-----\o/---As illustrated above on the left by the stone carving from Cozumel, the pagan Aztecs / Mayans of Mexico would cut the heart out of a living victim and offer it as a sacrifice to the sun god, in this case, Kukulcan / Quetzalcoatl, also known as the feathered serpent. And in the very similar stained-glass window below, note that the Sacred Heart is portrayed as aflame in the sky like the sun, being adored by two angels!
After the appearance of the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the precious tilma of Juan Diego, came the conversions of the Aztec Indians. So complete in writing was the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe in meaning to the Aztec Indians that in 7 years, eight million pagans joined the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. The Aztec pagans had offered 20,000 bloody human sacrifices to the god Quetzalcoatl-Venus each year. The image of this pagan god was carved out of stone, as seen in ancient pyramids of Mexico. The Aztecs learned through the instruction of Juan Diego and the 'writing of the tilma' Image that no human sacrifice could equal Jesus Christ offered on the Cross. In their conversion the Aztecs also turned to the Holy Eucharist as Juan Diego knew well the Christian doctrine of the Church. Shortly after this miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Spaniards replaced the Aztec's hieroglyphics to teaching of the alphabet.
Thence, on the new continent of America 8 million Aztec pagans were added and grew to millions more in a short time span.It is an event unheard of in other times and places, unequalled in scope in all of Christendom. It surpasses by far the 3,000 baptized in one day by St. Peter in Jerusalem. The Protestant Revolt was taking place in Europe about this time, in the year 1541. Many Roman Catholics were leaving the faith in the old world. Approximately 5 million separated from the Catholic faith in the Protestant Revolt, if not more.
It was to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a humble nun of the Order of the Visitation of Our Lady that Our Lord chose to reveal to the world His Sacred Heart, thus opening a New Era of Grace and Mercy in the history of the Church and the world. These private revelations took place during the years 1673-1675, and are drawn from the diary of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the witness of her fellow sisters, and that of her spiritual director, St. Claude de La Colombiere.
Notice how St. Margaret Mary Alacoque describes the revelation of the "Sacred Heart" of Jesus (emphasis is mine):
Our Lord makes known the Devotion of the First Fridays: June 1674
On the First Friday of each month, the above-mentioned grace connected with the pain in my side was renewed in the following manner: the Sacred Heart was represented to me as a resplendent sun, the burning rays of which fell vertically upon my heart, which was inflamed with a fire so fervid that it seemed as if it would reduce me to ashes. It was at these times especially that my Divine Master taught me what He required of me and disclosed to me the secrets of His loving Heart. On one occasion, while the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, feeling wholly withdrawn within myself by an extraordinary recollection of all my senses and powers, Jesus Christ, my sweet Master, presented Himself to me, all resplendent with glory, His Five Wounds shining like so many suns. Flames issued from every part of His Sacred Humanity, especially from His Adorable Breast, which resembled an open furnace and disclosed to me His most loving and most amiable Heart, which was the living source of these flames. It was then that He made known to me the ineffable marvels of His pure love and showed me to what an excess He had loved men, from whom He received only ingratitude and contempt.
Luk 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Luk 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered [them] in her heart.
