Commentary on the Gospel of
An Open Heart
Pope Benedict XVI (Ratzinger, Behold the Pierced One) places the Sacred Heart right at the center of the Easter Mystery, which overturns the understanding of heart as the organ of self-preservation: “The task of the heart is self-preservation, holding together what is its own. The pierced Heart of Jesus has also truly ‘overturned’ (cf. Hos 11:8) this definition. This Heart is not concerned with self-preservation but with self-surrender. It saves the world by opening itself. The collapse of the opened Heart is the content of the Easter mystery. The Heart saves, indeed, but it saves by giving itself away. Thus, in the Heart of Jesus, the center of Christianity is set before us. It expresses everything, all that is genuinely new and revolutionary in the New Covenant. This Heart calls to our heart. It invites us to step forth out of the futile attempt of self-preservation and, by joining in the task of love, by handing ourselves over to him and with him, to discover the fullness of love which alone is eternity and which alone sustains the world.”
