A Reflection for the Feast of the Sacred Heart
Tollite iugum meum super vos et discite a me quia mitis sum et humilis corde.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me because I am meek and humble of heart.[1]
It was St Gertrude the Great,[2] an abbess of the prestigious Cistercian abbey of Helfta in thirteenth century Saxony who championed the mystical theology of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her writings are typical of this era, coupling the images evoking the cycle of the liturgical year with the romantic vernacular poetry of the Minnesingers.[3] She thought pictorially - colourful and dramatic images were translated into clear, straightforward descriptive language, as vivid and relevant today as then. Perhaps her most beautiful revelation that has captured the imagination of countless souls is her insight into the heart of Christ, expressed as his own words:
“When I behold anyone in his agony who has thought of Me with pleasure, or who has performed any works deserving of reward, I appear to him at the moment of death with a countenance so full of love and mercy that he repents from his inmost heart for ever having offended Me, and he is saved by this repentance.[4]”
Of course, devotion to the Sacred Heart did not begin with St Gertrude. In fact, it is rooted in Scripture, Christian tradition and the liturgy. The theology of the first millennium of the Christian era makes repeated mention of the fountain of living water flowing from the wound in the side of the crucified Jesus. The Latin Fathers saw this as a torrent of sacrament-al grace and the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “You shall draw water joyfully from the fountain of salvation.”[5] Together with the image of the wound in the side of Jesus as a fountain of divine life, there is a second image, that of the disciple John, leaning against the heart of Jesus at the Last Supper. This image, dear to St Gertrude, formed her mystical intuitions. St John is a key figure proposing a deeply emotional and subjective albeit wordless veneration.
St Gregory the Great synthesized these two strands by applying the words of the Song of Songs: “Come, my love, my lovely one. Come my dove hiding in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall…” to the wounded side of Jesus, as the refuge of the soul.[6] St Anselm, meditating on the Passion observed: “What sweetness in his pierced side! That wound has given us a glimpse of the treasure house of his goodness, that is to say, of the love of his heart for us.”[7] St Bernard likewise spoke of the mystery of the Sacred Heart in these words: “The secret of his heart lies visible through the clefts of his body; visible too, the great mystery of his love.”[8]
For St Gertrude, however, the reason why St John had not spoken of what he had experienced leaning against the heart of Jesus, was that there was even deeper meaning. She heard interiorly: “It was my task to present to the first age of the Church the doctrine of the Word made flesh, which no human intellect can fully comprehend. The eloquence of that loving pulsation of his heart is reserved for the modern age so that the world grown old and torpid may be rekindled by the love of God.”[9]
The Carthusian devotion to the Sacred Heart exemplified by Lanspergius, who in 1536 was first to publish the “Revelations of St Gertrude”, and only a year after the execution of the English Carthusian priors. Furthermore, it was Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel who translated the works of Lanspergius into English and himself martyred by Elizabeth 1 and now sainted by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
It comes as no surprise that, though the modern age of which Gertrude speaks is the thirteenth century, the words she attributes to St John apply to the present age, just as they did to the very time of our Lord. Such was the case in the late seventeenth century when Margaret Mary Alacoque resided in the convent of the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial. Her religious life was one of great suffering, misunderstanding and even persecution. At the same time she was granted the extraordinary privilege of apparitions of our Lord who established through her the Holy Hour and this very Feast of the Sacred Heart on the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi. The reception of Holy Communion on each first Friday of the month, with the devotions to the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Eucharist was designed to bring the faithful closer to God and sinners to repentance and conversion.
In the lead text from St Matthew’s gospel, the words of Jesus not only describe the nature of his heart but also allude to the context in which they were first uttered. Christ shares his meekness of heart in the face of suffering with those prepared to “shoulder his yoke”. Note the significance of the conjunction and. We learn from Jesus by taking his yoke on us. Progress is possible braced by that yoke, taking a share in the burden of dredging a furrow to be fertilized, receive seed that, in turn, will germinate. Only by being bonded to the heart of Christ while linked to his cross, is the essence of the sacredness of his heart discovered: its gentleness and lowliness.
