Bishop Marini, what’s going on here and no crucifix facing you! Oh, the agony of it all:
This afternoon the Bishop of Tortona, Mons. Guido Marini went to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Tortona Guardia where he presided over the Eucharistic Celebration in which he consecrated the Crypt and the Altar
This is a low Mass thus only two candles are lighted. But look closely at the six tall candles.
Low Mass at Baclaran Shrine during the 1950's
Please note the sunbeam directed at yours truly:
Please note the perfect height to lift the chasuble!!!
People now love my homilies, not so much because they are good, but because my homilies are short.
If you are a priest or deacon and want compliments about your homilies after Mass, keep them to six minutes!
Here is what the good Cardinal Arinze has to say, press the title:
I can’t stop laughing!
A small clericalism caste and cadre of bishops and theologians from their on-high position and by manipulating the work of the Holy Spirit for their own narcissistic privileges, were able to cancel the manner in which the Church had existed since the major reforms of the Council of Trent.
The spirit of Vatican II clericalists, canceled the manner in which the Mass had been celebrated for over 1,500 years, but codified or standardized by the Council of Trent. They canceled the manner of living religious life and tried to cancel the sacramental aspect of the clergy turning them from worship and prayer to being social workers for the poor, something proper for religious who are not clergy and certainly for the laity.
The spirit of Vatican II tried to cancel the hierarchical nature of the Church and authority of the college of bishops in union with the pope.
What Vatican II’s poor implementation did was to cancel what had previously been understood as constituent to Catholic identity and proposed and then dictatorially imposed it on laity who accepted this imposition solely on the pre-Vatican II appreciation they had for Church authority, especially the pope and bishops. They didn’t like it but they were obedient pray, pay and obey Catholics.
St. Pope John Paul II and especially Pope Benedict XVI tried heroically to end the cancel culture of the Church in the post-Vatican II era. They did it slowly with non-dictatorial edicts. They proposed and enabled the ending of the cancel culture but they did not impose it on all.
The apex of the genius of Pope Benedict XVI was and is Summorum Pontificum, that enabled a return to liturgical tradition of the pre-Vatican II era while encouraging the reforms of the Liturgies but now within continuity with the past not in a breach of the past or worse yet, canceling that past.
With the dismal and unfortunate abdication of Pope Benedict, a 1970’s ideologue was elected to the See of Peter as the new pope. We have seen since 2013 a return to the spirit of Vatican II’s cancel culture, the one most blatant was and is the canceling of the two papacies of St. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict. The apex of this cancelation was the dictatorial canceling of Pope Benedict’s centerpiece of his papacy, Summorum Pontificum and the resulting resentment of the current papacy and its 1970’s agenda.
The next pope will have to be a redeemed Donald Trump who will restore the papacies of the previous two popes but in continuity. Pope Benedict’s reform in continuity is the way forward and that must be revived!
The Democrat operatives masquerading under the guise of the National Not Catholic Reporter just can’t believe how our Catholic people voted President Trump back into office. Crocodile tears there are, let me say that again, crocodile tears, tears I say. Your can read the Democrat’s meltdown over this intereview HERE.
To view this video, do not press the center arrow but go to the bottom left corner and press “watch on you-tube”:
This graphic really shows how deep in do-do the Democrat Party is. And this a party that once upheld political and religious values of our Judeo Christian nation and refused to cater to atheists and agnostics and immoral, amoral ideologies. It is sad indeed, but it is the rise and fall of a once great political party:
The Democratic Party has a choice. It can change or it can find a different country. When you can't beat a convicted felon, lose really excellent public servants like Senators Bob Casey and Jon Tester, and watch your margins shrink in virtually every demographic, you need to do some serious soul-searching.
Currently, the Democrats are engaged in a round of finger-pointing and counterfactuals. What if Joe Biden had not dropped out? Can't know for sure, but my bet is the country would have tired of the anxiety that swept the nation every time he went to a microphone. What if he had dropped out earlier and the Dems had found a different candidate? Looking at the losses in down-ballot races, it is hard not to conclude that the problem is the brand.
Read the whole dang thing there by pressing HERE!
