Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Let this cross be my call to learn from the sunhow to liveto give everythingand still let goone more timeto bloom full,to bow,and offer the windmy soft petaled spirit.
Kimberly King, RSCJ
c. MperiodPress
Our Spiritual Library
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.
First Friday Reflection for February, 2015
I stood there motionless, head arched upward trying to understand the Pillar of the Sacred Heart at the entrance of Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Princeton NJ. I came in 1977 to be the fourth headmistress of the school following such extraordinary women as Sisters Joan Kirby, Mary Bush and Judy Garson. And at the age of 33, I needed all the spiritual strength I could find.
The Gifts of the Magi, Reimagined for Today
By Bridget Bearss, RSCJ
We near the end of the journey to Epiphany and the long awaited gifts have now arrived.
First Friday Reflection, January 2015
This powerful image – Listening to the Heartbeat of God – speaks to me of the line: “Each morning you wake me to hear, to listen like a disciple” (Isaiah 50:4). Serving poor elderly in New Orleans as a pastoral care coordinator for Christopher Homes, Inc., I am given many opportunities to listen to God’s heartbeat.
Whenever I visit a particular Central American couple, the husband loves to read from Scripture. We end with prayer. The wife’s eyes always fill with tears when she calls upon Jesus. They are filled with joy even though their situation is precarious.
A Christmas Poem
Oh all - at - once God,You escape our words.Our theology hammers,Our poetry stammers,But we take you in our armsAnd you sleep there in a delicious silence.
~ Carol Bialock, rscj
Advent Poem, Week III
My counter-weight,my center down,my metronome, my joy,my song, my strength,my fascination,my hope, my help,my rumination,my wonder, awe, best inclination,grace, cry, laugh, word,moving me out to the neighborhood;Born a baby, born of yes,born to journey, born to bless.
Joy to the world, parumpapumpum,Hark, herald, welcome,
COME!
Kimberly M. King, rscj
image: c. Natesh Ramasamy
Kitchen Counter Wisdom: Second Wednesday of Advent
Lessons for life learned in the kitchen
By Bridget Bearss, RSCJ
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, 2014
Today, is Mother's Day in our Church. We stop. We remember. We believe. We celebrate.
Advent II, 2014
Where the voice cries, plaintive or piercing,at the bend of becoming and no return, I amwatchful for the low wordsthat draw me down center,that humble me, impassion me,steady me, move me,move my light, move my being,into the here and the now ofthe still and the fray of the world,
to proclaim the timeof Love's incarnation.
Kimberly M. King, rscj
First Friday Reflection, December 2014
This bronze statue of Christ and the child is located in a narrow courtyard on the campus of Saint Louis University, not far from the United States-Canada Provincial House. The sculptor, James Michael Maher, wrote about it:
I wanted a piece that would embody the idea of the Sacred Heart and convey the essence of the mission to bring Christ’s love and compassion to all. I think it has a lot to do with seeing the parent/child relationship from both sides, and relating that to being a child of God.