If the heart is of fundamental importance in our human relationships, this is even truer with a God who is love. In the Gospel, we see that the redemption wrought by Christ and the Blessed Virgin (co-redemptrix) gives masterly importance to the heart. Their sacrifice is made with their Heart: "A sword will pierce your soul" prophesied Saint Simeon to the Blessed Virgin, soul here meaning heart. At the institution of the Eucharist, Saint John bends over the Heart of Jesus. The sacrifice of the Cross ends with the pierced Heart of Christ.

If Christ and the Blessed Virgin both asked that we pray to them through their "Hearts", it's because they want us to consider this essential characteristic above all else: l‘love they have for us. So they ask us to approach them by first contemplating their love for us (without forgetting the reality of the Passion, of course). Far from being old-fashioned or mystical, this approach to Christ and the Blessed Virgin through love is, on the contrary, magnificent and an exceptional gift on their part.

Let's remember that the first two commandments are not "prohibitions". They are two commandments of love. "You shall love your God with all your strength, with all your soul and with all your mind". The second is Christ's "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself". Devotion to the heart is no different.