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ourselves to his most Sacred Heart %u2013 an act that is nothing else than an offering and a binding ofoneself to Jesus Christ, for whatever honour, veneration and love is given to this divine Heart isreally and truly given to Christ himself%u2026And now, today, behold another blessed and heavenlytoken is offered to our sight %u2013 the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a cross rising from it andshining forth with dazzling splendour amidst flames of love. In that Sacred Heart all our hopesshould be placed, and from it the salvation of men is to be confidently besought%u201d (Encyclical LetterAnnum Sacrum [25 May 1899]: ASS 31 [1898-1899], 649, 651).[70] %u201cFor is not the sum of all religion and therefore the pattern of more perfect life, contained inthat most auspicious sign and in the form of piety that follows from it inasmuch as it more readilyleads the minds of men to an intimate knowledge of Christ our Lord, and more efficaciously movestheir hearts to love him more vehemently and to imitate him more closely?%u201d (Encyclical LetterMiserentissimus Redemptor [8 May 1928]: AAS 20 [1928], 167).[71] %u201cFor it is perfectly clear that this devotion, if we examine its proper nature, is a most excellentact of religion, inasmuch as it demands the full and absolute determination of surrendering andconsecrating oneself to the love of the divine Redeemer whose wounded heart is the living signand symbol of that love%u2026 In it, we can contemplate not only the symbol, but also, as it were, thesynthesis of the whole mystery of our redemption%u2026 Christ expressly and repeatedly pointed to hisheart as the symbol by which men are drawn to recognize and acknowledge his love, and at thesame time constituted it as the sign and pledge of his mercy and his grace for the needs of theChurch in our time%u201d (Encyclical Letter Haurietis Aquas [15 May 1956], Proemium, III, IV: AAS 48[1956], 311, 336, 340).[72] Catechesis, 8 June 1994, 2: L%u2019Osservatore Romano, 9 June 1994, p. 5.[73] Angelus, 1 June 2008: L%u2019Osservatore Romano, 2-3 June 2008, p. 1.[74] Encyclical Letter Haurietis Aquas (15 May 1956), IV: AAS 48 (1956), 344.[75] Cf. ibid.: AAS 48 (1956), 336.[76] %u201cThe value of private revelations is essentially different from that of the one public revelation:the latter demands faith%u2026 A private revelation%u2026 is a help which is proffered, but its use is notobligatory%u201d (BENEDICT XVI, Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini [30 September 2010], 14: AAS102 [2010]), 696).[77] Encyclical Letter Haurietis Aquas (15 May 1956), IV: AAS 48 (1956), 340.[78] Ibid.: AAS 48 (1956), 344.56