On Thursday, February 1, 2024,
seven RSCJ, who are in Rome for probation
(a period of intensive preparation for final commitment),
received their name and devise.
It is a tradition of the Society of the Sacred Heart, from the time of Sophie, that we are given a name and a devise chosen for us as a probation community, which marks our group and serves as a call and a reference point for each one as we begin our journey as finally professed RSCJ.
Today, Superior General Barbara Dawson RSCJ gave this probation group their name and devise:
From you, we have received your name and devise
as the expression of your deepest experience.
Your name is:
WOMEN OF COMMUNION
And the devise that accompanies this name:
LIFE HUMBLY GIVEN AT THE SERVICE OF THE WORLD
IN THE RADICAL STYLE OF JESUS
She likewise shared some points that speak not only to this probation group, but to all of us who are invited to work together across boundaries, reaching out and attending to each other, inspired by our diversity and the grace of our vocation.
You worked together to cross frontiers and boundaries of language and cultural diversity. As women from three continents, with no common language, you reached out, tenderly attending to each other, making sure that each person found her place in the community. Each one of you expressed in some way or another, your strong desire to live community, knowing from your own experiences that living “shoulder to shoulder” is not always easy. This time of probation is, as one person shared, a “Master class” in which you discovered how to love beyond boundaries, accepting your vulnerability and showing your resilience. This is living interculturality, discovering God’s presence in each person and learning to accept and grow because of this experience of being diverse yet one.
In many different ways you shared a desire and an openness to be sent, a call to communicate the love of God with simplicity and hope, to love and to serve. It seemed to us that your experience of Jesus during your long retreat and afterwards, strengthened your awareness of what it means “to discover and make known the love of Jesus Christ”.
Be women who dare to write a new chapter in the history of human relations, proclaiming to the world that this reality is possible through your passionate commitment. This requires effort and renewed sacrifice to live fully what chapter 1994 reminds us: "Our experience of internationality calls us to live the Eucharist as a call to overcome difficulties, to accept our differences and to celebrate a feast where the Spirit opens our eyes to recognize his action in our different cultures".
We pray for this probation group and thank them for sharing with us the graces that they have received.
You can see the photo gallery of the conference to the right.