Spirituality of the Heart has its foundation in and grows out of the vision of Jules Chevalier, a vision about a way of living the Gospel that has a particular emphasis on the compassionate heart of Jesus.
For the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the wider Chevalier Family, the heart of Jesus reveals a God who is love and who loves creation intimately and unreservedly.
The presence of God at the heart of the universe makes the world sacred and this presence draws us to transcend our own being through love, a love that has as its source the Heart of God.
A Spirituality of the Heart reverences the human heart as loved by God unconditionally, and as the privileged place of encounter with God. Living such a spirituality involves making the journey into one’s own heart and into the heart of the human condition, open to encountering there the compassionate heart of Jesus.
It is this encounter that has the potential to open our hearts so we can live differently. Spirituality of the Heart invites us to be aware of the movements and responses and yearnings of our own hearts and the hearts of those around us and to be open to the presence of God. This way of living opens up enormous possibilities for life and love and offers a challenge to grow ever more deeply in kindness, compassion, humility, mutual forgiveness, understanding, hospitality, simplicity and a sense of humour.
A Spirituality of the Heart leads us from our own hearts to the pain and suffering of the world in which we live. We are called to be God’s Heart on Earth and to offer ourselves to be used as source of healing for the wounds of the world. We believe, as did Chevalier that this love is the remedy for the ills of the world.
A Spirituality of the Heart is a missionary spirituality. It calls us to be everywhere, in every culture and at every level of society. Religious, diocesan priests and laity all share this mission; the laity have a unique role to play in this mission and are indispensable to it.
Spirituality of the Heart is lived together with Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, who formed and carried the heart of Jesus and who points us to his heart.
"A Spirituality of the Heart is a way of living – a way of being in the world…a journey to be travelled (with others),…an energy that sustains and moves us, a dance in which we are participating… a way of being in the world, in relationship to self, others and God; a way of coming to rest within ourselves, at our deepest centre.”
James Maher MSC
In practical terms from St. Augustine: "Once and for all then, a short precept is given unto you: Love God and do what you will. Whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare. In all things, let the root of love be within, for of this root nothing can spring but what is good."
Image: Spirituality of the Heart: Bruce Woods (used with permission)
The way of the Heart – James Maher MSC
A Spirituality of the Heart is a way of living – a way of being in the world. It is a journey to be travelled (with others), it is an energy that sustains and moves us, a dance in which we are participating. It is a way of being in the world, in relationship to self, others and God; a way of coming to rest within ourselves, at our deepest centre. Below are some reflections on key aspects of this way of being, which may spark something in you.
A Spirituality of the Heart is about LOVE ….
‘We have learned to believe in the love God has for us.’ (1 John 4:16)
Belief in God’s unconditional love for us is the foundation of the Spirituality of the Heart. Love is an expression of a relationship to bring another to life. The great commandment to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ describes the natural and life giving response to this love. Love evokes love. God’s will, God’s desire, is only to love. When we love, we become God-like; we activate the divine love that energises and confirms all creation. Through our love, we let go of some of our securities and are vulnerable to be changed by another. To love is to risk, to love is to suffer, yet it is only love’s ‘powerless power’ that can bring real transformation. We know a lot about love, but our ability to give and receive it is always limited by our experiences of love. I cannot grasp what it might mean for God to love me (or anyone) if I have not experienced, to some degree, love and acceptance and affirmation from another person. However, growth and healing (transformation) are always possible within the schema of Heart Spirituality. Life itself is a healing journey, if we are open to it.
A Spirituality of the Heart is REFLECTIVE & DISCERNING ….
A Spirituality of the Heart reverences the human heart as loved by God unconditionally. But it goes further than this. It also recognizes the human heart as the privileged place of encounter with God. Living such a spirituality involves the journey into one’s own heart and into the heart of the human condition, open to encountering there the heart of God. In the joy and the struggle, in the blessing and the brokenness we encounter in our everyday lives, there is a possible point of contact with the Divine. This highlights the need for interiority, for a contemplative stance. It calls for daily habits of reflection and discernment, resisting the roller-coaster of compulsive activity. Each day, we need to find some time to notice what’s happening within us – in our body, our mind and our spirit, and to look for God in this.
A Spirituality of the Heart is RELATIONAL ….
The way of the Heart is a journey into relationship, with others and ultimately with God, in Jesus. Discipleship is intimate relationship; it is close friendship with the person of Jesus. This is why Mary has always been such an important model of discipleship. Spirituality of the Heart is not an ideology. It is an experience of being, of relating with others, of finding my place in the world and allowing others to find theirs. As disciples of Jesus, all our relationships become dimensions of our relationship with him. Again, this calls us to be reflective about the movements within our relationships … to notice the signs of the Spirit. Relationship is all about coming to a sense of self, in connection with the other. The challenges and the invitations of relationships are at the core of our spiritual journey.
A Spirituality of the Heart is EMBODIED ….
The history of Western spirituality has not been that attentive to the wisdom and the information that our bodies offer to us. Many authors have written on this subject in recent years. The Irish theologian Daniel O’Leary writes: “The key to complementing an intellectual understanding of our faith is to develop a new awareness of our bodies. To truly live in our bodies is to have a conscious and highly attuned sense of ourselves as living, moving, breathing, feeling organisms.” (Daniel O’Leary, Travelling light: your journey to wholeness, Dublin: The Columba Press, 2001, p 19) Elsewhere he says: “Most of us need [to experience] a conversion so as to enjoy our bodies. We need a re-education in listening to their wisdom, to raise awareness of the ability of the nervous system to sense and monitor our inner states. It is often these unfelt, unheard whispers that have such an immense influence on our outer condition. They hold the key to our healing and our fulfillment in life. … When we begin to believe that the body is in the soul rather than the soul in the body, and when we come alive to our senses and skin, and see them as guides and transmitters of energy and grace, our whole lives can be transformed.” (Ibid, p 30). Many people are finding their spiritual lives enriched through body-oriented ‘spiritual practices’, such as Yoga or Tai Chi. Exercise can be meditative, it can be prayer! Body prayer! Also, for many people, it is not until they hit big health problems that they begin to take their own spiritual journey seriously. It is not just the fear of mortality that spurs people towards the spiritual in these cases, but the realization that body, mind and spirit are all intimately connected, and that to ignore (or be suspicious of) the body, breaks down this connection. It fails to take the Incarnation seriously, and fails to recognize that the human is the gateway to the Divine.
A Spirituality of the Heart is a TRANSFORMATIVE JOURNEY ….
Spirituality of the Heart is not an instant fix for anything; for pain, for grief, for sickness, separation, depression, financial worries, unemployment, disabilities, panics and traumas. The journey into our own heart (and the heart of the human condition) is a journey into woundedness. The redemption comes when we experience that we are not abandoned in this woundedness, and that our wounds become the places of encounter with the wounded (compassionate) heart of Jesus. Our woundedness thus becomes the point of transformation, the place of growth. Transforming suffering suggests a deepening of our own humanity, because we are challenged to explore life’s meaning in terms of our ultimate destiny.