"...I cannot express the pure joy that we found in being delightfully together. It was our consolation, in a great purity of union in God alone. We talked by the fire in the kitchen with our heads drawn together." -Madeleine Sophie Barat, Vie de la Venerable Mere Barat, p. 42 Adele Cahier, 1884
That was 1800. Ever since, the Society of the Sacred Heart has continued this practice, in all times and places.
Increasing concerns about the environment, global climate change and a new cosmological consciousness call for our attention from many venues, and in various ways we try to respond.
Summer is a time when many of us hope for some experience of rest, relaxation and renewed energy. The Religious of the Sacred Heart in the United States have been gifted with such a summer experience. In July more than 230 members of the province met in Chicago for our provincial assembly and chapter, a gathering full of hope and energy.
The story of the Society of the Sacred Heart’s mission work in the Caribbean, this book features biographical sketches of Mothers Anna du Rousier, Aloysia Hardey, Maria Stanislas Tommasini and others who "received the fire from Philippine and with it enkindled the hearts of many."
You can order a copy of this book using the order form attached below.
The past few months have been rich ones in the life of the U.S. Province as we have enjoyed the visit of two members of our General Council: Sister Clare Pratt, superior general, and Sister Jane Maltby. For this visit, we chose to focus on conversations – with RSCJ, with associates, with colleagues and friends – about the joys and challenges of living a life grounded in and responsive to God’s love in the context of the United States.
"Our service of education and instruction is directed chiefly towards the young and those who bear within them the future of the world." — Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart, par. 7
The sentence from our Constitutions cited above has taken on new meaning for me. In November I attended our international Assembly of Provincials in Uganda, where representatives of the Society’s forty-four countries met to talk about issues related to the Society’s future.
“Home” and “homelessness” have been themes running through my mind and heart in recent months. Just a year ago, hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced thousands of people to leave their homes. These same storms dislodged many others from familiar patterns as they opened their houses and their hearts to the evacuees. As the months have gone on, we have heard stories of people and communities rebuilding their homes and their lives. During this same year, our elder sisters at Kenwood in Albany, New York, have begun creating a new home at Teresian House, a few miles away.
This issue of Heart arrives during the Easter season. We most often experience Easter as the culmination of the journey of Lent, the unexpected burst of new life in the midst of grief and suffering, a gift which comes after a forty day journey of purifying our hearts, our vision, our desires, our choices. We celebrate with music, flowers, food, gathering and – we hope – a beautiful spring morning. For most of us, Easter lasts a day, perhaps two, and we return to ordinary time, hardly noticing that in the liturgical calendar Easter is fifty days long!
Written by Mary McGann, RSCJ, Ph.D., currently assistant professor of liturgy and music at the Franciscan School of Theology/Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. © 2004
Since the last days of August, our minds and hearts have been filled with images of New Orleans – a city ravaged by wind and water, a people devastated by the loss of family and friends, of homes and jobs, of their very way of life.
