Three hundred eighteen years ago tomorrow, a French Visitation nun named Margaret Mary Alacoque drew her last breathin the world. She had lived a painful and difficult life. But the Lordhad given her a special gift: He appeared to her and showed her HisSacred Heart.

The Heart of Christ had never before been visible to the human eye. Even when He walked on the earth, the Lord’s human heart could not beseen. It was pierced by the soldier’s lance when He hung on the Cross.When He came back to life, His heart began to beat again in His breast.Now the Sacred Heart of Christ is in heaven, along with the rest ofHis glorified body. His heart is the fitting symbol of His infinitelove, the divine love united with the love of a man.

When the Lord appeared to her, St. Margaret Mary saw how the Heart of Christ burns with love for the heavenly Fatherand for His children on earth. She wrote: “The Sacred Heart is aninexhaustible fountain, and its sole desire is to pour itself out intothe hearts of the humble. The divine heart is an abyss of allblessings.”

The revelations which St. Margaret Mary received were a gift for the whole Church of God. The vision of the Sacred Heart is a reminder ofthe fundamental truths of the Christian religion. Pope Pius XII wrotean encyclical about the revelations given to St. Margaret Mary. He wrote:

“Their significance is that Christ–showing His Sacred Heart–willed in a special way to call the minds of men to thecontemplation and veneration of God’s most merciful love for the humanrace. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is so important that it maybe considered the perfect profession of the Christian religion, forthis is the religion of Jesus, and no man can come to the heart of Godexcept through the heart of Christ.”

Pope Benedict XVI also wrote a letter two years ago about the Sacred Heart.