Praying to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

This, like the ritual of the Mass itself, the alleged moment of transubstantiation, is another of those Catholic rituals I simply can't accept, and don't get, as both a secularist AND an ex-Lutheran.

And, no, any Catholics, do NOT tell me these are prayers to Jesus. They are prayers to his sacred heart. And they're as literal, even literalistic, as Ken Ham or other Protestant fundamentalist beliefs and belief statements.

The image at left, along with many others like it on the Net, makes that clear, as do the countless prayers, novenas and other words of devotion that can also be found online.

I've elsewhere said that pre-Columbian Contact Aztecs who ripped beating hearts from still living sacrificial victims show that many New World First Peoples were NOT Rousellian noble savages. At the same time, as with Puebloan "versus" monastic flagellation (yes, Puebloans did it pre-contact), it seems like there was openness to cross-pollination.

The Sacred Heart devotion, like indulgences and other nonsense, started in the late Middle Ages, even though the first Feast of the Sacred Heart did not get celebrated until 1670. It arises out of older meditational devotion to the wounds of Christ.

That itself, per the Aztecs above, is itself blood-drenched and bloodthirsty enough. Per devotion to all five wounds, it comes off like Roman augury, that the wounds of Jesus might not just be comforting, but with enough meditation, might even have revelatory messages.

And yet, Martin Luther himself did NOT condemn it, unlike many other Catholic things, including the veneration of relics, which kind of parallels this. As shown at left, the famous Luther Rose has a heart at the center, which cannot be but a less bloodthirsty version of the Sacred Heart, even if Luther said the heart in his rose was the heart of faith.

As with the best biblical interpretation of the Lord's Supper, I think Luther was wrong and the Reformed were right. And it's not just the Reformed. Orthodox accuse Catholics of Nestorianism with the Sacred Heart. Arguably they're right, too.

And, of course, because there's a Sacred Heart of Jesus, as Mariology grew, especially the Immaculate Conception, there's an Immaculate Heart of Mary. And, with qualifications, Marty would probably be OK with that, too. Other than rejecting her as redemptrix, Luther's Mariology was basically pretty Catholic his whole life.

Speaking of finding things online, per a previous post of mine about advertisements in Catholic church bulletins, it seems like Catholics don't miss a chance to make a buck when devotional dedication is the issue. Check out this page, which I was led to on Googling. And, I'm going to go further on this in a follow-up post. I mean, who could resist a prayer pillow case?

And, speaking of philosophy and beating hearts, the Aztecs practiced philosophy just as sophisticated as the Thomist system that the Spanish Inquisitors brought to the new world.