Words of Father Jules Chevalier
January - July

WORDS OF THE MSC FOUNDER
FATHER JULES CHEVALIER
August - December

For the month of August:

You are making the Heart of the divine Master the centre where everything in the Old and in the New Testament converges, the pivot on which everything in Catholicism turns, the sun of the Church, the soul of our souls, the centre of our love, the cradle of our holy religion, the source of our mysteries, the origin of our sacraments, the pledge of our reconciliation, the salvation of the world, the remedy of all our ills, the source of weapons for a Christian. That is how I understand devotion to the Sacred Heart.  It embraces everything; it is the answer to everything.   (Chevalier, Letter to Father Ramière, SJ, 9 December 1862)

For the month of September:

Our love of neighbour should be tender-hearted and compassionate.  The Samaritan should be our model.  . . . when along life’s road we come across a person wounded by sorrow, bruised by ingratitude, calumny or sin, prostrate in the mud of disorderly life, or a poor person lacking everything, or a needy family.  Like the Samaritan, let us draw near to these unfortunate people, and do everything in our power to comfort them.   (Chevalier, Méditations pour tous les jours de l'année II, p. 259)

For the month of October:

The charity of Father Chevalier towards all these disgruntled people was so great that he never refused to protect them nor to render them a service when they came to ask for his protection or use his influence with some important people from whom they wanted to obtain a favour.

When he suffered persecution from enemies to whom he had done good, he repeated again and again the words of Our Lord on the cross:  My God, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.  (C. Hériault’s description about Chevalier in Notes sur le T.R.P. Chevalier)

For the month of November:

Love without knowledge is impossible; knowledge without love is a disorder.  When science does not produce love, it goes wrong; it is a flower without fruit.  This disorder is the more serious because it touches the deepest part of our being, the most essential feature of our similarity with God. (Chevalier, Le Sacré-Coeur de Jésus)

For the month of December:

The greatest charity, the most perfect unity will always prevail among the members of the little community of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Gentleness,  humility, obedience, a spirit of poverty, of zeal, of sacrifice, of devotedness will be their lot. (Chevalier, Règles des Missionnaires du Sacré Coeur. Essai Provisoire. 1855)


Home