In prayer we come to Him with everything that touches our life,
with the sufferings and hopes of humanity.
(Constitutions, 20)
As apostolic contemplatives, Religious of the Sacred Heart root our lives in prayer. With a mission to discover and reveal the love of God, our spirituality and our mission are based in love. Our contemplative outlook is part of who we are, whether in prayer, in ministry or in our daily lives.
"The contemplative outlook on the world has been a call to be authentic apostles of Christ's love, to help bring to birth a more welcoming world, to make known a God who is great, bountiful and tender. It is a call to educate in such a way that God's plan, God's glory, may become a reality, so that all may grow as brothers and sisters in the inward freedom of the children of God, and have fullness of life." (Superior General Concepcion Camacho, RSCJ)
The pierced Heart of Jesus opens our being to the depths of God and to the anguish of humankind.
(Constitutions, 8)
On these pages, we will share prayers, poems, reflections and artwork that reflect the spirituality of the Society of the Sacred Heart. We hope you will return here periodically for resources appropriate to the liturgical season and our Sacred Heart traditions.
We each have a unique story or moment of coming to know the Sacred Heart of Jesus; through an RSCJ, an Associate, a service experience, our education, a vocational journey, our career, a friend or a spouse. Our encounters, though vast, draw us into a community, connected far and wide, full of diverse backgrounds, understandings, ideas, hopes and goals.
This sculpture of Christ and “every person” needs no words. It embodies all of the messages of great love and promise conveyed during Jesus’ ministry.
In his latest book, The Universal Christ, Richard Rohr speaks of the centrality of relationship. “My trinitarian faith says that God is Relationship Itself,” he writes. “The names of the three ‘persons’ of the Trinity are not so important as the relationship between them. That’s where the power is at.” He characterizes our human love relationships as a sort of “school” that prepares us for relationship with God, and he defines Grace as “just the natural loving flow of things when we allow it, instead of resisting it.”
Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5
Response: Their message goes out through all the earth.The heavens declare the glory of God;and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.Day pours out the word to day;and night to night imparts knowledge.Response: Their message goes out through all the earth.Not a word nor a discoursewhose voice is not heard;Through all the earth their voice resounds,and to the ends of the world, their message.Response: Their message goes out through all the earth.
Today, we hold the mystery and the paradox in each breath ...
Both death and resurrection are present
as we stand at the foot of the cross.
In this season, we see the tender birth of Spring with courageous trust and vulnerability allowing our wounds to hold the resurrection.
It is the Easter season,
burgeoning alleluia with a refusal to believe that anything is devoid of resurrection,
even when the rational likelihood leaves us teetering on the brink of despair.
“The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”
Isaiah 50:7
Lent is intentionally disorienting. It invites us to seek what really matters.
“Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She replied, ‘No one, sir.’ Then Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”John 8:10-11
“Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20
“Everything I have is yours.”
Luke 15:31
And to us daughters and sons,
God offers this blessing, mid-way through Lent ...
“May all that is unforgiven in you
be released.
“May your fears yield
their deepest tranquilities.
“May all that is unlived in you,
blossom into a future,
graced with love.”
‘Benedictus, A Book of Blessings’, by John O’Donohue, page 114
Today, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Oscar Romero, Rose Marie Quilter, RSCJ, writes, “It’s an ideal moment to ponder the call of Moses, God’s call to each of us personally and our call, together, as a community of faith in today’s world.”
“The Lord is my light and my salvation.”
Psalm 27
On this second Sunday of Lent,
we sit upon the mountain of transfiguration,
