A Mission Everywhere

“Mission anywhere in the world” is another integral element of Chevalier’s charism.

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

The reason why, in the Chevalier Family, we speak about a mission everywhere, does not in the first place refer to the fact that the Chevalier family is spread over the five continents, but to the task of taking part in the mission of Jesus Christ in all its aspects.

Jesus Christ has been sent by the Father to carry out his mission all over the world, on all levels of society, in all dimensions of social life, and in every corner of the human heart. In that sense, we speak about a mission without limits.

This broad understanding of mission explains Chevalier’s emphasis on the readiness of members of his spiritual Family to undertake ministries and services of any kind whatsoever, and to carry out any sort of mission anywhere in the world. His dream of a mission without boundaries is also one of the reasons, why Chevalier wanted to involve as many lay people as possible in this missionary project. As has been said before, through their way of living in their families, and by carrying out their secular professions, the lay people will be able to make Christ’s healing love present, everywhere, including in those places and situations where priests and religious are not present.

Chevalier desired that the presence of his spiritual sons and daughters in Church and society would really make a difference. Even if they lived in the same conditions as other people, or would perform the same services as other religious and lay persons, or, in the case of priests, would take on the same ministries as secular priests, the quality of their presence and of their works, should give witness to their calling as being missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Jesus’ concern and compassion for humankind should be embodied in their way of life and work. Because he was aware of the fact that this special mission to make a difference, was very challenging, and needed a well-planned preparation, Chevalier wanted to see his entire religious family, including the laity, well formed in living and spreading the Devotion to the Sacred Heart, in the broad sense as he understood it. (Fr. Hans Kwakman MSC)

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A Reflective Moment

“Lay people must exercise

a very special form of evangelization.

Their own field of evangelizing activity is

the vast and complicated world of politics,

society and economics,

but also the world of culture,

of the sciences and the arts,

of international life, of the mass media.

It also includes other realities

which are open to evangelization,

such as human love, the family,

the education of children and adolescents,

professional work, suffering.

One cannot fail to stress the evangelizing action

of the family

in the evangelizing apostolate of the laity.”

(Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, Proclaiming the Gospel n. 70-71)