A word from the Superior General

“You are the fairest of the children of men and grace is poured upon your lips, the Lord will bless you for all eternity.” The psalmist applies this declaration to the king’s son but the Christian reader and the Christian who prays applies them to Jesus, the Son of God made man, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The vocabulary of the entire psalm calls upon the five senses so that we can see the beauty of the Incarnate Word.

The Gospels don’t spend time describing the physical beauty of Jesus but rather the different forms of beauty: his humanity, his goodness in dealing with people, his ability to welcome them, and to listen to them. Not forgetting the beauty of his message – his words, the beatitudes and the parables. Were ever more beautiful words written to compare with the Beatitudes, or the Parable of the Father and his two sons in Luke 15, 11 ss? People hearing them declared: “What is all this about? He is teaching in a new way and full of authority: he orders the evil spirits and they obey him”. “The people were amazed and gave glory to God saying: “We have never seen anything like this before. Who is He that even the winds and the sea obey him!” (Mark 1,27; 2, 12; 4,41) This is how St Augustine chants the beauty of Jesus: “He is fair, being God, the Word in God. He is fair in heaven and on earth; he is fair in his Mother’s womb and in the arms of his parents; he is fair in his miracles and under the assassin’s blows; he is fair as he invites to life and when he doesn’t bother too much about death; he is fair when he restores to life and when he takes it away; he is fair on the Cross and in the tomb and in heaven. Listen as you hear the sound of the weakness of his flesh and don’t close your eyes to the splendour of his beauty”. (Cit. VC.24)

The summit of his beauty is shown in the Transfiguration and the Resurrection. But this beauty which changes Jesus shines throughout his entire life, lighting even times when he appears disfigured through the wickedness and cruelty of the sins of mankind in his passion: first of all the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, the humiliation of the insults and slap in the face, the unjust condemnation in his crucifixion and disgraceful death. He who in his death seems to be disfigured in the eyes of mankind and so lacking in beauty that they cover their faces rather than look. (Cf Is 53, 2-3) “It is precisely on the Cross that he shows the fullness of his beauty and the power of God’s love" (VC 24).

This mass of suffering at the heart of an ocean of pain is a permanent proof of the will to love the Father and all mankind. Even disfigured as he was Jesus is fair because of the love which drives him, because of his patience, the gift of life, of forgiveness and the power of reconciling all things. Love alone is the sole attraction; this is why when lifted from earth Jesus draws all men to himself. “He became an indescribable attraction for our hearts, a perfect model and an all-powerful help” (St Michael’s Manifesto”).

His beauty grows and is to be seen in his disciples: attracted by his beauty they decided to get to know him, to love him, to serve him and to imitate him. If these disciples are genuine they give a glimpse of their Master’s beauty and thanks to his joyful life they attract other men and women amid whom they are living. And so it is that the question is constantly being asked: “Why is it that they are like this?” This question gives the disciples a chance of speaking about Jesus, of announcing him. Such is the beauty of the saints!

Since Jesus’ disciples gather as a Church like its Master it is also beautiful – beautiful through the Word which it announces, listens to and puts into practice – beautiful through the gentle presence of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus; it is beautiful because of the priestly ministry exercised, because of the diversity of charisms in consecrated life and the commitment of the laity in the world. It is beautiful thanks to its liturgy and Christian art, because of the communion and service of the missionaries, martyrs, and the care of the poor and the forgiveness of sin.

This is the first reason for the religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to be happy and joyful in their vocation. The second reason is the result of our origins and the place where the “Sacred Heart conceived us and formed us” through the mediation of our Father St Michael Garicoits: Betharram, the beautiful branch. We often refer to ourselves as Betharramite without realising that we are being called “beautiful”.So that this name should mean anything to us it must refer to people who show the beauty of Jesus through the qualities witnessed to by St Michael Garicoits and which he wanted us to possess: humility, to go unnoticed, obedience, and devotion to duty, gentleness, joy, happiness and charity. These virtues are the image of our origins. If we practise them with joy then we will become attractive for others who will want to practise them too. History has formed us thanks to these qualities, through our great works, our silent work at the service of the poor, through persecution and expulsions from France in 1904 or China in 1954. Yes, the spirituality, consecration, fraternity and mission of Betharram are fair. Our past is fair, our present must be fair so that the future can be fair. Fair as the Heart of Jesus! Fair as Our Lady of Betharram! Fair as are St Michael, St Mariam and Father Etchecopar!

Gaspar Fernández Pérez scj
Superior General