In the Shadow of His Wings

Sponsa Christi February 2nd, 2013

O what a most glorious day!  Words cannot express it…Blessed be God! Alleluia!

I must share with you the moving homily preached by our Fr. Rodger Hunter-Hall.  I will leave you in suspense regarding a photo…I’m terrible aren’t I?  Also, I don’t have a photo yet but I do have a homily…

Presented to the Lord and Consecrated by the Spirit

Your Excellency

Dear Brothers in the Sacrament of Holy Orders

Mother Prioress

Dear Sisters

Dear friends in Christ:

In the life of a monastery like Saint Joseph’s, today’s event is truly a milestone, an event for the history book. Professions happen just infrequently enough that, each time one occurs, it truly grasps the fullness of our attention. It calls each of us to reflection; it lifts our eyes and focuses them, for these all too brief moments, on a distant horizon…a horizon where time and eternity come together.

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Tags: Feast Days, Profession of Vows, Spiritual Motherhood

• Bride of Christ , Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Passion of Jesus , Passionist Spirituality , Passionist Vocations for Women , Redemptive Suffering , Saint Paul of the Cross , Scripture Reflections
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Sponsa Christi February 2nd, 2013

Here is that marvelous reflection I mentioned in my last post. This is found in the worship booklet for the Mass of Religious Profession which will take place in 4 hours…

~  Reflection by Sr. Cecilia Maria of the Body of Christ  ~

As we come to this feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, upon which I also will be presented at the altar of the Lord as His bride, my thoughts turn to Joseph and Mary as they brought their newborn Son into the courts of the Lord for the first time. How their hearts must have been overflowing with unspeakable emotion! Their footfalls upon the Temple steps were both a culmination and a beginning: a culmination of the long, often difficult, often uncertain journey which had begun for them with an angel’s announcement in Nazareth; and the beginning of a new journey towards the world’s redemption. Today I, too, mark a culmination and a beginning as I profess my first vows as a Passionist Nun.

As Mary came to the Temple to consecrate her firstborn to the Lord according to the Law of Moses, the joy must have been palpable! Having conceived the Son of the Most High and nurtured Him in her womb by faith, and having endured both physical and emotional difficulties, she now brings the Son back to His Father. “Behold, O God, the Long-Expected One! I consecrate to you your Christ!”

In a similar way, my profession today is a culmination of the grace which was poured into me at baptism and which has grown and blossomed with the years. My journey, like Mary’s, has been difficult at times and has required me to leave behind many familiar and beloved things for the sake of God’s work. My journey, like Mary’s, has arrived at a day resplendent with joy, a day when I shall be consecrated entirely to the Lord and His love.

The Presentation in the Temple is also the beginning of the road to Calvary for both Jesus and Mary. It is the hinge between the seasons of Christmas and Lent, between the joyful and the sorrowful mysteries. After Simeon gives thanks to God for the salvation this Child represents, he turns to Mary and prophesies His passion and her share in it. As He is presented to His Father, Jesus’ life is definitively given over to the work of redemption in all its suffering and all its glory.

This consecration is at the very heart of the Passionist Nun’s life. As I profess my vows today, my life becomes knit together with Jesus’ own life, my mission with His mission. From now on, my whole existence will be caught up in Jesus’ work of redemption, “filling up in my own body what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body the Church” (Col 1:24), and becoming a channel of the grace, the glory, and the joy of His resurrected life into our world.

The Passionist Nun is called to be a sign of the love of God, who “so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son … not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17). By her union with Jesus Crucified and Risen, she shows to the world both the depths of God’s suffering love, and the height and breadth of the life and joy which flow from it. Please pray for me, that I may be faithful to the vocation to which God has called me!

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• Blessed Mother , Bride of Christ , Catholic Vocations for Women , Passion of Jesus , Passionist Spirituality , Passionist Vocations for Women , Redemptive Suffering
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Sponsa Christi April 26th, 2012

This news is a few weeks late but better late than never!

Here are a couple photos of our Mass on Easter Sunday morning:  special thanks to our servers of Holy Week!  And it was a joy to have seminarian David Gayhart with us who will be ordained to the transitional diaconate in a few months!

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I hope you are having a joyful Eastertide! We are. The Liturgy of Holy Week and Easter Week were so sacred and uplifting. On Easter Monday we had a mix of the spiritual and the mundane…The Exultet and an Easter Egg Hunt combined!

