On the Sacred Heart Encyclical 2024
Source: 23 maggio 2025 – don Ezio Bolis: “Dilexit nos”
Transcript, translated
Good evening everyone welcome to this meeting I have the joy and honor of introducing tonight’s speaker Don Ezio Bolis Donezzi is a priest of the diocese of Bergamo ordained in June 1989 along with various pastoral roles he is a professor of history of spirituality and spiritual theology at the theological faculty of Northern Italy 3 at the theology school of the seminary of Bergamo and the Institute of Religious Sciences of Bergamo
He is also the director of the Pope John XXIII Foundation also of Bergamo; is a consultant to the dicastery for the doctrine of the faith and of the dicastery for the causes of saints and last but not least since 2023 assistant ecclesiastical of the Federation of Monasteries of the Visitation of Northern Italy 4 so this one we give honor to the monastery is one of the spiritual the most qualified and appreciated theologians in the Italian panorama and has to his credit a mass of articles and books that can hardly be summarized
I will only allow myself to recall various volumes on the figure and thought of Pope John and the edition The commentary of many texts of modern and contemporary spirituality for example contemporary to the works of Charles de Foucault and then in this place I feel it is right to recall the edition from he curated the spiritual conferences of Saint Francis of Salesl
This evening’s report will allow us to appreciate the competence, passion and wisdom of Donezio also on behalf of the Mother of the sisters of the Monastery we thank him from the bottom of our hearts in advance and we will listen to you
Good evening everyone thanks to Don Marco for this overly generous presentation I am happy to be able to intervene in a Monastery of the Visitation and because the figure of Saint Francis of Sales and of Saint Jane of Chantal is very dear to me long before I received this assignment and assistant to the Monasteries of the Visitation of Upper Italy .
Well I was asked to present as much as possible in an appropriate amount of time that should not go too far because it seems to me that there then it is a match that makes the return trip difficult for me who have to return to Bergamo but also for some of you who have to go out So how will we keep ourselves and within the limits of time,
I was saying and I was asked to illustrate at least in broad terms 6one of the latest magisterial documents of Pope Francis Delexit nos encyclical on devotion to the Sacred Heart an encyclical wanted by Pope Bergoglio to celebrate the 350 years since the apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary Pope Francis has honored this anniversary not in a formal way but by bringing the Church’s attention back to the center because as I will say right away, devotion to the Sacred Heart is not simply one among many devotions but as Charles de Foucould said when he had a heart embroidered on his white dress and he was asked why an embroidery of a heart on his white dress and he who was already among the Muslims in the Sahara answered because anyone who sees me must understand that the center of my religion is the heart of love and therefore it is not a devotion among the many but it is a cult that brings us to the heart of our faith which is the Lord Jesus who opened his 8heart for us in the mystery of Easter
I will say that this encyclical is perhaps the least known among those of Pope Francis even if in my opinion it can be understood as a sort of spiritual testament because I say that it is less known because perhaps if the media and those of communication also inside the church they thought that this encyclical was simply reserved for devotees that did not have a social scope like other encyclicals for example the Ladato sì on the ecological theme or the fratelli tutti on the theme of fraternity .