Boy was I wrong! To be honest with you, I never thought an Electoral College landslide victory would ever be possible again. But the Democrat Party of abortion and anti-science, anti-DNA far left ideology when it comes to boys/men becoming girls/women and frequenting girl and women’s bathrooms and locker rooms and competing on their teams, MADE IT POSSIBLE!
To be honest with you the “before” plain look isn’t that bad. I don’t think the church needed to be duded up as much as it is. It is too much and too eye-disorienting. The “after” ceiling approach should have been the approach to the walls.
And then you have that busy red carpet runner adding to the seasickness!
While I like the attached altar, it should have had the ability for the Mass to be celebrated toward the nave too. The reason I say this is because that diocese might get a bishop who will demand that the Mass be celebrated toward the nave. Then they’ll have to put another altar out in front of the current one and you once again have the two back to back altars that so many places have and even with new construction. It makes no sense to me!
Before:
My comments: Recently, the Bishop of Jefferson, issued a very good, direct and much needed censoring of songs at Mass that contain lyrics that are less than Catholic in their theology.
Then, after the uproar of a number of progressive liturgists and their fans, he rescinded his decree to a certain extent and has decided to approach his mission as the primary liturgists of his diocese through a synodal process.
Let me say that I endorse consultation with clergy and laity in a diocese. Under Bishop Raymond Lessard, a very Vatican II prelate, in terms of its proper implementation, he modeled what he expected pastors to do in their parishes. We had/have pastoral councils and various committees as well as canonically required finance councils. Stewardship Councils were encouraged.
Priests need to consult with the their parishioners before making major decisions that change something and have a large expenditure of monies. Autocratic decisions that have nothing to do with doctrines and dogmas of our Faith or go against canon law, should be tempered through consultation.
Bishop Lessard had a Diocesan Pastoral Council consisting of two lay Catholics from each deanery in our diocese. He met with them at least twice a year although it might have been quarterly.
But when it comes to the liturgy, we need experts in liturgy and theology to make decisions as well as in Canon Law and the rubrics of the Mass.
Music is a major problem for the Reformed Mass and it has been so since 1964 and the first minor revision of the 1962 Roman Missal. Junk is and was allowed and by junk, not just that sacred words are set to secular notes and genres of music, but that the words of many songs are heterodox.
We need dogmatic theologians to critique the words of hymns and what is or isn’t appropriate for the Mass. We don’t need those who base their statements only on opinion and what they like making those decisions.
Hopefully, Bishop McKnight’s synodal approach will not dumb down the Church or her liturgy, but shore it up with those making decisions based upon sound doctrine and liturgy.
Bishops are the primary liturgists for their diocese. However, they must follow the Doctrines and dogmas of the Church. They must follow Canon Law and they must make decisions in line with the rubrics of the Mass and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
They can make unilateral decisions that upholds the Catholic Faith, its doctrines and morals and how the liturgy is to be celebrated without consulting with those who know very little to nothing about these teachings and canon laws.
These smarty pants Democrats have betrayed Catholics and the Catholic Church in general. They pandered more to the “nones” that those engaged in their Catholic Faith and have made abortion their sacrament.
Vice President Harris has a track record of anti-Catholic sentiments. I bet she now regrets not going to the New York Catholic Gala and sent a stupid, insulting to Catholics video! I bet she regrets telling a Christian who shouted “Jesus is Lord” at one of her rallies, that he was at the wrong rally!
The elitists of the smarty pants cabal of leaders in the Democrat party are:
1. Celebrities who think people love their ideas and political opinions, Oprah being the biggest problem
2. Aging democrats from another era, like the two Obamas, Pelosi, the Clintons. Did I say Pelosi? Talk about someone who is out of touch and did more in the last two days of the Harris’ campaign to do her in.
3. And their rhetoric, by calling supporters of President Trump and Trump himself, fascists, Nazis, trash, baskets of deplorables, threats to democracy, unfit, and so on and so on.