What do these have in common?  Nothing…so you might think…except when a group of two aspiring nuns in a monastery come up with a fun Easter game.

“2012 Eggsultet Hunt”

Sr. Cecilia Maria giving directions

• two teams racing to be the first to put the Exsultet together
• slips of paper with bits of text of the Exsultet are in eggs hidden in and outside the monastery

Sisters listen with full attention

Team #1

Nuns on the run…for eggs

Team #2

Sisters rest after the big hunt…

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Who won?

It was a tie! No lie!

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Too much Easter candy?

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A week later…

Sisters show off the last of our dyed eggs and hot cross buns

Divine Mercy Sunday
(If you look closely you can see the Divine Mercy Image
on the guests” side of the sanctuary.)

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*Wondering what the Exsultet is? It is an awesome hymn of praise sung before the Easter candle at the Easter Vigil.  Find out more here and here.

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Easter , Monastic Life
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Sponsa Christi February 17th, 2012

Blessings on this great Passionist Solemnity!

Each year on the Friday before Ash Wednesday Passionists throughout the world celebrate this titular feast of the Congregation given us by St. Paul of the Cross. It is a joyful celebration of the mystery of Good Friday, focusing on the Passion of Christ as “the most overwhelming sign of God’s love.” (St. Paul of the Cross)

The above display of the Instruments of the Passion created many years ago by Sr. Marie Michael and displayed each year in our chapel on this grand feast. Notice the Relic of the True Cross in the crucifix mounted in the upright cross.

In honor of this great feast of Divine Charity I want to share with you a reflection of Pope Benedict XVI given February 8, 2012. During his Wednesday audiences Pope Benedict has been reflecting on the Passion of Jesus.

Today I want to reflect with you on the cry of Jesus from the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This cry comes after a three-hour period when there was darkness over the whole land.

Darkness is an ambivalent symbol in the Bible – while it is frequently a sign of the power of evil, it can also serve to express a mysterious divine presence. Just as Moses was covered in the dark cloud when God appeared to him on the mountain, so Jesus on Calvary is wrapped in darkness. Even though the Father appears to be absent, in a mysterious way his loving gaze is focused upon the Son’s loving sacrifice on the Cross.

It is important to realize that Jesus’ cry of anguish is not an expression of despair: on the contrary, this opening verse of Psalm twenty-two conveys the entire content of the psalm, it expresses the confidence of the people of Israel that despite all the adversity they are experiencing, God remains present among them, he hears and answers his people’s cry.

This prayer of the dying Jesus teaches us to pray with confidence for all our brothers and sisters who are suffering, that they too may know the love of God who never abandons them.

He has loved us so generously! How can we ever doubt his love? Let’s be apostles of His love and help others come to know him in his greatest act of charity.

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Monastic Life , Passion of Jesus , Passionist Spirituality , Saint Paul of the Cross
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Sponsa Christi February 2nd, 2012

Happy Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple!

This Feast, which occurs 40 days after the birth of Christ, is also known as Candlemas Day. The day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world. Veni Lumen Christi!

Did you know that in 1997, Blessed Pope John Paul II instituted this a day of prayer for men and women in consecrated life?  It is our hope then that you will pray for us Nuns here in at the Monastery of Saint Joseph!

…that we be holy, zealous for God’s glory and for the salvation of souls, wholly enveloped in the Paschal Mystery and eagerly entering into our role as intercessors, participating with faith and attentiveness in the Liturgy of the Hours – the Divine Office which we chant throughout the day and which brings the fruits of Christ’s agony and death on the Cross to all times, peoples and places.

In order to highlight the gift of Consecrated Life the 16th annual World Day for Consecrated Life will be observed in parishes in the United States this coming weekend of February 4-5.

The blessing of candles in our chapel this morning.

Pray for us, and all Consecrated men and women, that we may fulfill our calling to reflect light of Jesus Christ to all peoples.

Collect for this Feast:

Almighty ever-living God, we humbly implore your majesty that, just as your Only Begotten Son was presented on this day in the Temple in the substance of our flesh, so, by your grace, we may be presented to you with minds made pure.

For an excellent meditation on today’s Feast and Liturgical readings visit Catholic Culture.

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*The first photo of our aspirant Anne!  I hope to blog about “the day in the life of an aspirant” this weekend or next week.

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Christmas , Cloistered Life , Monastic Life , Passionist Life , Passionist Vocations for Women
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Sponsa Christi October 19th, 2011

Blessed Feast of St. Paul of the Cross!

