In the Shadow of His Wings

Sponsa Christi October 8th, 2012

Passionists in the news…

August 17 brought a four-fold blessing to the Holy Cross Province – FOUR new novices!  Alleluia!  Please do keep them in your prayers.

Four novices in front row: Glenn Bisquera, David Kojak,
Antonio Aquino and Juan Gonzalez.
May our Holy Founder intercede powerfully for them! 

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August also brought us the blessing of two new friends from afar – Fr. Gregor Lenzen, Passionist of Germany (at left), and Fr. Emery, diocesan priest of Austria but teaching at Mundelein Seminary.

We were glad to learn about the Church abroad and particularly our Passionists in Germany/Austria.

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September 28 brought a new Superior General to the Passionist Congregation, Fr. Joachim Rego, CP. Please pray for him and his Consulters as they begin their 6-year term in service of the Congregation.

Click here for a recap of the Passionist General Chapter which just concluded this past weekend October 7th.

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Passionist Men
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Sponsa Christi August 16th, 2012

Summer days are almost gone…along with many of you, this summer has been unusual with the triple-digit weather and lack of rain.

This summer brought us a large track hoe to dig out the sides of our lake which was becoming quite the weed-bed. So now we have huge piles of clay in our woods where they dumped the lake mud. It was a messy job; grass seed will definitely need to be sown in the fall.

Sisters watch the track hoe at its first day on the job.

Independence Day brought us a Gaudeamus Day  – a free day with time to relax and enjoy one another’s company. With the terrible drought we skipped the fireworks. This was the final day of the Fortnight for Freedom.

Grilling out on Independence Day. Delicious! But those barbecued grills were tough to clean!

Braving the heat on Independence Day—after a water balloon toss! The Lord sent a nice cloud cover and we enjoyed a game of croquet before Vespers.

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Today we had a Passionist Renewal morning led by our Msgr Powers. He has gradually been leading us through our Holy Founder’s letters to Mother Mary Crucified. This was letter #7. Msgr likes to pull words out of the letter and go very deeply into them.  He himself is a poet and mystic and keeps busy giving retreats and days of recollection and spiritual direction.

In today’s letter St. Paul of the Cross told Mother Mary Crucified (the Superior of the first Passionist Nuns, she was a Benedictine for many years, waiting the foundation of the Passionist Nuns) that he so desired her to be clothed as he was in the Holy Passion of Jesus Christ. Ah…he waxed eloquent on the holy habit for about an hour…one point he brought out is how we are clothed in the Passion of Christ, clothed in Jesus’ greatest act of love clothed in a spousal garment. This is the reason we wear black…to symbolize the love of Jesus crucified.  Our Passionist emblem – that the Passion of Christ would be ever in our hearts…not only his physical sufferings but the love, the virtues that motivated our Lord to endure all he did for our redemption, our sanctification – that this would be ever in our hearts!  Then we had a 45 min prayer period and then discussion time.  Truly, Passionists are “robed in salvation!”

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I just read in our Holy Cross Province Newsletter of our Passionist men that tomorrow, August 17, four men will be vested in the Passionist habit and enter the novitiate! Alleluia!  I don’t have any other details but please keep them in your prayers.

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Next Wednesday will bring our Gaudeamus Day in honor of Sr. Mary Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee. Which reminds me that I only have 5 days to finish my card for her.  You see, each Sister creates some kind of card for Silver or Golden Jubilarians….recycled cards, computer cards…whatever a Sister can come up with!  I must get busy…

Next week’s post should bring to you all the goings on that have been thus far worked on in secret for Sr. Mary Elizabeth’s day!

Ta ta!

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Passion of Jesus , Passion Sign , Passionist Life , Passionist Spirituality
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Sponsa Christi May 2nd, 2012

Well…I can hardly believe it!

I created a widget in the side bar of this blog OVER A YEAR AGO called “Interesting Passionist Articles”, featuring PDF articles written by or about Passionist life in the Institute on Religious Life Magazine of September/October 2010.

