I går feiret Den katolske kirke en fest som protestanter ikke kjenner til, festen for Jesu hellige hjerte. Dessverre er festen ikke så kjent for katolikker heller i vår tid. Den ble innført for hele den katolske kirke i 1856, etter en svært lang utviklingshistorie – som vi kan lese om på katolsk.no, og i den engelske wikipediaen – men nå må vi dessverre si at den er glemt av altfor mange katolikker.
På 100-årsjubileet for innstiftelsen av festen skrev pave Pius XII 15/5 1956 encyklikaen HAURIETIS AQUAS, om andakten til Jesu hellige hjerte. Encyklikaen starter slik:
«Med glede skal dere øse vann av frelsens kilder.»(Jes 12,3) These words by which the prophet Isaiah, using highly significant imagery, foretold the manifold and abundant gifts of God which the Christian era was to bring forth, come naturally to Our mind when We reflect on the centenary of that year when Our predecessor of immortal memory, Pius IX, gladly yielding to the prayers from the whole Catholic world, ordered the celebration of the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Universal Church.
It is altogether impossible to enumerate the heavenly gifts which devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus has poured out on the souls of the faithful, purifying them, offering them heavenly strength, rousing them to the attainment of all virtues. …»
50 år etter denne encyklikaen, i 2006, skrev pave Benedikt et brev for å minne om denne viktige fromhetstradisjonen. Der skriver han om hvor viktig det er for alle kristne å fokusere på Jesu lidelse og død for oss:
By encouraging devotion to the Heart of Jesus, the Encyclical Haurietis Aquas exhorted believers to open themselves to the mystery of God and of his love and to allow themselves to be transformed by it. After 50 years, it is still a fitting task for Christians to continue to deepen their relationship with the Heart of Jesus, in such a way as to revive their faith in the saving love of God and to welcome him ever better into their lives.
The Redeemer’s pierced side is the source to which the Encyclical Haurietis Aquas refers us: we must draw from this source to attain true knowledge of Jesus Christ and a deeper experience of his love.hus, we will be able to understand better what it means to know God’s love in Jesus Christ, to experience him, keeping our gaze fixed on him to the point that we live entirely on the experience of his love, so that we can subsequently witness to it to others.
Indeed, to take up a saying of my venerable Predecessor John Paul II, «In the Heart of Christ, man’s heart learns to know the genuine and unique meaning of his life and of his destiny, to understand the value of an authentically Christian life, to keep himself from certain perversions of the human heart, and to unite the filial love for God and the love of neighbour». ….
In the Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, I cited the affirmation in the First Letter of St John: «We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us», in order to emphasize that being Christian begins with the encounter with a Person (cf. n. 1).
Since God revealed himself most profoundly in the Incarnation of his Son in whom he made himself «visible», it is in our relationship with Christ that we can recognize who God really is (cf. Haurietis Aquas, nn. 29-41; Deus Caritas Est, nn. 12-15).
And again: since the deepest expression of God’s love is found in the gift Christ made of his life for us on the Cross, the deepest expression of God’s love, it is above all by looking at his suffering and his death that we can see God’s infinite love for us more and more clearly: «God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life» (Jn 3: 16).
Moreover, not only does this mystery of God’s love for us constitute the content of the worship of and devotion to the Heart of Jesus, but in the same way it is likewise the content of all true spirituality and Christian devotion. It is consequently important to stress that the basis of the devotion is as old as Christianity itself.
Indeed, it is only possible to be Christian by fixing our gaze on the Cross of our Redeemer, «on him whom they have pierced» (Jn 19: 37; cf. Zc 12: 10).