V + J
St. Margaret Mary: Apostle of Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
October 16 is the Feast Day of St. Margaret Mary. The date this year is the beginning of a Holy Year in honor of the centenary of her canonization (May 13, 1920-May 13, 2020). The Holy Year begins on October 16, 2019 and ends on October 17, 2020.
The Church’s First Friday devotions, with a focus on reparation and reception of the Eucharist, and its yearly Feast in honor of the Sacred Heart find their origin in Jesus’s revelation of his Sacred Heart to this young Sister of the Visitation.
Pope Francis frequently speaks of the Christian life in the words of “encounter.” “Encounter” is a perfect description of what the young novice experienced. Jesus’s first words to her were words of a burning love for the whole human family and for her in particular. And he made it clear that his pierced Heart was the preeminent symbol of that burning love as well as the appropriate sign of his great desire that his love be known, experienced and reciprocated by all who, like her, would personally encounter that divine love in their devotion to his Sacred Heart.
The very first of her many visions took place on December 29 (1673), the Feast of St. John the Beloved Disciple who at the last supper rested his head on the heart of Jesus. Such an intimate moment between the disciple “whom Jesus loved” and Jesus himself is itself a powerful parable of love revealed, experienced and reciprocated. Margaret Mary herself was to have that same intimate experience, that same shared encounter of mutual love.
One cannot fully appreciate the meaning of the revelation of the Sacred Heart without knowledge of its historical context. The Church was at that time in the dark and forbidding grip of Jansenism, with its emphasis on the fear of God and eternal damnation.
With the revelation of his pierced Heart, along with his words and gestures of tender love, Jesus chose to place the emphasis on his forgiving, persuasive and inviting love, while also calling for reparation regarding abuses against the Eucharist: infrequent reception by Catholics (Jansenism), and rejection of the sacrament by Protestants.
Our Church finds itself in another crisis today. As a result, many believers have become discouraged, disillusioned and cynical.
The Holy Year of St. Margaret Mary and its renewed emphasis on devotion to the Sacred Heart comes in the midst of the horrible abuse crisis. Is it a mere coincidence or an act of divine Providence? For us in the Salesian family there are no coincidences, only Providence.
May God’s love show us the way back to the burning love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and, in time, reconciliation with his guilty, wounded, but repentant and healing Church.