Emergence of a New World

It is interesting to note that Const 32 summarizes all of what and who we really are:
"Ours is a spirit of family and a spirit of brotherhood, formed by kindness and understanding, by compassion and mutual forgiveness, by gentleness, humility and simplicity, by hospitality and a sense of humor".
Though none of the qualities of the MSC fit the actual circle of the apostles, they throw a light on how we ought to be in communities. These apostles were a failure till the death and resurrection of Jesus:
They lacked community spirit and worked for individual pomp and glory – who is the greatest?
They were insensitive to the need of others. – send her away.
They did not have a common vision – I will not believe
They often failed to recognize Jesus – Jesus, show us the way: all these days you have been with me…
As a community they were hopeless and fell terribly to the requirements of God, even for a human standard. But as a community, they are our models, the foundations and pillars of our faith.
After the resurrection of Jesus,
They receive the Holy Spirit along with Mary as a community
They recognize Jesus and are strengthened by Him as a community.
They were commissioned by Jesus as a community.
Jules Chevalier was aware of this when he wrote: “Just as the most sublime perfection, unity and agreement are found in the Trinity, let us practice charity, unity and concord among us, so as to be able to form together one heart and one soul”.
They are nice words, but how do we put them in action in our daily lives become our challenge and a threat too. Are all the members disposed to share their entire life with one another? Do sharing activities, sharing the spirit, sharing the goods mean anything to us in real terms? Are our personal projects more important? If our answer is ‘yes’, then we are directly damaging our communion, communication and interest in our brothers, since we don’t live in a club or a good hotel.
Our Charism, spirituality and mission of heart are not gifts given to individuals to live alone. Without a sense of belonging our community life becomes a mockery. Our Founders says, “I want all to be one, just as we ourselves are one. From where comes this cry? From the Heart of Jesus. He calls for unity. To break unity is to wound him cruelly.”
There is another lesson which goes with our community life is our ability to forgive. Fr. Piperon writes about our Founder in these words: “I have always admired his capacity to forget offences. This latter quality made me often say: if you want a favor from Fr. Chevalier, offend him and you are sure to get it”. The capacity builds brotherhood among us.
Let us pray that we learn from the community of apostles on discerning the will of the Father and to take part in the mission of Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and move forward as a community. This is the emergence of the new world that Chevalier wanted. Amen.

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Our MSC Charism and Mission: A pressing responsibility and a big challenge

Often I wondered about our charism and our mission. We participate in the charism of our founder and profess that ‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere’. As often as we profess that we are faced with the question as to the word ‘everywhere’, as to … loved where exactly? Are we absolutely clear that the Sacred Heart is loved? If yes, who are the recipients? Do we acknowledge and accept that the Sacred Heart is loved everywhere, including in our communities and even more precisely ‘May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved in my own heart personally. When I am convinced that this particular love fills my heart and mind, that I start to become a missionary of that Sacred Heart, let I become a mockery of my vocation. In other words, I am a missionary of the Sacred Heart first and foremost to my own heart, then to my community and others.
Our missionary spirit has its origin in Our Lord Jesus. Our human hearts are missionaries of His Sacred Heart. Our commitment must have the same clarity as Jesus when he tells the people that he must announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God to others also. It is synonymous with the proud yet humble confession of all MSCs: I must announce the Good News of the love of God revealed in the Sacred Heart of Jesus first being a missionary to the self in order to become a missionary to all.
Fr. Chevalier witnessed the ills of his time a great threat to the wellbeing of humanity. He became a missionary to bring the people to the Sacred Heart to find remedy to those ills of the society. Once again we have a difficulty in understanding our position here clearly.
Since our outlook on the ills of our time are the ills of the ‘so called’ sinners our there – the Dasein of Heidegger. If an MSC is not be able to witness the ills of his own self and continually attempt to better himself, his focus on witnessing and addressing the world on the evils of the society would not be efficacious and transformative.
Let us build our own selves, our own hearts to be better equipped to face and address the evils of the world – a relatively smaller problem compared to facing and addressing the evils of the self. Certainly evils of our society make us active missionaries, full time missionaries. If we are exhausted focusing our own evils of the self and of our communities, we would not have time left for the missionary activities to the society.
As responsible people, shouldering such a great responsibility as that of being Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, we should take our title and charism seriously and responsibly. In the words of Robert Frost, ‘We have miles to go and promises to keep’. Let us walk forward on those miles and keep those promises. Amen.

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a little bit about our constitutions

I was asked to say the morning mass in the community. I had a chance to preach about the constitutions connecting them to the gospel of the day. Many appreciated me on my presentation. i would like to give u an outline of the homily here.
Constitution is defined as an authoritative ordinance or enactment, an established law, the mode of organization of a group, and a Statute is something laid down or declared as fixed or established.
A Statute is what the Legislature decides is good for us. A Constitution is the authority that gives the Legislature the power to enact a Statute.
It could be a possibility that often missionaries and religious fall into the effects of statutes and forget about the basic constitutions that make us missionaries and religious persons. A lot of time in invested in how to play about the statutes, rather than meditating and living the spirit of our constitutions. Less and less religious turn the pages of spirit and life and mission of the society, and turn the pages of organization and temporal goods of the constitution booklets.
This brings us face to face with living with the people in day to day basis. Most of the misgivings, misunderstandings, unforgiving tendencies, revenge, and like press our shoulders because there is no follow up work on our spirit-filled constitutions. They are often discarded on account of flowery words and unpractical approach. Thus the Constitution books are taken for granted, left aloof in the junk thinking that we have known it by heart and are aware of the whole book just as we face the word of God at times.
Const 13, The Spirit of our Society is one of love and kindness, humility and simplicity.
Const 24, In a constant effort to share in the sentiments of the heart of Christ, we will be attentive to all human needs and aspirations, such as the need to be respected as persons, the need for love and peace, for freedom, justice and truth, and the search for meaning in life.
Const 31, We are all brothers, given to one another to live and work together for the sake of the kingdom. Fraternal charity will be of basic importance in community life.
Const 33, True community does not come about all at once. It grows by God’s grace and the constant effort of each member. It needs to be built up each day into a community of faith and love…. Knit together by fraternal relationships, knows that he is recognized, accepted, heard, encouraged and challenged.
I presume u all are aware of Const 32.
There is no need for us MSCs to even think about sinning against another fellow MSC, it is unconstitutional and calls for a deeper love and intimacy. Let us pray that we have time for these constitutions which throw light on our interpersonal relationships. Let us pray for each other that each might be able to witness the Heart of Christ in other. Amen.

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