After 68 years we once again have an encyclical dedicated to theology and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Father Emerson Marcelo Ruiz, scj proposes a Dehonian reading of this Encyclical.
The Encyclical Letter Dilexit Nos, ‘on the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus’, was published on 24 October 2024 and has aroused particular interest, especially among movements and congregations that traces their roots back to the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. After 68 years (Haurietis Aquas was published in 1956) we once again have an encyclical dedicated to theology and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The nature of the text, an encyclical, reflects its scope. According to Mgr Bruno Forte, ‘the encyclical offers the key to the entire magisterium of the Pope’, and the Pope himself seems to indicate this connection in his conclusion. Citing Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si’, the pontiff states that “by drinking of this love, we become capable of weaving fraternal bonds, of recognising the dignity of every human being and of caring for our common home together” (217). In this last paragraph we can see a certain connection with our Constitutions: “From the Heart of Christ, opened on the cross, man is born with a new heart, animated by the Holy Spirit and united with his brothers and sisters in the community of love that is the Church ’ (Cst 3).
We know that a teaching text requires an attentive reception and is understood little by little, as its layers and articulations are localised. It’s like a mosaic made up of stones from different origins that have been carefully cut and laid. In this brief text, we will take a quick but affectionate look at Dilexit Nos, pointing out some precious stones that are also part of our charismatic heritage.
Structure of the text
Dilexit Nos is organised into five asymmetrical chapters.
The first chapter – The Importance of the Heart (2-31) – points out that the heart is the place of personal synthesis, of profound identity, it is the fire that molds the fragments of every existence and makes any authentic bond possible. The heart unifies. The short second chapter – Gestures and words of love (32-47) – seems like a small Ignatian retreat on the heart. On a pilgrimage through some Gospel pages, we contemplate the Lord’s gestures, looks and words. The senses reveal the heart. As Fr Dehon taught us, scripture must be contemplated from the perspective of the Heart of Jesus (cf. CAM I/151). In the third chapter – This is the heart that loved so much (48-91) – Pope Francis emphasises that it is not a question of worshipping an organ separate from the person of Jesus, but the whole person of the saviour who offers himself on the altar of the cross. The master’s heart is the incarnate synthesis of the Gospel. The fourth chapter – Love that satisfies (92-163) – is the longest of all. It’s a historical journey that starts from the Scriptures and leads to the ‘Little Way’: Therese of Lisieux and Charles de Foucauld. The centrepiece of this journey is St Margaret Mary (1647-1690), but Francis highlights various other mystics and, above all, the role of the Society of Jesus. He recalls that the Jesuits accepted “the very gentle charge […] of practising, promoting and propagating devotion to her most divine Heart ’ (146). It’s touching to realise that in this long pilgrimage through saints, schools and doctors of the Church, the final paragraphs are dedicated to Popular Piety. Finally, the last chapter – Love for love (164-220) – delves into the community, social and missionary dimension of every authentic devotion to the Heart of Christ. Mission is a matter of the heart. As for ‘social reparation’, quoting St John Paul II, the Pope says that in the midst of the ruins, shards and fragments of our sin, the heart of Jesus awaits our response of love. ‘It is our response to the loving Heart of Jesus Christ who teaches us to love ‘ (183), building the Civilisation of love. We know that the responsorial dimension structures of our Constitutions and is a renewed understanding of reparation.
After this look at the five chapters of Dilexit Nos, we present two elements that contribute to the understanding of our charismatic patrimony.
Two French saints
Dilexit Nos was published in the jubilee year of the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of Paray-le-Monial. However, the text goes beyond devotion in the way it was conceived by St Margaret Mary. The long historical chapter (III) and the missionary and social section of the last chapter (V) bear witness to this. Although it is closely linked to various French saints, authors and mystics, the text has a curious universal pastoral openness, especially when it points to the theological intuitions of the sensus fidei and popular piety (86, 154, 160).
