Jul 8, 2015
Only 100km to go!
The plane was late. Only an hour, but in Spain connections are precarious. However finally everybody touched down and we managed to make a mad dash to get our bus. When we arrived in Sarria we began to move at an entirely different pace. On the Way you have to leave the hurry and bustle of the world behind, if only for a short while. It’s an experience that has drawn people from all around the world, including nine pilgrims making up our MSC Camino group.
Just after dawn the next day we began our 111km journey to Santiago de Compostella. It’s an incredible experience of walking from horizon to horizon across the beautiful Galician countryside. We followed in the footsteps of countless thousands of pilgrims, stretching back over a thousand years, towards the resting place of St. James the Apostle.
Follow Your Heart – Wisdom on the Way
Our group was made up of college students and staff, with Henry and Giacomo along for good measure. We walked about 25km per day, arriving at our destinations before the heat of the noon Sun. Then there was the opportunity to have a siesta, explore the town, and chat with fellow pilgrims. In the evening there was time for Mass and the famous €10 Camino three course dinner. There were surprisingly no blisters ( well, not many anyway ) and everybody got on like a house on fire. (more…)
Mar 15, 2014
Peter Ng’ang’na MSC, from Kenya, celebrated his Diaconate Ordination earlier this month with his Missionary of the Sacred Heart broters. Here he tells us what happened.
Preparation for my Diaconate Ordination began with a six days retreat led by Fr. Nick Harnan at our house in Makhado. Fr. Jonas Mokoena continued with a final week of preparation to the ministry of Diaconate and practice. The Parish Youth from Vleifontein village prepared the Liturgy and hymns for the Mass. Fr Vince Carroll was very welcoming at the house and proved himself to be an excellent host in every way. (more…)
Jul 4, 2013
How to describe our first few days on the Camino de Santiago. Well it rained. Then it rained some more and then for good measure it kept on raining. Being from Ireland there’s very little I haven’t seen when it comes to precipitation, but I saw every type possible over those first few days. I felt like Forrest Gump in Vietnam: “One day it started raining, and it didn’t quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin’ rain… and big ol’ fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night…”
However our spirits were undimmed, even if our clothing was more than slightly damp. We had a great group of people on the Way. All told we started with seven, but the Camino, being the Camino that number soon grew. It’s a pilgrimage that seems to attract a certain type of person, who is looking for something, even though they’d struggle to say what it was. There are easier ways to spend a week, but the beauty of the countryside, the camaraderie of the pilgrims and the sense of solitude you carry with you make it an unforgettable journey. (more…)
May 24, 2013
For those who are considering the possibility of a vocation to priesthood or religious life this coming Sunday something special is happening. As part of Vocations Ireland’s exciting new exploreAway programme for 2013 we are holding a taster afternoon for those who want to find out more about exploreAway, with no strings attached. (more…)
Feb 15, 2013
Last week I was at a talk in Dublin on the work of the VSO and the future of overseas volunteering after 2015. All in all an interesting morning with good contributions from representative of the UN, the European Parliment and academia. They also invited Fr. Fachtna O’Driscoll, the Provincial of the SMA Fathers, to address the group about the missionary legacy of the Church and its future. In the course of his talk he revealed a startling statistic. By adding up the number of years that missionary brothers, sisters and priests worked all around the world he estimated that their commitment added up to more than 200,000 years altogether.
Fr. Tom O’Brien MSC working in Venezuela
It was an astonishing figure. When he said it the reaction of the people in the room was interesting. There was admiration, a little indifference, but above all surprise. There is something to be proud of when we think of all those people who had the courage to follow their vocation; to go out to the whole world and to proclaim the good news. (more…)
Jan 24, 2013
In 1997, John Paul II called for consecrated life to be promoted throughout the universal Church. He declared February 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, to be observed as World Day for Consecrated Life (WDCL). The celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life invites all the Church to reflect on the role of Consecrated Life within the Christian community. Those who choose to live a consecrated life do so for the sake of the Gospel.
Some Christian women and men respond to God’s call to become followers of Jesus through profession of vows and a life dedicated to prayer and service. They live out the consecrated life in different ways. Religious sisters, nuns, brothers, religious priests, and monks consecrate their lives through their profession of the evangelical vows and live as part of a community. Single lay people may choose to be consecrated virgins and make private vows to the local bishop as they live out their vocation in various walks of life. Secular institutes are another form of living the consecrated life as single people. Those who become followers of Jesus through the consecrated life bless the Church.
As Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, we are an apostolic missionary community of priests and brothers. We work together to bring the message of God’s love to the world in the life we lead and the ministry we undertake. We usually live together, in a life marked by communal prayer, ministries of service and the vows of celibacy, obedience and poverty. We work in Ireland, England, South Africa, Venezuela, Namibia, Russia and the USA. Missionary work abroad is voluntary, but we support each other in what we do in all sorts of ways.
Some other groups and orders were set up to do one particular job, but we work wherever and however we’re needed. You could be serving the people of a parish, teaching at university or school, sitting with the sick as hospital chaplain, running a youth club, at development work in a mission country, guiding people through a retreat, helping people through the high of their wedding day or the low of a bereavement, and many other things in between.
Above all it’s about responding to God’s call, sharing His love with our brothers and sisters and being missionaries of His heart.
A lot of the time we can use jargon that can be difficult to understand, such as ‘postulant’ and ‘novice.’ Have a look at the short video below to help understand some of the terms we commonly use.
[youtube GpkgE7ob9C4?t=9s nolink]
Prayer for Vocations
Holy God,
during this Year of Faith,
With gratitude in our hearts,
we praise you for your love and your fidelity.
You have shown us the way to holiness
through Mary and Jesus
and many faithful witnesses.
You continue to call men and women
to dedicate their lives through the vows of
poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Give them courage to respond generously
to your call with “Here I am, send me!”
Blessed by your Spirit,
may we always proclaim your love
with our lives. Amen.
