In the previous videos, we have commented on the first chapters of Pope Francis’ encyclical dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Now, we focus on the fifth chapter entitled “Love for love”, which addresses this devotion’s charitable and social dimension. The Pope describes how the Sacred Heart conquers our hearts, an initial stage in the devotion that is based on recognizing how much Jesus loves us. This discovery, far from generating a passive quietism, invites us to trust in Him and to identify with his will, thoughts, and affections.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is not a simple fulfillment of rules or sacrifices, but a love that transforms the human being. Jesus, by loving us, awakens in us a love that expands and becomes a power capable of generating freedom and new forces, which were previously dormant or did not manifest. This love, according to the Pope, is the power of God, not a physical or intellectual power, but the power of divine love that can change the heart of man.
Charity: A Mystical Love
The Pope emphasizes that charity, born from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is a mystical reality, a love that does not depend on human strength, but comes from union with Christ. This love transforms our heart and allows us to love others not from our selfishness, but from the divine love that acts in us. Through union with Christ, our heart is “baked” in his love and becomes capable of loving in a way that only He can teach us. In the words of St. Bernard, the love of Christ expels selfishness from us, transforming our way of seeing and relating to others.
The Love That Embraces Everyone
The charity that springs from the Heart of Jesus is not only a love for God, but a love for one’s neighbor, a love that embraces everyone. This love has a social dimension that extends to the whole of society, because when social sins become widespread, “structures of sin” are created that affect the community. Charity, therefore, does not only refer to helping those in need individually, but to working to transform society and fight against social injustices. Each Christian, according to his or her vocation, has the duty to contribute to the common good, whether through politics, education or personal example.
The love of Christ is universal: it extends to all men, even those who harm us, those who persecute us or those who think differently from us. This love is reflected in the words of Jesus, which teach us to love our enemies and to recognize it in each of our brothers, especially the weakest.
A Love that Encompasses Body and Soul
Charity also has an integral dimension that encompasses both the material and spiritual needs of the human being. Jesus, in showing his love through his Heart, is not only concerned with physical well-being, such as food or health, but also with the restoration of wounded hearts. This sometimes involves repentance and asking for forgiveness, two essential attitudes of Christian charity. Recognizing our sins and asking for forgiveness is a way of restoring fraternity and healing the wounds we have caused others.
The love of Christ, received through his Sacred Heart, is a love that not only heals material wounds, but also spiritual ones, restoring relationships and fraternity between men. Charity, therefore, is a love that covers everything, that transforms the world and each individual, and that calls us to love with the same intensity and generosity with which Christ loved us.
This fifth chapter of the encyclical invites us to reflect on the true nature of Christian charity: a mystical, transforming and universal love that embraces all men and all the dimensions of their being, material and spiritual. A love that, when received from Christ, impels us to love in the same way and to build a more just and fraternal society.
Chapter 1: Dilexit Nos. The Heart
Chapter 2: Gestures and Words of Love
Chapter 3: This is the Heart that Loved So Much
Chapter 4: The Love that Gives a Drink
Chapter 5: Love for Love’s Sake
