In the Shadow of His Wings

Sponsa Christi November 14th, 2012

…this post is a little late…but better late than never!

Read our summer newsletter at our website. It features the ordination to the priesthood of Sr. John Mary’s brother and lots of news from the monastery. Enjoy!

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Monastic Life , Priesthood
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Sponsa Christi October 2nd, 2012

Greetings on this rainy day from the Heart of the Church!  As you know we pray very much and live in a spirit of prayer that Jesus Crucified may be more known and ever loved and we also pray for the needs of our Holy Mother Church, our nation and our world. 

The Lord sends us abundant blessings in the midst of our life of union with him.  A recent blessing was the refurbishing of an old calvary scene and the creation of a “shadowbox” to protect it by Tim Wynn – Sr. Cecilia Maria’s father.

Some months back Tim refurbished and created a backdrop for a Calvary scene which was donated a year or two ago by a dear friend Charlotte Oberst. We wanted a way to protect the scene and he did a fine job!

For the crucifixion scene he replaced the cross with walnut, the backdrop is maple burl and the frame is walnut. The shadowbox itself is also walnut with slip dovetail joints and the door has mitered corners – quite a work of art!  Thank you Tim! 

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This is a familiar sight : lots of needles flying at recreation!
Crochet, darning, knitting, cross-stitch and more.

This month we also said goodbye to our dear aspirant Ruth. Her time with us came to an end after receiving special discernment graces during the Septenary prayed in preparation for the Solemn Feast of our Lady of Sorrows. Ruth returns to California and takes a bit of us with her as she seeks to follow God’s call there and beyond. We miss you Ruth and keep you in our prayers!

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Spiritual Mothers of Priests

Fr. Jeff, Sr. John Mary’s brother visited with us in August and he offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We had wonderful visit and some belly-aching laughter as he shared his journey from good job, girlfriend and nice truck to seminary, ordination and priesthood.  We continue offering the prayers and penances of our Passionist life for Fr. Jeff and all our priests!

I leave you with a quote from He is My Heaven, a life of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. Although the book is written about a Carmelite Nun it can certainly be attributed to the life of a Passionist Nun as well. This is a good insight into what Spiritual Motherhood is all about:

The Carmelite prays and strives for closest possible union with God, not simply for her own holiness and salvation; she is aware that the more she is living in Christ, the more powerful she is in her prayer for others. Just as evil can pollute and corrupt, even more so can goodness and holiness transform.  Elizabeth herself expressed this in the first letter she wrote to a seminarian for whom she was praying:

“Oh, how powerful over souls is the apostle who remains always at the Spring of living waters; then he can overflow without his soul ever becoming empty, since he lives in communion with the Infinite! I am praying fervently for you, that God may invade all the powers of your soul, that He may make you live in communion with His whole Mystery, that everything in you may be divine and marked with His seal, so that you may be another Christ working for the glory of the Father! 

“You are praying for me too, aren’t you? I want to be an apostle with you, from the depths of my dear solitude in Carmel, I want to work for the glory of God, and for that I must be wholly filled with Him; then I will be all-powerful: one look, one desire will become an irresistible prayer that can obtain everything, since it is, so to speak, God whom we are offering to God. May our souls be one in Him and, while you bring Him to souls, I will remain, like Mary Magdalene, silent and adoring, close to the Master, asking Him to make your word fruitful in souls. “Apostle, Carmelite,” (Apostle, Passionist!) it is all one! Let us be wholly His, Monsieur l’Abbe, let us be flooded with His divine essence that He may be the Life of our life, the Soul of our soul, and we may consciously remain night and day under His divine action.”

 

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Priesthood , Vocation Discernment
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Sponsa Christi August 4th, 2012

Today being the Feast of St. John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests, I thought I would bring you the article Sr. John Mary wrote for our recent community newsletter. (No, the newsletter hasn’t been posted on our website yet but as soon as it is I will let you know.)

My Brother, the Priest…

Ten years ago I never thought I’d say that! Not that he did not have priestly qualities but because he had set his course on a different path. It was the evening of my Perpetual Profession of Vows, as I said goodbye to my 22 year old brother Jeff , I whispered to him to stay close to our Blessed Mother. He became very solemn and said, “we don’t pray the rosary enough.” I realized then the Lord was awakening within him a desire to live his faith more fully. Two years later he entered what is now known as Bishop Simon Brute College Seminary and seven years after that on June 2, 2012, he was ordained a Priest of Jesus Christ for the diocese of Evansville, Indiana!