4. Taking jobs away from blue collar workers and expecting them to do dainty jobs that require educational and personal skills they do not have, thus leaving them in danger of going homeless and not able to support their families
5. Thinking that solar panels, windmills and only electric cars will change the climate.
6. Democrats call practicing pro-life Catholics who are pro-life, abortion phobic. They continue to call everyone out as being phobic on every stupid ideology they support, from LGBTQ+++++ stupidity to masculinity, which they call toxic and pro-life people who they call backwards and a threat to women’s freedom! They want men in girl’s bathrooms, locker rooms and on their teams.
One Democrat commenters on my blog is a prime example of Democrat condescension. This is what he wrote: “ The pope did not frame the election as you suggest. Your reading skills, as you often exhibit, are poor and tend to be self-serving. 2. "Half the nation" would be 165 million. Only 138 million voted, so "half the nation" is more than a slight exaggeration. 21% of the nation voted Trump. Poor math skills to go with the reading problems...” That commenter departed America before the election for an exotic vacation, not realizing that the America he will soon return to has completely changed and his party is in complete meltdown because of themselves. There is no one else to blame!
Tea and crumpet democrats who look down their noses at those who disagree with them both in their own party and those who are of other parties, especially those who support President Trump.
God and what He has created will not be mocked and Divine retribution is always a possibility especially at the Final Consummation of the world and the Last Judgement which climate change may well be a harbinger!
President Trump’s landslide victory over Democrat stupidity and clericalism can be seen as a sign of God’s Divine Retribution, no?
Bishop Baron’s critique of the movie “Conclave”? I am sure Pope Francis Jesuit pal, Fr. James Martin, gives all of this a 👍’s up!
And the Proper Entrance Chant was chanted in Latin. But, but, but, the synodal church would have wanted On Eagle’s Wings or Be Not Afraid or How Great Thou Art or Amazing Grace. But the penultimate song for purgatory is All Are Welcome!
But isn't that one of the main problems with the Modern Mass which everyone wants to adjust or fix because no one is actually thrilled with it and we are always finding ways to fix it?
Recently I, and the synodal congregation in front of me, celebrated Sunday Mass at St. Francis by the Sea here on Hilton Head Island. I was thrilled that the Processional Chant was actually the English version of the Entrance Chant but sung in a responsorial fashion. One did not even need the words and music in front of them. The cantor, chanted the refrain and everyone repeated and then the verses were chanted to organ accompaniment. In other words it was done as the Responsorial Psalm is done. The setting was very nice and singable.
It was completed with the Gloria Patri and final refrain. It was great and I was able to bow at the words, Glory be to the Father...
There is no need for the liturgy planner to pick some kind of hymn for any sung Mass. Sing what is prescribed. The official Entrance Chant, the offertory and Communion antiphons should never be changed to something else, like "All are Welcome" "Ashes" and the "You Who" Song--aka, Eagle's Wings!
These are Scripture passages as important to the Liturgy as the Scriptures in the Liturgy of the Word! The danger, for the Liturgy of the Word, is the synodal "church" that would want people not to listen to God's Word but rather to heterodox Catholics bloviating about things they want to change. Perhpas the synodal church will remove the Gospel from the Liturgy of the Word and read on-going segments of the Synod on Synod's final document which Pope Francis adopted as a part of His Holiness' synodal magisterium.
In the spoken or sung TLM, never, ever, was it permitted to omit chanting or saying the Introit, Offertory and Communion Chants! Never!
Reform the MVM by restoring the sanity of the the TLM as it concerns these chants and stop using made-up hymns of whatever type. I don't have much more hair to pull out!
Does anyone know the official reason why this popular ditty would be banned?
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, located in Newport News, Virginia
Before (not horrible):
After (stunning)and please note how two altars appear as one:
A retired priest, Rev. Gerald Bednar, in the Diocese of Cleveland -- the former vice rector of the seminary there -- had a letter to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal, taking an opportunity to oppose reciting the Saint Michael prayer after Mass, which is done at nearly all traditional Latin Low Masses, as well as a growing number of novus ordo liturgies in conservative parishes.
Father Bednar's letter from a few days ago follows. So does one, published in today's paper, from His Excellency Thomas John Paprocki, bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois.
