In the Shadow of His Wings

Sponsa Christi November 23rd, 2011

OK – For Thanksgiving Day I’m taking you somewhere you have NEVER been…

to our lowest basement…

where some sisters have been working on a new project…

We thought it would be interesting to see if any of you can figure out what it is…

A Sister holds the blue prints and shows off the handy-work.

Sisters cutting beaucoup paper!

What do you think? Any guesses???

…

…

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!!!

UPDATE - I got the greatest laugh out of these guesses from Sr. Cecilia Maria’s mom and sister:

Love a great challenge!
Multiple Choice Question (worth 10 points):
A. Hot tub frame
B. Egyptian sarcophagus
C. Outdoor barbeque pit
D. Statue alcove
E. Turkey bird bath
F. Throne for MCM (Mother Catherine Marie)
G. All of the above

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Passionist Life
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Sponsa Christi November 20th, 2011

In our Passionist tradition, our communities of nuns through the world (there are 25 – 30 of us!) have a communal renewal of vows on November 21st during the celebration of Mass.  Our Holy Founder, Saint Paul of the Cross, chose this day – the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple – so that in her likeness, we Passionists might deepen our total consecration to the Person and the redemptive work of her Divine Son, Jesus.

On this day, also celebrated as Pro Orantibus Day, we invite each of you our readers, to re-commit yourself to the vocation to which you are called, so that united in the Mystical Body of Christ, we might all strengthen and encourage one another to love and serve Christ our King with all our hearts!

Vow Formula for Annual Renewal of Vows

For the honor of God, I, a professed member of the Institute of the Passion of Jesus Christ, renew my firm resolve to be intimately consecrated to Jesus Crucified, and to follow Him more closely.

In the presence of God and of you, my sisters and brothers, I freely confirm and renew the vow to promote devotion to and a grateful remembrance of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, as well as the vows of Chastity, Poverty, Obedience and Enclosure, according to our Rule and Constitutions.

I earnestly beseech God who in His mercy has sustained my weakness and has been faithful to my good will, to continue to strengthen me in what I have promised by vow.

I pray that I may persevere faithfully until my death in my vocation in the Church: to be “a sign of the love of Jesus Crucified for the Father and for all humanity.”

By the grace of the Holy Spirit, and through the intercession of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary and of Saint Paul of the Cross, may I reach the perfection of charity and one day receive the rich reward of the Paschal Mystery in heaven.   Amen.

May God reward you for your prayers during our retreat! Blessed Feast day to you!

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• Blessed Mother , Bride of Christ , Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Monastery traditions , Passionist Life , Passionist Spirituality , Passionist Vocations for Women , Pro Orantibus Day
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Sponsa Christi November 18th, 2011

This is by far my favorite message of Pope Benedict for Pro Orantibus Day. He gave this in 2006. Much to ponder…

Just like his predecessors, our Beloved Pope Benedict XVI
upholds the value of contemplative cloistered life.

Of course he would ~ he is the Vicar of Christ!

Angelus Message of Pope Benedict XVI ~ Given in St. Peter’s Square, Sunday, November 19, 2006

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

     The day after tomorrow, 21 November, on the occasion of the liturgical Memorial of the Presentation of Mary, we will be celebrating Pro Orantibus Day, dedicated to remembering cloistered religious communities. It is an especially appropriate opportunity to thank the Lord for the gift of the numerous people in monasteries and hermitages who are totally dedicated to God in prayer, silence and concealment.

     Some may wonder what meaning and value their presence could have in our time, when there are so many situations of poverty and neediness with which to cope.

     Why “enclose oneself” for ever between the walls of a monastery and thereby deprive others of the contribution of one’s own skills and experience? How effective can the prayer of these cloistered Religious be for the solution of all the practical problems that continue to afflict humanity?

     Yet even today, often to the surprise of their friends and acquaintances, many people in fact frequently give up promising professional careers to embrace the austere rule of a cloistered monastery. What impels them to take such a demanding step other than the realization, as the Gospel teaches, that the Kingdom of heaven is “a treasure” for which it is truly worth giving up everything (cf. Mt 13: 44)?

     Indeed, these brothers and sisters of ours bear a silent witness to the fact that in the midst of the sometimes frenetic pace of daily events, the one support that never topples is God, the indestructible rock of faithfulness and love. “Everything passes, God never changes”, the great spiritual master Teresa of Avila wrote in one of her famous texts.

     And in the face of the widespread need to get away from the daily routine of sprawling urban areas in search of places conducive to silence and meditation, monasteries of contemplative life offer themselves as “oases” in which human beings, pilgrims on earth, can draw more easily from the wellsprings of the Spirit and quench their thirst along the way.

Central Park – the “green lungs” of New York City

     Thus, these apparently useless places are on the contrary indispensable, like the green “lungs” of a city:  they do everyone good, even those who do not visit them and may not even know of their existence.

     Dear brothers and sisters, let us thank the Lord, who in his Providence has desired male and female cloistered communities. May they have our spiritual and also our material support, so that they can carry out their mission to keep alive in the Church the ardent expectation of Christ’s Second Coming.

     For this, let us invoke the intercession of Mary, whom we contemplate on the Memorial of her Presentation in the Temple as Mother and model of the Church, who welcomes in herself both vocations: to virginity and to marriage, to contemplative life and to active life.

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• Blessed Mother , Bride of Christ , Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Monastic Life , Passionist Vocations for Women , Pro Orantibus Day
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Sponsa Christi November 16th, 2011

Our community begins our 4 day retreat tomorrow to prepare for our annual devotional renewal of vows to take place during Mass on the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple on November 21st. This is also Pro Orantibus Day!

