by Chris McPhee, MSC

My name is Chris McPhee and I have been a community member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for the last thirteen Years. I was born in Melbourne in 1960, finished my schooling at Wattle Park High School; worked for the National Australia Bank for 13 years; and through that time kept asking the question of "what's real?" "Is there meaning to our existence?" "What is life about?" "Who am I?" In April 1991 I joined the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, was professed in 1993, and ordained as a priest in 1997. I am presently engaged in ministry here as Parish Priest of St John the Apostle, Kippax, a suburb of Canberra, the capital of Australia.

One of the main areas in Life is the search for meaning. "Who am I?" "Where do I fit in?" "What is my purpose?" In fact, I would go as far to say that, the issue of our time in not one of church, but one of spirituality. As one writer put it: 

"It has become evident to many of us that Western civilisation is in the midst of a major "crisis of meaning." All of our institutions are suffering. The symbolic universe inside of which we lived safely has largely fallen apart, leaving only the private psyche on its lonely journey toward meaning. There is no larger, mythic story that explains our lives, and each day we must create some personal moment to make ourselves feel significant or even alive.

Without sacred mythology, all we have left is private pathology: my little story disconnected from any group story and surely disconnected from any Great Story. That is a lonely and tragic way to live."   

That said, it has been our focus to, hopefully, lead people in the direction of Spirituality, and for us, Heart Spirituality...breaking open for us a way through. Every Sunday we focus our Eucharistic celebration (the Mass) around the God in who we live and move and have our being. To discover each day that we are God's love revealed. 

I love this quote from CS Lewis: "God is wild you know." God is a passionate God, eager to get inside each us, to become one with you and I. Scripture is soul language - it is about a love affair. That is what spirituality is about.

As a Missionary of the Sacred Heart...What then is heart Spirituality?

I often hear many people talk of Spirituality… of how to get God… how to get faith… and we are given all these recipes… of loops and hoops to get through for God to love us… that is not our tradition, nor is it the biblical tradition… 

What I want to do is to give an outline, a sketch of what Heart Spirituality is and how it is grounded in the biblical tradition of our faith.

So what is the Biblical tradition?

It runs in four steps…

1. Experience of God's presence
2. I'm not worthy
3. Forgiveness
4. Mission

Experience of God's presence in the biblical tradition is always the experience of God's love… "God first loved us."

We see this in Peter… when Jesus goes fishing with him… where he has found no fish all night… and then Jesus fills him with this wonderful symbol of love… bucket loads of fish.

We see it with Isaiah… who hears a voice calling him… goes into the temple… and again experiences God's presence and love and is then overcome.

We see it with Mary in the visitation and again is filled with Grace.   

We also see it in Paul on his way to Damascus… and God erupts into his life… again we see the Presence of God and the experience of being overwhelmingly loved… he falls to the ground.

In fact, all of the biblical accounts of people being transformed begin with what God does… that is the beginning of the spiritual life… it is what God does… that is the starting point. 

The early Fathers of the Church stated the Christian life begins not with loving, but with the sense of being loved.

You know, there is one thing you and I can do that is impossible for God to do? 

Most of us grew up with the thought that nothing was impossible for God. That God could do anything thing… well there is on thing that is impossible for God… you and I can choose to love… and we can also choose not to love… but for God that is impossible.  

Step 2 and step 3 go hand in hand… step 2, is the "I'm not worthy stage, and step 3, is the forgiveness stage.

We see in Peter, when he is given bucket loads of love, which he falls to the ground, and says "I am a sinful man." We see the same with Isaiah… who also falls to the ground and says…" wow is me"… in Mary… "How can this be…?" 

You know, once we have experienced love, an overwhelming love, not only does it make us aware of our sinfulness, but also gives us the freedom to let go of it as well… when we know that we are unconditionally loved… we are free to trust, free to let go and then free to be forgiven… And forgiveness happens hand in hand… when we are blown away by God's love, we are free to state our shame, our sinfulness, knowing that God loves me whether I am worthy or not… in fact the whole thing is not about my worthiness … but about God's love of me…

Which brings us to the final stage… that of Mission?

When Peter falls to the ground and says, I am a sinful man, Jesus' response is … do not be afraid you will be a fisherman of people. For Paul it is the same… and for Mary it is making the Christ child birthed into our world.

That is the final stage, the final step… our mission is always in relationship to the first experience of God… our mission is always in relationship to the first experience of God… not only do we discover who we are, but we also discover our mission in regards to God's love of me, of you, of us as a community. It is always in relationship to the first experience of God's love… let's finish with this prayer from a mass murderer:

"Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for you hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your Hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with utter fullness of God."