My common sense and astute comments:
As a rule, my own preference is no to devotional prayers prior, during and after Mass! But let me explain. In the TLM, the Leonine Prayers are only prayed following the Low Mass only. There are no devotional prayers after a High or Solemn High Mass, during the week or on Sunday.
In the Modern Vernacular Mass, MVM, no devotional prayers are prescribed and the Leonine Prayers have been suppressed (some would say these are suppressed also for the TLM's Low Mass).
Because of all of the other silliness that is allowed within the MVM, such as the priest's verbal diarrhea, not prescribed, prior to the Penitential Act, after the homily and after Holy Communion, and additional things added to the Mass during the Mass, many also add all kinds of prayers and devotions immediately prior to Mass and after to Mass.
At least in the TLM, in the USA, prior to Vatican II, the recitation of the Leonine Prayers was mandated by the bishops of the American Church only for the Low Mass and this was to combat Communism and pray for the conversion of Russian Communists back to Christianity. It was anti-communist!
With the MVM and its loss of Low, High and Solemn High descriptives, things are added to any style of Mass, spoken or sung, partially or in total.
But today, it is the pastor's directive which devotional prayers are prayed or no devotional prayers prayed in his parish. In one parish where I assist, the St. Michael Prayer is prayed after every Mass, daily and Sunday. And immediately prior to Mass, the Angelus is recited. Of course, because of this, everyone who attends this parish regularly knows these prayers by heart. I guess that is the reason it is done. We don't get our people back for popular devotions, so we force these devotions on everyone who attends Mass during the week or on Sunday.
Today, bishops and priests do whatever they want to do at Mass, from ignoring rubrics to making up their own, from ad libbing many parts of the Mass to adding their own concoctions of prayers and devotions during Mass.
I say, read the red and do the black. Stop the insanity of priestly individualism at Mass! Unless it is prescribed by bishops, do no popular devotions before or after Sunday Mass (daily Mass might be exempt but that too needs vigilance by the bishops).
But all of this hinges on proper liturgical formation of bishops and priests, not the individualism we have today. We need to recover the discipline of the TLM when it comes to doing the red and reading the black. But I fear we need a change in the top leadership of the Church and a younger generation of JPII and Benedict XVI bishops and priests to courageously bring discipline and sanity back to the hierarchy and laity.
Keep in mind, too, that the Recessional Hymn is not prescribed for the MVM
This is a parish church in the Philippines. I am sure the parishioners are proud of it. I am proud of them for the Benedictine altar arrangement!
By Thaddeus Jones
Marking the conclusion of the XVIth Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Pope Francis presided over the Synod's closing Mass on Sunday 27 October in Saint Peter's Basilica. The Pope gave thanks to the Lord for the "journey we have made together" in the Synod on Synodality that began three years ago with local, regional and continental meetings, culminating in month-long October meetings at the Vatican in 2023 and concluding in 2024.
The newly restored relic of the ancient Chair of Saint Peter and Bernini Baldachin featured prominently in the video coverage of the celebration. The Pope recalled how the Chair represents love, unity and mercy, and the call to service according to Jesus' command to the Apostle Peter, while the Baldachin helps us rediscover the glory of the Holy Spirit, "the true focal point of the entire basilica."
In his homily Pope Francis recalled today's Gospel narrative of the blind man Bartimaeus helped by the Lord who cries out to Him asking to regain his sight. Resdiscovering his sight, Bartimaeus joyfully sets out to follow Jesus along the way.
The Pope explained how Bartimaeus represents the "inner blindness" we all can have that can holds us back from "the dynamism of life" and having any hope. This can also affect us as Church, the Pope added, where we can become "incapable of perceiving the presence of the Lord, unprepared to face the challenges of reality" and at times unable to respond adequately "to the questions of so many who cry out to us."
The Pope warned that "a sedentary Church" that "confines itself to the margins of reality" risks remaining blind and will "fail to grasp the urgency of giving a pastoral response to the many problems of our world."
By remembering that "the Lord is passing by", the Church can be like Bartimaeus as a community of disciples who hear the Lord, go out to seek Him, and "feel the joy of salvation...awakened by the power of the Gospel." The Church in turn does this "when it takes up the cry of all the women and men of the world" who seek the joy of the Gospel, wish to rediscover faith, or are set back by suffering, poverty or marginalization.
