A Sacred Heart Feast Day Message
from Sr. Barbara Staley, MSC, Superior General
Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Centenary Year
Celebrating Mother Cabrini’s Entrance into Paradise
June 23, 2017
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
United together as Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, co-sharers of the charism and partners in mission, let us rejoice and give thanks to the Heart of Christ for the many blessings He is giving us.
God has gratuitously poured out His extravagant love and grace on us during this wonderful year of celebrating 100 years since Mother Cabrini’s death and going
home to her beloved. All over the MSC world, sisters, laity, and the local Churches are commemorating the life of our Mother Foundress.
The Heart of Jesus unites us and gives us a common meaning and purpose. Conforming ourselves to the Heart of Christ, all that we do must spring from this Fountain of Love. Each day we journey together to become more human and more humanizing. Our love of God is a strong and courageous love that shares the anguish of God and urges us outside of ourselves to touch human misery, the suffering flesh of others. Mother Cabrini’s complete giving of herself to the Heart of Christ allowed her to trust “I can do all things in Christ Who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). Let us also give ourselves completely to Love.
With this deep security of being held within the very Heart of Christ, we continue to respond to the mandates of the XV General Chapter. Our personal lives, our apostolic missions, and our internal and external structures must all be transformed. The transformation to which we are called is radical and demands fearlessness. It is a transformation in service of bringing a new evangelization to the most needy in today’s world. This transformation will help us to more effectively bear the love of God to the world. We trust the grace emanating from the Chapter that, “now is the favorable time” for this transformation.
On this great Feast of Love, let us all, love, love, love, and love even more. Let us embrace each other and embrace those whom we serve. Let us together embrace the joys and consolations of our journey and also let us together embrace the challenges and hardships of our shared journey.
Wishing each of you many blessings and assurance of God’s love for you. I am also sending my gratitude for all the good that each of you do in everyday, mostly unnoticed and unacknowledged ways.
Happy Feast Day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Sr. Barbara Staley, MSC
Sr. Barbara Staley, MSC Superior General