Apr 4, 2017
Together on the Way to the Lord
Giacomo Gelardi, from Italy, is one of five novices who are working and studying with the community of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Myross Wood House, Co. Cork. Here, Giacomo reflects on his experience to date.
The MSC novices with their group leaders (L-R): Fr Nicholas Harnan MSC, Jaime Rosique Mardones, Giacomo Gelardi, Piotr Zlobinski, Domenico Roza, Fr Michael Curran MSC, Daniel Filipek, and Fr Michael Huber MSC.
“It only seems like yesterday, but it has already been seven months since I, along with four other novices, embarked on an experience that, with the help of God, will take us to consecrate our lives to Him.
Each of us travelled from a different part of Europe in August 2016, arriving in a quiet corner of Ireland to begin our novitiate with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Myross Wood House in Leap, West Cork. The novitiate year is devoted to deepening our knowledge of ourselves, of the divine within us, and of our relationship with God – and our response is a resounding ‘Yes!’, declared with complete freedom and awareness.
During these months, under the wise guidance of the Novice Master, Fr Michael Huber MSC, we have been expanding our knowledge of the MSC congregation, beginning with the spirit that inspired the MSC founder, Fr Jules Chevalier. At the same time, we have also been developing a prayer life that is the foundation of human and spiritual growth towards a profound understanding of Jesus being present in each instant of our lives. This whole experience is enhanced by a wonderful natural setting in West Cork, where calm and solitude induce reflection and contemplation.
The Lord has granted our community the grace of getting on well together – within the limits of our humanity, obviously!
People may be curious to know what encouraged a Polish theologian, an Italian journalist, a Spanish lawyer, a Slovak computer scientist, and an Italian chemist to join the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Although the familiar answer is ‘because God called us’, each one of us had a personal reason that drew us to this religious congregation.
Piotr, who hails from Poland, tells us that he was inspired by reading a book written by Fr Emilien Tardif MSC. Piotr was particularly impressed by the idea that we should be bold in prayer, and ask for the complete healing of soul and body – not just for small things. This brought him to believe in and place his trust in God.
Domenico’s experience was somewhat different, as he began his career studying journalism in Italy. Having moved away from the Lord for a number of years, he began to understand the longing to dedicate his life to Him when living in the MSC college institute in Florence, which was led by Fr Carmine Pace. Domenico decided to read the MSC Constitution, and he was struck by a particular passage from Fr Chevalier: ‘Knowledge becomes dangerous without piety. They will learn far more at the foot of the Cross than in books’.
For Jaime, it was the example of the priests in the MSC school in Barcelona, Spain, that had an impact on him. He had studied there since he was a child, and the spirituality of the Sacred Heart still fascinates him, particularly as a model by which he can live his favourite Gospel passages: ‘the good thief’ (Lk 23:40-43) and the giving of oneself in the manner of Simon of Cyrene (Mk 15:21-22).
Daniel’s initial interest came about as a result of the spiritual retreats organised by the MSC community in Nitra, Slovakia, which focused on spiritual and psychological development. During these retreats, Daniel gained a greater knowledge of community life, with the understanding that he could fulfil his own broad concept of mission within the MSC congregation.
As for me? I was a bit like Jonah – I ran away ignoring the Lord’s voice (Jon 1:1-3). Then, one day, I met Fr Alan Neville MSC, who showed me the friendly and humorous face of God. After visiting several communities in Ireland, I recognised that with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, I can be at home, and I can realise my desire to love and be loved completely.”
Mar 31, 2017
Flame 2017 took place in London on Saturday, March 11th, at the SSE Arena in Wembley. Flame is an international youth event attended by young Catholics from all over the world, and this year’s event, with the theme “10,000 Reasons”, included headline speakers such as Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Cardinal Charles Bo, and singer and worship leader Matt Redman. Travis, a member of the Cork NET Team, attended the event with the group and now shares his London adventure…
Flame Festival 2017, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
“Flame for us, as the NET Team, started with a phone call from Fr Alan Neville MSC, who got in touch with us to ask if we would be interested in attending the youth event in London in March. We learned that the Catholic Youth Ministers Federation were responsible for organising Flame, and that the purpose of the event was to encourage us, and Catholic youths everywhere, to begin making positive changes through Jesus Christ.
