The latest encyclical letter, Dilexit Nos, is almost so much as to be overwhelming. I mean that in a good way. But I mean it nonetheless.

There is so much to cover. Dating back over a decade, this blog’s foundations include Francis de Sales (and Jane Frances de Chantal), Thérèse of Lisieux, and Charles de Foucauld, and each one of these saints gets extensive treatment in the papal letter (Francis: nos. 114–118, 178; Thérèse: nos. 90, 129, 133–143, 195–198, 216; Charles: nos. 129–132, 179–180). Moreover, the notion of touch, or a tactile phenomenology of prayer and contemplation, is a recurring theme (nos. 36, 69, 136, 153, 187, 189), and I’ve also made my investment in the Bergoglian theme rather transparent. And those are just a few of the component parts. Of course, the theme of the merciful Heart of Jesus is itself such a focal point for Christian contemplation.

Instead of getting bogged down with the things I already have looked at so many times before, however, I want to do something different and new. I’d like, if possible, to introduce you to some new friends.

At the midpoint of Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis offers a paragraph on several holy women who were devotees of the Sacred Heart. In full, it goes like this:

A number of holy women, in recounting their experiences of encounter with Christ, have spoken of resting in the heart of the Lord as the source of life and interior peace. This was the case with Saints Lutgarde and Mechtilde of Hackeborn, Saint Angela of Foligno and Dame Julian of Norwich, to mention only a few. Saint Gertrude of Helfta, a Cistercian nun, tells of a time in prayer when she reclined her head on the heart of Christ and heard its beating. In a dialogue with Saint John the Evangelist, she asked him why he had not described in his Gospel what he experienced when he did the same. Gertrude concludes that “the sweet sound of those heartbeats has been reserved for modern times, so that, hearing them, our aging and lukewarm world may be renewed in the love of God”. Might we think that this is indeed a message for our own times, a summons to realize how our world has indeed “grown old”, and needs to perceive anew the message of Christ’s love? Saint Gertrude and Saint Mechtilde have been considered among “the most intimate confidants of the Sacred Heart”. (no. 110)

Among the women in this paragraph, two of them stand out to me, personally. They are both Benedictine nuns. They are both often dubbed “of Helfta.” And they both have recently had their feast days (one on Saturday, the other in fact today). These two holy women are Gertrude the Great (or Gertrude of Helfta) and Mechthild of Hackeborn (or Mechtilde of Helfta).

Pope Francis gives a bit of an introduction to Gertrude, though he misidentifies her as a Cistercian. What the Holy Father quotes from the saint’s Herald of Divine Love is, however, powerful and intimately connected to the theme of the Sacred Heart. Here is another relevant quote from the second book:

I gratefully praise and adore your mercy and loving-kindness. You even gave me the priceless gift of intimate friendship with you, making your divine Heart the source of all my delight.

Mechthild, too, is worth getting acquainted with. If I were to extract just one little quotation that indicates the intimacy of Jesus’ Heart and her spirituality, I’d choose this one (Flowing Light of the Godhead, 5.17):

Greetings to you, living God. You are mine before all things… Remember how well you can caress the pure soul on your lap, and do so, Lord, for me now, even though I am not worthy.

On these two saints and for the moment, I don’t have too much more to add. There are some other writing projects that I’m working my way through. But in this season of (prolonged!) reflection on Dilexit Nos, I hope you enjoy this brief pit stop with these two of the most intimate confidantes of the Sacred Heart. And maybe they have become your friends, too.