Mary did not receive the Son of God only into her body, but into her entire being as woman. By Jesus becoming human, God assures us that the unique condition of woman is an essential element in his extraordinary and wonderful plan of coming to live among us.  When we reflect on the way Mary herself sees her life journey, we see that she creates space in her being in order to accept the human Jesus and all the Good News of salvation. She enters into a personal relationship with Christ, developing her gifts of tenderness, perceptivity, and listening.  Mary makes her special gifts of intuition and sensitivity effective in the service of Christ’s mission.

As the first disciple, Mary is a role model for each of us in our relationship with God, through the heart of Jesus, and in our relationships with others.

In gratitude for all the great things the Lord has done through her, our founder, gave Mary the title Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. This title focuses on the relationship of love between Jesus and Mary, the same relationship of love we are invited to participate in and have with each other.

“Father Jules Chevalier gave us our name to honour Mary as Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, the one chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus.  By her response in love and in total availability to the Holy Spirit, she gave Jesus his humanity, following him even to the cross.” (FDNSC Constitutions No 4)

To live and make known the message of God’s unconditional love, Jules founded two religious congregations, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Our mission, like that of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, is reflected in our motto:

“May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved”.

In fulfilling this mission the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart spread from France to Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Central Pacific. Today we number more than 1000 sisters ministering in 27 countries on 5 continents.

The spirituality of Jules Chevalier MSC was driven by his conviction that God’s love is boundless and unconditional. It embraces every person, regardless of who we are, where we are, or what we may have done. This conviction coloured his way of living, the spirit in which he lived his life, his spirituality.

God’s greatest expression of love for us was the gift of his Son, Jesus, who in his human heart showed us God’s love for us and for each person. God asks only that we, with our human heart with innate goodness together with its limitations and failings, love God in return. Furthermore, God asks us to love each person who comes into our life with a love that reflects God’s love.

We find in Jesus’ heart the full range of emotions – hopes and fears, joys and sorrows – that we experience. We see in his life how to use the opportunities of daily living and our ordinary interactions with people to show forth God’s love and make it tangible in our world.