French Icon

"Etre Sur Terre le Coeur de Dieu"

To be on Earth the Heart of God.

Religious profession consecrates us

to Christ and his mission.

Like him we are sent into the world

to proclaim the Good News

that God is a Father

who shows his concern

for the poor and the suffering,

and who gives meaning to life

by giving us his love.

Constitutions, 20

Our mission, taken from the spirit that we share with Jules Chevalier, our Founder, is expressed primarily by the way in which we relate to people - with kindness and compassion thus leading them to understand more clearly how Jesus loves and understands them.  Our Constitutions remind us that "we want to live like Jesus who loved with a human heart" (CS 10).

We were not founded, as many other religious orders were, to do any one particular apostolic work or to supply any particular need. We were not founded just to teach, or just to run parishes, or just to work in hospitals, or whatever. Our mission is to be on earth the heart of God: following the example of Jesus we will strive to lead others to God with kindness and gentleness, to unite them to him by love and to free them from fear.

We undertake our mission in whatever way is most effective, doing whatever brings us into contact with people - especially people who need our help - in parishes, in schools and third level education, in retreat and spirituality ministry, in missionary work, in underdeveloped countries, in hospitals, in prisons, in marginalised communities, within our families, among our friends, in our workplace. Like Jesus, we are people who love with a human heart.

Read more about the icon "To be on earth the Heart of God" here.

Daily Prayer of Fr Chevalier (1866)

Lord Jesus,

You are the saviour of the world

and the source of all holiness.

Look with kindness on all your priests,

and especially on us who are privileged to be

Missionaries of your Sacred Heart.

Intercede for us with your heavenly Father,

that he will keep us safe in your love,

and consecrate us in the truth,

so that you may be glorified in us,

and our lives reflect your virtues.

Since our mission, like that of the Apostles,

is a mission in and to the world,

plead with your Father to keep us from evil,

so that we may remain united

by the bonds of the strongest love.

As you are one with the Father,

may we also be one with each other

in your divine heart.

To this same divine heart,

whose sentiments shall ever be ours,

we now consecrate ourselves

for time and for eternity.