A powerful
icon and
pedagological tool used by the Roman
Catholic Church. Depicted as a red heart, with a small cross in the "v" of the heart, the cross being surrounded by flames. Surrounding the heart at its greatest width is a
crown of thorns. Often, this
depiction is shown on the chest of a standing
Jesus and he is pointing to it.
The underlying explanation of the devotion is that it considers the love of Jesus for us as a despised, ignored love. Basically, therefore, the tortured heart represents Jesus' tortured, unrequited love for us. Sounds like Jesus needs some therapy to get over this.