October 2024
Director’s Message
Each month, I have been writing reflections on place – looking out the window at Heart of Life. This month, the window through which we are looking is in the Basilica in Issoudun where I am accompanying a group of pilgrims from Australian MSC Colleges on a week of retreat and reflection.
Issoudun is the place where Spirituality of the Heart was born, the spirituality from which the work of Heart of Life flows. The founder, Fr Jules Chevalier lived and worked in this small village for 53 years. He founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart there; he built the Basilica as a place of prayer and pilgrimage, and he served the local parish of St Cyr. Soon after foundation missionaries were sent to Papua New Guinea, arriving in Australia in 1885 and so the work in Australia and the Pacific was born.
Chevalier lived almost all of his adult life in one place and he knew the people of that place very well. He was deeply moved by the suffering of the people he lived with during the long years of the French Revolution, and he spent his years in Issoudun contemplating the remedy to suffering and the ills of his time which he named as indifference and egoism (self-focus). Chevalier found the solution in the Heart of God, revealed in Jesus. Living a Spirituality of the Heart involves a desire to take Jesus, who loved and loves with a human heart, as a model before us; so that, in the concrete circumstances in which we live we draw strength and inspiration from the Heart of Christ.
This is the work of Heart of Life, to invite people into the quiet, heart stillness that enables an experience of the transforming possibility of an encounter with a God of love. The training of Spiritual Directors and Supervisors and the leadership formation programs all draw deeply from this mission of the heart and the power of love to transform our world.
The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
-Fr Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Alison McKenzie
Director
We know we cannot teach someone to contemplate the beauty of a rose or the shimmer of the moon rising over the bay, or the uniqueness of the person sitting across the room. But we can ask what happens in our inner world as we focus on the rose or listen to the person opposite: how are we affected by what we see and hear…
News
A New Director for Heart of Life
It is with great pleasure that we announce Fr Peter Hendriks msc as the incoming Director of Heart of Life for 2025.
Peter brings academic qualifications in Spiritual Direction and other related fields as well as wide experience in ministry in parish and school settings. He has been the Deputy Provincial and is currently the Province Secretary of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Sydney.
Peter is delighted to accept this appointment, and he is looking forward to meeting the staff, students and wider Heart of Life community.
Congratulations, Peter, and we look forward to welcoming you!
Upcoming Events
Walking the Land in SpringSaturday 19 October 202410 – 3pm
This day involves a walk along the Williamstown beach foreshore, inviting you to contemplate the deep wisdom and spirit of this natural bayside environment. Engage in the stories and the creative edge of two adjoining ecosystems.
Journaling and art material provided.
BYO Lunch.
Waiting at the WellThursdays 17/31 October, Thursdays 7/14 November1-3pmThis series offers an opportunity for those waiting to have their thirst quenched at the Well of Life to explore the depths of wisdom in their own heart, to recognise wisdom in the encounter with another, and to dwell in the Heart of Contemplation.
Cost: $120Facilitators: Kathleen Ward, Nicole Winter.
Ongoing, at Heart of Life…
Spiritual Direction
Spiritual Direction is time for you to listen deeply to God in your life, with the help of a Director.
Meet with one of our fully-qualified and experienced Heart of Life Spiritual Directors or book a time to receive a free session from one of our Siloam students as Directors-in-training.
Supervision
Supervision is an essential requirement for anyone involved in pastoral ministry. Heart of Life endeavours to uphold the integrity of this ministry by offering Individual or Group Supervision, where pastoral journeys are shared, and skills and sensitivity increased through professional guidance.
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