The Theological Significance of the Sacred Heart
A Reflection from St. Thomas
Since Christ is the “Word of God,” an analysis of its notion is helpful for better understanding the person and work of Christ. As St. Thomas teaches, we can take “word” in three senses, following the manner in which we produce a word. First, it is taken for that intellectual conception that follows from the union of the intellect and the understood object. Second, it is taken for the external word expressed by the person as a sign of what is understood. Third, it is taken as a medium between the two, of the intellectual intention to produce the external sign, partly immaterial insofar as it is a representative of the immaterial internal word and partly material insofar as it is an intention to produce the spoken word, an external and material sign.
As mentioned, a word is a conception somehow proceeding from the apprehension of a certain object. Hence, when I see a dog, the intellectual conception of a dog is produced in my mind immaterially as some intentional being. Then, there is the production of a word that resides in the intellect, yet takes upon itself a certain direction towards a material production. Lastly, there is the material production itself of the external word, meant to signify the apprehension of the thing.
Therefore, it quite clearly follows that there is a second question governing our investigation. If a word proceeds from the apprehension of some object by knowing that object, then we can very rightly investigate what knowledge Christ as the Word of God proceeds from. It is not hard to see that the Word of God proceeds from the apprehension of God Himself. Hence, Christ is not only the Word of God, but is also the Image of God and perfect representative of His substance. Just as my intellectual apprehension of a fish produces a fish in my intellect in intentional being, so also does God’s intellectual apprehension of Himself produce Himself in real being. This part is easy.
The difficult part comes in when we begin asking questions about how this relates to creatures, whether possible or actual. Is the Word of God an image of all creation as well? The Fathers and Scholastics quite clearly answer “yes.” This follows as a clear corollary when we understand how God understands creatures; He understands all things through Himself. Hence, it follows that, when God understands Himself and produces a Word, the representation of Himself will also be a representation of what is imaged in Him, which includes creatures. [1]
It is also for this reason that all things are said to be created through the Word, since the intellectual apprehension of some thing is the intellectual principle by which the agent operates. The builder builds through the intellectual image that he has of the building; in like manner, creation comes from the Father through the Son.
Yet, we go even further than this; not only does God create through the Son, but all creation is also spoken in and through the eternal speaking of the Word. This follows as an obvious corollary. God’s knowledge is not only representative and manifestive, but also operative. As St. Thomas teaches, God is the cause of things by His knowledge joined to His will (ST.I.Q14.A8).
It is for these reasons that the Fathers and Scholastics (e.g., QDeVer.Q4.A4-8) spoke quite clearly of the unique way in which the Word represents creation and concurs in the creation of things. It can be said that the Word is the perfect representative of the Divine Substance, that the Word is the perfect representative of Creation, and that Creation uniquely images (improperly, though truly) the Eternal Word.
This eternal reality truly anchors a more profound meditation on the state of the Incarnation. Just as the eternal begetting is the eternal conception and speaking forth of God, so also is the temporal mission (sending) of the Word in time by the Incarnation the temporal conception and speaking forth of God. In this way, it is not only the eternal begetting of the Son that manifests and images forth the Father, but also the temporal Incarnation of the Son that manifests and images forth the Father. Hence, the very flesh of Christ becomes the living, created image of the Godhead in time. Just like my conception of “fish” is clearly and externally manifested in my speaking of the material word “fish,” so also the eternal conception of God in the Word is clearly and externally manifested in the “speaking forth” that takes place in the Incarnation. When Our Divine Master said, “He who sees Me sees the Father,” He was not only speaking of His Divine Nature and Hypostasis; He was also speaking about His Human Nature, His flesh and bones.
Yet, we can go even further than this; remember, the Word is not only the expressive Image of the Godhead; He is also the expressive and operative Image of all creation. Hence, Christ’s Sacred Humanity not only expresses and hence reveals to us a clear image of the Deity as an externally spoken word; it also expresses and hence reveals to us a clear image of Creation as an externally spoken word. It is for this reason that it was especially fitting that the Word become a man and not an angel or some other creature; for man is a synthesis of all creation, both spiritual and corporeal, as a synthesis of soul and body.
It is here that the true profundity of the Sacred Heart is set in full relief. The soul is the principal part of man, and his heart is that image of the entire person, from which his thoughts, affections, and acts flow. Thus, when distinguishing the aspects of Christ’s humanity, we see that the heart is that image of Christ, whose humanity is an external image of God and all Creation. Yet, there is another reality that ties together the reflections on the Word as eternally conceived and the Word as externally manifested to us; the act of the heart is love, and Christ has two loves, the created and finite (yet perfect) love of His Sacred Humanity and the uncreated and infinite love of His Divinity; hence, the Sacred Heart becomes a symbol not only of the dignity and perfection of His Sacred Humanity and its love, but also of the dignity and perfection of His Divinity and its love. It is crucial to highlight this point. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not merely a symbol of His human love for us, but of His entire love for us, both human and divine.
From this, we conclude that the Sacred Heart is a most perfect synthesis and expression of all things. Its noble affections of love become to us the image of all love and goodness, both divine and created, revealed to us in each of its modes, both internal and eternal in the bosom of the Father and external and temporal in His revelation to men by the Incarnation. Now, since habits are manifested through their acts and externally manifested through external actions, the Passion reveals its true significance as well. What the Sacred Heart is to the line of entity and internal affection, the Passion is to the external line and action. In the Passion, we see nothing but the entire humanity of Christ acting and suffering in order to reveal His Most Sacred Heart to men. Yet, as a corollary of the above, the Passion also becomes true wisdom to us, a knowledge both of the Godhead, the most profound will and affections of the Father for us, and of all of creation reflected most clearly in the Deity and spoken in time most clearly in the Passion of Christ.
Lastly, we can view all of this in light of what was said concerning the third sense of the term “word.” Before we externalize our speech, there is a certain union between the spoken word and the intellectual conception that must occur. The very intention of the externalized word remains in our mind, hidden within us, before we will to reveal this to others.
In this way, the passion and the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus are truly the “mystery which hath been hidden from ages and generations, but now is manifested to his saints” (Col. 1:26) and Christ is the “Lamb who was slain from the beginning of the world.” (Rev. 13:8)
From this consideration, we can take the many statements of Scripture about the pre-existence of Christ, the intentionality of creation, etc., in a truly incarnate sense. It was not that Christ assumed flesh before the incarnation, rather it is that he holds the primacy of all things as that last word which he was to speak in the final days (Heb. 1:2). God created the entire universe for the Sacred Heart of Jesus to express all the modes of mercy and love in His passion as an act and expression of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the greatest Image of God Himself and all creation.
[1] NOTE. I am not aiming precisely for scholastic rigor in this article, but for a more synthetic treatment. It is to be noted that the Word proceeds per se from God’s necessary knowledge and per accidens and concomitantly from God’s free knowledge (cf. Sacrae Theologiae Summa, IIA, Book II, Chapter II, Article II, Thesis 37).