking,
willing and
loving, as
the center
in which the
memory of
the past
opens up to
the planning
of the
future.
"Certainly,
the human
heart that
interests
the
anatomist,
the
physiologist,
the
cardiologist,
the surgeon,
etc., and
their
scientific
contribution
-- I am
happy to
acknowledge
in such a
place as
this --
takes on
great
importance
for the
serene and
harmonious
development
of man in
the course
of his
earthly
existence.
But the
significance,
according to
which we now
refer to the
heart,
transcends
these
partial
considerations
to reach the
sanctuary of
personal
self-awareness
in which is
summarized
and, so to
speak,
condensed
the concrete
essence of
man, the
center in
which the
individual
decides on
himself in
the face of
others, the
world, and
God himself.
"Only of man
can it be
properly
said that he
has a heart.
It cannot be
said,
obviously,
of a pure
spirit, nor
even of an
animal. The
redire ad
cor
(`returning
to the
heart') from
the
scattering
of multiple
external
experiences
is a
possibility
reserved
uniquely to
man."
[7]
From our own
often
unreflective
use of
language and
from "the
Pope's
theology of
the heart"
[8], we may
begin to
perceive the
significance
of the fact
that the
Word of God
became man
in the womb
of the
Virgin Mary
and...
"from
that moment
God began to
love with a
human heart,
a true heart
capable of
beating in
an intense,
tender and
impassioned
way. The
Heart of
Jesus has
truly
experienced
feelings of
joy before
the splendor
of nature,
the candor
of children,
the glance
of a pure
young man;
feelings of
friendship
toward the
Apostles,
Lazarus, the
disciples;
feelings of
compassion
for the
sick, the
poor, the
many persons
tried by
struggle, by
loneliness,
by sin,
feelings of
anguish
before the
prospect of
suffering
and the
mystery of
death. There
is no
authentically
human
feeling that
the Heart of
Jesus did
not
experience.
. .
"Of the
infinite
power that
is proper to
God, the
Heart of
Christ kept
only the
defenceless
power of the
love that
forgives.
And in the
radical
loneliness
of the
cross, he
accepted
being
pierced by
the
centurion's
lance so
that from
the open
wound there
might pour
out upon the
world's ugly
deeds the
inexhaustible
torrent of a
mercy that
washes,
purifies and
renews.
"In the
Heart of
Christ,
therefore,
there meet
divine
richness and
human
poverty, the
power of
grace and
the frailty
of nature,
an appeal
from God and
a response
from man. In
the Heart of
Christ the
history of
mankind has
its
definitive
place of
arrival,
because `the
Father has
assigned all
judgment to
the Son' (Jn.
5:22).
Therefore,
willing or
not, every
human heart
must refer
to the Heart
of Christ."
[9]
Very
significantly
in the pages
of the
Gospels the
word "heart"
is used of
only two
individual
persons:
Jesus (Mt.
11:29) and
Mary (Lk.
2:19, 51).
Surely this
is not
without
import. In
the Heart of
the God-Man
there is
combined,
according to
the words of
the Pope "an
appeal from
God and a
response
from man."
This is a
wonderful
way of
describing
the unique
mediation of
Jesus (cf. I
Tim. 2:5-6)
who in His
divinity
presents the
call from
God to
mankind and
in his
humanity
makes the
perfect
response to
God in his
earthly life
and the
sacrifice
thereof.
All of this
is
symbolized
in his
pierced
Heart. Every
disposition
of his human
soul, every
state
through
which he
passed in
his earthly
life is
encapsulated
in his
Heart. By
analogy the
same can be
said of the
Heart of
Mary. The
theology of
the "states"
or
"mysteries"
of Jesus and
Mary as
comprised of
the interior
dispositions
of their
souls and
most
perfectly
represented
by their
Hearts is a
major
contribution
of the
"French
School" of
spirituality
which
developed
under the
impetus of
the great
Cardinal
Pierre de
Bérulle
(1575-1629),
founder of
the Oratory
of Jesus.
The insights
of Bérulle
and his
disciples
(de Condren,
Olier, St.
John Eudes)
together
with the
doctrine of
St. Francis
de Sales
(1567-1622)
set the
stage for
the
revelations
to St.
Margaret
Mary
(1647-1690).
[10]
If his Heart
synthesizes
the
Redemptive
sacrifice,
man's
perfect
reparation
to God, I
would
suggest that
from a human
perspective
it
represents,
even more,
"an appeal
from God."
In fact,
this is
precisely
what John
Paul II
underscored
in Vancouver
when he
said: "The
Heart of
Jesus Christ
is a great
and
unceasing
call from
God,
addressed to
humanity, to
each human
heart!" [11]
Not
surprisingly,
the first
human heart
to respond
to this call
was Mary's.
Her fiat at
Nazareth (Lk.
1:38) made
possible the
formation of
his human
heart (and
all that it
represented)
beneath
hers, a
theme which
the Pope
never tires
of alluding
to. [12]
Mary's
heart, by
virtue of
her
Immaculate
Conception,
is from the
first moment
of her
existence
totally open
to the call
of God and
from the
moment of
her fiat she
is in
communion
with the
"forming"
Heart of
Jesus. Her
heart is the
first to
enter into
the dialogue
of
salvation,
that union
of hearts to
which we are
all called.