In reality in my opinion it deserves instead to be known considered with attention because from here starts everything and from here starts universal brotherhood from here also starts attention to creation and therefore even if it comes at the end it could be said that it also recapitulates the magisterium of Pope Francis perhaps the least less proclaimed by the media but eh perhaps the most authentic 1 and I divide my speech into two very simple parts and the first the first part quickly reviews synthetically the five chapters .in the second part I propose some keys to reading some 1 tracks that the encyclical offers for our Christian life
The occasion of the encyclical as I said is this important anniversary but more generally also the need that Pope Francis has identified to offer the world a message a strong message to a world as the encyclical explicitly says that seems to have lost its heart in a world therefore marked by wars characterized by wounds inflicted not only on creation but also on humanity
Here it is a message of hope so it fits perfectly also in the jubilee year because from the heart of Jesus comes a message of hope that we could summarize in this his heart has not stopped beating for us to throb with love for humanity and this is what gives hope what gives confidence
The first chapter we could indicate how the approach anthropological that is, and Pope Francis begins by saying how the heart also from a human point of view is central and in life therefore the importance of the heart And here many things could be said about this anthropological approach, that is, Pope Francis does not start from a theory but starts from the experience of the experience of man of humanity an experience as I was saying also marked by fatigue from fractures from wounds and eh he immediately makes it clear that the heart is not simply a part of the man of the person but it is the center
He says “The heart is the place where we are ourselves and remember: I am the heart not only I have a heart but only am heart.” This is is formidable I do not only have a heart but I am a heart and this will then lead us to see how the heart of Jesus is not simply an organ but Jesus is a heart where obviously the heart refers to love,
This first chapter is important because it identifies the heart today. perhaps we would say with the conscience the conscience where we are ourselves the place where we ask ourselves questions the place where the our most important choices take place heart is not obvious because especially with the mentality romantic of the 10th century but also afterwards often a fracture was created between the mind and the heart the mind that thinks the heart that feels and there was even a novel a thirty years ago perhaps you will remember Susanna Tamaro go where your heart takes you
It’s a beautiful title but it’s ambiguous go where your heart takes you seems almost to say not where there is reason but where there is feeling but I say this is ambiguous because it risks making us slip into a sort of sentimentalism the heart only the emotion the feeling not from a biblical point of view from a Christian point of view.
The heart is not only the seat of emotions and not even only of feelings but it is the self it is the center of the person it is the consciousness this is very important because then it means that and we are invited to overcome this rift between the mind and the heart to find unity that which was precisely in the way of conceiving the heart in the Holy Scriptures and also in a large part of the Christian tradition up to Pascal
When Pascal says that one must follow the reasons of the heart he does not oppose the heart to reason and the mind rather he seems to say that only the heart reasons Truly only in the heart is there the possibility of understanding reality with the heart must be thought but it must think here also from a philosophical point of view and this first chapter is of great interest and I think that even those who perhaps do not entirely share the Christian faith can find here some very fruitful ideas for reflection
And then the second chapter the second chapter which yes focuses on Jesus heart above all by recalling his gestures and his words of love to say that not only does Jesus have a heart but Jesus is a heart means to recognize that in him everything comes from love; his words his gestures his encounters;
For example the encounters . Pope Francis takes inspiration from Jesus’ evangelical encounters to show precisely how Jesus is a heart. Hhis encounter with the Samaritan woman ,with Nicodemus, with the adulterous woman, with the man born blind is his gaze towards these people, is a look with the heart that is perhaps we could say a passionate gaze, a gaze of passion ,of compassion but in the strongest sense of the term but where is it and Jesus shows completely not only that he has a heart but that he is a heart on the cross .
There the contemplative gaze that this love then takes on the language of affections. Here it is not a question of exchanging affections for sentimentality how important is affective life in the life of faith ; affective life a healthy affection that preserves us from jealousy that forewarns us against a sexuality without rules against the search for unscrupulous enjoyment precisely without rules.
Here is the heart of Jesus teaches us to love to love also affectionately but in a way we always say pure in the sense that Saint Francis of Sales said that is without the search simply for a personal response of a selfish free profit here is how beautiful to see the people when they love live their affection for free without the search often accompanied by feelings of jealousy of envy even violence think of feminicides are not love but are the will to dominate the other
Here is the heart of Jesus teaches us a another way of loving another kind of affection .
Finally this encyclical pushes us to expand our heart towards the mission as I remembered the last chapter is dedicated precisely to the apostolic horizon and the invitation to expand the heart. not intimacy and not narrowness but large horizons precisely in this regard . Pope Francis says that the mission understood in the perspective of radiating the love of the heart of Christ
The mission requires missionaries in love in the sense that we said before missionaries in love with this ; there is a need for this; it pushes us, urges us.
