Nine Women Professed Their Final Vows Today in Rome

This cross is worn by the Religious of the Sacred Heart.  

Its Latin abbreviation, " C.U. et A.U. ICJ" means 

One Heart and One Mind in the Heart of Jesus.

Earlier today in Rome, nine woman professed their final vows as Religious of the Sacred Heart.  Below was taken from the Society of the Sacred Heart website...

Prayer & reflection - loved from the depths

As per a Society tradition started by St Madeleine Sophie, the nine RSCJ professed on 15th January received a name and devise (motto) from the Superior General, which will accompany them individually and as a group of professed religious. As far as possible, both name and devise reflect their experience, process and insights throughout their time of probation (preparation for final profession)

                         

This group's name is 

Loved from the depths to be for others God's transforming love

with the devise

God's mercy and faithfulness shine forth (Consts # 2)

The following extracts from Kathy Conan's 

conference contain calls and challenges for us all

- not just the probanists. 

How do we respond, to be God's transforming love

for others?

At the beginning of probation you were invited to Put out into the deep. You have responded with openness, trust, and generosity. At that time I proposed several questions, two of which we could not answer then: What will you find there, out in the “deep”? and Who will you become?

What have you found there? Over and over again we heard that as you journeyed to the depth of your selves, of your relationship with God, of your vocation, what you have found there is Love.

Your experience of being loved in the depths of who you are has created 

a power, energy and zeal within you 

not only to share this love with others, that they may know it too, 

                           but to actually BE God’s transforming love for others...

Yes, it is a challenging call, to be God’s love. 

We give you this name with the confidence that the Spirit of Love is alive in you 

and will help you to know in each situation how to be for others this transforming love of God.

Your devise, “God’s mercy and faithfulness shine forth”, opens the first section of our Constitutions and is a very strong affirmation of our experience of God and of the way God has revealed God’s self to us. The very first thing we say of God is that God’s mercy and faithfulness shine forth, that God IS mercy and faithfulness...

Who have you become as you journeyed into the deep? You have become women more deeply rooted in the depth of God’s love, women called to live with God the compassionate, faithful love which transforms us and our world into who we are created to be, sons and daughters of God.  

We rejoice that you have become more deeply Religious of the Sacred Heart!

Like the probanists, may we all know ourselves to be called to let God’s compassion and fidelity shine through, and be God’s transforming Love for others.