A Heart on Fire
James Kubicki
Ave Maria Press £8.99
(978-1-5947-1287-6)
Church Times Bookshop £8.10 (Use code
CT856 )
THIS is a definitely Roman Catholic book about rediscovering
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The author is a Jesuit, the
director of the Apostleship of Prayer, whose mission is to
encourage Christians to make a daily offering to the Lord. He is
obviously a very experienced spiritual director, and the chapter
about making a morning offering has encouraged me to resume the
habit (although not in the words that he suggests) rather than
swear at the alarm clock.
It is not a purely pious book with precious spirituality, as it
contains much historical and theological reflection on Sacred Heart
devotion. It also ends each chapter with a spiritual exercise. The
author is honest about the bad art that often accompanies the
devotion, and some of which he reproduces. There is a stunning
picture of a carving of the Sacred Heart by a Polish man awaiting
execution at Auschwitz, and a lovely 20th-century picture by an
Italian Jesuit brother. It may well be that the standard of the art
and the sentimental statues have prevented the devotion from
catching on in the Church of England.
Kubicki discusses that idea that prayer of the heart needs to
enter into us. This is classical spirituality about prayer moving
from the head to the heart. He reminds us that the Heart of Jesus
is a heart of perfect love, and of Pope John Paul II's saying that
"It is near the Heart of Christ that man's heart is given the
capacity of loving."
A very good chapter appears about the connection between the
Sacred Heart and the eucharist, and the author quotes Pope Benedict
XVI: "The ultimate purpose of Eucharistic transformation is our own
transformation in communion with Christ."
I get rather bemused when he talks of communal consecration to
the Sacred Heart and Sacred Heart badges, but I would not like
these ultra-Catholic things to discourage people from reading a
very well researched and yet devotional book. Perhaps we could
persuade the Church of England to embrace a feast of the Sacred
Heart.
Prebendary Scott is Sub-Dean of Her Majesty's Chapels
Royal.
