Rome , May 30, 2007
Prot. N. 193/2007
Message to the Dehonian Family
Feast of the Sacred Heart
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the occasion of the upcoming feast of the Heart of Jesus, I want to extend my cordial greetings to you and invite you to give God thanks for his great love, shown us in its fullness by the legacy of the life of Jesus on the cross.
These last few days we have been engaged in preparing a reflection on community life for the members of the congregation; it is called: The Gift of a Fraternal Heart . Through it we want to call upon them to pay special attention to the life of communion, the need to have the sense of fraternity grow among them, a fraternity that was given shape beneath the cross in the tiny nucleus constituted by Mary and John.
At this moment, we want to share a few thoughts contained in this message with others who make up the Dehonian Family because we believe that all who participate in our Dehonian spirituality can help promote fraternal communion.
The text states the following: “Our fraternal life is born from a gaze at the pierced side of Jesus (Jn. 19:25-37) which we are accustomed to do according to the example of Fr. Dehon. It is there that we learn of the manifestation of the immeasurable love of God for humanity. We are present at the birth of the church, the redemption of mankind, coming about through the gift of the Spirit and all made visible in the blood and water flowing from the Heart of Jesus”.
Additionally, the letter calls attention to the tiny community found at the foot of the cross: “In addition to a few women, the mother of Jesus and the beloved disciple are mentioned. Apart from declaring his thirst for the gift of the Spirit and from consigning his life into the hands of his Father, the last words of the man on the cross to his own people are: Mother, behold your son; son, behold your mother (Jn. 19:26-27). By these particular words Jesus intended not only to see to the care of his mother.... These two figures fulfill the plan that Jesus had made which was made possible by the gift of the Spirit: the tradition of Israel and newly established discipleship are united; he has initiated the true family of the risen one and the new creation”.
“We are born of this mystery of love as Christians, as sons and daughters of the Spirit; we receive birth as the Dehonian community, within the grand family which the church is”.
This scene was always very dear to Fr. Dehon. In it, he frequently saw the infinite love of God. It is a scene of communion in love and sorrow and, therefore, of solidarity which shall be extended to the life of communion in the church and to the establishment of new Christian communities. This will become an important task of the early disciples as a natural outcome of preaching the Gospel.
The Gospel of Lk. 15:4-7, read this year for the Feast of the Sacred Heart, reveals to us the preoccupation that Jesus had to unite his family and to render its communion even more intense. It shows us that taking care of the ninety-nine sheep of the flock is not enough if there is just one missing. It is necessary to go out, to look for, to get close up to those who have distanced themselves or who feel like they have been abandoned and help them return to full communion. A mother and father have the same kind of experience when they are not fully content with the success of one child so long as they have preoccupations about another.
The scene at Golgotha and the gospel story of the lost sheep urge us to take on, with deeper conviction, the responsibility of building up communion around us, in groups of consecrated men and women, in Dehonian lay groups and lay missionary groups, in our families, and wherever we work or live or pray or do good works. Our fraternal communion will always be a proof that we have accepted the Gospel of the life and love that Jesus lived and transmitted to us, his own brothers.
It is for this reason that you invite you, too, to gaze at the Calvary scene and reflect on the mystery we are celebrating. Let the Heart of Jesus assist us in modeling our own hearts after his own heart in growth in communion and fraternity, in our families, in our communities. Let our life be a credible sign of the presence of love of the One who, by means of his Spirit, makes the creation of a new world possible, one of justice, fraternity, and peace.
Happy Feast of the Sacred Heart!
In Corde Jesu
Fr. José Ornelas Carvalho, scj
Superior General
