A vocation is a fruit that ripens in a well cultivated field of mutual love that becomes mutual service, in the context of an authentic ecclesial life. No vocation is born of itself or lives for itself. A vocation flows from the heart of God and blossoms in the good soil of faithful people, in the experience of fraternal love.
Pope Francis
Yes, a vocation, any vocation, flows from the Heart of God. And a vocation to be a Religious of the Sacred Heart most definitely flows from - and into - the Heart of Jesus; and in the process into the heart of our world. This wasn't something I consciously understood when I joined the Society twenty years ago, but it is something I have come to live and understand, increasingly, over the years.
An RSCJ vocation is an invitation to enter into the Open Heart; open in welcome and acceptance, but especially because it has been pierced. And it's a call, as contemplative women, to contemplate that Heart, learning from Jesus; a call to discover the endless love and compassion of God in the Heart of Christ for ourselves and all humanity, and to respond, freely, in joy and openness to being transformed by that love and compassion.
Within that we know that it's here, to the pierced Heart, where we can bring our own pain and woundedness, and the pain and brokenness of our world and those we know, for healing and restoration. And it's from here that we, as women who are also apostolic, receive our call and our mission to make known that endless love and compassion, that healing and tenderness we have discovered for ourselves.
And a large part of the joy of our vocation is that we aren't just called to do this individually, but together; supporting, challenging and enabling each other to grow into our spirituality and mission, and in our relationships with the One who is the source of our deepest joy and meaning.
So today, Vocations Sunday, I will be praying for many more vocations to flow from the Heart of God; and praying especially for those women whom God might be inviting to enter into his Heart and embark on the great adventure of being RSCJ...
Pope Francis
An RSCJ vocation is an invitation to enter into the Open Heart; open in welcome and acceptance, but especially because it has been pierced. And it's a call, as contemplative women, to contemplate that Heart, learning from Jesus; a call to discover the endless love and compassion of God in the Heart of Christ for ourselves and all humanity, and to respond, freely, in joy and openness to being transformed by that love and compassion.
Within that we know that it's here, to the pierced Heart, where we can bring our own pain and woundedness, and the pain and brokenness of our world and those we know, for healing and restoration. And it's from here that we, as women who are also apostolic, receive our call and our mission to make known that endless love and compassion, that healing and tenderness we have discovered for ourselves.
And a large part of the joy of our vocation is that we aren't just called to do this individually, but together; supporting, challenging and enabling each other to grow into our spirituality and mission, and in our relationships with the One who is the source of our deepest joy and meaning.
So today, Vocations Sunday, I will be praying for many more vocations to flow from the Heart of God; and praying especially for those women whom God might be inviting to enter into his Heart and embark on the great adventure of being RSCJ...
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