History

 

Our Heritage and Identity

“Your desire must be to become the spouses of the meek and humble Sacred Heart of Jesus. For this you must learn well the example of Jesus from the manger to Calvary” (Life of the Founder). Our heritage is the simple and hard life of discipleship to Christ manifested in the above words of the Founder.

Unshakable trust in God, Prayer, incessant obedience, love of hard work, unconditional service, a poor and humble life, identifying with the poor, a behavior pattern that respects human values and availability in undeveloped areas are the distinguishing characteristics of our heritage that manifests the identity of our Congregation.

 

 

CHARISM
Charism in the life of Fr. Mathew Kadalikkattil:- Fr. Mathew who was attracted to the compassionate love of God the Father, manifested through the Sacred Heart of Jesus was deeply moved by the following words of Jesus.

Mt 26:38 "My soul is sorrowful unto death". It aroused a burning zeal in his heart to glorify the S.H. of Jesus and to make reparation for the sins of mankind.

Mk 8:2 "I have compassion on the crowd" These words of Christ had a profound influence on the Founder and he was therefore inspired to share Christ's compassionate love with all, especially with the poor, the destitute, and the forlorn. So, the Charism of the Founder has two aspects- God orientation and people orientation.

The charism of the Sacred Heart Congregation
Our founder Father's special charisms included a burning zeal to glorify the Sacred Heart of Jesus and an insatiable thirst to transmit to others the compassionate love of that Heart. In divine Providence, this special gift that our saintly Father received became the charism of our Congregation. 

 

Our Motto

Snehaya Danaya Cha Rakshanaya - call to the S.H. Congregation for love, self-giving, and service, we respond through prayer, suffering, and service.
  The Emblem of the Sacred Heart Congregation consists of the Heart with the salvific cross at the top the Holy Spirit hovering on it and the Hamsa-Swan- inside the heart. The motto is inscribed within the Heart.
AIM AND SPIRIT

Never-ending adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and reparation are offered to the Heavenly Father through the Sacred Heart of Jesus from our Congregation that was formed to reciprocate the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and for our self-giving to mankind. The life, love, and compassion we experience through the Sacred Heart should flow to all especially to the poor, the orphaned, the destitute, the distressed, the ignorant, and non-Christian brethren, for our sanctification as well as theirs.

Adapted Charism
We understand that the Congregation should become a spiritual force to give new contributions to the world, especially to the poor.  To actualize the heroic vision of Our Founder Father in the modern world, the Sisters today follow the footsteps of the Founder in leading a spiritual and apostolic life. We try to recognize the modern destitute experience of the people and respond to it. We concentrate our attention on the service of the poor & needy wherever we are.

At Present:

Strength

Father Mathew had said, “The Congregation will flourish after my death.” This prophecy of the founder began to be realized steadily. The congregation has now 3568 professed members and in about 486 houses spread out in the different dioceses of India and abroad under eleven Provinces and one region.

Missionary endeavors of Sacred Heart Congregation

At the break of the 20th Century, before the world wars and the first and second Vatican Councils, the idea of missionary was very narrow in the Kerala Church itself. Yet while founding a new Congregation our founder father had a broad goal about mission. The very charism was open to all, ie  "..experiencing the compassionate love of God deeply, the Father manifested through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and sharing it with others"2 (Const 1997 Art. 1). It shows the universal application of our charism. Our founder had a vision of spreading compassionate love to all. This very dream of him was explicated clearly in two ejaculations he taught, (a) Sacred Heart of Jesus, the ocean of goodness, may all people know and love you more and more", (b) Sacred Heart of Jesus, thy kingdom come"3 (Dire. 2008, Art.2) In these he poised a world of hope and love. When Sacred Heart Congregation celebrated the glorious year of its centenary, she had a clear orientation of mission with many mission provinces4 (History Chapt. 9). The missionary orientation brings forth various dimensions of mission in the Congregation.