When we think about God's love, we don't always use the word "passion." Yet, those were the exact words Jesus used when describing his love for humanity in a private revelation to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a religious visionary of the 17th century.
It was during the first revelation about devotion to Jesus' Sacred Heart, and this is how the vision began. The saint recounts:
Once being before the Blessed Sacrament and having a little more leisure than usual, I felt wholly filled with this Divine Presence, and so powerfully moved by it that I forgot myself and the place in which I was. I abandoned myself to this Divine Spirit, and yielded my heart to the power of His love. He made me rest for a long time on His divine breast, where He discovered to me the wonders of His love and the inexplicable secrets of His Sacred Heart, which He had hitherto kept hidden from me.
Then Jesus spoke to St. Margaret Mary as she lay near to his heart.
My Divine Heart is so passionately in love with [humanity] that it can no longer contain within itself the flames of its ardent charity. It must pour them out by thy means, and manifest itself to them to enrich them with its precious treasures, which contain all the graces of which they have need to be saved from perdition.
This is one of the reasons why Jesus revealed himself with his heart outside of his body. This symbolizes how Jesus could not contain his love for us and his heart literally burst through his chest, a symbol of his passionate love.
Many saints have similarly reflected on Jesus' love, connecting it to the book in the Old Testament titled the Song of Songs. In it lovers unite in rapturous delight and represent the intense love that God has for each one of us.
The revelation of Jesus' Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary is a great reminder to us, dispelling any false images of God we may have. He is not an angry Zeus looking to destroy us, but a lover, who desires our souls, hoping to fill them with his joy.
Read more:
A guide to loving the Sacred Heart of Jesus