The Cork NET Team, myself included, were incredibly excited to learn that we would be given the opportunity to attend the Flame event as volunteers with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. We were delighted to be able to learn more about performing acts of service in our daily lives, especially with an awareness of the current events that are taking place all over the world.
The team and I arrived in Heathrow, London, at around 9.00am on Friday, March 10th, the day before the event. We spent a fantastic day in London, and we then went to St Alban’s Church to stay the night with the MSC community there. We joined forces with other youths and youth volunteers the next morning, ready to share this new experience with each other.
We when finally settled in the stadium, we were amazed to be greeted by the sight of over 10,000 people who were equally as excited to be there! Some of those attending didn’t have a full awareness of what the event involved, but were still glad to be somewhere new, meeting others who shared their passion.
In addition, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart invited us to Flame to help them with their exhibit there. This involved sharing more about the ways that Catholic youths can make changes for the better, as well as sharing information about the different events that the MSC run throughout the year. We were delighted to be on the receiving end of encouraging responses all round.
Overall, Flame was a hugely positive experience for us all. We attended three sessions on the day, which involved talks, testimonies, prayer, reflection, music, and much more. I was astonished to be in the presence of so many faithful people, who all wanted to be there and to share this experience together. I felt so affirmed, and on reflection, I can safely say that this must be one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had!”
Mar 14, 2017
Gospel Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent
The Gospel (4:5-42).
A spring of water welling up to eternal life.
This is a rather lengthy reading containing different themes. Central themes are the Samaritan woman, the well, and the water. In Jesus’ day, there was deep enmity between Jews and Samaritans, who were regarded by the Jews as heretics and not part of the Jewish people at all. This division seems to have had very old roots. There was enmity between the northern kingdom, Israel, with Samaria as its centre, and the southern kingdom of Judah. A noted well in the area was connected with the patriarch Jacob.
In the evangelist John’s writing, the episodes in this reading function at two levels – this earthly one, and at a spiritual level, to which the earthly ones point. Thus, the water from the well is a symbol of the water that Jesus will give his followers, welling up to eternal life; this is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Samaritans worshipped at their own sacred site and the Jews at their Temple in Jerusalem, which led Jesus to speak of the coming age when both would be irrelevant, and God worshipped in Spirit and in truth. His own hunger gives Jesus an opportunity to speak of his intense desire, his hunger to complete the work the work the Father had given him, with the sowing of the Gospel seed and the ensuing harvest.
As a reflection on this reading, we can recall Jesus’ promise to give to those who believe in himself a spring of water welling up to eternal life – that is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives faith and hope, while Christian faith brings certainty.
A common feature of the world in which we live is doubt in matters relating to faith – doubt about elements of moral teaching, about truths of faith, and even at times about the very existence of God. An assertion of a certain philosophy, prevalent today, is that there is no certainty about anything. All we can have is speculation and guesswork rather than certainty, and opinions that vary from age to age.
An atmosphere of this sort adds to the difficulties of religious observance. Such doubt about fundamental matters is completely contrary to the teaching of the faith in matters relating to truths concerning this life and the life to come. Christian faith is thus described in the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:1): “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen”. Two of the terms used there call for our reflection: assurance and conviction.
The assurance and conviction spoken of in this verse are not psychological attitudes of souls rooted in the human mind or soul. They refer instead to the divine, theological, virtue of faith – a gift from God that gives conviction which is beyond that which human nature can provide. This assurance and certainty bring with them a peace of soul, the peace which Jesus has granted to believers, and a peace that no-one can take from them.
Mar 7, 2017
As a worldwide initiative, the idea behind Nightfever is a simple one: open doors and open hearts. On designated nights, Mass is held in a city centre church, and afterwards, the church is filled with candlelight and prayerful music. Volunteers invite passers-by on the street to come inside and light a candle of their own, and many stay to enjoy the beautiful atmosphere of peaceful and prayerful reflection in the loving presence of God.
Luke is a member of the Cork NET Team, a youth evangelisation team run in partnership by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Dominicans. Here, Luke shares his experience of Nightfever in Cork City…
“For over a year, I have been involved with a wonderful outreach group called Nightfever. Today, I’m delighted to talk about my time as a volunteer with this group, which will hopefully help to shed some light on the power and efficacy of this largely under-appreciated ministry.
In the last four months, there have been three Nightfever events in St Augustine’s Church, Cork City. Hundreds of people have come into the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist on account of these three events. Many of these people have not been season ticket holders, so to speak – some may not have ever even set foot in a church before.