Just as Bartimaeus cried out to the Lord in faith and hope, may we do the same, the Pope said, as we also recognize God's action in our lives and set out to follow him. Whenever we are set back by weakness or inertia, may we find the strength and courage "to arise and continue along the path", returning to the Lord and his Gospel.
As the Gospel recounts that Bartimaeus “followed (the Lord) on the way”, the Pope suggested how this offers an image of the synodal Church when the Lord calls us, helps us up when we are lacking intertia or have fallen, and restores our sight so that "we can perceive the anxieties and sufferings of the world in the light of the Gospel."
The Pope emphasized that we need to be "a Church on her feet...not a silent Church, but a Church that embraces the cry of humanity" and is enlightened by Christ bringing the light of the Gospel to others.
In conclusion, the Pope gave thanks once again for the synodal journey undertaken and that we may "continue our journey together with confidence." And like Bartimaeus, may be "take heart" in hearing the Lord's call, entrusting our blindness to the Lord, rising up and once again carrying "the joy of the Gospel through the streets of the world."
An excerpt:
Francis also announced Saturday night that unlike in past synods, this time there will be no apostolic exhortation to draw conclusions – the final document will stand on its own as the closing act. In this way, Francis has short-circuited the possibility that activists disappointed with the lack of breakthroughs from the synod might hope to get them from the pope.
As to why the pontiff chose this path, a variety of explanations are possible. Perhaps the example of the German synodal way, with its seemingly real risk of schism, provided a cautionary tale; perhaps the pontiff didn’t want the jubilee year in 2025 to be overshadowed by narratives of a Catholic civil war.
Whatever the reason, Francis has engineered a denouement to his synod that may not stir anyone’s imagination, but neither will it create many new fault lines. To put the point differently, the conservative wing of the church may not have been well represented in the synod hall, but it did seem to be present in the calculations of the synod’s founding father.
So, is the outcome of the synod a letdown – a case of going out with a whimper rather than a bang?
Perhaps, although there is another perspective to consider. In a deeply divided and polarized age, the fact the Catholic church could stage such a massive consultative exercise and still somehow manage to hold everyone together at the end, even if no one’s fully satisfied, has to rate as a minor miracle – and, come to think of it, maybe not so minor after all.
Yes, this can be purchased at Amazon!
While I am sure that in the days in which Catholics were required to kneel and receive Holy Communion on the tongue, one could, presumably, take the Host out of their mouth once they got up for nefarious purposes.
Holy Communion standing, on the run and receiving on the hand has made taking the Host elsewhere quite common and easier to do.
Every priest I know has found consecrated Hosts on the floor, in hymnals/missalettes and we know that people take the Host home. I have seen parishioners with small children break a piece of the Host off to give to their toddler.
I have had an altar server notice someone take a Host back to the pew and he went with a deacon to the person, who opened her purse and gave the Host to the deacon!
Wake up bishops of the USA and around the world. The problem with the desecration of the Host, either intentional or not, is the manner in which Holy Communion is distributed which contributes to the possibility of this desecration as it has contributed to the decline in reverence for the Lord's Eucharistic presence.
Like the Atlanta area, Augusta where I was pastor of The Church of Most Holy Trinity for 13 years, had/has Satanic and Wiccan cults. We found a cat which was sacrificed on the Church's property by the office entrance adjacent to the Church. It had been dismembered.
We had people snatch the Host form Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and bolt from the Church immediately.