Yesterday, October 18th, brought us the 236th anniversary of his entrance into eternal life. Today brings us his universal celebration. But since those of us who live in North America are celebrating the North American martyrs today tomorrow will bring us the celebration of St. Paul of the Cross. This change in dates is not well understood. In fact, we have a Little Sister of the Poor here on retreat and this morning she greeted our Superior with a “Happy Feastday!” Mother had to explain the above to her. Probably what adds to the confusion is that the date given in the breviary is October 19th but the date given in the missalette is October 20th!

We are anticipating a day full of spiritual and temporal blessings with a very rich Liturgy of the Hours, Mass offered by our Bishop Medley followed by a wonderful meal.

You all have been included in our prayers during this novena and will be especially remembered in our Holy Mass tomorrow!

Now…for some spiritual reflections.

The Last words of a dying man are never forgotten, much less those of a dying Saint. The following are excerpts of the Last Will and Testament of St. Paul of the Cross. We will be reading this during First Vespers of this great Mystic.

“Before everything else, I strongly recommend the observance of that remembrance given by Jesus Christ to his disciples: “By this will all know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Behold, my dear brothers, what I want of you with my whole heart, both of you here present as well as all others who now wear the habit of penance and mourning in memory of the Passion and Death of our loving, Divine Redeemer, as well as all those who by the Divine Mercy will be called in future times to this small flock of Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, I recommend to all, especially to those who will be in the office of superiors, that there always flourish in the Congregation the spirit of prayer, the spirit of solitude, and the spirit of poverty. Let them be sure that, if they will maintain these three things, the Congregation, “will shine like the sun in the sight of God and the nations”.

I recommend with special emphasis filial affection to Holy Mother the Church and entire submission to its visible head, the Roman Pontiff. To that end they will pray day and night in their prayers for the Church and for the Supreme Pontiff. They will also strive to cooperate, as much as they are able for the good of the Church and for the salvation of the poor souls of their neighbor with missions, retreats, and other works that are in accord with our Institute, and promote in the hearts of all devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ and to the Sorrows of Mary most Holy/…/

I recommend in a particular way that they pray with great fervor for our present Holy Pontiff so that the Divine Mercy preserves him prosperously for a long time for the good of his Church and comfort him with the success of his intentions/…

Finally, with my face in the dust and with the weeping of my poor heart, I ask pardon from all in the Congregataion, those present and those absent for all my shortcomings committed in my office, which I exercised in order to do God’s Will for so many years. Oh, poor me, as I depart for eternity, I leave you only my bad examples. However, I must confess that I never had such an intention, but I always had at heart your holiness and your perfection.

You, O Immaculate Virgin and Queen of Martyrs, by the sorrows you experienced in the Passion Death of your Beloved Son, give us your motherly blessing while I place and leave all under the mantle of your protection.

Behold, my dear brothers, what are the remembrances that I leave with you with all my poor heart.

I leave you and I will await all of you in paradise, where I will pray always for the Sovereign Pontiff, for the Church I love so much… I leave all of you, present, absent, and future, my blessing: “May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, descend upon you and remain forever”.”

Special thanks to our  special friend for the above selections from our Founder’s Last Will & Testament

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• Blessed Mother , Passionist History , Saint Paul of the Cross
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Sponsa Christi September 29th, 2011

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• Passionist History , Passionist Life , Saint Paul of the Cross
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Sponsa Christi March 19th, 2011

Happy Feast of St. Joseph!  We had a delightful day. Since we keep this solemnity like a Holy Day of Obligation we had much time for prayer to plunge into the mystery of this Feast. Dear St. Joseph – who can fathom your glory!?

We are also blessed to have two women visiting us this weekend to discern a Passionist vocation. They joined us for a wonderful feastday game - a combination of Wheel of Fortune, pictionary and charades – only in a monastery! Our two topics we either had to spell, draw or act out, were the Litany of St. Joseph or the early years of our foundation in this diocese.

I was looking through the letters of my dear Founder today for some mention of St. Joseph. Here is one little mention in the midst of some aids to prayer and recollection he is giving to a young woman. May these inspire you to greater holiness in the midst of your vocation!

Go to sleep with holy thoughts, but try to sleep so that you are more ready for prayer.

Aspirations to be offered during the day:

“O Jesus, my love! would that you were never offended.”

“O my heart, break with sorrow!”

