Publisher's Synopsis
"And what is a merciful heart? It is the heart's burning for the sake of the entire creation, for men, for birds, for animals, for demons, and for every created thing; and by the recollection and sight of them the eyes of a merciful man pour forth abundant tears." -St. Isaac of SyriaThe Order of the Merciful Heart is an ecumenical covenant community of the greater Free Catholic Movement. We are mystical in spirit, ecumenical in scope, and celebrate a deeply sacramental approach to the Christian faith and are composed of all sorts of people in single, celibate, committed, and or open lifestyles who have been called as a domestic and monastic spiritual family into deep love relationships with and in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our example; the Scriptures are our Rule; Love is our Law.This is the Rule of our Order. A rule is a measuring rod, a standard against which we check our progress, a map showing us the route toward our chosen goal. A rule is not rules: the governance of some bureaucracy, another person's program for our lives, or laws and demands laid upon us from outside ourselves.Knowing the persons we want to be, knowing the life of love with others we want to give birth to, we joyfully accept this Rule as a tool for creating a right spirit within ourselves. In freedom we accept its restrictions, so we may grow in discipline; in love we accept its precepts, that we may bring healing to a lonely and troubled world; in hope we accept its call, "Ever onward, ever upward," to yet unknown regions of love and community.In the spirit of poverty we make no exclusive claims to this, our Rule, but offer it to any who choose to follow it. In the spirit of chastity we live according to its injunctions to love all persons whom we meet. In the spirit of obedience, we follow it even when difficult, pursuing with integrity our particular way of achieving our goal.
