Now that Ian has begun work on the icon I think that my main contribution is to pray. The task of writing this icon of the Sacred Heart is truly awesome as we contemplate the meaning which it embodies. We learnt early on in this project (March11th 2011 )that St Francis de Sales has a special place in Ian’s heart, and so it is appropriate that we should seek the interscession of this great Saint. An expert on the Salesian tradition, Dr. Wendy Wright, has this to say about the importance of the Sacred Heart to St Francis and St Jane de Chantal:
the heart was central. In fact, the entire edifice of the Salesian spiritual tradition is undergirded by the image of the heart…This is not the external, formalized devotion to the Sacred Heart that later came into being but a vision of an ‘interconnected world of hearts’- the hearts of God and human kind bridged by the crucified heart of Jesus…The Salesian universe was an imaginative vision grounded in scripture and tradition which envisioned a world of interconnected hearts: the hearts of God and humankind united in the divine-human heart of Jesus.
‘Come to me and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart’ ( Mathew 11.)
(Sacred Heart :Gateway to God., Darton, Longman and Todd 2002)
And so, knowing of their love for the Heart of Jesus – the place wherein the heart of God and the hearts of humanity are united – we ask for their prayers to guide the writing of this icon.
With humility we entrust this work to the patronage of two Saints who were especially devoted to the Heart of Jesus:
St. Francis and St Jane pray for all who seek to be humble and gentle of heart.
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