communitas et caritas

Today we celebrate the feast of our foundress--Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat!  Happy Feast! I'm stuck on the first rite of the mass (the introductory verse that we usually skip): "Set me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is strong as death ."   (Cant. 8:6) Love is strong as death.  Over the past several months, I've been pondering how love can conquer our fears, that my fears are eased when I remember the love of Jesus.  What do I have to be afraid of when I am filled with God's love--a love that is far stronger than all else! And yet, I do have fears. We all do.  Fears of failure, of disappointment, of loss, and of death, to name a few.  One of the most beautiful things about the Society of the Sacred Heart for me is the element of love.  Sophie founded a community of women who are devoted to sharing God's love with all they meet.  Women who help every person they encounter to know that they are loved.  I...

So, one of my tasks this year is to read a lot about the Society of the Sacred Heart and its history and spirituality.  I've just started reading Madeleine Sophie Barat: A Life by Phil Kilroy, and I'm up to the point where she meets Philippine Duchesne. (Click here to get it from Amazon.com) I'm struck by the significant difficulties that the Society faced at the very beginning.  First and foremost:  the French Revolution forced much of their work underground.  Even more than that, Sophie and Philippine both wanted to join religious orders that already existed (the Carmelites and the Visitandines) but could not because of the political climate.  Perhaps, if life in France in the late 18th century had not been so tumultuous, the Society of the Sacred Heart would never have formed! Other problems plagued the "little Society" from the beginning:  associations with priests and bishops who were under suspicion by the political and/or ecclesiastical aut...

Today is the feast of St Madeleine Sophie Barat, foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!  She was born in 1779 in France, and she founded this "little Society" in 1800.  I keep learning more and more about her, but I'm sure there are better biographies online than what I could provide.   What I love about Sophie is her generous heart and her recognition of the Christ in each individual.  Her letters show how she knew the needs and hearts of each individual to whom she wrote--and she addressed them with loving care, seeking to comfort those who needed comfort and gently challenge those who were too comfortable. The readings for her feast day include Colossians 3:12-17, which seems to sum up her ideals very well: Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgi...

From today's first reading, 1 John 4:18: There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. My mind was already on the relationship between fear and love this morning, when the priest began to ask about it. He posed some questions, most of which I've forgotten.  One was, Do you think that you can be in love and still be fearful?  Do you think that fear and love are mutually exclusive? He answered that he didn't think so, and I think he's right.  But on the other hand, both fear and love affect each other.  Fear is diminished when we love and when we know that we are loved.  How much easier is it to deal with challenging circumstances when we know that our loved ones are with us? And also, it takes courage to love freely, to offer yourself to another without knowing what you will receive in return.  It's so easy to get to know another person only ...

A little quote from St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, foundress of the Society of the Sacred Heart: "We should meditate often in the sanctuary of our hearts on the wonderful intimacy which our Lord desires to have with us and which he allows us to have with him." Many spiritual writers speak of entering that little room where we are alone with God, but the image of the "santuary of our hearts" tops them all.  There, alone with God, nothing else matters but that relationship, that love that flows between God's heart and our human heart.  What a beautiful image.