The issue of the Civilization of Love and Truth that appears in the teaching of the pope Paul VI and John Paul II is deeply rooted in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. The pope Paul VI used for the first time the expression “the Civilization of Love” in 1970. He pointed at love as the principle of human relationship and underlined its imperative character. The Civilization of Love inspired by spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus reveals the truth about God and human being. John Paul II was one of the promoters of the Civilization of Love. He described its main features based on the four principals: priority of person before things, ethics before technique, “to be” before “to have”, mercy before justice. Love plays the fundamental role in this civilization. It determines the shape of various communities: the community of marriage, family, educational and professional communities. The Civilization of Love constitutes the antithesis of the civilization of death. John Paul II addressed his words especially to young people. He asked them to develop an integral concept of human being and proper hierarchy of values in various fields of social life. In the reach teaching of the pope John Paul II the Civilization of Love is bound up with the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The activity of St. John Eudes and the mystical experiences of Margaret Mary Alacoque in the late seventeenth century contributed to the development of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And although quite soon the Apostolic Capital met with requests to establish a special celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it was not until 1765 when Clement XIII approved, only for Poland, a mass form and the Office of the breviary of the Heart of Jesus, while allowing circumvention of the holiday in the Republic. However, the outstanding revival of the cult of the Sacred Heart took place in France in the era of the French Revolution as a spontaneous reaction to the atrocities, godless rights and the anti-church and anti-Christian activities as a whole. That is why Pius IX in 1856 extended the feast to the whole Church, and his successor made it a first class holiday. Since then, the spreading cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as a response to all forms of secularism and secularization programs, is associated with expiation, remuneration and devotion to God's Heart.
Father Dehon discovering and deepening in his personal spiritual life the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was simultaneously experiencing that love with which God loved a human through Christ. Not only he experienced God’s love for himself, but moreover in response to this love he loved Him back, promised Him faithfulness and reparation while preaching and showing that love towards the people. The contribution of Fr. Dehon into the development and spread of the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus wouldn’t have happened without his personal devotion to the Heart of Jesus. The seed of this devotion has been planted during his childhood, however the time of the rapid growth and consolidation of this spiritual maturity took shape in time of his studies in the French seminary. The subject of Fr. Dehon’s cult was the second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ and particularly the Heart of Jesus, but the fundamental reason for that cult was the love of the Redeemer of the world. We can notice here the exact mirroring of the teaching presented by the pope Pius XII in the encyclical Haurietis aquas. The Trinitarian dimension of the spread of the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is also visible in the apostolic activity of Fr. Dehon and in the activity of the first priests of the Congregation. Thanks to their zeal that cult has been constantly promoted. Writing activity of Fr. Dehon contributed towards the growth of the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus through preaching of the love of God toward human and promoting that love in day to day life. His social activity was based on the conviction that the biggest problem in the social field was simply lack of love and as a consequence and a side effect building of the unjust society. Living the spirituality of the Sacred Heart that way Fr. Dehon has had an unquestionable contribution towards the development and spread of that cult.
The dehonian imaginary makes clear two of the most outstanding features of Dehon: his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and his social commitment. Both are present in studies about the founder and in the current Rule of life, as well as in the recent ‘magisterium’ of the General Superiors. What is the mutual influence of both traits? This work does not aim to provide an answer to this question. Just to suggest the use of an instrument which operates like a 'figure'. The described figures bring us Dehon’s ‘consciousness’ regarding relationships with God and their influence on social relations, in the building of a new society. Thus, starting from the initial figure (‘the social reign of the Sacred Heart’) underlining the emergence of the concept ‘people’, he redesigns his understanding in a new figure called 'Christian democracy'. Finally, the presentation looks at an institution that should be in a position to contribute, through an emotional, cordial, deep, tangible spirituality, to the transformation of social reality. That institution is the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, which may offer a new way of inhabiting our space and time (-perhaps a new figure of communion, of sint unum?). These lines, therefore, locate the reader on the threshold of questions that need to be more carefully studied.
It is impossible to derive any political programme from the worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, since it is not the aim of it. Its central idea is the shaping of human life, so that it fully express itself and mature in relation to God, and concurrently develop the most adequate reference to earthly life. It means then that we can rightfully ask about what “form” could be given to political activity which has its source and derives from the worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Analysing the stated question in this particular way, we can focus on several fundamental issues, signifi cant for Christian political commitment. Th e worship of the Sacred Heart strengthens the conviction that politics is a work of love, and emphasises the integral approach to man as a being of internal unity. When the church worship is rightly understood it may serve as a starting point for conclusions dealing with the separation of the sacred from the secular. Finally, the authentic worship points out to the need of defence of human nature and treating it as the major principle of conduct. In this general meaning the worship of the Sacred Heart advises how the Church may contribute to politics.
Idea wynagrodzenia jest ściśle związana z kultem Najświętszego Serca Jezusowego. Jej najważniejszym elementem jest odpowiedź na miłość Boga. Celem artykułu jest omówienie zagadnienia wynagrodzenia oraz jego aktualności w dzisiejszym świecie w kontekście pojawiających się wobec niego zarzutów.
EN
The idea of reparation is thoroughly connected with the cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The most important element of such cult is the reply given to the love of God. The aim of the article is the discussion on the subject of reparation and its actuality in the contemporary world in the context of the allegations that appear towards such idea.
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