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”Mateo
responded to what we today call “secularization” with the Gospel of
love, and he did it with such
zeal…. He wanted to conquer the world for Jesus, family by family. He
would tell stories of incredible conversions and in those conversions he
saw the beginning of a new world, ‘the social reign of Jesus.’”
Fr. Richard McNally
 Regarding
Fr. Mateo
How Does the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts Take Up the Heritage of
Father Mateo, International Apostle of the Sacred Heart?
Talk by Fr.
Richard McNally ss.cc., in Paray-le-Monial
(extracts)
June 30, 2007
Called by the Lord to our Congregation at the age of 15,
Eduardo
Crawley Boevey received the charism of our Founders as does each of our
brothers and sisters. It was in fidelity to the charism and mission of
the Congregation that, looking at the world of his time, he was inspired
by the Lord to found the Enthronement and to spend his whole life
traveling all over the world preaching the reign of the Heart of Jesus,
the reign of Love…
I can not
speak of how the Congregation takes up the heritage of Father Mateo
without speaking of how we take up the heritage of our Congregation. To
take up the heritage of the Congregation will help us to more
effectively take on the heritage received from Father Mateo and to ask
ourselves how we can do that more effectively…
Our
last General Chapter noted two responses: our presence among the poor
and our presence among our brothers and sisters today “spiritual
orphans”… “a civilization which seems not to know its Father.” (VM 34)
How? Service of the poor and attention to “spiritual orphans” are
not two distinct realities. As Pope Benedict said during his visit to Brazil, “Wherever
God and his will are unknown, wherever faith in Jesus Christ and in his
sacramental presence is lacking, the essential element for the solution
of pressing social and political problems is also missing. Fidelity to
the primacy of God and of his will, known and lived in communion with
Jesus Christ, is the essential gift that we Bishops and priests must
offer to our people.” (To the Bishops, 2)...
Mateo responded to what we today call “secularization” with the Gospel
of love and he did it with such zeal! A weak, sick man conceived the
idea of a crusade of love. He rightly considered the family to be the
most basic cell of society but his vision of the family also pointed him
outward toward the whole world. He wanted to conquer the world for
Jesus, family by family. He would tell stories of incredible conversions
and in those conversions he saw the beginning of a new world, “the
social reign of Jesus.”
We
must remember that the heritage of Father Mateo is larger than just the
Enthronement. We could say that Father Mateo was committed to the “new
evangelization” before the term was current. In his retreats to bishops,
priests, religious and seminarians, he always called them to center
their lives on the heart of the Gospel, the heart of Jesus, that heart
overflowing with love. For Mateo, the only possible or appropriate
response to such love was love, the gift of the human heart as response
to the heart of Jesus. By renewing our commitment to preaching and
direct evangelization, we take up the heritage received from our brother
Mateo.
The
renewed desire to take on the work of explicit evangelization leads us
also to rethink and renew our interest in the heritage of Father Mateo.
In a world where the family as the basic cell of society is threatened
almost everywhere, who could say that “putting Jesus and his love at the
center of the family as a source of life and grace” is outdated?...
In our Congregation there is a new confidence in the love of God
and the proclamation of that love as a source of transformation and
hope. And that is really the essence of the heritage of Father Mateo.
Fr. Mateo B&W portrait from Fr. Mateo photo archives
Fr. Mateo's rosary beads photo by Jack Iddon
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