Colombia, C. Botero rscj  |
When Patricia Garcia de Quevedo rscj was on the Central Team, she came to New York City. At the area meeting she spoke at length about “the spirituality of the Society.” I remember people nodding their heads as she spoke, but I did not nod my head because I didn’t know what she meant. Finally I asked her, “What is the spirituality of the Society?” She replied, “It is the spirituality of the pierced Heart of Christ.” Again I was aware of nodding heads. But again, I did not know what she meant. “What does that mean?” I asked her. She replied, something like this, “It means that we take into our hearts the pain of the world because we share the pierced Heart of Christ.” I did not say anything – but I remember thinking “I’ve been doing that all my life.” I didn’t know until that moment that the society had a specific spirituality and that I shared in it.
I do not think in “Pierced Heart of Christ” terms. I do not meditate on the words. But I meditate on the passion all the time, in every liturgical season. I didn’t set out do this. It is, rather, something that has happened to me over the years. The crucifix has become my primary icon although I love and appreciate others. I use the readings of the day, I listen (actually listen) to the gospel, and I look at the crucifix. That is where I fix my attention, where I center, and there I see day after day the suffering of our world, all the images of suffering women, children and men, in the third world, the undeveloped nations, and on our city streets, that fill our newspapers and TV. I am not conscious of calling those images to mind. They simply come. I am not aware of concentrating on the suffering of Jesus Christ “back then.” I recognize the suffering of Christ in his body now. Pascal said that till the end of the world, Christ still hangs on the cross. He is one with the victims of injustice and violence everywhere. I contemplate this reality and I take into my heart the pain of the world.
Eve Kavanagh rscj
Province of the United States
