Sacred Heart of Jesus

<p>In the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the heart of Jesus is adored as a symbol of his threefold love: human love, spiritual love, and divine love. In the Old Testament, this love is described as a father's love for his children or a husband's for his wife. In the New Testament, the promise of living water, the Holy Spirit, is fulfilled in the pierced heart of the Messiah. By the Middle Ages, the Heart of Jesus was the object of a more personal devotion and in the late 17th century, the devotion became a liturgical cult. In modern times, the image of the Sacred Heart in the home has become a sign that the love of Jesus rules over the family. In 1899, Pope Leo XIII consecrated the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.<br /><strong><br />©2011 <em>Living with Christ, </em>Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., <strong>http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/</strong&gt;. Reprinted with permission.<br />Saint Theodoric </strong></p>