Just last week it came to my knowledge that I linked to every one of those articles incorrectly! (Yes, I can believe I made this mistake) But I can’t believe that none of you, my dear friends, caught my mistake!

Please let me know if you find any other broken links on this blog site. I’ll gladly correct them if I can.

And I hope you’ll check out the articles in the side bar.

The Prefaces for Easter pray that we be “overcome with Paschal joy”…that is our prayer for you during this Eastertide!

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• Blessed Mother , Catholic Vocations for Women , Passionist History , Passionist Life , Passionist Saints , Passionist Spirituality , Passionist Vocations for Women , Saint Paul of the Cross , The Holy Eucharist
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Sponsa Christi December 25th, 2011

“Nails, Spear shall pierce Him through
The Cross be borne for me, for you
Hail, Hail the Word Made Flesh
The Babe, the Son of Mary…”

-From the Christmas Carol, What Child is This?, written in 1865

Dear brothers and sisters of the Congregation and the Passionist Family,

When we celebrate Christmas we celebrate the coming of God among us: He is a Child that is born into a family of the spouses Mary and Joseph, who will love him with simplicity and faithfully care for him in silence with the dedication of ones who know that God is in their home. At the Annunciation the Angel said to Mary: Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High (Lk.1:31-32). His birth is so human! He is immersed in the fullness of humanity: sent from the perfect communion of the Trinity, he entered into a world of conflict.

Jesus is born as a man in the context of contemporary history:

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria… And Joseph too went up from… the town of Nazareth…to Bethlehem… to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn (Lk. 2:1-7).

Respectfully and reverently we almost always skip over the words of the angel: you will conceive in your womb – even if we recite them in the Hail Mary; and also: Mary, his betrothed, who was with child…the time came for her to have her child. She was a pregnant woman like so many others in the world who was expecting the birth of her child and the time arrived for her to give birth to Jesus.

God is born like all the children of the world and Mary is his mother and gives birth, although immaculate, like every other mother who gives birth to a child and feeds him at her breast. Mary, according to the accounts of the nativity, gives birth to the One who was foretold, in poverty and in the solitude of a courageous journey. She would not receive the glorious announcement of the angels: I proclaim to you good news of great joy…a savior has been born for you (Lk.2:10-11); rather it would be the shepherds who would bring her the message and she would accept it in a spirit of faith.

Mary meditates on these events, trying to understand their meaning. (Lk.2:19) It is by the power of faith that she struggles to enter into the mystery of God. The relationship between this human maternity and the challenge to accept the reality of Jesus in faith will achieve its fulfillment when a woman in the crowd called out and said to him, blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” But Jesus said:“Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it (Lk. 11:27-28).

In addition to bearing him in her womb and nursing the Son of God at her breast, Mary was situated in her mission by the prophetic words of the old man Simeon: And you yourself a sword will pierce (Lk. 2:35). If Jesus would be a sign that will be contradicted, i.e. he would encounter challenges, confrontations and rejection by the people that he came to save, then Mary would have to participate in the sorrowful mission of her Son. Here, too, Mary is presented as a mother, but above all as a “believer” who hears the word of God and observes it. She must walk along the dark road of danger and suffering.

Whoever believes in and loves God shares in His mission and if God calls him, he allows himself to be found and he accepts his plans even without knowing the details, as did Mary. And all of us, religious and laity, are challenged, each according to his or her own status in life.

And we may ask ourselves, filled with wonder and surprise at such great simplicity: Is the Baby that is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger with animals really Him, the God announced by the prophets and the long-awaited Messiah who will free his people from oppression? This is the same question that would be posed to John the Baptist when Jesus, now an adult, was about to begin his mission: Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another? (Mt. 11:3)

Jesus is not confused by this question. He understands John’s perplexity and he opens his mind and his heart: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me (Mt. 11:4-6). At times we too are blind and we don’t want to see or hear. And many times and in different ways, whether on a personal level or the level of the Congregation, we refuse to accept new things as did the citizens of Nazareth when Jesus entered their synagogue one Sabbath to read the prophecy of Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4:18-21).

