Devotion to the heart of Christ reappears in the spiritual journey of many saints, all quite different from each other; in every one of them, the devotion takes on new hues. Saint Vincent de Paul, for example, used to say that what God desires is the heart: “God asks primarily for our heart – our heart – and that is what counts. How is it that a man who has no wealth will have greater merit than someone who has great possessions that he gives up? Because the one who has nothing does it with greater love; and that is what God especially wants…” 148Conference to Priests, “Poverty”, 13 August 1655. This means allowing one’s heart to be united to that of Christ. “What blessing should a Sister not hope for from God if she does her utmost to put her heart in the state of being united with the heart of our Lord!” 149Conference to the Daughters of Charity, “Mortification, Correspondence, Meals and Journeys (Common Rules , art. 24-27), 9 December 1657.
At times, we may be tempted to consider this mystery of love as an admirable relic from the past, a fine spirituality suited to other times. Yet we need to remind ourselves constantly that, as a saintly missionary once said, “this divine heart, which let itself be pierced by an enemy’s lance in order to pour forth through that sacred wound the sacraments by which the Church was formed, has never ceased to love”. 150SAINT DANIELE COMBONI, Gli scritti, Bologna, 1991, 998 (n. 3324). More recent saints, like Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Saint Teresa of Calcutta and many others, have spoken with deep devotion of the heart of Christ. Here I would also mention the experiences of Saint Faustina Kowalska, which re-propose devotion to the heart of Christ by greatly emphasizing the glorious life of the risen Lord and his divine mercy. Inspired by her experiences and the spiritual legacy of Saint Józef Sebastian Pelczar (1842-1924), 151Homily at the Mass of Canonization, 18 May 2003: L’Osservatore Romano, 19-20 May 2003, p. 6. Saint John Paul II intimately linked his reflections on divine mercy with devotion to the heart of Christ: “The Church seems in a singular way to profess the mercy of God and to venerate it when she directs herself to the heart of Christ. In fact, it is precisely this drawing close to Christ in the mystery of his heart which enables us to dwell on this point of the revelation of the merciful love of the Father, a revelation that constituted the central content of the messianic mission of the Son of Man”. 152SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Dives in Misericordia (30 November 1980), 1: AAS 72 (1980), 1219. Saint John Paul also spoke of the Sacred Heart in very personal terms, acknowledging that, “it has spoken to me ever since my youth”. 153ID., Catechesis, 20 June 1979: L’Osservatore Romano, 22 June 1979, 1.
The enduring relevance of devotion to the heart of Christ is especially evident in the work of evangelization and education carried out by the numerous male and female religious congregations whose origins were marked by this profoundly Christological devotion. Mentioning all of them by name would be an endless undertaking. Let us simply consider two examples taken at random: “The Founder [Saint Daniel Comboni] discovered in the mystery of the heart of Jesus the source of strength for his missionary commitment”. 154COMBONIAN MISSIONARIES OF THE HEART OF JESUS, Rule of Life, 3. “Caught up as we are in the desires of the heart of Jesus, we want people to grow in dignity, as human beings and as children of God. Our starting point is the Gospel, with all that it demands from us of love, forgiveness and justice, and of solidarity with those who are poor and rejected by the world”. 155SOCIETY OF THE SACRED HEART, Constitutions of 1982, 7. So too, the many shrines worldwide that are consecrated to the heart of Christ continue to be an impressive source of renewal in prayer and spiritual fervour. To all those who in any way are associated with these spaces of faith and charity I send my paternal blessing.