Glossary

1.  Charism: You will not find the word "charism" in most dictionaries.  It is a Greek word meaning GIFT - a gift of the Holy Spirit.  St. Paul uses it to explain the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to individuals and groups to build up the body of Christ, the Church.  When used in spirituality or in relation to religious life we are speaking of the inspiration or intuition given by the Holy Spirit to a founder to emphasize a particular way of seeing Christ in the Gospels and a particular way of following Him.

 No one charism by itself will enable us to see the fullness of the mystery of Christ, but when we put all the various charisms together we begin to get a clearer vision of who Jesus is, then we begin to see and appreciate the fullness of the Church because each charism will point us to something unique in the life of Christ.

The Charism given to Fr. Jules Chevalier, the founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), was the ability to see Christ the Good Shepherd and God's love manifested in the human heart of Christ as the answer and remedy to the modern ills of society.  This charism would lead to the identity of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the other groups he co-founded.  Our Spirituality of the Heart is the "living out" of that charism through the constant lifestyle, attitudes and values that flow from this core identity. 

As we read and meditate on the Gospels we become aware of the many images of Jesus we find in its pages.  We see Christ the Teacher, the Healer, the justice-seeker, the fearless one, one who is prayerful, obedient, provider, protector of the voiceless and defenseless, one who is joyful and who teaches us how to live in simplicity, etc, etc, etc.  Down through the centuries many people have exemplified these gifts/charisms such as St. Francis of Assissi, Dorothy Day, St. Vincent de Paul, Martin Luther King, St. Teresa of Avila, Thomas Merton.  While we have had numerous saints, founders of religious congregations, Popes and other famous persons, we likewise have had millions of long-forgotten people, such as parents or single people who have shared their gifts/charisms in their own quiet way and have enriched all of our lives in the process.  They accomplished it with little or no fanfare simply through their simplicity, thoughtfulness of others, yet in them and because of them we can discern the gifts of the Holy Spirit alive all around us.

Can you recognize people with a charism in your local community?

 See also the article by Fr. Nick Harnan, MSC titled "WHAT IS A CHARISM?" in www.laymsc.org. Click on RENCONTRES and scroll down to his article in the Report of the Lay MSC Assembly in the Dominican Republic.

2.  Humility:  Often this a misunderstood virtue because we are so used to our everyday meaning of the word which is very different from its biblical meaning.  It has nothing to do with "false humility" our silent, non-assertive stance before someone else's authority or power, a being a "doormat" for someone.

Only a strong person can be humble in the biblical sense.  A good definition of humility is: "The correct ordering of my relationships with reality" keeping in mind that reality has two parts: uncreated reality which is God, and created reality which is everything else which is not God, e.g. people, angels, time, space, earth, etc.

So humility means knowing my place from a positive point of view within the hierarchy of values.  #1 is always God, no one or no-thing can be on a par with God otherwise we have idolatry! #2 is persons, myself and others, and #3 are things. We are not permitted to put a person or a thing on the same level with God, likewise we may not put a thing before the dignity of the human person, no matter how exalted the thing might be, e.g. the Sabath or Church Laws.

When I realize that I am always less than God but greater than things - then I am being humble.

Jesus knew very clearly who He was.  He was beloved Son to the Father, equal to his sisters and brothers, and greater than things.

"Learn from Me because I am meek and humble in heart" (Mt 11:29).  Jesus clearly understood his strength and dignity in his relationships with his Father and others. He was no one's "doormat."  Hence He could say that "I am humble."

3. Issoudun: Issoudun is a town of some 12,000 people in central France, approximately 300 km south of Paris and about 30 km west of the city of Bourges.  This is the town to which Fr. Jules Chevalier arrived in  October 1854 at the age of 30, and in which he founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart on December 8, 1854 and co-founded the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in 1874.

Issoudun has the third highest number of Marian pilgrims in France each year - after Lourdes and Notre Dame (Paris).  Thousands gather each year on the weekend nearest to September 8th for the international pilgrimage in honor of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

4.   Meek, Meekness: Again, this virtue is likewise often misunderstood.  In many modern languages meekness is equated with weakness, timidity, non-assertive, "no backbone."  Jesus was certainly none of the above yet he described Himself as meek (Mt 11:29).  In the scriptures only a strong person could be meek.  It comes from a Greek word meaning "not easily provoked", for example, a moderated reaction in the face of anger!  It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  A good example might be a wild horse when it is tamed and becomes obedient.  It still retains all of its strength but its strength is harnessed.  For us, it means to be controlled, moderated, and focused on the good.

Our Founder, Fr. Jules Chevalier, wanted all of his followers to have this inner strength and self-knowledge to be able to face life's challenges with hope, calmness and gentleness. 

5. Spirituality vs. Devotions: Nowadays people often ask the question:  What is the difference between Devotion(s) and Spirituality?
Without being overly simplistic we could say that they are two sides of the same coin – our relationship with God.

One side, devotions, emphasizes what we do for God.  Let us take for example the various devotions to Our Lady.  In these we ask for intercession on our behalf  before her Son, or we ask for her protection for ourselves and our loved ones.  We can have devotion to a particular saint, or to various aspects of the life of Christ, e.g. to the Sacred Heart.

The emphasis is primarily on what we do for God.  This can entail various prescribed prayers, novenas, works of charity, reparation, fasting, pilgrimages, etc.  In a devotion we are the active agents and God is the recipient!

Whereas, in a spirituality our primary focus is what God does in, through and for us. God is the active agent and we are the recipients.

Spirituality of the Heart falls into this category.  Fr. Chevalier, our Founder, always began with the experience of being loved by God.  This was always central for him; God loving us into existence; of God sending the Son as savior for you and me; of God lovingly creating and conserving our world so that we could see and feel God’s hand at work in the events of our lives and in the world around us.

A Spirituality will keep us focused on what God is doing, in and around us each day. A  Spirituality asks us to be truly present to myself, ourselves and to our world in order to be able to discern when God whispers to us in the ordinary events of our everyday lives.  God is always speaking to us, and a spirituality teaches us how to listen, discern and respond to that Voice.  It calls for openness and surrender on our part.  It calls us to be prayerful – an attitude of attentiveness to God’s presence at all times – rather than saying prayers all the time.  These are two different activities.

We can, and usually do, have a spirituality and one or more devotions at the same time.  It is not that they are in opposition to each other, it is simply that each has a different focus.  Both take us to God, as they all the saints who have gone before us!