RSCJ Associates USA - Requests for Prayer

We welcome all Associates to use this page to request prayers.

December 12th Birthday of St. Madeleine Sophie

PRAYER OF ST. MADELEINE SOPHIE

O, Sacred Heart of Jesus

Give me a heart that is one with your own

A humble heart that knows and loves its nothingness

A gentle heart that holds and calms its own anxieties

A loving heart that has compassion for the suffering of others

A pure heart that recoils at even the appearance of evil

A detached heart that longs for nothing other than the goodness of heaven

A heart detached from self-love and embraced by the love

of God

Its attention focused on God

Its goodness is its only treasure

In time and eternity.

Amen.

April 1, 2012

The Way of the Cross: Liliana’s Story: A Reflection on the Trafficking of Human Persons

The UN Representative for the IBVMs (Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary) has sent me a prayer service on the theme of trafficking which she herself had received from her JPIC contact for Loretto Ireland. The prayer is in the frame of the stations or way of the cross, and as such is very moving. For those of us who follow the issue of trafficking in human persons, this might be one more valuable resource to use during our journey towards Easter.

I join my wishes to hers,

With love and prayers for a blessed Holy Week.

Download reflection The Way of the Cross

Feb 12, 2012

Dear Sacred Heart Extended Family,

We are happy to send you today the prayer and reflection booklet that will be used by the whole Society and our friends from Lent through the Easter season to Pentecost. We want to open ourselves to the Spirit and strive "to name, connect, nurture, and illuminate how we live the mission and the spirituality of the Society of the Sacred Heart in light of the challenges in the world today." We are invited to share the various ways the whole Sacred Heart family experiences and lives Gospel values of justice, peace and the integrity of creation (JPIC,) and in the course of this journey, we hope "to discover, communicate, and welcome the emerging expressions of Sacred Heart spirituality and mission today."

What better way of making known the love of the Heart of Jesus expressed in very human ways?

This journey begins on February 22 and culminates on May 27 with the celebration of Pentecost. The Province JPIC Process Coordinator will be named soon and will provide you with information for sending in your reflections as requested in the booklet. We will all be enriched by the fullest possible participation in this process and ample communication and sharing among us from our different perspectives but all flowing from our "one heart" in the Heart of Christ.

With gratitude and prayer,

The Provincial Team: Anne Byrne, RSCJ; Mary Charlotte Chandler, RSCJ; Mary Kay Hunyady, RSCJ; Meg Causey, RSCJ; Melanie Guste, RSCJ; Susan Maxwell, RSCJ; Paula Toner, RSCJ

Download File

Poem for Advent 2011

"Advent"

by Jessica Powers

I live my Advent in the womb of Mary.

And on one night when a great star swings free

from its high mooring and walks down the sky

to be the dot above the Christus i,

I shall be born of her by blessed grace.

I wait in Mary-darkness, faith’s walled place,

with hope’s expectance of nativity.

I knew for long she carried me and fed me,

guarded and loved me, though I could not see.

But only now, with inward jubilee,

I come upon earth’s most amazing knowledge:

someone is hidden in this dark with me.

Feast of St. Philippine

November 17, 2011

Intrepid Philippine, we come to you today to celebrate your spirit,

A spirit of longing and generosity,

A spirit of learning and tenderness,

A spirit of courage and selflessness.

You left a life of privilege early to serve the poor and called others to follow you in the footsteps of the Lord who had nowhere to lay His head.

Let us honor you today by remembering your mighty deeds and your simple hours of prayer, Your months of waiting for letters which never came, and your nights of silent adoration, Your single year at Sugar Creek and the hundreds of places which now bear your name, And – challenge to us all – your legacy to do the very thing you knew best:

Pray and serve, pray and teach, pray and see who is most in need, pray and give it all away, Be the ones who pray always.

Saint Philippine Duchesne, pray for us.

In honor of Mater

September 2011

I ask you to look at the painting or at a statue of Mater with new eyes.

I invite you to look deeply and do what Mary has done in the representation.

That is, put down your work,

…Stop… pause and… look inward. Read More

Prayer from Lucy Garcia

San Francisco Associate

March 11, 2011

Remember, oh most gracious Mother,

that never was it known that anyone who sought your help

was left without protection.

Inspired by this, and with a sense of confidence,

I have come now to You.

Before you I stand in all my humanity.

