After discussing the philosophical concept of “nature” (CLICK HERE to read previous posts in this blog series), we can now assert that nature answers the question of what a being is, what it can do, and what it ought to do, which is the same for all beings of the same nature. After this, the next philosophical concept to address in order to understand the Sacred Heart of Jesus is “person”. And where the “nature” is the “what” of the thing, the person is the “who” of the thing, at least when it comes to beings with rational natures (beings with irrational natures – the rock, the tree, the dog, etc. – are not persons). For example, when your phone rings, do you say, “I wonder what that is that is calling me on the phone”? Of course not, because you already know “what” it is that is calling you – you know that it is a human calling, because it is within the capacity of the human nature to dial a telephone, but not the nature of a cow or a 2×4 piece of wood or a book or a snake or a rose. A thing can only do what is in its nature to do. So no, you do not say “I wonder what that is that is calling me on the phone”. You do, however, say “I wonder who that is that is calling me on the phone.” Which you say because you know that a nature itself does not dial a telephone, but rather a person does. The human nature gives the ability to make a phone call, but then there is an actual person who is making that phone call itself. There is the actual person who is acting through that human nature. So then, we all reading and writing this blog have a human nature, which determines what we are, what we can do, and what we ought to do, and it’s the same for all of us (i.e., there is no “what’s good for you is good for you and what’s good for me is good for me”). Yet the human nature itself does not read, does not write, does not listen, but somebody calls, and I write, and you read – an individual person acts through that human nature. The human nature allows us to do these human activities, yet the person is who actually performs them. So then, if “nature” is essentially the “what” of the being, then person is essentially the “who”, at least when it comes to beings with a rational nature (namely, humans, angels, and God).
As we get to our next blog in this series next week, we will start to apply these terms to Jesus Christ in order to understand His Sacred Heart – “what” and “who” is Jesus Christ, and how does this affect His heart and its experience of love. For if we do not understand that Jesus Christ is a Divine Person with both the Divine Nature and a human nature, then we will never fully grasp the magnitude of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.
If you would like to learn more about the Sacred Heart of Jesus, then check out Daniel’s audio course on the Sacred Heart – 13 audio tracks with over 11 hours of content! CLICK HERE to learn more and purchase.
