MSC Magazine | Issue 4 | Summer 2020

Page 39| Missionaries of the Sacred Heart whole world was still reeling from the mixed fruits of the Industrial Revolution; the population in the cities was snowballing; many who used to be contented workers of the land had become the new poor, and jobless; and the Gold Rush was in full swing in the tent- towns of Victoria. It seems to me that the common thread through the newly founded Melbourne Age, the State Library, Victorian Railways, the MCG, and even missionary activity, the MSCs on one side of the world and City- Mission on the other, is that they are all about giving people new hope, they are about bringing people together . All are utterly inclusive of people. Is it too fanci- ful to think of God’s Spirit working in such apparently unconnected places as Issoudun and Mel- bourne, and in such apparently independent activities as sport, culture, and care of the needy? If more evidence is needed of the ground-swell inspired by God’s Spirit in 1854, there was one other sesqicentenary: Eureka Stockade also celebrated 150 years that year. The uprising of the miners in Ballarat, led by Peter Lalor, in some sense stands as the Australian symbol of everyman’s, everywoman’s, right to justice and to fair treatment and to equality with every other man and woman. Again, it seems to me, it’s about bringing people together. Jules Chevalier was part of -- maybe even a front-runner -- in this world-wide movement to re- store dignity to God’s people. Chevalier’s vision of bringing people together, of peo- ple’s belonging together, he ex- pressed in what he called the way of the heart . He would say that we, all people, belong to- gether in the one heart, the heart of humanity, the heart of Jesus. What I’ve referred to as God’s Spirit bursting forth in many peo- ple and places, Chevalier would have called the love of God breaking through in many people and places. This stream of love is flowing in the hearts of all people, bringing people together, and bursting forth unpredictably ‘wherever it wills’. This was Chevalier’s vision. That the vision includes all peo- ple, Chevalier wanted religious, clergy, and lay people to be seen as one family of the Sacred Heart, with different vocations and roles in the family, but still one and equal. We share the one same charism: that we are all equal before God. And that each of us lives that gift different- ly and uniquely. And that his vision was to em- brace the whole wide world, Chevalier said that we are to be missionary . For him the missionary task was to awaken people eve- rywhere to the stream of love in their hearts and to nourish such love in all people. The unity or oneness of all peoples was prima- ry, and so respect for all people was a high value for Chevalier; he didn’t know the word enculturation, but he would have embraced it. Chevalier believed in bringing people together . This vision has always been strong in our province. It may not be pushing it too far to claim that our greatest pride is our inclusivity, as we continue to respond to God’s Spirit, bringing people together in our day – as Jules Chevalier, Mel- bourne Citymission, and the peo- ple of Melbourne did in their day, 150 years ago. Brian Gallagher msc Chevalier 1854