Missionaries of the Sacred

One of the strongest human needs is the longing to be loved. We are born with this yearning deep within us. Its early manifestations are the need to be fed, to be dry and to be held. Every baby needs this to survive and to feel secure. This has been powerfully dramatized by Mother Teresa’s Sisters caring for dying babies in India, who would sometimes smile only when being held in loving arms.

The need to be loved doesn’t end with early childhood, but remains with us throughout our lives. However, it’s a need that can only be partially satisfied by the people around us. That’s because other people are also finite, human, having the same needs we have. Only God can fully satisfy our need to be loved, because only God is not subject to human limitations.

It has been revealed just how much God is willing to love us by sending the Son. St. John puts it this way: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” (3:16) God’s love is made real and personified in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Because the heart is a symbol of love, the Sacred Heart represents God’s love for us.

As Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, we are sent to re­flect and to offer God’s love to whomever we encoun­ter. We share God’s own love in every ministry, in all situations, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. Where people are hurting or damaged or broken, we stand with them to reveal God’s presence in the Heart of Jesus. When people are healed or reconciled or forgiven, we are there to point to the Heart of Jesus.

During the month of June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, we invite you to join with us in prayer, asking God to use us as instruments to offer a troubled world God’s love revealed in the Heart of Jesus. In whatever way, great or small, that we can touch someone’s heart with even a little bit of love, we are all being Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere.

Fr. Ray Diesbourg, MSC