June month of the Sacred Heart

One of the enduring and favorite devotions of Filipino Catholics is the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Or, popularly called, the First Friday Devotion. Lest Catholic millennials forget, here is a reminder from Church history. Quotes are from The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia (1994).

“…since the Middle Ages, many Christians have shown a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a symbol of Jesus’s love for humanity. This devotion gained popularity in the seventeenth century through the efforts of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, and in 1765 the feast of the Sacred Heart was proclaimed by the pope. Christians showed their devotion by the observance of an octave, or prayers the feast day and for seven days afterward” (page 241).

“Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a fairly prominent feature of modern Catholicism. It is mainly in European civilization that the heart has become the symbol of the great love of Christ. (Even in the Bible, the heart is regarded as the seat of knowledge, rather than of love.) The devotion is traceable to medieval mystics such as Juliana of Norwich, Frances of Rome, and St. Bonaventure. In the sixteenth century it was fostered by the Carthusians and, later, the Jesuits. St. John Eudes (seventeenth century) provided a theological basis, and the apparitions to St. Margaret Mary (1673-1675) gave focus, especially as regards the need for reparation for sin. A Mass and office (liturgy of the hours) were authorized in 1765 (becoming universal in1856). The solemnity of the Sacred Heart is celebrated on the Friday after Corpus Christi; hence June is the month of the Sacred Heart” (page 781). (To be continued next week’s June 17 Shalom).