The heart of Jesus

The heart of Jesus, the brightest beauty …

Over the centuries, Christian iconography has developed the hallmarks of depicted saints through symbolically significant objects. Sometimes these are objects common to a whole group of saints, as indicated by icons, e.g., bishops with a scepter and a miter, martyrs with a palm branch, etc. In most cases, however, they are characters (attributes) individually, derived from the event of the saint’s life, from the legends told and, in the case of martyrs, from the way they are tortured. The way they are depicted also varies by the period of artistic expression, e.g., Gothic, Baroque, etc. These signs help identify which saint the artist depicts. Many saints are thus depicted with a heart – pierced, burning, wrapped in a crown of thorns, etc.

This is how Augustín, Brigita of Sweden, Philip Neri, Francis de Sales, Francis Xavier, Ignatius of Loyola, Jane Frances de Chantal, Catherina of Siena, Mary Magdalena de Pazzi, Stanislaus Kostka, and Teresa of Avila are depicted. What did the artists mean by portraying saints with hearts this way? The human heart is given special importance: only to God is its mystery fully revealed. We should tremble with piety before this mysterious depth. It is for us the personification of humanity, the source from which the wealth of his personality springs. Only the heart can speak to the heart. In it is the true beauty, the real and eternal value of man. Man is as his heart. That is why Christianity accepts this symbol. It expresses the hidden core of the personality.

This fact will help us understand the essence of our reverence for the Divine Heart of Jesus: the believer is captivated by knowing the fundamental truth of our redemption, namely, that God has accepted our human heart as it is. Through Jesus’ Heart, we learn God’s eternal plan of salvation. It is a plan of love. There is hardly a better way to express that God really loves us, humans! “What beautiful thing have you found for us, the Savior, that you have loved us so much? We sing with the Church during the evening feast of the Divine Heart. That is why we confess about it: the heart of Jesus, the brightest beauty …

Almighty God could have arranged otherwise to announce salvation to us. An angel could have told us; a prophet could have called us to repentance. However, he knew only such a thing would affect a person; it would move him and touch his heart. And only the language of the heart can affect the heart. That is why God accepted the human heart to speak to people in a language that everyone understands—not only the smart and educated, but also the simple and the children. Not everyone has a head to understand profound thoughts, but everyone who has a piece of a noble human heart will understand when they hear that someone has shed the last drop of their heart’s blood to save him from death. Practice also confirms that if someone was obtained for Christ, it did not happen through argument, logic, or reason, but through the heart. Even the most accurate evidence is cold because it is not warmed by a noble heart and a kind personality. Herein lies the mystery of the effectiveness of Christ’s words on men, that is, the mystery of the proclamation of God to this day. Already in the Old Testament, the idea that only God can enter the human heart is repeated (Ps. 7:10; Ps. 44:22, etc.). The Gospel also assures us that the heart is an organ for receiving God’s word and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, into which God’s love flows (cf. Mt 13:19; Mark 4:15; Luke 8:15; Acts 2:27; Rom. 2:15; Gal. 4:6; 1 Cor. 22 et al.). Only those with a pure heart will see God (cf. Mt 5: 8). Even Christ cannot be received other than through the heart (cf. Eph 3:17). The heart of St. Augustine was not convinced by the arguments of theologians but by the kind and fatherly words of Bishop Ambrose. In a book about his conversion (Confessions), he writes that he wept when he heard us sing hymns and songs. They deeply penetrated his heart and awakened piety in him. Therefore, writes St. Makarius: “The spiritual life springs in the spaces of the heart as soon as two mysterious beings meet here—God and man.” Much has already been written about the Church’s hidden power and attraction, which draws adherents from all ages, generations, and social strata. We Christians know the reason: Christ’s Divine Heart beats in the Church—but secretly but effectively. This force does more than preach; it attracts the heart of a man who may have parted ways with the Church at a young age and lives unchristian, yet still has a sensitive place in his heart for the Church of his childhood.

With the heart, one understands rather than reasons. And as long as man’s heart remains human, he can never completely break and discard the love of Christ. So that is the essence and sense of respect.