He is only a man, this brother of mine, but a man chosen by God to be indelibly marked as an “alter Christus”. “The world looks to the priest, because it looks to Jesus! No one can see Christ; but everyone sees the priest, and through him they wish to catch a glimpse of the Lord! Immense is the grandeur of the Lord! Immense is the grandeur and dignity of the priest!”

 ~ Blessed John Paul II

My brother, the priest…As I write this article he is one week old, a “baby priest” some say. As the days pass I find myself uniting my life to his priesthood. His offering of Christ and all of humanity to the Father. His call has called me to a greater realization of my own priestly vocation as a baptized daughter of God, offering my life through, with and in Jesus to the Father by the Holy Spirit, to pray and do penance. To live Saint Paul’s admonition to the Romans, “…I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.”

~ Romans 12:1 – 2

All the Sisters here have been just as delighted as I am over this wondrous gift of a priestly vocation in my family. As contemplative nuns, dwelling in spirit at the foot of Calvary, we take seriously our mandate to be Spiritual Mothers, especially of priests. To pray and do penance for the sanctification of priests following our Lady of Sorrows, Mother of the Eternal High Priest and Helper in his work of Redemption.

The vocation to be a spiritual mother for priests is hardly known, barely understood and consequently, rarely lived, although fundamental and vitally important. It is a vocation that is often hidden, not apparent to the human eye, but intended to transmit spiritual life.

~ Adoration, Reparation, Spiritual Motherhood for Priests
by the Congregation for the Clergy 2007

Through fidelity to our daily hidden life we seek to help priests to be faithful in all their life of self-offering, prayer and duty. I think of the closing words of Bishop Charles C. Thompson, who ordained Fr. Jeff and his classmate Fr. Brian Emmick, “Dare to be priests of JOY.” Yes, we offer our lives for priests that they may know and show forth the joy of a life totally dedicated to Christ. I ask your continued prayers for my little brother, the priest – that he may be a holy priest. A holy priest means a holy people!

…the community of the baptized…’by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that…they may offer spiritual sacrifices.’ This ‘common priesthood’ is that of Christ the sole priest, in which all his members participate…But ‘the members do not all have the same function.’ Certain members are called by God, in and through the Church, to a special service of the community. These servants are chosen and consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ the head, for the service of all the members of the Church. The ordained minister is, as it were, an ‘icon’ of Christ the priest.

~ Catechism of the Catholic Church 1141, 1142

 Fr. Jeff pictured with his and Sr. John Mary’s brother Mitch (right) and Mike (left), one of Sr. Mary Andrea’s brothers.

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Sponsa Christi May 30th, 2012

Hello!  We are busy around here with preparations for our Gaudeamus Day tomorrow in honor of Mother Catherine Marie. We have this special day each year as a way to thank and honor our Superior for her generous service to the building up of our community and her charity toward each Sister. It is a day of joy and festivity!  May God reward you Mother for your generous response to God’s call to serve our Passionist community in this way!

Above is our celebratory schedule for the day

Sr. John Mary tries to finish up an afghan for Mother.

Many of the Sisters make gifts to give the Superior on this day. The Superior in turn, can use these as gifts to give to benefactors, etc. This is a long-held monastic tradition.

There will be special food and a musical tribute using violin, Appalachian dulcimer and flute!

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Speaking of Sr. John Mary…her brother Deacon Jeff’s ordination to the holy Priesthood is this Saturday! The long-awaited day has almost arrived. Please do keep him in prayer, along with all our newly ordained priests throughout the world.

Deacon Jeff’s invitation in front of 3 very holy priests -
St. Padre Pio, St. John Vianney and St. Anthony of Padua

It is a special gift to have a nun in our community who has a brother who is a priest.  Two other of our Sisters here have had this wonderful grace in their family. One was Sr. Jeanne Marie and her brother Fr. John Wehmhoefer both of whom have now passed to their eternal reward and are united in gazing on the merciful face of God.

Another is Sr. Ann Miriam seen below with her brother Fr. Joe Mills.

This photo was taken while Father was in the seminary at St. Meinrad and shortly before Sr. Ann Miriam entered the monastery.

This photo was taken last fall, approximately 60 years later!

Thank you Deacon Jeff for your “yes” to the Lord’s call in your life!  And congratulations to Sr. John Mary’s parents Bill and Bernadine and also to her siblings Patricia, Doug and Mitch!

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Monastic Life , Priesthood
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