The Heart at the Heart of the World: Re-Visioning the Sacred Heart for the Ecozoic Era

Ecology & Justice Series

Traditional forms of devotion to the Sacred Heart, also known as the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have waned among Catholics in recent decades. Here, Mary Frohlich, a sister of the Sacred Heart, seeks to reinterpret this traditional devotion as central to Christian spirituality in the 21st century. Facing our impending ecological disaster she sets out to discover the Heart of God as truly the heart of all creation.

Drawing upon recent theologies that have embraced the ＂new animism＂ that regards every being including humans as a node in webs of living relationality, this book chooses twelve themes relevant to the concerns and needs of today’s world and explores what story of the Heart of God may be told in relation to each one.

Mary Frohlich, RSCJ, taught spirituality at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago from 1993 to 2020. She is a noted scholar of Carmelite spirituality, and is a former President of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality. She is the editor of Saint Therese of Lisieux: Essential Writings, and author Breathed into Wholeness: Catholicity and Life in the Spirit, both from Orbis.