Who We Are
MSC stands for Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
The initials M.S.C. come from the Latin, Missionarii Sacratissimi Cordis, (Missionnaires du Sacre Coeur in French), the name of our Religious Congregation founded by Fr. Jules Chevalier at Issoudun, France in 1854.
We are an international order of Brothers and Priests within the Catholic Church numbering about 1900 working in over fifty-five countries, on six continents.
The Australian Province has around 140 members and our ministries include: parishes, retreat centres, education working with urban and traditional aborigines, working in the Media, chaplains to the prisons, universities, hospitals, health care in ministry to people living with HIV+/AIDS, tradesmen and in many other areas.
Who are the Laity of the Chevalier Family?
The Laity of the Chevalier Family is a very large group of men and women from every walk of life, living in many countries and cultures spread around the globe. At its most basic level, to be a member of the Laity of the Chevalier Family requires a commitment to live a life of love, as best we can, wherever we find ourselves in our family, professional and community lives.
To deepen and live more fully that life of love, we draw on a particular focus on Jesus we call Spirituality of the Heart. We believe, and have experienced for ourselves, that Jesus’ compassionate heart reveals God’s unconditional love for every human being, especially those who are poor, excluded or treated unjustly. This love extends to all creation. We know that it is this love that has made a difference in our own lives, adding deeper meaning and purpose, and can potentially make a difference to the pain and suffering of the rest of the world.
And so, we live our lives undertaking our obligations, while at the same time, looking for every opportunity to go beyond those commitments to be a source of kindness, understanding, compassion, forgiveness, gentleness, humility and simplicity to those we encounter. In other words, the mark of our lives is to try to live our whole life in a spirit of family.
From the very beginning, Jules Chevalier had a vision of professed members and lay people working together to undertake our shared mission of offering the Sacred Heart of Jesus to others.
The Chevalier Family is comprised of professed members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of our Lady of the Sacred Heart and the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, and many thousands of lay people. Together we form one family and as such, we are interdependent.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
When in 1854 Father Jules Chevalier was thinking of founding a society of men whose mission it would be to cure the evils of that time by leading people to the Heart of Christ as the healing source of life, he asked Our Lady for help. Having experienced her powerful intercession several times he felt that, out of gratitude, his society should honour her in a special way.
Eventually he invoked her with the title "Our Lady of the Sacred Heart" and the devotion to Mary with that title spread rapidly in all continents. A confraternity with that name was founded and reached 18 million members in 1891. The Congregation of Sisters founded by Father Chevalier are called "the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart". The feast of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is celebrated nowadays on the last Saturday of May.
The purpose of this devotion, according to Father Chevalier, is to honour Mary "in her relationship of ineffable love which exists between her and the Sacred Heart of Jesus."
This is a very rich mystery with many aspects, for Mary was the Mother of Christ and also his partner in the work of redemption. On Calvary Our Lord gave her as Mother to the disciple he loved, that is, to all of us, and Mary saw how the Heart of her Son was pierced and how blood and water flowed from it.
In John 7:37 Christ referred to his heart as the source of living water, that is, of the Spirit. The source was opened on Calvary, and when Our Lady prayed with the Apostles in the Cenacle, the Spirit was poured out over them and they started to preach: the Church came to life. As Mother of the Church Our Lady continues to obtain life for all of us.
Prayer to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
Remember,
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart,
the great things the Lord has done for you.
He chose you for his Mother.
He wanted you close to his cross.
He gives you a share in his glory.
He listens to your prayer.
Offer him our prayers of praise and thanksgiving;
present our petitions to him.
Let us live like you
in the love of your Son
that his Kingdom may come.
Lead all people
to the source of living water
that flows from his heart,
spreading over the world
hope and salvation
justice and peace.
See our trust in you;
answer our prayer.
Show yourself always our Mother.
Amen.
The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is situated in the parish of Randwick in Sydney. The website opens with a power point presentation of a wide range of images of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The site has prayers and articles on the devotion and the theology behind it.
http://www.sacredheart.org.au/nationalshrineOLSH/index.htm