In light of the Atlanta black Mass, Friday, October 25, the Diocese of Charleston sent this to all their priests:
Increased vigilance in communion distributionTo: All priests We have been informed by our colleagues in the Archdiocese of Atlanta that an act of satanic worship (a so-called black “mass”) may take place in the Atlanta area on Oct. 25, which involves the desecration of a sacred Host stolen by someone who attended Mass, received Holy Communion, and walked out of the church with the Blessed Sacrament for this sacrilegious purpose. As priests in persona Christi, there is nothing more disturbing than the desecration of the Holy Body of our brother, savior and king. Let us renew an increased vigilance in every parish. Please instruct any extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to ensure that receiving parishioners and visitors consume the host prior to returning to their seats. Please encourage your parish to continue to pray the rosary during this Month of the Holy Rosary to beg for assistance from the Mother of Sorrows and Queen of Peace. I encourage you to pray that this blasphemous event will not proceed and for the conversion of all hearts. I invite you to consider fasting in reparation for all offenses against the holy Eucharist. At Masses this week, as we elevate the body of Christ, let us look upon him and remember the perfect duty and supreme honor placed on us to safeguard the body, blood, soul and divinity of all that we cherish and adore. May we never tire of proclaiming, defending and upholding Jesus, the Christ. My Lord and my God, have mercy! |
Pope Francis writes an encyclical on the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. And it seems , clear, uncontroversial and non polarizing! A miracle of the Most Sacred Heart !!!!!
By Alessandro Di Bussolo
“‘He loved us’, Saint Paul says of Christ (cf. Rom 8:37), in order to make us realize that nothing can ever “separate us” from that love (Rom 8:39)”: Thus begins Pope Francis’ fourth encyclical, which takes its title from the opening words, Dilexit nos.
The encyclical is dedicated to the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ: “His open heart has gone before us and waits for us, unconditionally, asking only to offer us His love and friendship,” the Pope writes in the introductory paragraph. “For ‘He loved us first’ (cf. 1 Jn 4:10). Because of Jesus, ‘we have come to know and believe in the love that God has for us’ (1 Jn 4:16).”
In our societies, the Pope writes, “we are also seeing a proliferation of varied forms of religiosity that have nothing to do with a personal relationship with the God of love” (87), while Christianity often forgets “the tenderness of faith, the joy of serving others, the fervour of personal commitment to mission” (88).
In response, Pope Francis proposes a new reflection on the love of Christ represented in His Holy Heart. He calls for a renewal of “authentic devotion” to the Sacred Heart, recalling that in the Heart of Christ “we find the whole Gospel” (89). It is in His Heart that “we truly come at last to know ourselves and we learn to love” (30).
Pope Francis explains that by encountering the love of Christ, “we become capable of forging bonds of fraternity, of recognizing the dignity of each human being, and of working together to care for our common home,” noting the relationship between Dilexit nos and his social Encyclicals Laudato si' and Fratelli tutti (217).
And “in the presence of the Heart of Christ," he asks the Lord “to have mercy on this suffering world” and pour upon it “the treasures of His light and love, so that our world, which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities, and uses of technology, that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: the heart” (31).
When announcing the preparation of the document at the end of the general audience on June 5, the Pope clarified that it would do us great good to meditate on various aspects of the Lord’s love, which can illuminate the path of ecclesial renewal, and say something meaningful to a world that seems to have lost its heart.”
This encyclical comes as celebrations are underway for the 350th anniversary of the first manifestation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1673; the anniversary celebrations will conclude on 27 June 2025.
Opening with a brief introduction and divided into five chapters, the Encyclical on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus incorporates, as announced in June, “the precious reflections of previous Magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the Sacred Scriptures, in order to re-propose today, to the whole Church, this devotion imbued with spiritual beauty.”
The first chapter, “The Importance of the Heart,” explains why it is necessary to “return to the heart” in a world where we are tempted to become “insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of the market” (2). It analyzes what we mean by “heart”: the Bible speaks of it as a core “that lies hidden beneath all outward appearances” (4), a place where what is shown on the outside or hidden doesn’t matter; there, we are truly ourselves (6). The heart leads to questions that matter: what meaning do I want for my life, my choices, or my actions? Who am I before God (8)?
The Pope points out that the current “depreciation” of the heart originated in Greek and pre-Christian rationalism, in post-Christian idealism, and in materialism in its various guises” where great philosophical thought prioritized concepts like “reason, will, or freedom.”
“The failure to make room for the heart… has resulted in a stunting of the idea of a personal centre, in which love, in the end, is the one reality that can unify all the others” (10), the Pope writes.