The lowly of spirit, ordinary people, not those who are puffed up and cannot see beyond themselves, will thereby find rest for their souls. The passage prior to this quotation is one of reproach. Jesus had taught and worked miracles in Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capharnaum. yet the inhabitants had declined to accept his message, had not repented of their sins, nor converted. “And you, Capharnaum, … it shall go less hard with the country of Sodom at the day of judgement than with you.”[10] This consummate scolding then contrasts with the following compassionate verses: “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened; I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon yourselves, and learn from me: I am gentle and lowly of heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is agreeable and my burden is slight.[11]”
While devotion to the Sacred Heart has waned, and the practice of the faith has fallen away, we do well to recapture the fervour that these forebears in the faith have promoted. It is the heart of Christ that extends love and mercy and that confronts the heartlessness of our present age with its headlong race into the folly and tragedy of atheistic narcissism.
Jesus in your heart we find
love of the Father and mankind;
These two loves to us impart,
Divine love in a human heart.
To the depths within your heart
draw us with divine desire,
Hide us, heal us, and impart
your own love’s transforming fire.[12]
PMW
[1] Mt 11:29 Άρατε τόν ζυγόν μου έφ ύμάς καί μάθετε άπ' έμού ότι πραΰς είμι καί ταπεινός τή καρδία.
[2] St Gertrude is sometimes referred to as the St Teresa of Germany.
[3] Mediaeval poets and performers of songs of courtly love.
[4] Gerard Manley Hopkins paraphrased these lines in Poems, 178;
[5] Isaiah 12:3.
[6] St Gregory the Great, Super Cantico Canticorum Expositio, PL 79:499
[7] St Anselm of Canterbury, De passione Christi, PL 158:762
[8] St Bernard of Clairvaux, Sancti Bernardi Opera, vol. 2, sermon 16, 4
[9] Legatus divinae pietatis, 4.4.1-4, in Revelationes Gertrudianae ac Melchtildianae, v.1. Poitiers-Paris, 1875.
[10] Mt. 11: 23-24. Et tu Capharnaum, numquid usque in caelum exaltaberis? Usque in infernum descendes: quia si in Sodomis factae fuissent virtutes, quae factae sunt in te forte mansissent usquein hac diem.
[11] Mt 11: 30 Iugum enim meum suave est et onus meum leve.
[12] James Macaulay, Eminent Australian Poet, 1917-1976.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me because I am meek and humble of heart.[1]
It was St Gertrude the Great,[2] an abbess of the prestigious Cistercian abbey of Helfta in thirteenth century Saxony who championed the mystical theology of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her writings are typical of this era, coupling the images evoking the cycle of the liturgical year with the romantic vernacular poetry of the Minnesingers.[3] She thought pictorially - colourful and dramatic images were translated into clear, straightforward descriptive language, as vivid and relevant today as then. Perhaps her most beautiful revelation that has captured the imagination of countless souls is her insight into the heart of Christ, expressed as his own words:
“When I behold anyone in his agony who has thought of Me with pleasure, or who has performed any works deserving of reward, I appear to him at the moment of death with a countenance so full of love and mercy that he repents from his inmost heart for ever having offended Me, and he is saved by this repentance.[4]”
Of course, devotion to the Sacred Heart did not begin with St Gertrude. In fact, it is rooted in Scripture, Christian tradition and the liturgy. The theology of the first millennium of the Christian era makes repeated mention of the fountain of living water flowing from the wound in the side of the crucified Jesus. The Latin Fathers saw this as a torrent of sacrament-al grace and the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah: “You shall draw water joyfully from the fountain of salvation.”[5] Together with the image of the wound in the side of Jesus as a fountain of divine life, there is a second image, that of the disciple John, leaning against the heart of Jesus at the Last Supper. This image, dear to St Gertrude, formed her mystical intuitions. St John is a key figure proposing a deeply emotional and subjective albeit wordless veneration.
