The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart have launched their Laudato Si’ Action Plan, aimed at driving the congregation to ecological conversion.
“Simply put, this means recognising that all things within God’s creation are connected, and seeking to transform ourselves and our Province in ways of loving which will make our communities sustainable and regenerative,” the Sisters say on their website.
“This conversion, which is primarily a response to the Gospel as interpreted by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’, is a process by which our contemplation of God’s creation and loving relationship with the heart of Jesus become more and more evident in our relationships with the world around us, and we respond more fully to the call to be protectors of Creation. It is our response to the environmental crisis which the world faces and the social and cultural crises which stem from it. It is based on the Gospel message and the spirit of the integral ecology outlined by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’: the intimate connection between humans and our environment.”
The Sisters say their charism, a precious gift of the Spirit, is rooted in the merciful and loving heart of Jesus whose compassionate love embraces the whole of creation.
“Our Founder, Jules Chevalier MSC, saw a new world of love and mercy coming forth from the pierced heart of Jesus. As Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, we too are called to believe in the possibility of this new world, despite the untold havoc and degradation threatening both our environment and the whole global family,” their website statement says.
“Following Fr Chevalier’s example, ‘we take into our hearts and our prayer the hopes and concerns of the people of our time (and) use the resources available to us to assist them’ (Const. 58), ‘attentive to emerging needs, particularly those resulting from poverty, violence, oppression, the degradation of the environment, and the dislocation of peoples’ (Const. 59).”
This article is drawn from information on the website of the OLSH Sisters.