Concilium Allocutio June 2013 by Fr. Bede McGregor

The Sacred Heart of Jesus and Legion Spirituality

If we were to draw a spiritual portrait of Frank Duff, we would have to give a prominent place to his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our reason for saying this derives not so much from his writings but from the witness of his life. He deliberately had a large picture of the Sacred Heart in his bedroom so that the first thing he saw in the morning and the last thing he saw at night was this image of the Sacred Heart. What attracted him to be a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart was not so much abstention from all alcoholic drink but because it meant doing something out of love for the Sacred Heart. Wearing the pioneer pin was simply an outward sign of his inward consecration to the Sacred Heart. He made the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in homes one of the most cherished works of the Legion and it was one he engaged in all his long life. He was keen to point out that the Legion invoked the Sacred Heart at every Legion meeting starting from the very first one. Although the Stations of the Cross are not mentioned in the Handbook they were an integral part of his religious practice. Perhaps it would be necessary to say that Devotion to the Sacred Heart was a notable characteristic of the religious culture in the Ireland he grew up in and he interiorised it a profound way.

But the place of the Sacred Heart in the life of the Church and therefore of the Legion is not simply as a devotion rooted in private revelation however precious that may be. It goes so much deeper than that. It is the key to the whole of revelation and all reality. It is the image that explains the very identity of the being and activity of God. It provides the ultimate meaning of the Person and nature of Jesus Christ and encapsulates the whole reality and truth of the Gospel.

Let us unpack these statements briefly. The heart in every language, culture, religion, philosophy and time is a symbol for love. So when we say the Heart of Jesus we are asserting that his most fundamental characteristic is love. St. John says God is Love. His very identity is Love. This is a tremendous truth. It means that the whole of creation is held in existence by love. We are loved into existence. Love is the ultimate reality underlying all existence. We need to think about this again and again: at the centre of all existence and all revealed truth is a Heart: the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is the ultimate ground of Christian joy and the ultimate reason why we are Christian.

Three mysteries of our faith in particular may help us unfold a little further the mystery of the Sacred Heart. God so loved the world that He sent his Son into the world and he became one of us. The creator comes staggeringly close and intimate with the creature. God takes on a human heart through which he expresses not only his human love for us but his divine love too. The Incarnation proclaims the absolute primacy of God’s love in our world. Jesus is the incarnate love of God.

Next we have the passion and death of Jesus. It is here that devotion to the Sacred Heart begins for many of the Fathers of the Church. It is his pierced Heart that is the source of all grace, the sacraments and the Church. In the Book of Revelation we find the verse: ‘Behold I have caused a door to be open before you, which no one can shut’ (Apoc.3:8). Spiritual writers old and new see the wounded Heart of Jesus as the open door to salvation for the whole world that no one can shut. The words of St. Paul express magnificently what we should remember when we think of the Sacred Heart: ‘In all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,’ (Romans:8:35-39).

Thirdly, we receive the gift of the Sacred Heart in Holy Communion. In this sacrament we receive the body and blood soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments declares that Devotion to the Sacred Heart is essentially the same as devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. It honours the divine love of the Eucharistic God which revealed itself in his passion and death and continually reveals itself in the holy Eucharist. Also Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary that reception of Holy Communion was the most pleasing way to honour the Sacred Heart. The Holy Communion of Reparation is the core activity of the devotion to the Sacred Heart revealed to St. Margaret Mary by our Lord.

Finally, we ask the question as to where Mary fits in with the mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Well, first the human heart of Jesus is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary. But it goes much deeper than a purely biological bonding between Mary and the heart of Jesus. The Handbook has some remarkable sentences on this relationship. So for instance we read: ‘In that moment, those Sacred Hearts entered into a union so close as to approach identity. Henceforth they will beat together in and for the Mystical Body.’ Or again: ‘all Mary’s intentions are the interests of the Sacred Heart.’ So, Legion spirituality is quintessentially the spirit of Mary. Her heart approaches identity with the Heart of Jesus. Are we truly and authentically shaped in our spiritual life by a radical focus on the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
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