St Gregory the Great synthesized these two strands by applying the words of the Song of Songs: “Come, my love, my lovely one. Come my dove hiding in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall…” to the wounded side of Jesus, as the refuge of the soul.[6] St Anselm, meditating on the Passion observed: “What sweetness in his pierced side! That wound has given us a glimpse of the treasure house of his goodness, that is to say, of the love of his heart for us.”[7] St Bernard likewise spoke of the mystery of the Sacred Heart in these words: “The secret of his heart lies visible through the clefts of his body; visible too, the great mystery of his love.”[8]
For St Gertrude, however, the reason why St John had not spoken of what he had experienced leaning against the heart of Jesus, was that there was even deeper meaning. She heard interiorly: “It was my task to present to the first age of the Church the doctrine of the Word made flesh, which no human intellect can fully comprehend. The eloquence of that loving pulsation of his heart is reserved for the modern age so that the world grown old and torpid may be rekindled by the love of God.”[9]
The Carthusian devotion to the Sacred Heart exemplified by Lanspergius, who in 1536 was first to publish the “Revelations of St Gertrude”, and only a year after the execution of the English Carthusian priors. Furthermore, it was Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel who translated the works of Lanspergius into English and himself martyred by Elizabeth 1 and now sainted by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
It comes as no surprise that, though the modern age of which Gertrude speaks is the thirteenth century, the words she attributes to St John apply to the present age, just as they did to the very time of our Lord. Such was the case in the late seventeenth century when Margaret Mary Alacoque resided in the convent of the Visitation at Paray-le-Monial. Her religious life was one of great suffering, misunderstanding and even persecution. At the same time she was granted the extraordinary privilege of apparitions of our Lord who established through her the Holy Hour and this very Feast of the Sacred Heart on the first Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi. The reception of Holy Communion on each first Friday of the month, with the devotions to the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Eucharist was designed to bring the faithful closer to God and sinners to repentance and conversion.
In the lead text from St Matthew’s gospel, the words of Jesus not only describe the nature of his heart but also allude to the context in which they were first uttered. Christ shares his meekness of heart in the face of suffering with those prepared to “shoulder his yoke”. Note the significance of the conjunction and. We learn from Jesus by taking his yoke on us. Progress is possible braced by that yoke, taking a share in the burden of dredging a furrow to be fertilized, receive seed that, in turn, will germinate. Only by being bonded to the heart of Christ while linked to his cross, is the essence of the sacredness of his heart discovered: its gentleness and lowliness.
The lowly of spirit, ordinary people, not those who are puffed up and cannot see beyond themselves, will thereby find rest for their souls. The passage prior to this quotation is one of reproach. Jesus had taught and worked miracles in Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capharnaum. yet the inhabitants had declined to accept his message, had not repented of their sins, nor converted. “And you, Capharnaum, … it shall go less hard with the country of Sodom at the day of judgement than with you.”[10] This consummate scolding then contrasts with the following compassionate verses: “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened; I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon yourselves, and learn from me: I am gentle and lowly of heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is agreeable and my burden is slight.[11]”
While devotion to the Sacred Heart has waned, and the practice of the faith has fallen away, we do well to recapture the fervour that these forebears in the faith have promoted. It is the heart of Christ that extends love and mercy and that confronts the heartlessness of our present age with its headlong race into the folly and tragedy of atheistic narcissism.
Jesus in your heart we find
love of the Father and mankind;
These two loves to us impart,
Divine love in a human heart.
To the depths within your heart
draw us with divine desire,
Hide us, heal us, and impart
your own love’s transforming fire.[12]
PMW
[1] Mt 11:29 Άρατε τόν ζυγόν μου έφ ύμάς καί μάθετε άπ' έμού ότι πραΰς είμι καί ταπεινός τή καρδία.
[2] St Gertrude is sometimes referred to as the St Teresa of Germany.
[3] Mediaeval poets and performers of songs of courtly love.
[4] Gerard Manley Hopkins paraphrased these lines in Poems, 178;
[5] Isaiah 12:3.
[6] St Gregory the Great, Super Cantico Canticorum Expositio, PL 79:499
[7] St Anselm of Canterbury, De passione Christi, PL 158:762
[8] St Bernard of Clairvaux, Sancti Bernardi Opera, vol. 2, sermon 16, 4
[9] Legatus divinae pietatis, 4.4.1-4, in Revelationes Gertrudianae ac Melchtildianae, v.1. Poitiers-Paris, 1875.
[10] Mt. 11: 23-24. Et tu Capharnaum, numquid usque in caelum exaltaberis? Usque in infernum descendes: quia si in Sodomis factae fuissent virtutes, quae factae sunt in te forte mansissent usquein hac diem.
[11] Mt 11: 30 Iugum enim meum suave est et onus meum leve.
[12] James Macaulay, Eminent Australian Poet, 1917-1976.