Amazingly, this is achieved by the simplest of invitations. Volunteers go out in pairs (one boy and one girl), and watch out for people passing on the street. We approach passers-by and invite them to light a candle in the church… and that’s it. We might mention that there is some beautiful reflective music inside as a bit of an incentive, but that is the full extent of the invitation. Those who say yes are led by the volunteers from the street into the church, right up to the altar where they light their candle before the Lord.
I have had the privilege of welcoming people as they approach the altar at two out of three of these events. I have seen people being moved to tears in seconds – just once look at the Blessed Sacrament is enough. For some, it’s just this sense that something is different here, and I have observed countless people looking around as if trying to figure out what that is. These people often pause and take a good look at the monstrance, seldom realising that it contains the one that is different, the one that is divine.
Nightfever really has deepened my faith. I would encourage any young Catholics who are interested in joining us in this outreach in Cork to get in touch with the Fr Alan Neville at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for more information.”
You can contact Fr Alan by email at fralan@mscvocations.com, or by phone on 086 785 7955.
Oct 15, 2016
In 2016, five young adults came from Canada, Dublin and even Galway as part of a National Evangelisation Team ( NET ) to share the Good News and celebrate their faith with the people of Cork. This is their story …
“Hello, we are the Cork City NET team. We are really excited to be working with the Dominicans and Missionaries of the Sacred Heart this year. There are 5 members on our team; two from Ireland and three from Canada. We range from the ages of 18-23. All of us have had a personal encounter with Jesus, and want to share that encounter and the love of Christ with those around us.
A random fact about our team is that we love Disney movies: we have been known to sing Disney musical songs while doing chores such as dishes and cleaning.
The sixth member of the team, King Philip, helps Travis and Luke with the Children’s Liturgy planning
We just arrived in Cork city this week after six weeks of NET training in Esker and Rossnowlaugh. Cork is a beautiful city filled with history and wonders which were created by God, we look forward to experiencing and learning from our time here.
We are really enjoying the spectacular view of the city we get to adopt as our home for the year. We have high hopes for this year; we want to see young people impacted and transformed by the love of Jesus. We are excited to get to know and reach out to young adults, children and secondary school students.
As a NET team we will be involved in a variety of ministry work throughout the year. The aim of our work is to help people encounter Jesus in a personal way. A big aspect of our ministry is forming relationships with the youth; we believe that these relationships will demonstrate the power and joy that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus.
There will be plenty of time to catch up over the odd latte
Our tasks include children’s liturgy, running a parent and toddlers group, visiting local schools, day retreats, Access youth club, youth 2000 meetings, running religion classes and young adult ministry. Day retreat’s or encounter days will be a big part of our ministry. At these retreats students will be taught the Good News through games, activities, sketches, dramas and talks. We hope that through these retreats, students will become more involved in church ministries. One of our main goals this year is to create a sustainable youth ministry program in Cork City; we want to train young adults to continue the mission when we depart.
We are looking forward to getting to know everyone and growing more in our relationship with Jesus alongside the community of Cork.”
Sep 21, 2016
Here comes everybody!
It was a real privilege to join the Youth 2000 team in England for their preparations in the run up to the Conquerers Festival in Walsingham. Each year 1,500 young people journey from all over the UK to sing, pray, attend workshops and play tug of war together – as you do.
Some festivals can be too serious!?!
All this doesn’t just happen and the organising team was on site a week in advance anticipating every challenge and preparing the way. We spent days moving food boxes, setting up tables and sorting out the sound system in the Big Top. Each night we had a time of Adoration, so as to ground everything we did in prayer.
The Eucharist is a central part of the weekend
Eventually Thursday arrived along with the first of our groups. There was a real sense of anticipation and excitement. As the first buses and cars start to pull up and the people offload we move into overdrive. We began with a talk about God’s love for us and our search for Him, followed by Mass with Fr. Stephen Wang. Then it was tents up and hair down for a relaxed evening renewing old friendships and making new ones.
Hanging out with others is another essential part of Walsingham
Friday was all about getting to know God better, starting with our morning talk ‘Who do you say that I am.’ Small groups are an essential part of the faith sharing for the young people and they allow them to really express their hopes, questions and above all themselves. That evening dozens of priests took part in the Reconciliation Service, which emphasises the mercy and compassion of God for all of us. For me it’s the highlight of the Festival. (more…)
