Reflection for the Feast of the Sacred Heart 7th June 2024
On the 9th May 2024, Pope Francis issued a document SPES NON CONFUNDIT.
“Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5) stating that the Jubilee Year of 2025 will be designated a Year of Hope. He invites us to commit ourselves to deepening prayer as we ‘prepare for the celebration of the Jubilee by lifting up our hearts to Christ and becoming singers of hope in a world marked by too much despair,”
“By our actions, our words, the decisions we make each day, our patient efforts to sow seeds of beauty and kindness wherever we find ourselves, we want to sing of hope, so that its melody can touch the heartstrings of humanity and reawaken in every heart the joy and the courage to embrace life to the full.”
Echoing our commitment to continue our Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (SSHJM) synodal journey we desire to respond in love to Him who is love. We desire to follow him in freedom wherever he may call us on mission. We commit ourselves to live simply so that others may live, that the beauty and harmony of creation is respected and held in trust for generations yet unborn. By our consecration we will share in our call to a new evangelisation that ‘invites everyone to an intense experience of the love of God that awakens in hearts the sure hope of salvation in Christ.’ We will dispose our souls to lives of ‘belief, hope and love.’ St. Augustine.
Sadly, our world once more finds itself ‘immersed in the tragedy of war.’ As the world prepares for political elections, we will pray and work for peace seeking out local and national policies that uphold the dignity of the young, the elderly, the voiceless and marginalised. We are called to be ‘tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind.’
By our consecration as SSHJM we desire to deepen our interpersonal relationships and to continue to build faith filled gospel communities. We will remain alert and responsive to the signs of the times and placing ourselves under the protection of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart we will be open to new forms of SSHJM life and mission. Let us rejoice and be glad!
May the witness of believers be for our world a leaven of authentic hope, a harbinger of new heavens and a new earth (2 Pet 3:13), where people will dwell in justice and harmony, in joyful expectation of the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises.
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