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was a response to Jansenist rigor, which ended up disregarding God%u2019s infinite mercy... The menand women of the third millennium need the heart of Christ in order to know God and to knowthemselves; they need it to build the civilization of love%u201d.[72][2]81. Benedict XVI asked us to recognize in the heart of Christ an intimate and daily presence in ourlives: %u201cEvery person needs a %u2018centre%u2019 for his or her own life, a source of truth and goodness to drawupon in the events, situations and struggles of daily existence. All of us, when we pause in silence,need to feel not only the beating of our own heart, but deeper still, the beating of a trustworthypresence, perceptible with faith%u2019s senses and yet much more real: the presence of Christ, the heartof the world%u201d.[73][3]FURTHER REFLECTIONS AND RELEVANCE FOR OUR TIMES82. The expressive and symbolic image of Christ%u2019s heart is not the only means granted us by theHoly Spirit for encountering the love of Christ, yet it is, as we have seen, an especially privilegedone. Even so, it constantly needs to be enriched, deepened and renewed through meditation, thereading of the Gospel and growth in spiritual maturity. Pius XII made it clear that the Church doesnot claim that, %u201cwe must contemplate and adore in the heart of Jesus a %u2018formal%u2019 image, that is, aperfect and absolute sign of his divine love, for the essence of this love can in no way beadequately expressed by any created image whatsoever%u201d.[74][4]83. Devotion to Christ%u2019s heart is essential for our Christian life to the extent that it expresses ouropenness in faith and adoration to the mystery of the Lord%u2019s divine and human love. In this sense,we can once more affirm that the Sacred Heart is a synthesis of the Gospel.[75][5] We need toremember that the visions or mystical showings related by certain saints who passionatelyencouraged devotion to Christ%u2019s heart are not something that the faithful are obliged to believe asif they were the word of God.[76][6] Nonetheless, they are rich sources of encouragement and canprove greatly beneficial, even if no one need feel forced to follow them should they not provehelpful on his or her own spiritual journey. At the same time, however, we should be mindful that,as Pius XII pointed out, this devotion cannot be said %u201cto owe its origin to private revelations%u201d.[77][7]84. The promotion of Eucharistic communion on the first Friday of each month, for example, sent apowerful message at a time when many people had stopped receiving communion because theywere no longer confident of God%u2019s mercy and forgiveness and regarded communion as a kind ofreward for the perfect. In the context of Jansenism, the spread of this practice proved immenselybeneficial, since it led to a clearer realization that in the Eucharist the merciful and ever-presentlove of the heart of Christ invites us to union with him. It can also be said that this practice canprove similarly beneficial in our own time, for a different reason. Amid the frenetic pace of today%u2019sworld and our obsession with free time, consumption and diversion, cell phones and social media,we forget to nourish our lives with the strength of the Eucharist.19