The Gift of the Sacred Heart

"Therefore we want always to be open to receive the love which our Redeemer seeks to give to the world in the Holy Spirit. Our response to him is the life we live, which seeks him above all." From our Constitutions #105

These words from our constitutions are a reflection of our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and our spirituality which is to look upon Him whom we have pierced. Our charism is to make His merciful love visible. During our time of Visitation with our superiors here in Tulsa, our Bishop, Bishop Edward Slattery, came for Holy Mass. He gave a beautiful homily on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He said there are three important things to remember about the Sacred Heart: 1) The Sacred Heart is a gift given to us by God for us to receive. 2) The Sacred Heart is our gift returned

It also states in our constitutions that "Our personal union with Christ is what makes possible our sharing in his humility. Our consecration, with him, to the Father is for the salvation of the world."

May each of us strive to draw closer to the heart of Christ, and go forth from His heart to proclaim His merciful love to all the world.

to God. We are not able to give a good and pure gift to the Father without going through the heart of His Son. And finally, 3) The Sacred Heart is the gift that God gives to the world through the Church. It is His gift to the Church and the Church gives that gift to the world through the sacraments and through each of us as daughters and sons of the Church.

- The Sisters at St. George Convent, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Comments

Journey with Mary: Sacrificial Love of Spiritual Motherhood

Recently, I found a reflection I had written during my first retreat as a postulant. The last conference that had been given was on Spiritual Motherhood. As I approached the 4 th Station where Jesus meets His Sorrowful Mother, this is what struck my heart: What is the sacrificial love of a mother? It is the self-sacrifice made to love her children. Mary’s self-sacrifice to be there with Christ, her Son, in His passion was the selfless love that united her with Him. Her heart was pierced with 7 swords in the agony of watching her beloved Son endure a cross that He did not deserve, but which He embraced for the love of the Father and mankind. Could she not have said to Jesus, “You don’t have to do this, there are other ways. Do you know how much pain You are causing me and those who love you?” She knew He could have chosen any other way t...

Welcome to our Family, Postulants!!!

Today, on the Feast of the Birth of Mary, our new postulants entered the postulancy of our American Province of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George! We thank God for the gift of these vocations. Pictured above - on their very first full day in the convent - are (from left) Ashley Vola, Samantha Goodson, Miranda Edgar, Jennifer Clark and Erin Leis. Welcome, Postulants! We Sisters are grateful that you have accepted Christ's invitation to belong totally to Him in our Franciscan community, and we support you wholeheartedly with our prayers and help! If you would like to send a word of welcome and encouragement to these new postulants, we will pass the greetings along to them. Just leave them as a "comment"!

To Gaze upon Christ

This Lent the Lord has put on my heart the awareness of gazing upon Christ. In our Franciscan congregation, our spirituality flows from John 19:37 “they will look on the one whom they have pierced.” With this spirituality, we gaze upon the pierced side of Christ and receive from His pierced heart His love and mercy. Then we may go forth to give what we have received. Throughout this Lent, this action of gazing has been foremost in both my spiritual reading and in prayer. It also brought to mind a graced trip to Assisi in 2014, by which this “gazing” became so real to me. While in Assisi, there are many things to see and let soak into one’s soul. The first place where I was moved to gaze was in the side chapel in the Basilica of St. Clare in Assisi, where the Crucifix from which Our Lord spoke to St. Francis is now housed. What an awe-filled moment it was to kneel before this Crucifix and to gaze into the e...

1 Franciscan Way

Search This Blog