Sacred Heart Is A Weapon Against Heresy

Catholics don’t celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus because it's a random organ. We don’t have feast days for Jesus’ arms or kidneys, for instance. Rather, the feast honors his divine-human love for us, a love that the Catechism refers to as “our hidden center.” This devotion goes all the way back to the Middle Ages, but its celebration as a solemnity became especially important in the seventeenth century as a response to the devastating heresy of Jansenism.

The Jansenist heresy created a deep and lasting spiritual anxiety for Catholics, largely because it painted a distorted picture of God as an “implacable judge” rather than a merciful Father. Jansenism wrongly taught that God predestined some people for hell, that most people lacked the perfect contrition required to be forgiven in the sacrament of confession, and that unworthy reception of Communion was a grave risk. The resulting vision was a cold, distant God who was not to be loved but feared. This led ordinary Catholics to doubt God’s love for them, withhold themselves from the sacraments, and worry that there was nothing they could do to be saved.

In the face of this widespread spiritual suffering, Jesus intervened directly, appearing to a French nun, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. He showed her his wounded heart and told her, “Behold the heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing.” This image of the Sacred Heart was the perfect theological corrective to Jansenism, answering the heresy not with complicated theological treatises but with an image of radical, unrequited love. The Sacred Heart reminds us that God isn't a judge waiting to condemn us. He is a Father who loves us perfectly, who pours himself out completely, and who longs for our love in return.

This Solemnity is a call to action for all of us. As a way to honor the love of the Sacred Heart, you can join the nine-day novena prayer leading up to the feast day, which you can find in most Catholic prayer apps or online.