But he was rejected: to free the oppressed and to bring good news to the poor was at the very heart of his mission and because of this mission conversion and a change of heart from those things that have been irrefutable for so many years were needed.

And in profound agreement with the response he gave to John’s disciples and what he read in the synagogue of Nazareth, in Matthew 25, Jesus invites us to recognize him in the sick, in the hungry, in the imprisoned, in the poor and in the powerless of this world. But we need eyes and evangelical wisdom to recognize him and a change of heart to understand and study the signs that God is sending us.

And at Christmas the sign that is also given by the angels is a Child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Word and sign, simplicity and poverty, the gift and the glory of God come together in Him: the Word was made flesh and came to dwell among us. The Child Jesus is the language of God that reveals to us that not only man is in God, but primarily, that God is in man.

And this helps us to understand that perfection is not about self-realization, but is found in one another; that greatness is not about being served, but serving; that the fullness of liberty is to be free from oneself, free for others and for God; that freedom is about total and serene abandonment to God especially in suffering and in sickness; that the fullness of love is not about being loved, but about loving. Thus it is for man and thus it is for God: The Child of Bethlehem and the Crucified One on Golgotha is the sign and the gift of the one, same love. May St. Paul of the Cross open our hearts to understand this great love!

Merry Christmas! May the New Year 2012 be a year of peace for our communities, for the Passionist nuns and Sisters, for our families and for the world! May there be work for the unemployed and a peaceful future for the young.

Together with the General Council and the religious of the Community of Sts. John and Paul, I particularly wish to remember the sick and those who are alone and suffering in spirit.

Fr. Ottaviano D’Egidio

Superior General

Retreat of Sts. John and Paul

Rome, 20 December 2011

from Passionist Generalate website

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• Blessed Mother , Christmas , Passion of Jesus , Passionist Spirituality , Redemptive Suffering , Saint Paul of the Cross
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Sponsa Christi July 11th, 2011

Come, Spouse of Christ! Veni, Sponsa Christi!

Ahhh…how does one write an article about such a profound event?! …Being set apart for the praise of God, being deputed to intercede on behalf of the Church and the world… Sr. Rose Marie’s Profession of Vows was such a mystical experience.

I shall let the photos tell the story…

The Rite of Religious Profession takes place during the Liturgy of the Word within the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There are a number of stages within this Rite

• The Call
• The Examination
• The Prayer for God’s Grace
• The Profession of Vows
• The Presentation of the Passionist Insignia
• The Intercessions
• The Presentation of Gifts

Profession of Vows:

To the honor of God, I, Sr. Rose Marie of the Merciful Heart of Jesus, firmly resolve to consecrate myself more intimately to Him, and to follow Christ more closely. In the presence of the community of this Monastery of St. Joseph, a part of the whole Institute of the Religious of the Passion of Jesus and a sign of the universal Church, and in your hands, Mother Catherine Marie, I vow to promote devotion to and grateful remembrance of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, and to express it in my style of life. I also vow chastity, poverty, obedience, and to live in enclosure, for three years, according to the Rule and Constitutions of the Religious of the Passion of Jesus Christ.

I promise to lead a life of love, together with you, my Sisters, “called within the Church to be a sign of the love of Jesus Crucified for the Father and for mankind.”

May the grace of the Holy Spirit, the intercession of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary and of St. Paul of the Cross, and your
charity, my Sisters, sustain my weakness, and strengthen me in what I have promised by vow.

Help your servant, Lord. With trust in the word of your Gospel, she has given you her faith.

