Pope Francis in one of his talks said, “Jesus wants to love you for
what you are, even in your frailty and weakness, so that moved by His love you
may be renewed”. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a reflection of God’s love for
each of us. Jesus Himself asked for this feast to be celebrated through His
visions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Our Founders, Don Bosco and Mary
Mazzarello, too had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart, in whose love they
united themselves to the whole Salesian Family-both near and far. Don Bosco
desired that every formation house be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
because it is the priceless virtues of Love, Generosity, Sacrifice, Renunciations,
Meekness, Humility that characterize the heart of Jesus that should be imitated
by all religious.
The Sacred Heart Training Centre, Nashik - the Novitiate of the
Mumbai Province of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians celebrated this feast
with much fervor, joy, love and dedication. From the 3rd of June, a
fervent novena was kept up in preparation for the feast during which the
different highlighting characters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were focused
upon to imitate, like His mercy and compassion, His love, generosity, humility,
meekness, etc. There were also those characters which helped us dwell on the
depth of God’s love made manifest in Jesus’ Sacred Heart which is the source of
all goodness, fount of love, a heart which always consoles and comforts and
from whom one gets all the riches of grace if we do approach Him.
On the 11th of June, the eve of the great solemnity, a
beautiful vigil service helped us enter into the atmosphere of the warmth of
love with which the Sacred Heart of Jesus burns for us. We offered ourselves at
the feet of Jesus, coming around Him as a family to allow Him to take charge of
our lives and mold us into His likeness with the virtues of His most Holy
Heart.
At the dawn of 12th June, one could feel a great sense
of excitement in the powerhouse of prayer of MM Mumbai as the Sisters and
Novices of SHTC, Nashik woke up joyfully to celebrate the House feast. There
was also added reason to celebrate today, it also being the birthday of our
dear Sr. Sanjina Moteghar. There was a wonderfully animated morning prayer to
begin with, thanking God for His Love and for the gift of Sr. Sanjina to our
beloved community.
At 11.30 am we had a solemn Eucharistic meal celebrated at the
hands of Rev. Fr. Kenneth Pereira sdb and concelebrated by the many priests of
the neighbouring Salesian houses. Our Sisters of Maria Vihar community joined
in the celebration. Fr. Kenneth in his homily stressed on how we keep for
ourselves different images of God; be it superman, super barter, policeman,
judge, etc. we tend to look on Jesus as someone who prevents God’s wrath from
falling on us. But in actual Jesus is a living manifestation of God’s love for
us. The Heart of Jesus is a mirror reflecting God’s love for each of us, the
love with which He gave up His only Son to die for our salvation. God longs to
have us all for Himself, to love us and care for us as His beloveds. Fr.
Kenneth then concluded saying that we should try to make our own, the virtues
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and seek to go deep down into the mystery of God’s
love manifest in the Heart of Jesus, burning with love for each of us.
During
the day we had a festal meal with the neighboring communities to add to our
joy. The joy of togetherness also helped us experience the love of God in a
better way manifest through each other in a true family Spirit. In the evening,
the novices put up a short cultural program in keeping with the theme “Jesus
still Loves You!” during which the sacrificing love of a mother was compared to
the unconditional and unceasing love of Jesus for each of us. The day ended
with a sense of gratitude for the love of God we experience through each other
and which led each of us here in SHTC to follow and imitate the Sacred Heart of
His only Divine Son Jesus Christ.