This encyclical I would like to end with a reference to the message that Jesus with his heart offers to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitandine nun. When I read the account of her that she lived this mystical experience these words strike me I discovered the wonders of her love and the inexplicable secrets of her heart opened it to me for the first time revealed the inexplicable wonders. It seems that Margaret Mary had the first intuition grasped time even after many years of life as a religious ; she has intuited the center . I like to see in these words the amazement, the wonder of something that is under the eyes always but that rarely strikes us
Here we need starting from me to rediscover the amazement and wonder for the love of God; not to take it for granted not to take for granted ; all of our faith is all a wonder .Here this is the contemplative attitude. Contemplation means to realize without knowing how to say but to realize how great the love of God is and to literally remain speechless without being able to say even a word so great is the mystery that is revealed before us here. It is the attitude towards the cross the attitude towards Jesus heart and then another thing struck me and strikes me always some of the things that Margaret Mary said that Jesus tells her “He receives in exchange for this love if not ingratitude and indifference coldness and rejection” thus says the Lord “It makes me suffer more than all that I suffered in my passion” Strong Jesus suffers more for indifference than what he suffered during his passion- this impresses me!
How serious is indifference we could say that indifference is worse than hate . He often reminds us of this . Pope, says our world is sick with globalized indifference so this encyclical contributes starting from us to scratch that indifference that makes us incapable of knowing God’s love and also of living it towards our brothers and sisters, so I think that we could say many things but I don’t want to go on too long also because I almost finished my voice and so I have to get some water 5 [Applause] I’m finishing and the second final but this one is short about the ingratitude of indifference.
Just the other day I was talking to an elderly priest that I go to see and he was telling me that even in my diocese they are talking about unity pastoral with a large organizational machine and he told me see Pascal talks about two types of unity mechanical unity and organic unity.
There is a mechanical way of making unity that simply means to put together right put together like this and there is a unity instead organic that says integration that says communion. Here in the Church we havethe need not only to make a mechanical unity but an organic unity and organic reminds me precisely of the heart which is an organ; it is not simply a agglomeration of organs- the human person- but it is an organic unit so it really seems to me that it is pertinent.
Here is this observation that from the heart comes the cue to walk towards an organic unit precisely not only mechanical.
Tomorrow evening there will also be the adoration of the young you spoke before of the importance of educating the youngest in affection – how to make them understand that the heart is not a theme- it is a topic also for the young generations not something that belongs to the past to or grandparents but it is something extremely current; letting them speak with their language which is a language of the heart; not imposing our idea of heart that often suffers from old clichés precisely but I think that the language of the heart is an ever-young language and that young people understand because among themselves they speak of the heart and therefore with great naturalness as well as to transmit to them not the idea .
But in short that prayer is this – being heart to heart.
I think that there is something in this language of the heart that is universal and therefore all ages, all generations but I would say all religions understand. perhaps we also need to have that freedom to let express the language of the heart without immediately putting our clarifications conceptual .
Talk for example a little more about friendship with Jesus and if you look if you also look at spiritual literature ;talk about friendship between us but what does friendship with Jesus mean ? How many times we talk about love but here Francis de Sales has a lot of teaching.
It is difficult to learn to lovewithout going through friendship .Friendship is not a poor form of love but it is the way to learn to love.
Here I repeat Francis de Sales is truly a teacher and I think that all the boys and young people when you talk to them about friendship open their ears . It struck me at the beginning when he spoke to me about the dimension of heart of man and he emphasized how this part is well understood by everyone of whatever faith they belong to . I believe of all types in short and I put it together with what he said referring to the words of the Pope – not only does Jesus have a heart but t but man himself is a heart. And then while I was listening to him I don’t know if I had a wrong intuition but I said “But really it is so much that unites us between men and women and yet how difficult it is to recognize it because the world today really tells us there are many reasons for discord and tension.
In short it’s as if we didn’t recognize we struggled to recognize this that unites us Pope Francis’ expression is very strong when he says that the world has lost its heart but in his strength he also tells us that there is a way to return to putting the heart in the world so here are all those experiences, those situations where men of good will as Pope called them. John put a little heart in the end Contribute to that greater plan which is to bring the heart of Christ to the whole world.I think we can also see in this perspective also the contribution of men and women of good will to whatever faith they belong to when they put their heart into it not act as spectators.
but it is perceived and it says that we are animated by the same heart so this is beautiful. this is perceived and comes out well
good goodnight at this point 1:20:17 thanks thank you from the heart – by Don Donezzi