July 12 2020 | Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur

Matthew 11: 28-30

The Feast of the Sacred Heart highlights the core of the Christian message, which is love and the call to love above all else. It has been symbolized down through the ages by the shape of the human heart. We probably remember framed prints of the Sacred Heart with emanating rays hanging in churches and often in our homes. The same symbol was used in statuary. We keep trying to understand the depth of love that created and sustains us thorough these symbols.

While the Gospel chosen for this feast day in the modern lectionary describes the very end of the crucifixion, I decided to reflect on the Gospel used previously, which might well be one of the most beloved of all our sacred texts.

This passage makes it very clear who is invited into the divine presence and what the demands are in approaching. It is not the perfect, the righteous or the law-abiding. It is not the powerful nor the learned. To our amazement, it is the burdened and the broken. We are called to come to this God who is most present to us when we are troubled. So much of our experience schools us to believe that we are accepted and worthy when are put together, perhaps when we are repentant, but certainly not when we are lost and covered with shame.

This wonderful feast reminds us that our effort does not somehow makes us worthy of God’s love and grace. It is God’s nature to love, forgive and welcome. We, as Christians, are called to act as Jesus did, to welcome those who are burdened, to care for those who are broken and to offer tender love to those who stumble across our path as they struggle.

Meet Sister Terry Davis, SNDdeN

Sr. Terry Davis was born in San Jose, California, the second of five children. She entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in Saratoga, in 1967. She taught Art, English and Religion in Catholic high schools for five years and then began working at the Catholic Television Center in Menlo Park for the next five. Sr. Terry filled many roles in the small TV station that produced and aired programming for Catholic schools. Moving from graphic designer to producer to “on-air” talent was a constant challenge. During this time, she realized the need for religious organizations to have the services of church-appropriate graphic design. She set up a small graphic design service, IKON Graphics, for non-profit and religious groups for the next 15 years. She attended the 1996 SND General Chapter and was elected to General Government for the next 6 years. Following this congregational leadership ministry, she has worked as the Director of Communications for the Diocese of Stockton, a small, rural diocese in central California with a rich and diverse population. She has moved back to the city where she was born and assists the SNDdeN East West Province with communications.

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The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur value Communication of all its forms! We bond with one another through verbal and non-verbal communications, for building and strengthening our relationships internationally and cross-culturally, and for collaborating with our Associates, Notre Dame Mission Volunteers, Co-workers, and Partners in Mission. We network for the Mission of the Gospel, the Church and our Religious Congregation in making known God’s goodness in our time, and in all the places where we serve. We commit ourselves to stand with those made poor by the unjust structures of the society.