In France, the great Jubilee of the Sacred Heart at Paray-le-Monial draws crowds

Roman Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paray-le-Monial and cloister. View from the Bourbince River, 2023. / Credit: Sanctuaire du Sacré-Cœur/www.sacrecoeur-paray.org

Paris, France, Jul 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

For 18 months — beginning Dec. 27, 2023, through June 27, 2025 — the small town of Paray-le-Monial in the Bourgogne region of France will be celebrating a jubilee for the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart to St. Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, a Visitation nun. 

Alacoque claims in her autobiography that she witnessed some 30 apparitions of the Sacred Heart. In his dialogue with the contemplative nun, Christ asked for a feast in honor of his Sacred Heart in the whole Church. This was the starting point for a devotion that would travel the globe.

The dates of the year-and-a-half-long jubilee were chosen to correspond with the three main dates of Alacoque’s revelations of Christ: the first on Dec. 27, 1673; the second the first Friday of one of the months of 1674 (Alacoque’s memoirs do not specify which month); and the third during the octave of Corpus Christi (June 13–20) in 1675.

As Father Étienne Kern, rector of the sanctuary, explained to CNA, the aim of this jubilee is to remind us that “Paray-le-Monial is not only an important milestone in the history of spirituality but also a place of living experience today.”

Dusting off false images of the Sacred Heart

The event is also an opportunity to reappropriate the true message of the Sacred Heart and to rectify the false representations with which it has been saddled, according to Kern. 

The French priest noted that devotion to the Sacred Heart “has enjoyed a very wide expansion, but sometimes to the detriment of the depth of the message,” creating “a spiritual and theological impoverishment.”

In the 19th century in particular, the Sacred Heart was a victim of its own popularity: The emergence of imaging techniques helped to spread the devotion, and the Sacred Heart met with great success but was associated with “something a bit marked by blood, which today may seem outdated.”

Yet, insisted Kern, “the apparitions to Margaret Mary are fire: It’s not the heart of Jesus that bleeds, it’s the heart of Jesus that burns.”

Other abuses throughout history have included a morbid focus on the theme of suffering when it comes to the message of Paray-le-Monial and the co-opting of the symbol of the Sacred Heart by some for political gain.

The three dimensions of the message

The original message of the Sacred Heart given to Alacoque contains three dimensions. 

Jesus begins with a declaration of love: “This is the heart that so loved the world.” The idea is to “experience God’s love” — the antithesis of a vision of a “pitiless god who demands perfection if he is not to end up in hell,” Kern explained.

The second dimension is a kind of complaint by the Lord in which he says his love receives “only ingratitude and indifference.”

“He loves and is not loved,” Kern said. 

The third dimension of the message is a request for reparation, “the invitation to console Jesus, to accompany him spiritually in his agony in the Mount of Olives.”

Kern urged Catholics not to reduce the Sacred Heart to its “penitential and victimization dimension” nor to “a kind of banner for Christianity,” lest we “completely miss the point” of this devotion.

The apparitions to Alacoque underline “the gentleness and humility of Jesus’ heart,” Kern said. They are an invitation to “allow ourselves to be enflamed with love by the heart of Jesus, to return love for love, and to have a heart of compassion for the world.”

The jubilee

Since the beginning of the jubilee, the shrine at Paray-le-Monial has seen a sharp increase in the number of visitors. 

“In 2023, we have identified 45,000 people [visiting]. These figures can be multiplied by 2.5, which means over 100,000 people in total. At present, we’ve seen a 30% increase on these figures,” Kern explained.

According to Kern, a large number of people of all spiritualities “have had a personal experience of transformation and encounter with the Lord at Paray-le-Monial.” Devotion to the Sacred Heart has “a power and originality” that many movements (Jesuits, traditionalists, etc.) recognize.

The official jubilee itinerary is comprised of four pilgrimage stops: the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Chapel of St. John, the Chapel of the Apparitions — where the jubilee door is located — and the Chapel of La Colombière. Pilgrims receive a plenary indulgence on completing this jubilee journey.

The program also includes a “singles’ jubilee” and a “farmers’ jubilee.” In the Church in France, these two very different groups sometimes feel “unloved,” experience “suffering,” and “need to be encouraged,” Kern pointed out.

A worldwide consecration campaign

To prepare individuals and communities for the closing of the jubilee on June 27, 2025 — the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, instituted on the third Friday after Pentecost — the shrine of Paray-le-Monial is organizing a major campaign of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through a 12-step journey in written, audio, and video format. Kern is hoping for “a worldwide mobilization,” which will be the high point of the jubilee.

To mark the jubilee, a symposium was held in Rome at the beginning of May on the theme of spiritual reparation in the context of the sexual abuse crisis. At Paray-le-Monial, Jesus denounced the sacrileges committed by priests against the Eucharist. 

“The violated body of the Eucharist refers back to the violated body of children,” said the rector, who affirmed that “to repair the abomination, we need not only judicial and financial procedures and prevention but also the integration of a spiritual dimension.”

In June, Pope Francis announced he was preparing a document on worship of the Sacred Heart, due to be made public in September. For Kern, this text would be “a major document of [Francis’] pontificate.”

“For the past 11 years, all Pope Francis has talked about is the heart of Jesus,” he said. “When he speaks of the style of God — made up of closeness, tenderness, compassion — it’s the heart of Jesus.”