A HEART ON FIRE WITH LOVE! MARGARET MARY AND THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
You have probably seen that heart surrounded by thorns. Behind one of the most familiar images of Jesus is also the story of a French nun.
A burning heart, a cross and a crown of thorns. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is familiar even to people who do not know Margaret Mary Alacoque’s name. Her memorial on 16 October offers a chance to meet this Visitation nun, who played a decisive part in spreading the devotion.
Before the image, a young woman
Margaret was born in Burgundy in 1647. Her childhood was marked by her father’s death and family difficulties. She wanted to enter religious life but faced opposition before joining the Visitation monastery at Paray-le-Monial in 1671. She made her religious profession the following year.
The convent did not offer a shortcut to a trouble-free life. Her spiritual experiences prompted misunderstandings and doubts, including among people living alongside her.
A heart, not a lucky charm
In her account, Jesus appeared to her between 1673 and 1675 and showed her his Heart. At the centre of the message is Christ’s love, alongside sorrow at the indifference it encounters. It is not a promise that everything will turn out as we wish: it is an invitation to respond to that love in prayer and everyday life.
Jesuit Claude de la Colombière accompanied her in discerning these experiences. He listened and supported her, and her testimony was put into writing. Those pages introduce us to her mystical experience and a message that would travel far beyond the monastery.
From Paray-le-Monial to the Church’s calendar
The devotion has a history broader than one person, but Margaret Mary helped it spread. In 1856, Pius IX extended the feast of the Sacred Heart to the universal Church. Margaret Mary, who died in 1690, was canonised in 1920.
What might we say before that image today? Perhaps: “Jesus, help me receive your love and share it.” Maybe with the person we find hardest to listen to. Then the heart becomes more than a picture hanging on a wall.