Here is how
the Pope
puts it:
"We can
say that
just as the
mystery of
Redemption
began in the
womb of the
Virgin of
Nazareth, so
did that
splendid
union of the
hearts of
Christ and
his Mother.
From the
very moment
when the
Word was
made flesh
beneath the
heart of
Mary, there
has existed,
under the
influence of
the Holy
Spirit, an
enduring
relationship
of love
between
them. The
heart of the
Mother has
always
followed the
redemptive
mission of
her Son. As
Jesus hung
on the Cross
in
completion
of his
salvific
work,
Simeon's
prophecy
foretelling
the
definitive
alliance of
the hearts
of the Son
and of the
Mother was
fulfilled:
'And a sword
will pierce
your own
soul too' (Lk.
2:35).
Indeed the
centurion's
lance that
pierced the
side of
Christ also
penetrated
the heart of
his
sorrowful
Mother and
sealed it in
sacrificial
love."
[13]
If Jesus'
Heart "is a
great and
unceasing
call from
God,
addressed to
humanity,"
then Mary's
heart is the
perfect
response of
humanity to
the "call
from God."
If "when we
say 'Heart
of Jesus
Christ,' we
address
ourselves in
faith to the
whole
Christological
mystery: the
mystery of
the
God-Man,"
[14] then
when we say
"heart of
Mary," we
address
ourselves to
the whole
Mariological
and
ecclesiological
mystery. For
as the
perfect
human
response to
the "call
from God,"
as that
powerful
symbol which
evokes the
whole
mystery of
Mary,
especially
with
reference to
her
maternity,
[15] it also
summarizes
all that the
Church is
meant to be
in
responding
to the "call
from God"
which the
Vatican
Council
refers to as
"the
universal
call to
holiness."
[16]
Hence, when
in his
prophetic
Angelus
address of
15 September
1984, the
Pope spoke
of "that
admirable
alliance of"
the Hearts
of Jesus and
Mary, [17]
he was
speaking,
consciously
or not, of
the union of
the Hearts
of Jesus and
Mary as
paradigmatic
of the
synergy of
divine and
human, grace
and nature,
salvific
initiative
of God and
cooperative
response of
man,
redemption
by the
God-Man and
"co-redemption"
by Mary in
the sense of
St. Paul's
words to the
Colossians:
"in my flesh
I complete
what is
lacking in
Christ's
afflictions
for the sake
of his body,
that is, the
Church"
(Col. 1:24).
The response
of Mary's
heart became
the first
answer of
the Church
to the "call
from God"
and remains
its most
perfect
reply. It
also becomes
the model
for our
response.
In this
sense, then,
it is not
surprising
that on at
least two
occasions
the Pope has
intimated
that
consecrating
the world to
the
Immaculate
Heart of
Mary means
effectively
consecrating
it to the
pierced
Heart of the
Savior [18]
for he says
of this act
carried out
most
solemnly on
13 May 1982
and 25 March
1984:
"Our act
of
consecration
refers
ultimately
to the Heart
of her son,
for as the
Mother of
Christ she
is wholly
united to
his
redemptive
mission. As
at the
marriage
feast of
Cana, when
she said `Do
whatever he
tells you',
Mary directs
all things
to her Son,
who answers
our prayers
and forgives
our sins.
Thus by
dedicating
ourselves to
the heart of
Mary we
discover a
sure way to
the Sacred
Heart of
Jesus,
symbol of
the merciful
love of our
Savior.
The act of
entrusting
ourselves to
the Heart of
Our Lady
establishes
a
relationship
of love with
her in which
we dedicate
to her all
that we have
and are.
This
consecration
is practised
essentially
by a life of
grace, of
purity, of
prayer, of
penance that
is joined to
the
fulfillment
of all the
duties of a
Christian,
and of
reparation
for our sins
and the sins
of the
world."
[19]
There is a
profound
inner logic
to all of
this which
may well
escape the
worldly wise
(cf. I Cor.
1:18-2:16).
To respond
to the "call
from God"
symbolized
in the
pierced
Heart of
Jesus, we
must belong
to Mary that
she might
teach us the
dispositions
of her heart
and become
our tutor in
the
spiritual
life. As we
learn from
her, we take
on her
characteristics
and become
ever more
perfectly
that
immaculate
spouse
"without
spot or
wrinkle"
(Eph. 5:27)
which the
Church has
already
become in
the person
of Mary.
[20] It is
Christ's
will that we
be perfected
in this way.
Here is how
the Pope
puts it in
his Marian
Year
Encyclical
and I can
think of no
better way
to conclude
these
reflections:
"This
filial
relationship,
this
self-entrusting
of a child
to its
mother, not
only has its
beginning in
Christ but
can also be
said to be
definitively
directed
towards him.
... For
every
Christian,
for every
human being,
Mary is the
one who
first
'believed,'
and
precisely
with her
faith as
Spouse and
Mother she
wishes to
act upon all
those who
entrust
themselves
to her as
her
children.
