Statue of the Sacred Heart

sacred heart statue at Catholic Hythe

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a traditional Catholic devotion. Our statue is to the left of the altar. The below words of Pope John Paul ll remind us of how this devotion is just as relevant to our times, as in 1899 when Pope Leo Xlll Consecrated the Human Race to the Divine Heart of Jesus.

"I wish to express my approval and encouragement to all who in any way continue to foster, study and promote devotion to the Heart of Christ in the Church with language and forms adapted to our times, so that it may be transmitted to future generations in the spirit which has always animated it. The faithful still need to be guided to contemplate adoringly the mystery of Christ, the God-Man, in order to become men and women of interior life, people who feel and live the call to new life, to holiness, to reparation, which is apostolic, cooperation in the salvation of the world, people who prepare themselves for the new evangelisation, recognizing the Heart of Christ as the heart of the Church: it is urgent for the world to understand that Christianity is the religion of love."
Pope John Paul continues.."The Saviour's Heart invites us to return to the Father's love, which is the source of every authentic love: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Jesus ceaselessly receives from the Father, rich in mercy and compassion, the love which he lavishes upon human beings (cf Ephesians 2:4; James 5:11). His Heart particularly reveals the generosity of God towards sinners. God's reaction to sin is not to lessen his love, but to expand it into a flow of mercy which becomes the initiative of the Redemption." (Quotation from Pope John Paul ll preaching in Warsaw on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 11 June 1999).