The Sacred Heart’s 350-Year Legacy Began with One Humble Nun
- Father Joe Laramie, SJ
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Before the flicker of a sanctuary candle, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque beheld the Heart of Christ — and the world has never been the same.
A young woman prays quietly, kneeling at a wooden pew in a cool stone chapel. It’s a night like many others. A cold breeze squeezes through the wooden window panes. The chapel is quiet, with the warm, sweet smell of candle wax and incense from recent feast days. She turns the pages of a small prayer book, glancing up at the crucifix over the main altar.
Her life is not bad. She has friends and family who care for her. She suffers from occasional stress and has trouble sleeping, but she can speak with a few friends about these issues and find support. She knows that people find her a bit odd. She is clumsy, awkward, nervous.
And, there is something else. She’s never been able to name it. A stirring. A hope and desire for something, for someone. She feels it now. The red flickering flame in the dark church draws her eye. This red candle honors the Real Presence of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus in the tabernacle. The flame grows brighter, hotter, like a heart beating silently in the dark. She hears something. It is quiet at first, growing louder and more insistent. She sees something. She sees someone. She sees him. Jesus says to her, “Behold the Heart.”
She sees and she is seen. She beholds Him. He beholds her with great love. He says to her, “Behold the Heart that has loved man so much.” She beholds the Heart that has loved her so much — and loved us so much.
Over several weeks and months, Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque, VHM, would see visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in her convent chapel on many occasions. 2025 concludes the 350-year anniversary of her visions in that small French chapel. In her journal, she wrote:
“I could plainly see his heart, pierced and bleeding, yet there were flames, too, coming from it and a crown of thorns around it. He told me to behold his heart which so loved humanity. Then he seemed to take my very heart from me and place it there in his heart. In return he gave me back part of his flaming heart.”
Contemporary images of the Sacred Heart are rooted in the revelations received by St. Margaret Mary. The light, the crown, the fire of his love and his heart pierced. Sometimes he came to her with very specific instructions: “Honor My Sacred Heart on the first Friday of each month. Tell your sisters to do the same.” And “pray before the Eucharist for one hour on Thursday night-- the night before you honor me on first Fridays.”
She later reflected:
“This Divine Heart is an abyss of all blessings, and into it the poor should submerge all their needs. It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows. It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet our every need.”
When she talked with her community, she was met with a mix of reactions — curiosity and belief, eye rolls and disbelief. She spoke with her superior, who was not sure what to make of all this. Was it true? Jesus did speak to saints. Was she a saint? Or a troubled young woman? Or both?
Her superior reached out to a young Jesuit priest who was new to the area. Father Claude Colombiere, SJ, had been chaplain to the king of England. However, due to shifting alliances and political maneuvers, he was pushed out after a series of persecutions and imprisonment. He arrived at the French village sick and exhausted. People quickly saw his wisdom and faithfulness. Maybe he could help this young sister. Maybe he could make sense of this.
After a few conversations, Father Claude was convinced that these visions were from Christ himself. These visions were consistent with the faith of the Church, with Scripture and Tradition. In fact, there was nothing new here at all. The essence of her prayer experience was this: “Jesus loves me. He loves all of us. He wants us to love him and others.”
Yet, in these apparitions, he was speaking and revealing this message in a unique and powerful way. He was asking Sr. Margaret Mary to spread this message.
As a cloistered nun, she had a limited social circle: her community, occasional letters, and a few friends and family members who came to visit her. Jesus later asked Sr. Margaret Mary to tell Father Claude to preach this message as well. Thus, he became a great apostle of the Sacred Heart — through his homilies, retreats and writings — spreading this devotion around France and beyond. In one of his journals, St. Claude writes:
“This Heart is still the same, always burning with love for us,
always open so as to shower down graces and blessings upon us,
always touched by our sorrows,
always eager to impart his treasures to us and to give himself to us,
always ready to receive us, to be our refuge,
our dwelling place, and our Heaven even in this world.”
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Father Joe Laramie, SJ, is the new director of Sacred Heart Jesuit Retreat House — offering weekend retreats based on the wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola, in Sedalia, CO. Prior to his arrival at the retreat house, he served as a national preacher for the National Eucharistic Revival. He is on the Hallow app and has appeared on EWTN. He taught at Regis Jesuit High School 2005-08.
This reflection is an excerpt of his award-winning book, Love Him Ever More: A 9-Day Personal Retreat with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN, 2023. It is used here with permission.
