Dear reader friendsThe October 24 Pope Francis published his fourth encyclical with the title Dilexit nos (see service on page 16). Christ the Lord “loved us”, the Pontiff reminds the entire Church. And it seems almost curious that, in an ecclesial climate marked by various discussions, not to mention the global context marked by wars and violence, Jorge Mario Bergoglio has chosen to take us to an apparently distant terrain, of a spiritual and mystical nature, such as that of devotion to Heart of Jesus.
The symbol of the heart, which today might sound a little sentimental and consolatory, is the object of the reflection in the first part of the encyclical: here the Pontiff corrects a partial anthropological vision, ruthlessly dominated by a “calculating reason”and offers an integral look at man, capable of understanding all his dimensions. Because, to put it with Pascalthere are “reasons” that reason does not know. Then – and it is perhaps the most beautiful part of the encyclical – he rereads a centuries-old devotion, that of Heart of Jesus precisely, in the light of the Bible and the thoughts of some of the main theological and spiritual authors over the centuries: from Saint Augustine up to the twentieth-century theologian Karl Rahnerpassing through Saint Bonaventure, William of Saint-Thierry, Saint Charles de Foucauld, Saint Therese, Saint Faustina Kowalska.
They are pages that provide a foundation theological And spiritual profound to a devotion that may seem outdated but which is instead current, because it touches on an original and founding experience of the Christian faith: that of a divine love – manifested to us in the story of Jesus of Nazareth – which precedes us, supports us and pushes us (see 2 Corinthians 5.14). This is a fundamental characteristic of the Christian faith: a loving and passionate God, with whom we are invited to enter into relationship. And this, the Pope says on several occasions, is not intimacy, because it pushes us towards others, it helps us weave together fraternal relationshipsto be missionaries not impassive or rigid but full of Love.
The ancient Greeks and Romans had affection for their deities, but they did not know a «Affectionate God with whom one can converse intimately» (Paul Veyne), who addresses them and “transforms” the lives of his faithful. In the contemporary sky there are no longer any divinities, while our heart is always “occupied” by something and risks becoming numb and dry. The Heart of Jesus reminds us that, to become fully human, we need to be loved and loved love in our turn. Again: it is not a sentimental or, worse, sentimentalist matter, but spiritualwith implications ethical and also “politicians”.
It’s about build a different world. Even the social and “ecological” passion of Christianity, in fact, have their roots in«encounter with the love of Jesus Christ». Because love, the Pope recalls in the last part of the encyclical, also has a communal, social, fraternal dimension, made up of proximity, pardon, good relations. Just what this world desperately needs.