[Parts I and II.]
This Tuesday's Bollettino publishes the letter (in Italian) Pope Benedict XVI sent last May 15 to the Superior-General of the Society of Jesus, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, for the 50th anniversary of that bright light of the Pontificate of Pius XII, of most glorious memory, the Encyclical Letter Haurietis Aquas, on devotion to the Sacred Heart.
The Society of Jesus has been, of course, the historical custodian of this most venerable devotion. Below, excerpts of Pope Benedict's beautiful letter:
This Tuesday's Bollettino publishes the letter (in Italian) Pope Benedict XVI sent last May 15 to the Superior-General of the Society of Jesus, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, for the 50th anniversary of that bright light of the Pontificate of Pius XII, of most glorious memory, the Encyclical Letter Haurietis Aquas, on devotion to the Sacred Heart.
The Society of Jesus has been, of course, the historical custodian of this most venerable devotion. Below, excerpts of Pope Benedict's beautiful letter:
The words of prophet Isaias - "You shall draw waters with joy out of the Savior's fountain" (Is 12,3) - which open the Encyclical with which Pius XII recalled the first centennial of the extension to the entire Church of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - have not lost today, 50 years later, any of their significance. ...
The worship of the love which renders itself visible in the mystery of the Cross, re-presented in every Eucharistic Celebration, becomes thus the foundation by which we may become people capable of loving and giving (cfr Enc. Haurietis aquas, 69), becoming instruments in the hands of Christ: only thus becoming credible announcers of his love. This opening up of oneself to the will of God, however, must renew itself at every moment: "love is never 'finished' and complete"(cfr Enc. Deus caritas est, 17). ... the adoration of the love of God, which has found in the symbol of the "pierced Heart" its historical-devotional expression, remains indispensable for a living relationship with God (cfr Enc. Haurietis aquas, 62).
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COR IESU SACRATISSIMUM,miserere nobis.
