EUROPE/ITALY - Comboni Missionaries: let us contemplate the Heart of Jesus by opening our hearts to the mystery of his love

Friday, 19 June 2020 missionary institutes   coronavirus   missionary animation   spirituality  

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - "This year we celebrate the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a particular context marked by the Covid-19 pandemic which is still causing so much tragedy and pain in the whole world. With trust in God, we send the invitation to the whole Institute to contemplate the Heart of Jesus by opening our hearts to the mystery of his love so that this mystery can touch us deeply, free us from all the forces that keep us locked up or isolated and help us to be faithful to our consecration and mission". Thus began the message on the occasion of the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is celebrated today, June 19, addressed to the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) by the Secretary General of Formation and the General Council.
"As missionary disciples let us enter the school of the Heart of Jesus which in his humanity reveals to us the Heart of God, the Heart of the Good Shepherd who approaches the poor, the suffering and the marginalized ... it involves participating in the love that is always communicated, always communicates and which, if received by the beloved, always gives life, makes it grow and educates in the sense of the Latin educere which means to bring out what is best in the being human".
The message notes that "this encounter with Christ sets in motion a process of conversion, formation and transformation or, better still, of 'Christification' which lasts a lifetime and which must touch the heart". The Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, on the path of initial and ongoing formation, at personal and Institute level, are therefore called to "cultivate, deepen, contextualize" the spirituality of the Heart of Jesus, "so that our whole life always adheres more to the 'program' contained in our name".
Quoting Saint Daniele Comboni, who speaks of the Institute "as the Cenacle of Apostles, a luminous point that sends as many rays that shine, warm, and reveal together the nature of the Center from which they emanate", the message ends with the wish that "the Heart of Jesus is truly the Center of communication among all the confreres and that we can make fraternal communication an instrument for building bridges, for uniting and sharing the beauty of being brothers on a mission in a time marked by contrasts, division and indifference". (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 19/6/2020)


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