For Pope Francis, it is important to recognize that “I am my heart, for my heart is what sets me apart, shapes my spiritual identity and puts me in communion with other people” (14).
It is the heart that unites the fragments and “makes all authentic bonding possible, since a relationship not shaped by the heart is incapable of overcoming the fragmentation caused by individualism” (17). The spirituality of saints like Ignatius of Loyola (accepting the Lord’s friendship is a matter of the heart) and John Henry Newman (the Lord saves us by speaking to our heart from His Sacred Heart) teaches us, writes Pope Francis, that “before the Heart of Jesus, living and present, our mind, enlightened by the Spirit, grows in the understanding of His words” (27). This has social consequences, as “the world can change beginning with the heart” (28).
The second chapter is dedicated to the actions and words of love of Christ. The acts by which He treats us as friends and shows that God “is closeness, compassion, and tender love” are evident in His encounters with the Samaritan woman, Nicodemus, the prostitute, the adulterous woman, and the blind man on the road (35).
His gaze, which “examines the depths of your being” (39), shows “how attentive Jesus was to individuals and above all to their problems and needs” (40), in such a way “as to admire the good things he recognizes in us,” like in the centurion, even if others ignore them (41).
His most eloquent word of love is “being nailed to the Cross,” after having wept for His friend Lazarus and suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, aware of His violent death “at the hands of those He loved so much” (45, 46).
In the third chapter, “This is the heart that has loved so greatly,” the Pope recalls how the Church reflects and has reflected on “the holy mystery of the Lord’s Sacred Heart.” He refers to Pius XII’s Encyclical Haurietis aquas, on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1956). He clarifies that “devotion to the Heart of Christ is not the worship of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus,” because we adore “the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented in an image that accentuates His heart” (48).
The image of the heart of flesh helps us contemplate that the love of the Heart of Jesus Christ not only understands divine charity but also extends to human affection (61). His Heart, Pope Francis continues, quoting Pope Benedict XVI, contains a “threefold love”: the sensitive love of His physical heart and His twofold spiritual love, both human and divine, in which we find “the infinite in the finite” (67).
The Pope clarifies that the visions of some saints, particularly devoted to the Heart of Christ, “are rich sources of encouragement and can prove greatly beneficial,” but “are not something the faithful are obliged to believe as if they were the Word of God.”
At the same time, he reminds us, along with Pope Pius XII, that this devotion “cannot be said ‘to owe its origin to private revelations.’” Rather, “devotion to Christ’s heart is essential for our Christian life to the extent that it expresses our openness in faith and adoration to the mystery of the Lord’s divine and human love” and “in this sense, we can once more affirm that the Sacred Heart is a synthesis of the Gospel” (83).
The Pope calls for renewing devotion to the Heart of Christ, especially to counter “new manifestations of a disembodied spirituality” that are multiplying in society (87). It is essential, he says, to return to “the incarnate synthesis of the Gospel” (90) in the face of “communities and pastors excessively caught up in external activities, structural reforms that have little to do with the Gospel, obsessive reorganization plans, worldly projects, secular ways of thinking and mandatory programmes” (88).
In the last two chapters, Pope Francis highlights two aspects that devotion to the Sacred Heart should unite to “to nourish us and bring us closer to the Gospel”: personal spiritual experience, and community and missionary commitment.
In the fourth chapter, “A love that gives itself as drink,” he revisits the Scriptures, and with the early Christians, recognizes Christ and His pierced side in “the one whom they have pierced,” a prophecy from the book of Zechariah in which God refers to Himself as an open fountain for the people, to quench their thirst for God’s love, “to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (95).
Various Church Fathers have mentioned “the wounded side of Jesus as the source of the water of the Holy Spirit”—especially St. Augustine, who “opened the way to devotion to the Sacred Heart as the place of our personal encounter with the Lord” (103).
Gradually, this wounded side, recalls the Pope, “began to be associated with His Heart” (109) and he lists several holy women who “in recounting their experiences of encounter with Christ, have spoken of resting in the heart of the Lord as the source of life and interior peace (110).”
Among the modern devotees, the encyclical first mentions St. Francis de Sales, who presents his spiritual proposal with “a single heart pierced by two arrows,” (118).