And it is
well known
that the
more her
children
persevere
and progress
in this
attitude,
the nearer
Mary leads
them to the
`unsearchable
riches of
Christ'
(Eph.3:8)."
[21]
ENDNOTES
[1] Édouard
Glotin, S.J.
"Jean-Paul a
Paray-le-Monial
ou Pourquoi
le `Coeur'?"
Nouvelle
Revue
Théologique
108 (1986):
685-714.
This is
condensed
from a
larger study
which
appeared in
Jésus-Christ
Rédempteur
de l'Homme (Venasque:
Éditions du
Carmel,
1986) under
the title
"Le centre
de l'âme et
l'Icône
sacrée du
Coeur. De
Thérèse
d'Avila à
Marguerite-Marie"
103-54.
[2] From the
beginning of
June to
mid-September.
They may be
found in the
English
edition of
L'Osservatore
Romano
(henceforth
ORE with the
first number
indicating
the
cumulative
weekly
edition
number and
the one
after the
colon
indicating
the page)
889:1;
890:1;
891:1;
892:1;
893:7;
895:1;
896:2;
897:2;
898:2;
901:9;
902:8;
904:1.
[3] Angelus
Address of
15 September
1985, ORE
904:1. It
should be
noted that
this was on
the
traditional
date of the
feast of Our
Lady of
Sorrows, but
since the
date
occurred on
a Sunday
there was no
liturgical
observance.
The Pope,
however, did
not wish to
let the date
pass
unobserved.
[4] ORE
941:5;
942:11;
943:12;
946:2;
947:5;
948:1;
949:11;
950:2;
95l:2;
952:2;
953:2;
960:4.
[5] ORE
960:7.
[6] Joachim
Becker,
SS.CC., "The
Heart in the
Language of
the Bible,"
Faith in
Christ and
the Worship
of Christ:
New
Approaches
to Devotion
to Christ
trans.
Graham
Harrison
(San
Francisco:
Ignatius
Press, 1986)
23.
[7] 28 June
1984, from
homily at
Gemelli
Polyclinic
and Faculty
of Medicine,
Rome. ORE
843:9.
[8] Paul L.
Peeters, "Dominum
et
Vivificantem:
The
Conscience
and the
Heart,"
Communio 15
(1988) 148.
[9] 28 June
1984, from
homily at
Gemelli
Polyclinic,
ORE 843:9.
Final
emphasis my
own.
[10] On
Margaret
Mary's
relationship
to the
French
School, cf.
Glotin, "Le
'centre de
l'âme'"
110-36.
[11] l8
September
1984, from
homily at
Vancouver's
Abbotsford
Airport, ORE
855:17.
[12] Cf.
Redemptor
Hominis #22.
[13] 8
September
1986, from
Letter to
Cardinal
Jaime L.
Sin,
President of
the
International
Symposium on
the Alliance
of the
Hearts of
Jesus and
Mary, Miles
Immaculatae
23 (1987)
42-43. An
English
translation
of the
proceedings
of this
symposium is
to be
published by
the
Sanctuary of
Fatima,
Portugal.
[14] 18
September
1984, from
homily at
Vancouver
airport, ORE
855:16. It
should be
noted that
John Paul's
insight is
in total
harmony with
the French
School on
this point.
[15] In this
regard note
the words of
the Sacred
Congregation
of Rites in
the Decree
establishing
the Feast of
the
Immaculate
Heart of
Mary:
"With this
devotion the
Church
renders the
honor due to
the
Immaculate
Heart of the
Blessed
Virgin Mary,
since under
the symbol
of this
heart she
venerates
with
reverence
the eminent
and singular
holiness of
the Mother
of God and
especially
her most
ardent love
for God and
Jesus her
Son and
moreover her
maternal
compassion
for all
those
redeemed by
the divine
Blood"
[Decree of 4
May 1944,
Acta
Apostolicae
Sedis 37
(1945) 50].
[16] Lumen
Gentium,
chap.5
(#39-42).
This theme
would be
singled out
for further
attention in
the
Extraordinary
Synod of
1985, cf.
Relatio
Finalis
(Final
Report)
II.A.4.
[17] Cf.
footnote #3.
[18] Cf.
homily at
Fatima, 13
May 1982,
ORE 743:4
(#8).
[19] 22
September
1986, from
address to
participants
in the
International
Theological
Symposium on
the Alliance
of the
Hearts of
Jesus and
Mary, ORE
959:13.
[20] Lumen
Gentium #65.
[21]
Redemptoris
Mater #46.
In saying
that this
self-entrusting
has its
beginning in
Christ the
Pope is
clearly
alluding to
Jn.
19:26-27.
Cf.
Redemptoris
Mater #45.
The above
paper first
appeared in
"Why the
Heart?"
Homiletic &
Pastoral
Review
LXXXIX, No.
9 (June
1989) 18-23.
Copyright ©;
Msgr Arthur
Calkins
1989, 2003.
This
Version: 6th
May 2003
|
Monsignor Arthur B. Calkins