Our Mission

Image of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit embracing humanity.
God the Father, Son and Spirit embraces broken humanity, cherishing us back to wholeness.

St. Raphaela Center is a ministry of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a worldwide religious community whose mission is to celebrate God’s unconditional love by promoting wholeness, peace and reconciliation. The Eucharist is at the center of our life and mission. For the Handmaids, “the Eucharist is what the root is for the tree”.

As Eucharistic women, our passion is to work with Christ to bring healing to people’s hearts and peace to their relationships with God, with one another, and with the whole of creation. At the Center, we offer a sacred time and place for people of all faiths and walks of life to be embraced and cherished by the loving kindness – hesed – of our God through prayer, retreats and spiritual programs.

Eucharist

The Eucharist is at the heart of our life and mission at St. Raphaela Center. It pulsates through everything we are and do.

Eucharist is celebrated regularly in our beautiful, octagonal chapel, with its huge windows that afford a wonderful panoramic view of our grounds and the flora and fauna that inhabit them. It provides the space for a truly cosmic liturgy. The Eucharistic celebration is prolonged during the day by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel and by our ministry of hospitality. Retreatants are welcome to spend time in Eucharistic adoration.

At the same time, a Eucharistic spirituality informs all that happens here, from the warm breath of inclusion that embraces “all God’s children, wherever they may be,” to being bread that is broken and wine that is poured out for all who come to the Center. It permeates our concern for the whole person of our retreatants, body, mind, and spirit, and our outreach to the less privileged of society.

Image of the Eucharist.
Jesus: the Bread of our lives.

Eucharistic adoration may not be what it appears at first glance. It is not a static, personal time of silent reflection spent gazing at a consecrated host. Or, at least, it does not have to be. Eucharistic adoration is much, much more. It is a dynamic encounter, a thrilling embrace, a challenging conversation, and an exciting engagement. 

Excerpt from The Eucharist and Social Justice, a book written by Sister Margaret Scott, acj. Sister Margaret, a former director of St. Raphaela Center, currently serves as the Superior of a Handmaid community in Bournemouth, England.

Our mission of reparation calls us to a Eucharistic conversion that:
  • Cares for the whole person
  • Desires that all may know and love God
  • Embraces social justice
  • Shares God’s special care for the smallest and most forgotten

The Handmaids’ foundress, St. Raphaela Mary Porras, came to understand the specific way that God spoke to her and within her, and grew to identify her own desires with those of Christ’s.  She responded generously – and joyfully – with her whole life.  Her belief and description of the Handmaid mission, “Love of Christ in the Eucharist and the concern of His Heart for the salvation of all,” remains a present-day reality for the Handmaids throughout the globe.

Handmaid Ministries around the world
Map of Handmaid of the Sacred Heart ministries around the world.