Texts quoted by
Fr Kees Braun in his Seminar of
Jules Chevalier, Personal
Notes, p 13
To the treatise on the
Incarnation, our professor added a thesis on Devotion to the Sacred Heart; his
development was both spiritual and learned and I wrote it down in every detail.
My heart was touched and the more deeply I penetrated this doctrine, the more
attractive it became. In addition, my confessor lent me the Life of the Blessed
Margaret Mary by Bishop Languet. This work stirred up in me a keen desire to
become the apostle of this devotion that Our Lord had himself given to the
world as a powerful means of sanctification and which he wished to see spread
everywhere. To answer his call, I conceived a plan to be realised as a priest –
I would bring together some holy and zealous confreres and work to propagate
Devotion to the Sacred Heart. I then singled out two of my companions as
suitable members of such a group. Fearing the ridicule of others, however, I
kept this fine dream to myself, and simply confided it to the Hearts of Jesus
and Mary.
Jules Chevalier, Manuscript, 1855-1856
Ten years ago while
still at the Major Seminary, I was reflecting on the disorders consuming
society and I thought, or rather God inspired me with thought, of founding a
community of missionary priests who would work to put them right. I spoke of
this to my director but he dismissed it as a dream, a specious creation of my
imagination. Embarrassed at his reaction, I determined to forget the matter,
but in spite of my good intentions, the plan remained in my mind, becoming ever
more absorbing as time went by.
A voice I could not
ignore persisted within me: you will realise your dream; God wants this work.
With this in mind and
with some apprehension I singled out as a likely companion in this undertaking
– Abbé X… I never spoke to him about it.
But then where would we establish this new community? … Issoudun with its
14.000 inhabitants and its three priests was my spontaneous choice.
Jules Chevalier, 1862
The Heart of the
divine Master is the centre
on which everything in the Old and New Testament
converges,
the pivot around which everything in Catholicism
turns,
the sun of the Church,
the soul of our souls,
the source of our mysteries,
the origin of our sacraments,
the pledge of our reconciliation,
the salvation of our world,
the remedy of all our ills.
That is how I
understand devotion to the Sacred Heart:
it embraces everything,
it is the answer to everything.
Jules Chevalier, 1887
Devotion to the Sacred
Heart
is the essence of Christianity
and contains all other devotions.
The Heart of Jesus
is the love of God,
God himself,
incarnate.
God is love.
Jules Chevalier, 1900
The Word,
coming from the Heart of his Father,
made the world emerge from nothing;
and from the Heart of the incarnate Word,
pierced on
I see a new world
merging,
the world of those he has chosen.
And this creation,
so fertile, full of grandeur
and inspired by love and mercy,
is the Church,
the mystical body of Christ,
which makes this new creation present on earth until
the end of time.
Perfectae Caritatis (Vatican II, 28.10.1965)
2. The up-to-date
renewal of the religious life comprises both a constant return to the sources
of the whole of Christian life and to the primitive inspiration of the
institutes, and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time. This
renewal, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit and with the guidance of the
Church, must be promoted in accordance with the following principles:
(a)
Since the
final norm of the religious life is the following of Christ as it is put before
us in the Gospel, this must be taken by all institutes as the supreme rule.
(b)
It is for
the good of the Church that institutes have their own proper characters and
functions. Therefore the spirit and aims of each founder should be faithfully
accepted and retained, as indeed should each institute’s sound traditions, for
all these constitute the patrimony of an institute.
(c)
All
institutes should share in the life of the Church. They should make their own
and should foster to the best of their ability, in a manner consonant with
their own natures, its initiatives and undertakings in biblical, liturgical,
dogmatic, pastoral, ecumenical, missionary and social matters.
(d)
Institutes
should see to it that their members have a proper understanding of men, of the
conditions of the times and of the needs of the Church, this to the end that,
making wise judgments about the contemporary world in the light of faith, and
burning with apostolic zeal, they be able to help men more effectively.
(e)
Before all
else, religious life is ordered to the following of Christ by its members and
to their becoming united with God by the profession of the evangelical
counsels. For this reason, it must be seriously and carefully considered that
even the best-contrived adaptations to the needs of our time will be of no
avail unless they are animated by a spiritual renewal, which must always be
assigned primary importance even in the active ministry.
Statement about the charism of the Founder
Without doubt Jules
Chevalier received the charism of a Founder. The charism of a Founder is not a
thing; it is not some thing. It is not a booklet nor a theory nor a doctrine. A
charism is not worked calmly and coolly at a desk. It is a personal experience,
an experience of the Spirit, a gift of the Holy Spirit.
In “Mutuae Relationes”
(still an important Document of the Church about the relations between Bishops
and Religious) we read the following important statement:
The very charism of the Founders (EN, 11) appears as “an experience of
the Spirit,” transmitted to their disciples to be lived, safeguarded, deepened
and constantly developed by them, in harmony with the Body of Christ
continually in the process of growth. “It is for this reason
that the distinctive character of various religious institutes is preserved and
fostered by the Church” (LG, 44; cf. DC, 33; 35:1; 35:2; etc.). This
distinctive character also involves a particular style of sanctification and of
apostolate, which creates its particular tradition, with the result that one
can readily perceive its objective elements.
In this hour of cultural evolution and ecclesial renewal, therefore, it
is necessary to preserve the identity of ach institute so securely, that the
danger of an ill-defined situation be avoided, lest religious, failing to give
due consideration to the particular mode of action proper ‘to their character’,
become part of the life of the Church in a vague and ambiguous way.