On Thursday, 19th of January 2017,
twelve RSCJ, who are in Rome for probation
(a period of intensive preparation for final commitment),
received their name and devise.
Since the time of Sophie, each probation group has been given a name and a devise which speaks of who each RSCJ has become during these months of probation. These serve as a ballast for their life and a call to remain faithful to what they know is the core of their being.
In her conference Superior General Barbara Dawson RSCJ gave this probation group their name and devise:
Our hearts burned within us as we recalled the wonderful ways that God has revealed a deep and tender love for you. We saw in action the One Body that you have become, built on trust and lived day in and day out. And we heard over and over again your desire to incarnate God’s love in the midst of people who are poor, exploited and marginalized. As we prayed over who you are and what you are becoming, we experienced fire in our own hearts and discovered your name and devise.
The name we give you is
Drawn by the pierced Heart of Jesus to love
And your devise
The Spirit continues to transform us
to respond to the needs and cries of our world
Barbara reminds the probanists and all of us that:
One of Sophie’s greatest gifts to the Society and to all of us who are her sisters as well as those who share our charism and spirituality, is her desire that we discover over and over again the love of God’s heart, that we come, we learn, we rest and we love. As she said in one of her letters:
“Go to the Heart of Jesus and draw from it, and when you need more,
go back to the Source and draw again.”
Their devise is a prayer which comes from the introduction to the Calls of the General Chapter 2016 and has its roots in paragraph 21 of our Constitutions:
The Spirit dwelling within us gradually transforms us,
enabling us through His power to remove whatever hinders His action.
The Spirit unites and conforms us to Jesus and makes us sensitive to His presence
within ourselves, in others and in all that happens.
Thus we learn to contemplate reality and to experience it with His Heart,
to commit ourselves to the service of the Kingdom and to grow in love:
"Have this mind among yourselves which was in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 2:5).
As their probation ends and the time draws near for each of them to proclaim their wholehearted promise to follow Jesus Christ forever in the Society of the Sacred Heart, Barbara's inspiring words encourage them to "set sail":
God calls us into love, sets us on fire with love for God’s people, and continues to call us into God’s heart and out to God’s people, like breathing in and breathing out, over and over and over again.
We live in a time and world that often feels out of control and overpowered by greed, selfishness, poverty, violence and degradation of environment and so many other injustices. And, at the same time, we live and work with people and communities who long for peace, non-violence and a more human and God-centered life for themselves, their children and loved ones.
As they make their final profession on Sunday, the 22nd of January, we will rejoice with each of them, with their provinces, and with the whole Society, echoing Barbara's words of blessing:
Trusting in the fidelity of God and the love of your sisters,
we pray that you will always be drawn by the pierced Heart of Jesus to love
and, transformed by the Spirit, you will always respond
to the cries of our world and God’s people with passion and fire.
The Probation Community with the General Council
Section: