The giving of hearts, and why it matters

“Son, give me thy heart.”

Drawn from Proverbs 23:25, this phrase is written below the image of Jesus pointing to his Sacred Heart in a stained glass window that used to sit directly behind the high altar in the Christ the King Chapel at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia.

That chapel was built and dedicated when I was freshman there in 1995, thus I spent many an hour sitting in contemplation of these words. (In case anyone goes looking for it, the window has been moved to a side altar in the new campus chapel that was opened in 2024 to accommodate the tremendous growth at the college.)

These words came to mind when I read Pope Leo XIV’s new prayer for the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, culminating in the upcoming solemnity on June 27. Our new pontiff’s desire is “that each one of us might find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from his Heart, learn to have compassion on the world.”

What speaks more to a personal relationship than giving one’s heart? “Son, give me thy heart” — it’s a request and a command at the same time. Taken from Proverbs 23:25, the words can speak to us on many levels. In the context of the Book of Proverbs, they are words of wisdom, an appeal from a father to his son to heed the advice of his parents and respect their years of experience and desire for good things for their child.

On another level we might hear the voice of God the Father talking to his Son, and even, perhaps, to us. The words are not a plea. The one who is being addressed has free will in how they respond. In my own mind, I always hear the words in a solemn, but kind, fatherly voice, in a tone tinged with deep purpose, but also profound grief. I imagine the penetrating look between Father and Son as Jesus assented to the Father’s will, both knowing the suffering that would come.

Grief should remind us of compassion, on which Pope Leo wants us to focus. The root meaning of the word “compassion” is “to suffer with.” If we give someone our heart, we know that at the deepest level they are willing to suffer with us. This is why at a Catholic wedding the vows include “in sickness and health” and “until death do us part.”

Presumably, Pope Leo hopes that by drawing attention to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Catholics will stir up in their own hearts compassion for their fellow human beings.

What does it mean to give one’s heart? If we are talking about the heart of Jesus, it means complete self-sacrificing love that led to our salvation. If we are talking about ourselves, it’s an ideal for which we all strive – to give our hearts totally to God, just like Christ. In order to give our hearts to God, we must do so by giving our hearts to the people God puts in our lives.

The origins of the solemnity that has us pause and contemplate the Sacred Heart of Jesus can be traced back to the crucifixion of our Lord, when his side was pierced with a lance “and immediately there flowed out blood and water” (Jn 19:34).

Over the centuries, saints and theologians taught more about this blood and water that flowed from the heart of Christ, offering at once cleansing, mercy, and redemption – the ultimate act of compassion. The Middle Ages saw a dramatic rise in interest in the Sacred Heart, largely through the revelations given to St. Gertrude. The Church officially developed a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ, first in France at the urging of St. John Eudes in the 17th century, bolstered by the private revelation of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque shortly thereafter, and culminating in the institution of the feast by Pope Pius IX in 1856.

Pope Leo XIII offered the Church the Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart in 1899, using it to consecrate the world. Pope Pius XI elevated the feast to the highest rank and in the revision of the Roman calendar in 1969, the day was recognized as a solemnity. Now, from one Pope Leo to another, we are being encouraged by our new pontiff to renew devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The solemnity, and now Pope Leo’s new prayer, offers us the chance to intimately contemplate the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Where will that contemplation lead us? Will we enter into that relationship between God the Father and God the Son that personifies total love and compassion? Will we answer the call to give our own heart to God and others in imitation of Christ?

Lazzuri writes from her home in Nova Scotia, where she lives with her husband, four of her six children, and her mom. She can be reached at clarelazzuri@gmail.com.

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