SPIRITUALITY OF THE HEART

The key to a Spirituality of the Heart is the love of God in a human heart, shown in the heart of Jesus. This is what is continually revealed to us in all that Jesus said and did.

 Jules Chevalier, found his inspiration in his belief in this love, his Devotion to the Sacred Heart. At the start of the 20th century, he envisioned a new heart for a new world, this new heart for us all. In our 21st-century, we name this vision and way of life as the Spirituality of the heart.  

“ We have to go down to the depths of our own souls in a realisation of our profound personal needs of life, of love and of meaning.  We must find, through faith and reflection, the answer to our own questioning in the Heart of Christ, i.e. in the depths of his personality, where man’s yearning and God’s graciousness meet in redemptive incarnation. Then, fashioned by these forces, our own heart will be an understanding heart, open to, feeling for, and giving to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We will not be discouraged in the face of difficulties. We follow Christ who ‘loved with a human heart’ as Vatican II reminds us; he shared our humanness that we might know that over us all is the everlasting love of the Father. In God’s good time the omnipotent love of God will have its way. It is this love in which we have learned to believe.”, [Fr. E.J. Cuskelly, M.S.C., Superior General, 1968-1981]. 

The Spirituality of the Heart is not merely a devotion which focuses on the performance of external practices. It is a way of being that transforms us.  Contemplation is a necessary attitude for this way of being. We contemplate the sentiments of the “One pierced on Calvary” and let ourselves be loved by Him. In the Spirituality of the Heart, our gazing on the pierced One and coming with contemplative silence are very important.

It is this love, the heart of love which is what inspires us for our lives and for our mission, our spirituality which we want to share. This spirituality, this inspired way of life and outreach to others in compassionate mission, grows in our hearts. 

The first movement of the heart is our being invited to go deeply into ourselves, to encounter there the gracious God who created us, lives in us, loves us, created our world and sustains it. 

This means a second movement of the heart as we discover this is God’s love for us, a loving intimacy, continually revealing God alive within us. 

A third movement is our being transformed, own hearts changed, always vulnerable. We experience a continual conversion of heart. 

The fourth movement is our realisation that this is not just an inward -looking love, only for ourselves, but it invites us to share the compassionate gaze of Jesus towards all, all our sisters and brothers, so that they will share in this same experience. This is mission.

 Spirituality of the Heart is a way of life in the spirit, our sharing in Jesus saying his loving ‘yes’ to the father and his being loved.