Devotion to the Sacred Heart is about Having a Personal Relationship with Christ

David Martin | The Daily Knight

On June 12, the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was instituted to foster a personal and affectionate approach to Christ – the way that Christ taught in the beginning. The devotees of the Sacred Heart are the ones who see Christ as their “Personal Savior” unlike some today who apply that term to themselves but who have a lifeless and impersonal relation with Christ.

It was St. John Eudes who first instituted the feast of the Sacred Heart in 1670 to offset the influence of the Jansenists who had a very cold, indifferent, and mechanical approach to the worship of God where they simply ‘checked a few boxes’ on their list of religious duties so they could feel justified. The Jansenists denied the use of the free will to receive salvation from Christ. The idea of pleasing God with loving obedience was foreign to their mindset just as it is with some today who boast of their justifications, but who dismiss the commandments. They’re forgetting the word of the Lord: “If you love me keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

Love, first and foremost, is about keeping our fidelity to God, just as love between a married couple is about fidelity to their nuptial contract. Could we imagine a husband telling his wife, “I love you and want to be true to you, but I want to go out with Suzy tonight?” Nay.

And could we imagine a marriage in which a spouse tells the other, “I don’t want to see your face, hear your voice, or be around you?” Many today have that attitude because they are too busy with other things like getting rich or gaining worldly acclaim.

Unfortunately, many do this in the spiritual life where they are choked up with the cares and pleasures of the world (Luke 18:14) so that God is placed on a shelf. God is a jealous God who wants our attention on him so that he in turn can focus his attention on us, which he won’t do if we ignore him. His design for us is that we have a parent-child relationship where we approach him with the docility of a child. As Jesus said, “Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a child, shall not enter into it.” (Luke 18:17)

In God’s loving providence, the Feast of the Sacred Heart was instituted to draw man closer to God in this manner. When Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:27,) he was referring to those of his Sacred Heart who truly know him, not those with this dry, abstract idea that God is just a concept produced by some mechanical interpretation of Scripture without the assistance of grace. Having a relationship with God is a personal child-parent relationship. A child knows who his parents are and there is no need for him to explain why. He just knows. Period.

Reparation to the Sacred Heart is Needed

Part of the devotion to the Sacred Heart is that we make reparation to it not only for our offenses but for those who refuse to know Christ. Sin is what crucifies and pierces the Heart of Christ, with this being especially true of the sins committed today within his Church. Women stream into the Church flaunting their shame and their fleshy additions, not wishing to realize that they are hammering Christ to the cross by their shameful dress. They want to be looked at instead of having people look at God. Like robbers they look for glory – a glory that belongs to God alone.

We indeed need to make reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for these and other like sins of vanity and pride. Let us thank St. John Eudes for introducing the beautiful feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let us pray that it encourage people to drop the world and have a truly personal relationship with Christ.