Oh Mother of us all,

please don’t ignore my request.

Rather hear and answer it in your mercy,

and accept my gratitude!

Lucy’s "Memorare"

Greetings, Mary! Full of grace,

goodness and mercy are with You.

Blessed are You among women and men and

blessed is the fruit of your love: Life!

Sacred Mother of compassion and generosity,

pray for us as we struggle.

Remain with us in joy and in suffering.

Help us to express our gratitude,

to be most fully ourselves, most fully alive.

Guide us when it’s time for us to leave the earth

so that we can greet death with a ready spirit

and sweet memories of great and steadfast love!

Lucy’s "Hail Mary"

LENT 2011

Reflections

from Bertha Mascarenhas, India

“A Prayer of Compassion”

We walk with others who hurt and ache. As we do so, keep us closely united with you, Healing Presence, so that our hearts will always be warm with compassion.

We walk with ourselves in our own joys and sorrows. May we look upon our own selves with love, with a belief that we, too, need tending and care. Read More

Leadership of the Heart

St. Charles, February 2011

Prayer of my heart at the ANC meeting

God is Here, God is Here

My prayer during the ANC meeting in St. Charles, Leadership of the Heart, begins with St. Madeleine Sophie sending St. Philippine to America as a missionary to the Native American. It continues today in all of our ministries as RSCJ and Associates of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We don't always cross national borders. To be a missionary is to “Love Your Neighbor” in our current reality. It is loving with your intellect, your heart, and in your contemplation. It is all of us walking smoothly together. The video opens our hearts to where the Spirit of Gad allows us to feel, see, and understand life and reality with God's heart.

God is here with us now and always.

One thing I know is that God is Here.

God is Here video

Advent 2010

The mention of Advent always stirs thoughts of waiting. . .

waiting for Christmas.

We theologians always speak of reflecting on the three ways of Christ's coming:

in history in Bethlehem,

in the daily events of our lives,

and the second coming in the future.

click here for reflection

Feast of St. Philippine

November 18, 2010

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne

For much of her life, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne wanted to be a missionary, most specifically a missionary working with Native Americans. Not until she was 49 was she able to leave her native France for America, and not until she was 72 was she allowed to establis

h a school for Native American girls in Kansas.

click here to download reflection

September 2010

Prayer Request from Albany Associates

Jane McDonald Caruso, a Greenwich and Manhattanville alumna from the early 1970's, asks our prayers for her daughter Kate. For about 10 years, Kate, who is now 23, has been living -- amazingly well -- with an inoperable tumor at the base of her spine. When it was diagnosed, she underwent experimental chemo, radiation, and partial surgery -- they could not remove the entire tumor. Kate graduated from high school after taking off more than a year for treatment; then she finished college near the head of her class, and has been teaching at the primary level, very happily for a few years. She is one of 4 children of Jane and Rick Caruso. Jane just completed extensive Clinical Pastoral Education training and was recently hired by hospice as a chaplain. For many years she served as a literacy/ged teacher in detention centers in Georgia, where she was responsible for more prisoners receiving the ged that anyone else in the history of the State! This faith filled family would be happy for a miracle for their dear Kate. Maybe we could pray the novena of confidence through the intercession of Our Lady of Sorrows, the patron of Manhattanville and the US Province. Gratefully, Rosie Quilter, rscj.

August 2010

God, Stop the Damn Oil Leak...

We Obviously Can't

"God, step in and stip the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico!

We ask this because we don't know what else to do!

We acknowledge that humans caused this problem,

that our actions and inactions are now corrupting

this beautiful and bountiful part of your planet.

Forgive us.

And then step in to act where we cannot.

Give BP engineers supernatural wisdom

to make the right, rapid decisions to remedy the leak.

Give them stamina and creativity that is beyond their own capacity.

Bless their technology so that it works even better than it is designed.

Give governmental leaders, local, state and federal,

unity and focus to deploy all their energies in the right direction.

And beyond all this,

please reach out your hand to protect the parts of your creation

that will be damaged by this disaster.

We humbly come to you to ask you for your grace.

May the consequences of our stupidity, greed, laziness,

and ignorance in this case be less than they should be!

We know we should read what we have sown,

but here, we ask for a stay in your hand of judgment.

We do not deserve your pardon here, but we ask it anyway?

In Jesus name, fix this problem that we so pitifully cannot!"