God Aims at Our Heart
Elia Carrai - Pope Francis opens his fourth encyclical, Dilexit nos (Rom 8:37), "he loved us," by adopting St. Paul's words about the irrevocability of Christ's love to explore "the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ."
Published on the 350th anniversary of the manifestation of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, this document traces the long tradition of devotion to the Heart of Jesus. Moreover, it expands this devotion by linking it to the paschal sacrifice and Christ's open side on the Cross, and by highlighting its significance and relevance for today.
"World society," the Pope says, "is losing its heart" (Dilexit nos, 22). A clear sign of this is the increasing inability to prevent conflicts and the violent outbreaks that occur, often met with indifference or tolerance from other nations. In our "liquid society," where many old certainties now seem uncertain and "unhealthy individualism" prevails, Pope Francis surprises us by affirming the urgent need to rediscover "the importance of the heart."
From the Bible to the works of Homer and Plato, the encyclical illustrates how humanity has always regarded the heart as "a unifying center that provides the person with a foundation of meaning and direction for all aspects of life" (DN, 55), and as "a universal human experience" (DN, 53). In fact, no matter how much "foliage" covers our heart or how much we try to deceive ourselves, "nothing worthwhile can be built without the heart" (DN, 6). It remains indispensable, as the Pope emphasizes: "if the heart is devalued, then so too is the significance of speaking from the heart, acting with a heart, maturing, and caring for a heart" (DN, 11).
Here too, the Pope surprises us: caring for our heart is not primarily about new rules or warnings, but rather, as he says, about allowing the important questions to emerge: "Who am I really? What am I seeking? What meaning do I want my life to have? Who do I want to be in the eyes of others? Who am I before God?" These questions lead me to my heart (DN, 8).
Those who, like the Pope, respect these questions that are present, in various ways, in every person today, feel the urgency to "speak again of the heart, to focus on that place where every individual, regardless of their background, synthesizes their being; where people find the source and root of all their strengths, convictions, passions, and choices" (DN, 9).
The author has not revised the translation.