A world-changing YES

The other day, I began a tweet with a reference to today as the feast of Mary's world-changing YES. And indeed it is: a YES which intensely changed the course of history, and the lives of billions of people across two millennia. And a YES which completely altered Mary's own life, and has profoundly changed mine, through the Incarnation of Jesus, and for which I am immensely grateful. 

Today in the Society is also a day of celebration: seven RSCJ are making their perpetual vows in Rome, and one is making first vows in Australia. And it occurs to me that each one is pronouncing her own world-changing YES... because each one, through her passion, her gift of herself and her vowed commitment to God and our mission, will undoubtedly change her own corner of our world. She will undoubtedly change lives - even minutely, even if she will never realise it - just as she will allow her own life to be transformed, and her desires turned upside-down. As our Superior General said to the group of seven in Rome:

What confirms your vocation as a Religious of the Sacred Heart, is your passion and commitment to proclaim what you have discovered with God’s people, in your ministry, in your communities, among your families and friends and especially with young people. Like the woman at the well who understood herself in a whole new way after her encounter with Jesus, you are ready to go back to your villages, your towns and your people to proclaim the Good News from the depth of your being.

And what about me; about us? Can today be a day for recognising just how much we are called to our own continuous, world-changing YES? And for renewing our own passion, commitment and gift of ourselves, to God, and to our mission of making Love known from the depth of our being? Let us pray this for ourselves, as we pray, too, for these newly-vowed and newly-professed sisters, and everyone who seeks to follow Jesus more closely.


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