The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming heart shining with divine light, pierced by the lance-wound, encircled by the crown of thorns, surmounted by a cross, and bleeding. Sometimes, the image is shown shining within the bosom of Christ with his wounded hands pointing at the heart. The wounds and crown of thorns allude to the manner of Christ's passion, while the flames represent a furnace of ardent love.
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Latin: Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind".
The devotion is especially concerned with what the church deems to be the long-suffering love and compassion of the heart of Christ towards humanity.
“You were given your own center of awareness, free will, and your own special connection to the Creator. This connection is what I call the Sacred Heart, which is where your love resides, and your awareness of infinity begins. That extraordinary place is the sanctuary and power given to the sons and daughters of God. You might compare the Sacred Heart to a pure crystal prism through which the light of God enters and then bends in order to establish and manifest unique and particular covenants. In the same way that a prism refracts a simple ray of white light into a spreading array of rainbow colors, so too the simple truths of God are made applicable to the diversities of life. Therefore, from the viewpoint of your heart, you do experience the earth and your body as three basic essences. It is right, valid, and intelligent that you do so. Nevertheless, they are all one, and spirit is not separate from the body.”
- Love Without End, Glenda Green
“The heart is magnetic, silent, and still. The feeling of being there is like one of resting in a peaceful heavenly lake, or floating in a vacuous space. As a magnetic center, your heart is the great generator of all your life energy, and whenever you empower your heart you raise your energy level physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Within the heart you will also find clarity, resolve, steadfastness, intent, stillness, respect, justice, kindness, and perceptions of greatness.”
- Love Without End, Glenda Green
“In this approach, you will locate the doorway through which the heart communes with infinity, the Holy Spirit and with God. To begin, you need to be aware that a circle of energy surrounds your body. It is much like a protective cocoon. Then establish within your mind’s eye a perceptual viewpoint on the backside of that circle, facing your spine. From that viewpoint, facing your back, scan the extent of your spine as if you were searching for the doorway to a cave. In looking for the heart’s doorway, you may at first find the opening very small, but as you enter, it will dilate and you may see infinity laid out before you. For some people the door may be sealed so tightly that its presence will only be sensed, and a large stone, figuratively speaking, will have to be rolled away before the opening becomes evident. Never despair ... the opening is there. You will find it if you continue to look and it will open when you knock. Don't be shocked with your first perception. You may sense the cold, dark air of the cosmos. Often there is a chilling effect, for spirit is cooler than “than the body. Some may see a burning bush at the entrance; others may see the door encircled with flame. Others will see, or sense, a mighty angel with a sword guarding the entrance. Many sacred symbols have been placed within your consciousness to announce the Heart’s presence while protecting it from false entry. You may hesitate to enter because of your perceptions of holiness and desire to remove your shoes, or cleanse yourself in baptismal water, at least symbolically. Those who are not ready for this perception will deny it or run, for the holiness they perceive is their connection to God. By entering the portals of the heart in this way, you will inherit the wisdom that was placed there for you from the beginning. Your unfolding consciousness of the Sacred Heart will begin to revive many dimensions of intelligence that have been lost to you. At the very least, you will experience inner peace and true relaxation.”
- Love Without End, Glenda Green
“Most often when I spoke of the temple, I was referring to the Sacred Heart and not to an architectural edifice. Just as surely when I referred to the Kingdom of Heaven, I was referring to the zone of perfection, which is the bond between God and man, and is found within the Sacred Heart. God is the author of perfection. Wherever that perfection dwells, Heaven unfolds. Man’s doorway to that perfection is the Sacred Heart. Seek it first, and all else shall be given to you. “Inside the sacred silence, you may experience bliss and quietness, and receive a healing, or nurturing. Or you may see infinity unfolding before you. This viewpoint of infinity is the source of your higher awareness. It honors you, the love that you are, as a unit of one in the eternal expanse of all that is. There in that center of priceless wisdom, you will find dimensions of specific intelligence which are ever guiding your life into pathways of right action.”
- Love Without End, Glenda Green