In his latest encyclical, Pope Francis extensively reflects on the heart of Jesus. French Bishop Benoît Rivière of Autun explains how this text aligns with previous encyclicals, grounding us in the real world.
Everyone knows how boldly Pope Francis addresses a wounded humanity and names spiritual ailments that distance us from both God and our fellow human beings. His deep affection for today’s world, wounded in many ways, has led him to present to the whole church a renewed reflection on the love of Christ “represented in His holy Heart” (n. 89).
Readers of the encyclical “Dilexit nos” (“He Loved Us”) feel engaged, understood, and “called to be led to the best place” (n. 43). Already in “Laudato si’” and “Fratelli tutti,” we were invited to an expansive solidarity, similar to that of Saint Francis of Assisi towards all creation.
No break with previous encyclicals
There is no break from past encyclicals, but rather a deepened stance of humility and trust, honoring great spiritual authors and embracing what transcends words, belonging to the poetry of love. “We cannot forget that poetry and love are necessary to save humanity” (n. 20). Anyone familiar with Francis’ dedication to suffering margins knows this is far from naive! How could we hear the cry of a wounded earth if we had lost love?
Who doesn’t aspire to become “true in love” (Eph 4:15)? “Even though our hearts lack love, there is nevertheless a desire for love,” wrote Francis de Sales to Jeanne de Chantal (n. 115). Who wouldn’t yearn to rediscover a primordial, unconditional love that precedes us “without requiring any prerequisites to love us and offer us His friendship” (n. 1)? This is the love Christ has for me, says the Apostle Paul, and this is the love the Church continually seeks to draw from anew.
This living water, this breath that reconciles and gives the courage to go forward, is not something we will drink or breathe in the isolation of a disembodied or intellectualized spirituality nor in superficial sentimentality. In contact with Scripture and the living tradition of the Church, we find that personal spiritual experience and community and missionary engagement are inseparable (91).
Devotion to the Heart of Christ
The great witnesses of faith and charity, especially Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and Saint Claude La Colombière, to whom Francis gives so much attention, see in Jesus “a heart without bile, without bitterness, filled with genuine tenderness for His enemies” (n. 129). As we read in the encyclical, these witnesses lived a vibrant devotion to the Heart of Christ, translating their spiritual experiences into concrete acts and developing a unique missionary “originality.”
How can we hear the heartbeat of God today, infinite within the finite incarnation, and thus His living Word, without already asking ourselves what the heart signifies? The encyclical provides a reflection that resonates with our postmodern sensitivities, touching “the place where each person (…) integrates; where the concrete being finds the source and root of all other strengths, convictions, passions, and choices” (n. 9). Reflecting on the movements of the human heart—this we already knew how to do, at least somewhat! Francis dares to ask a more fundamental question, one that resonates personally and societally: “Do I have a heart?” (n. 23). For it is possible to have none!
This is the case of a sinister character in a Dostoevsky novel whom Romano Guardini describes as an embodiment of evil: “Stavrogin has no heart; his mind is therefore somewhat cold and ruthless, and his body is poisoned by inertia and base sensuality. He cannot reach out to others, nor can anyone truly reach him, for it is the heart that creates the possibilities of encounter (…). Only the heart can welcome and offer refuge (…). Stavrogin is a distant person (…). He is far even from himself, for the most intimate part of man is in the heart, not in the mind” (12). [editor’s note: Guardini (1885–1968) was a Catholic priest, theologian, and philosopher whose work greatly influenced Catholic thought in the 20th century.]
A concrete life
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is not a trinket for idle souls! It relates to a reality that lovers understand. In the presence of the beloved, I come to know myself and am capable of union in love.
True devotion, as St. Francis de Sales defines it, is not a series of devotions but a concrete life, entirely softened and trained by charity, almost naturally inclined to do good relentlessly, feeling that the yoke of love is far sweeter and easier to bear than that of moral rigor. The pope, in this sense, has this expression: “The Lord sends you to do good and propels you from within” (n. 215).
The believing heart is inwardly moved to console, to heal, to love in action and truth in continuity with the loving heart of Christ, opened by the lance on the cross. The Heart of Christ never ceases to love.
Reproduced with permission from La Croix International.
