Writer's Wednesday -- Dietrich von Hildebrand

It is perhaps in the adoration of the Sacred Heart that the mystery of the Incarnation and of God's infinite charity manifest itself in the deepest manner. In the invocation, Cor Jesu, in quo habitat onmis plenitudo divinatatis, "Heart of Jesus, wherein abides the fullness of the Godhead," we find the tension that is immanent in the mystery of the Incarnation in its full, ineffable glory. In saying Cor Jesu, we are touching on the deepest and noblest mark of human nature: to have a heart capable of love, a heart which can know anxiety and sorrow, which can be affected and moved, is the most specific characteristic of the human person. The heart is the most tender, the most inner, the most secret center in man, and it is in the heart of Jesus that the plenitude of Divinity dwells.

And what an extraordinary emphasis on the infinite love of Christ in the Sacred Heart, on this mystery which is the deepest source of our joy! That Christ loves us is the great secret, the most intimate secret of every soul. It is the most inconceivable reality; it is a reality which would completely change the life of every man if he could but realize it fully.

----Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Heart.