It is curious that, although St Margaret Mary and St Claude de la Colombière are given a prominent place in the text (119-128, 165-166), it seems that Pope Francis has anchored himself in another French saint to propose new paths for devotion. St Thérèse of Lisieux is cited more than twenty times in the text, not just in one block, but in several numbers (90, 133-142, 195-199, 216), as if pointing to new advances, paths and renewals in devotion to Christ’s beloved heart.
Dilexit Nos emphasises that Teresa discovers a heart that frees her from all fear and accepts her smallness and humility. In Teresa’s experience, Jesus doesn’t ask her to seek perfection, but dedication and trust: “My desires for martyrdom are nothing, they don’t give me the unlimited trust I feel in my heart. To tell the truth, it’s spiritual riches that make someone unjust, when we rest on them with complacency and believe that they are something great. […] What pleases him is to see me love my littleness and my poverty, it’s the blind hope I have in his mercy…. This is my only treasure […]. If you want to feel joy, to be attracted by suffering, it is your consolation that you seek […]. Understand that to love Jesus, to be his victim of love, the weaker you are, without desires or virtues, the purer you are for the action of this consuming and transforming Love […]. Only trust and nothing but trust can lead us to Love” (DN 138). A brief reading of this text highlights some themes of the charismatic patrimony, such as the vow of victimhood and abandonment, which received a new focus in Terezinha.
Father Dehon’s comments on Therese of Lisieux are well known, but they are worth remembering. In April 1925, Father Dehon added in his diary: ‘ Therese of the Child Jesus offers herself as a victim to the merciful love of Jesus. It is abandonment to the will of Jesus in the spirit of love and immolation… We are born of the spirit of St Margaret Mary and come closer to that of St Teresa…’ (NQT 45/70).
St Margaret Mary was the one who strongly influenced Father Dehon’s devotion to the Heart of Jesus. Therese of Lisieux died in 1897. On discovering the writings of ‘Sister Teresa’, Father Dehon saw his own ideas about God’s love acquire new vigour. In 1905, just eight years after Teresa’s death, he published a meditation on the way she understood the relationship between love and suffering. In this way, our founder found new access to devotion. In 2025, the celebration of the centenary of Father Dehon’s death coincides with the centenary of the canonisation of the Carmelite saint, and is a privileged occasion for a new entry into this ‘open door’ left by the founder and now highlighted by Pope Francis.
Father Dehon at the bottom of DN
A second issue is the presence of our Father and Founder in note n. 99 (Chapter IV), a quotation from the Spiritual Directory (cf. DSP 141). Much has been said about this and so a brief comment.
For Dehonians, it is a joy to witness the recognition of seeing their founder quoted in an encyclical, especially after the events of 2005. Perhaps some expected something more. However, Pope Francis is notorious for the way he writes his texts, in which the ‘footnotes’ are particularly important, indicating processes, relationships and gratitude, as can be seen in the first footnote of DN, in which the pontiff mentions Fr Diego Fares (SJ), an Argentinian writer and preacher, who is a former student of his.
In the short note there is a great deal of recognition. However, Fr Dehon’s intuitions go beyond those lines and are present at other times, such as in his reflections on the Kingdom of the Heart of Jesus (28) or Social Reparation (182-184).
Our mission in the face of Dilexit Nos
We can conclude by asking ourselves about our presence and mission in the encyclical… When the text names ‘at random’ some congregations whose devotion to the Heart of Jesus is central to their charismatic patrimony (150), an invitation to deepen devotion and theology emerges. This renewed dedication to the devotion to the Heart of Jesus can take the form of reading texts by the founder, community reflections on DN or meditation on the impact of this devotion on the daily life of each Dehonian. Finally, it is a unique invitation to consider every small apostolate as a ‘matter of love’. “In the light of the Sacred Heart, the mission becomes a matter of love, and the greatest risk of this mission is that many things are said and done, but the happy encounter with the love of Christ, who embraces and saves, is not promoted ’ (204).