“Ah! Infinite Goodness, when will I love you! When will I be burnt up with love!”

“Ah! my dear Jesus, how much you suffered for me! and I do not love you? O my cruel heart, why do you not love Jesus who is your life, your supreme good?”

I have given you these prayers as examples. Use those where you feel more devotion, but use them with a peaceful spirit, gentle and relaxed, without strain of head or stomach, but gently. Thrust your heart often into the pure Heart of Jesus in the Sacrament. Greet Mary and Saint Joseph often as well as your guardian angel.

 

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• Monastery traditions , Passionist Life , Prayer , Saint Paul of the Cross
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Sponsa Christi March 3rd, 2011

    The last few weeks here have been very full. So much to post and so little time to do so! The following are some random things going on around here.

    There was a Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat held in our Guest House. This retreat is for Post-Abortive men and women. Please do keep them in your prayers. Fr. Ben Cameron is the site leader for the Rachel’s Vineyard retreats in our area and recently founded a Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy for post-abortive persons seeking healing and holiness. The confraternity also includes persons who have not undergone abortions but wish to join themselves spiritually to a beautiful work of healing such as this.

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    Sr. Cecilia Maria’s family was here for the traditional visit after a vestition.

Sr. Cecilia Maria with her beloved family.

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“Strike up the instruments!”

Whitney on violin treats us to Mozart’s Concerto No. 4

Sr. Cecilia Maria experimenting with the dulcimer and her family sings along – of course, it is a folk song of “The Brothers Four” entitled “Michael Row the Boat to Shore”.
This one’s for you Tim!

Sr. Rose Marie on the banjolin!

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    Our nine days of prayer to St. Gabriel of our Lady of Sorrows, patron of our novitiate brought many graces and some visitors discerning Passionist life.

    Fours special gals and their devoted chaperones from Smyrna, Georgia made us a part of their Spring Break Nun Run - Do come again! Plus another young woman and her mother were able to join us for several days of Passionist living. Please keep these young women in your prayers as they seek to find and follow God’s plan for their beautiful lives.

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Lastly, I thought I would bring you some highlights from this year’s feast day party for the Novice Directress
Sr. Mary Veronica.

Real china for this year’s tea party!

Tea leaves without a tea ball???

The novitiate (Liz – “Much-Afraid”, Sr. Cecilia Maria – “The Shepherd”, Sr. Rose Marie – Narrator) acts out a scene from Hinds’ Feet on High Places. For you Hannah Hurnard fans this is from page 127 of her book. The theme? “Doing the impossible is the funnest thing ever!”
(Sr. Rose Marie’s paraphrase) 

Sr. Cecilia Maria introduced us to “Here is My Light”
by Ed Conlin of Ann Arbor

Sr. John Mary had to get in a favorite from her NET days
- “Song of the Beloved” by Laure Krupp

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Sponsa Christi September 13th, 2010

    For Passionists this Feast is celebrated with great solemnity.  Here is a segment of a letter from our Holy Founder Saint Paul of the Cross regarding this feast…

Have you celebrated with solemnity the feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross? You will answer ‘yes,’ but do you know what I really mean? The feast of the cross is celebrated every moment in the inner temple of the true lovers of the Crucified. How is it celebrated? I will explain as well as I can. It is celebrated spiritually in silent suffering, without the support of any creature whatever. Since feasts are celebrated with joy, lovers of the Crucified celebrate the feast of the cross with interior silence and suffering, but with an appearance of serenity and joy.

Thus, the feast is hidden from creatures and revealed only the the Supreme Good.  There is a banquet at this feast, because we are nourished by the Father’s will, as our crucified Love was. What sweet nourishment it is! The dishes are seasoned in various ways, now with bodily or mental pain, again with the opposition, misrepresentation and scorn of men. O how sweet to the palate of the soul with savors them in pure faith and holy love, in silence and hope…

     In case some would wonder, when our founder says to suffer in silence he does not mean one cannot / should not speak with an appropriate person about suffering.  No man is an island! We all need spiritual companions, persons who will encourage us to take up our cross and follow Him.  What he is talking about is not complaining to everyone and anyone about our sufferings.  How difficult it can be to keep one’s mouth shut and not complain!  May Our Lady of Sorrows, whose Feast is tomorrow, September 15, aid us to carry the cross with love, hope and courage.

    Happy Feast days!

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• Passion of Jesus , Passionist Spirituality , Saint Paul of the Cross
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