Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Anniversary of the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart
Chapel at Stella Maris
June 12 2026
Introduction
Dear Sisters, on this, your patronal feast, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we have gathered to give thanks to God for the blessing of years – 135 years of consecration and service since your founding in 1890. So too, we celebrate the devoted witness and service of your sisters celebrating their Jubilees. Let us anchor our thanksgiving in the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In his beautiful reflection on the Sacred Heart, Pope Francis reminds us that the heart is the inmost core of the human person. It is a sanctuary where we are alone with God and his voice echoes within us. It is the seat of our deepest desires and the origin of our decisions. It is where we encounter ourselves and the font from which we speak, act, and relate to others.
Our faith teaches us that Jesus had a human heart. His heart is the living sign of God’s infinitely generous and merciful love. It is a heart that has known joy and sorrow, friendship and betrayal, suffering and sacrifice. We cannot fully fathom the depth of the love of the heart of Christ, except to say that in his human heart, Jesus reveals the Father’s love for us: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love!”
Founding
Not long after the Civil War had ended, when the wounds of that terrible war were still fresh, thousands of freed slaves were coming north – many of them settling in Baltimore, A woman named Mary Frances Cunningham saw great need and responded. She saw black children in her neighborhood bereft of religious education. She visited their homes and witnessed the plight of their families. Her heart was moved, along with three other women with whom she started the St. Joseph Guild. Indeed, the love of the Sacred Heart found a home in their hearts.
One thing led to another, so that, by 1890, these women experienced a call to consecrated life. Answering that call was not without its struggles. Cardinal Gibbons approved but apparently Mary Francis’ pastor did not. Happily, the Cardinal decided to let the foundation proceed, and more than that, offered the fledgling community his support.
The founding members of your community chose to be called “Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart.” In the Sacred Heart of Jesus, they found the grace to consecrate themselves, to give themselves wholly to the Lord in love, and in so doing, to give themselves to others, especially those in need. Your founders realized, as you do, that we turn to the Sacred Heart to receive love and mercy – but in turn, the Lord sends us forth on mission to share that love. And you have done so with magnificent generosity.
Consider the mere fact that your community served in 80 parishes, across the breadth and width of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. You serve in many dioceses, three countries, and many ministries. You earned a well-deserved reputation as religious educators – but you and those who went before you did not impart mere information. You led many to open their hearts to the love in the Heart of Christ and find in his heart the source of their own hope and joy. You brought to your mission a heart for the poor, a heart for the marginalized, a heart for those otherwise overlooked. As the needs of society changed, your responded, in the spirit of your founder. And you drew from the Sacred Heart the love needed for the mission.
Enduring Love
Yours is a story of enduring love, rooted in the love God manifested to his people when he led them forth, entered into a covenant with them, and inscribed the law of love on their hearts. Yours is a story of unflagging service, rooted in the love of the God who loved us first and best, for as St. John writes, “The love of God consists in this: not that we have loved God but that God has loved us . . .” The truth of these words is epitomized in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Yours is a story of open-hearted love, rooted in the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience. You could have succeeded as the world defines success but you chose the path of simplicity of life and simplicity of heart, and it is to those who do so that the Lord reveals the secrets of his Heart. Yours is a story of hard work, unflagging labor. How many times you responded to the invitation of the Sacred Heart: ‘come to me, all you who labor … and I will give you rest.”
Jubilarians
To the Sisters whose jubilees we celebrate today: thank you! You have dedicated your lives to bringing the love that flows from the heart of Christ to those in need. There is no way for any of us to calculate how many hearts you have opened, how many in need you have helped, how many ways you have advanced the Church’s mission in the world.
Every community has its distinctive charism and mission. In your consecrated lives, that charism has taken on flesh and blood. It has become deeply a part of who you are and what you do. Not unlike the Sacred Heart, your humanity, your human heart has become a sign and font of God’s love. Today, your sisters honor you and on behalf of the Church of Baltimore, I offer you my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation.
As you look to the future, dear sisters, may you experience hope and joy. Hope, that what you have begun and carried forward will be sustained in ways known to the Spirit who distributes gifts at will. Joy, because the witness and service of your sisters is not consigned to the past but lives on in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and in all those whose hearts you have enlivened in his love. Thank you, dear sisters, and may God bless you and keep you always in his love!