This year, we’re celebrating the 60th anniversary of the MSC Missions Office on the Western Road, Cork, and as part of our anniversary commemorations, we’re looking back on old issues of our newsletter, the MSC Message, on a walk together down Memory Lane.
This month, in keeping with the season, we’re rewinding almost 30 years, to the Spring of 1997, and a special Easter message from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
An Easter message from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart – from the MSC Message, April 1997.
Easter: A Fresh Start
“The Easter message is that we do have another chance, we can make a fresh start. That comes to us in the Gospels, but in lots of other ways too. When Jesus appeared to His disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, He gave them the Holy Spirit and told them whose sins you forgive they are forgiven. Through His Holy Spirit Jesus makes all things new, including all of us.
Often enough the second chance, the fresh start, can be achieved in terms of this world. The sick get better, the unemployed find new jobs, those troubled in mind find peace and those at variance are reconciled. All of this is ultimately Jesus’ work.
But the world of the risen Jesus is seen even more clearly when there is no human hope at all. It is seen in the cheerfulness of the incurably sick and dying, in the joy of those who have little, in the conversion of those who have been great sinners all their lives. Eastertide urges us never to give up hope, whatever our situation, because Jesus’s Resurrection shows us that nothing is impossible for God.
So still in the shadow of Easter as Missionaries of the Sacred Heart we give thanks to each of you for your continued support both in your prayers and in your very generous offerings. Be assured that this support brings lots of hope and joy to our MSC priests here in Ireland and in all our places of work across the world.
As Missionaries of the Sacred Heart we take new hope from Easter which entices us to make many new fresh starts. As you are the people making the journey with us, our prayer is that the Sacred Heart of Jesus will guide you all in making new starts.”
This beautiful message, written almost 30 years ago, is just as relevant and fitting today as the day it was printed. In a world so deeply troubled by war and violence, we continue to pray for peace, and to hold out eternal hope in our faith that “through His Holy Spirit, Jesus makes all things new”.
Today, we are more grateful than ever for your prayers and for your generous support, and we continue to pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus will guide you through every new start. Wishing you all a peaceful, prayerful, and blessed Easter season.
Read more from our 60th anniversary celebrations…