Please do keep us in your prayers and be assured of ours during these sacred days.

I thought you would enjoy seeing some fall photos from around the monastery.

An animated chat during noon recreation

Sr. Mary Therese with her 2 brothers, cousin and nephew were here to install beautiful shrines they crafted for each Stations of the Cross. Now her brother Lawrence is refurbishing each station!  God reward you!

The pine trail on Calvary Heights

Enjoying an autumn walk

First hard freeze – left side of courtyard

Right side of courtyard

Calvary Heights – don’t miss the moon in the upper left

Sr. Ann Miriam’s birthday

St. Gemma’s trail

Sr. Mary Andrea’s family here to prune trees and bushes

Love crucified

Love thirsting to be loved…

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Sponsa Christi November 15th, 2011

Pro Orantibus Day Recalls Cloistered Communities as the “Heart” of the Church

Chicago, IL — Catholics throughout the world are encouraged to honor the cloistered and monastic life on Pro Orantibus Day, which is Monday, Nov. 21, 2011.

“The primary purpose of Pro Orantibus Day (“For Those Who Pray”) is to thank God for the tremendous gift of the cloistered and monastic vocation in the Church’s life,” noted Fr. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem., National Director of the Institute on Religious Life. “Since the lives of these women and men religious dedicated to prayer and sacrifice is often hidden, this annual celebration reminds us of the need to support their unique mission within the Body of Christ,” he added.

In 1997 Bl. Pope John Paul II asked that this ecclesial event be observed worldwide on November 21, the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple. It is a special day to thank those in the cloistered and monastic life for serving as “a leaven of renewal and of the presence of the spirit of Christ in the world.” It is also intended to remind others of the need to provide spiritual and material support “for those who pray.”

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken often of the tremendous value of the cloistered, contemplative life. Speaking to a group of cloistered Dominican nuns in Rome, the Holy Father referred to such religious as “the heart” which provides blood to the rest of the Body of Christ. He noted that in their work and prayer, together with Christ, they are the “heart” of the Church and in their desire for God’s love they approach the ultimate goal.

Special thanks to Cloistered Life for the above article.

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Sponsa Christi November 14th, 2011

This is FABULOUS!!!

Special thanks to all of you who left comments with advice as to how to redirect the old links to the new links. They are NOT broken after-all! I had no idea there was a plugin that would so simply take care of this. Yea!

I downloaded Simple 301 Redirects and it worked.  Special thanks to Word Press and to ScottNelle who created this plugin. I am so excited.

May God be blessed.

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Sponsa Christi November 13th, 2011

November 21, the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, will bring us Pro Orantibus Day – the annual day of prayer for “those who pray”.  Yes, this day is devoted to all consecrated persons who live a hidden life at the heart of Holy Mother Church. We ask your prayers for all contemplative monks, nuns and hermits throughout the world.

I’ll be posting articles about contemplative life throughout the coming weeks for a greater understanding and appreciation of cloistered-contemplative life.

The mystery of the exclusive union of the Church as Bride with the Lord is expressed in the vocation of cloistered nuns, precisely because their life is entirely dedicated to God, loved above all else, in a ceaseless straining toward the heavenly Jerusalem…Their life is a reminder to all Christian people of the fundamental vocation of everyone to come to God…

By means of the cloister, nuns embody the exodus from the world in order to encounter God in the solitude of ‘cloistered desert,’ a desert which includes inner solitude, the trials of the spirit, and the daily toil of life in community – all this, as the Bride’s sharing in the solitude of Jesus in Gethsemani and in His redemptive suffering on the Cross.

~ From Verbi Sponsa – the Church’s recent document on contemplative life

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Sponsa Christi November 13th, 2011

Greetings on this beautiful fall day in Kentucky!

Have you EVER linked to this blog?

If so, please read on…I recently changed our permalinks from the “ugly” default (which just used numbers) to giving the day and name of the blog or post.

If you know what a “permalink” is you can skip this paragraph. It is the permanent URLs to individual weblog posts, as well as categories and other lists of weblog postings. A permalink is what another weblogger will use to link to articles or pages on this blog, or how I may have sent a link to you by e-mail.

I know…you are NEVER supposed to change these…hence the name permalink. But I am hoping that in the long run more search engines will pick up our posts and hence, eventually, more traffic to this blog.  And hence, a greater understanding of Passionist life and a greater love for Jesus Crucified…

BUT IN THE MEANTIME…all the links to blog posts that you have ever linked to on this blog are now broken.  If possible would you be able to retrieve those links and reconnect them? Just leave a comment here if you want me to find the post you had linked to and I’ll send you the new link.  I am very grateful for any help you can give.

May the Lord reward you for helping to make known Passionist life.

UPDATE:  ALL IS WELL…read this blog post to see how this problem was taken care of.

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Sponsa Christi November 11th, 2011

Well, actually, it is our ONLY newsletter for this entire year!

Check out our 2011 newsletter “From the Foot of the Cross” featuring -

• First Profession of Vows of Sister Rose Marie of the Merciful Heart of Jesus
• Vestition of Sister Cecilia Maria of the Body of Christ
• Obituary of our Sister Margaret Mary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
• Happenings at the Monastery
• Message from our superior Mother Catherine Marie of the Most Holy Trinity

And for those of you who get a paper copy in your mailbox you might still like to view this as the photos are in COLOR.

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Tags: Passionist Nuns Newsletter, Rest in Peace, Stages in Formation

• Bride of Christ , Catholic Vocations for Women , Novitiate news , Passionist Life , Passionist Vocations for Women , Vocation Discernment
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