Under the influence of this spirituality, St Margaret Mary Alacoque recounted the apparitions of Jesus at Paray-le-Monial, between the end of December 1673 and June 1675. The core of the message conveyed to us can be summed up in the words heard by St Margaret: “This is the heart that so loved human beings that it has spared nothing, even to emptying and consuming itself in order to show them its love” (121).
Dilexit nos goes on to speak of St Therese of Lisieux, who described Jesus as the One “whose heart beat in unison with mine” (134); and of her letters to Sister Marie, which help avoid focusing the devotion to the Sacred Heart suffering, “since some had presented reparation primarily in terms of accumulating sacrifices and good works.” Instead, “Therese, for her part, presents confidence as the greatest and best offering, pleasing to the heart of Christ” (138).
Pope Francis also dedicates several passages of the encyclical to the place of the Sacred Heart in the history of the Society of Jesus, emphasising that in his Spiritual Exercises, St Ignatius of Loyola suggests to those following the method “to enter into the Heart of Christ” in a heart-to-heart dialogue.
In December 1871, he notes, Father Pieter Jan Beckx consecrated the Company to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and Father Pedro Arrupe did so again in 1972 (146).
The experiences of St Faustina Kowalska, Pope Francis recalled, re-proposed the devotion “by greatly emphasizing the glorious life of the risen Lord and his divine mercy”; and motivated by these reflections, St John Paul II also “intimately linked his reflection on divine mercy with devotion to the Heart of Christ” (149).
Speaking of the “devotion of consolation,” the encyclical explains that seeing the signs of the Passion preserved by the heart of the Risen One, “it is natural, then, that the faithful should wish to respond not only to this immense outpouring of love, but also to the suffering that the Lord chose to endure for the sake of that love” (151).
Pope Francis also asks “that no one make light of the fervent devotion of the holy faithful people of God, which in its popular piety seeks to console Christ” (160). God, he says, “offers us consolation ‘so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction, with the consolation by which we ourselves are consoled by God’” (162).
The fifth and final chapter of the encyclical, “Love for Love,” develops the communitarian, social, and missionary dimension of any authentic devotion to the Heart of Christ, which, as it “leads us to the Father,” also “sends us forth to our brothers and sisters” (163). Indeed, love for one’s brothers and sisters is the greatest gesture we can offer Him “to return for love for love’ (166).
Looking at the history of spirituality, the Pope recalls that St. Charles de Foucauld's missionary commitment made him a “universal brother”: “Allowing himself to be shaped by the heart of Christ, he sought to shelter the whole of suffering humanity in his fraternal heart” (179).
Pope Francis then speaks of “reparation”: as St. John Paul II explained, “by entrusting ourselves together to the heart of Christ, ‘over the ruins accumulated by hatred and violence, the greatly desired civilization of love, the Kingdom of the heart of Christ, can be built’” (182).
The Encyclical recalls again with St. John Paul II that “Consecration to the heart of Christ is thus ‘to be seen in relation to the Church’s missionary activity, since it responds to the desire of Jesus’ heart to spread throughout the world, through the members of His Body, His complete commitment to the Kingdom.’ As a result, ‘through the witness of Christians, ‘love will be poured into human hearts, to build up the body of Christ, which is the Church, and to build a society of justice, peace and fraternity” (206).
To avoid the great risk, underlined by Saint Paul VI, “amid all the things we say and do, we fail to bring about a joyful encounter with the love of Christ who embraces us and saves us” (208), we need “missionaries who are themselves in love and who, enthralled by Christ, feel bound to share this love that has changed their lives” (209).
The text concludes with this prayer of Francis:
“I ask our Lord Jesus Christ to grant that His Sacred Heart may continue to pour forth the streams of living water that can heal the hurt we have caused, strengthen our ability to love and serve others, and inspire us to journey together towards a just, solidary and fraternal world. Until that day when we will rejoice in celebrating together the banquet of the heavenly kingdom in the presence of the risen Lord, who harmonizes all our differences in the light that radiates perpetually from his open heart. May he be blessed forever.”
