Opportunities to show God’s love flow endlessly

by Juliet Mousseau, 15 December 2024
North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. Image: Shutterstock.

 

When I entered the Society of the Sacred Heart, I didn’t know that “Sacred Heart” referred to centuries of thought and devotion to the heart of Jesus. I knew only that the charism of the sisters I met spoke to my heart and drew me in. They dedicated their lives to sharing the love of God with everyone, and I was hooked. As I learned more about the foundation of the Society, with its origins in the dark times of the French Revolution, I grew to believe, along with the Society, that love shared can transform the world. I also grew in my experience of the mystery of God’s love and my own ability (and limitations) to share it with others.

In his new encyclical on the Sacred Heart, Dilexit nos, Pope Francis describes how St. Thérèse of Lisieux desired the love of Christ to fill her heart, so that she could then spread it out into the world and let it transform others. It was not enough for her to share her own love with others. She wanted to be a conduit, an instrument bringing God’s own love into the world. She knew that the world always needs more love, more transformation, more kindness.

I can’t think of a better way to live, especially in a world that seems so broken right now. In my own formation as a Religious of the Sacred Heart, I had to learn that my capacity to take on the burdens of others was greatly limited — I could only hand over their cares to God. The image that worked for me was that of an aqueduct: I had to allow the sorrow and pain of others to move through me to God because those burdens were too much for me to handle. And the reverse as well: While my love is good, it is tiny in comparison to God’s infinity. If I can let God’s love pass through me to others, it can transform everyone it encounters.

This November, love is needed more than ever, in our country and in our world. For the last few decades, our political system in the United States has been so divisive that a tiny percentage of voters tips the scales to elect the president of the United States. Whether I find myself on the winning or the losing side, my heart aches for the way people treat each other. We all lose when we allow our humanity to be so divided, and when — worse — we forget that even “they” are human, too. It honestly doesn’t matter who “they” are: God loves them more than I can possibly imagine.

To continue reading this article, click here.

With thanks to Global Sisters Report and Juliet Mousseau, where this article originally appeared.

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