It is essential to realize that our relationship to the Person of Jesus Christ is one of friendship and adoration, drawn by the love represented under the image of his heart. We venerate that image, yet our worship is directed solely to the living Christ, in his divinity and his plenary humanity, so that we may be embraced by his human and divine love.
Whatever the image employed, it is clear that the living heart of Christ – not its representation – is the object of our worship, for it is part of his holy risen body, which is inseparable from the Son of God who assumed that body forever. We worship it because it is “the heart of the Person of the Word, to whom it is inseparably united”. 29PIUS VI, Constitution Auctorem Fidei (28 August 1794), 63: DH 2663. Nor do we worship it for its own sake, but because with this heart the incarnate Son is alive, loves us and receives our love in return. Any act of love or worship of his heart is thus “really and truly given to Christ himself”, 30LEO XIII, Encyclical Letter Annum Sacrum (25 May 1899): ASS 31 (1898-1899), 649. since it spontaneously refers back to him and is “a symbol and a tender image of the infinite love of Jesus Christ”. 31Ibid: “Inest in Sacro Corde symbolum et expressa imago infinitæ Iesu Christi caritatis”.
For this reason, it should never be imagined that this devotion may distract or separate us from Jesus and his love. In a natural and direct way, it points us to him and to him alone, who calls us to a precious friendship marked by dialogue, affection, trust and adoration. The Christ we see depicted with a pierced and burning heart is the same Christ who, for love of us, was born in Bethlehem, passed through Galilee healing the sick, embracing sinners and showing mercy. The same Christ who loved us to the very end, opening wide his arms on the cross, who then rose from the dead and now lives among us in glory.