The superior responds:
By the authority entrusted to me, I accept your vows in the name of the Church for the Institute of the Religious of the Passion of Jesus Christ. I commend you earnestly to God that you may fulfill your dedication which is linked with this Eucharistic Sacrifice.

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Presentation of the Insignia of Passionist Profession:

The newly professed Passionist is now given:
–the black veil and a ring, both of which signify that she is truly the bride of Christ Crucified, united to Him by her holy vows.

The celebrant hands the black veil to the newly professed who is then clothed with it:
Celebrant: Receive this veil which proclaims that you belong entirely to Christ the Lord and are dedicated to the service of the Church.
Newly Professed: Amen.

As the celebrant gives her the Passion Sign, he says:
Celebrant: Receive, dear Sister, the Sign of the Passion of Jesus Christ. Place it as a seal on your heart, so that the Passion thus symbolized may be truly within your heart.
Newly Professed: Amen.

He then places the Passionist ring on her finger, saying:
Celebrant: Receive this ring, for you are betrothed to the eternal King. Keep faith with your Bridegroom, so that you may come to the wedding feast of eternal joy.
Newly Professed: Amen.

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The newly professed receives the Profession Crucifix, the cross and the crown of thorns, all of which are symbolic expressions of her vocation to participate in the Passion of Christ and become one with Him in His love for the Father and for the Church.

Then the celebrant gives her the Profession Crucifix:
Celebrant: Receive, Sister, this Crucifix. May it recall to you the saving love of your Crucified Spouse, so that you may be faithful to what you have promised Him today.
Newly Professed: Amen.

Next, he gives her first the cross and then the crown of thorns:
Celebrant: Receive, Sister, the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the crown of thorns. May you follow Him in humility, obedience and self-denial.
Newly Professed: Amen.

The newly professed Passionist Nun, together with her community, sing the following:

Veni, Sponsa Christi
(Come, Spouse of Christ)

The love of the Father has set you apart, Veni Sponsa Christi!
The love of the Son now draws you to His Heart, Veni Sponsa Christi!
The love of the Spirit of God Most High, has called out to you
that eternal cry: Veni Sponsa Christi! Veni Sponsa Christi!

Arise, my love! My lovely one, come! Veni Sponsa Christi!
For see, the winter is past, and the rains are gone.
Veni Sponsa Christi!
The flowers now appear on the earth,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
Veni Sponsa Christi!

The Lord of lords holds your life in His embrace.
The King of kings fills your soul with His own grace.
Veni Sponsa Christi! Veni Sponsa Christi!
For the King now desires your beauty!
For the King now desires your love!
Veni, Veni, Veni;
Veni Sponsa Christi! Veni Sponsa Christi! Veni Sponsa Christi!

(Copyright Carmelite Sisters, D.C.J. 1988; Used by Permission;
Music by J.A.S.)

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Presentation of the Gifts:

The Church herself, by her God-given authority, accepts the act of profession, and in her liturgy associates it with the Eucharistic Sacrifice of Christ. The grace of a total giving of self to God through the profession of the religious vows is first received by a person as a gift from God before being brought back to God as an offering. Sr. Rose Marie and her novice directress, Sr. Mary Veronica, together with Sister’s parents and brothers now carry the gifts to the altar.

Bishop William Medley, Bishop of our Diocese of Owensboro, KY, presided at the Mass. There were a number of other priests, religious and diocesan, as well as two seminarians and two transitional deacons. The deacon at right is Sr. John Mary’s brother Deacon Jeff Read of the Diocese of Evansville, IN.

Sign of Peace

Holy Communion

Canticle of Love

How great and tender is our God who has smiled on the lowly.
Eternally, my heart will sing a new canticle of love.
Come, all who hunger, all who thirst, all who long for fulfillment.
The God of mercy waits for you as a mother her child.
Oh come to the living water, fear not your weakness,
forever trusting in God’s merciful love.
Through the shadows of this night,
love will be my guiding light.
Presence hidden from my sight,
‘til the clouds are put to flight.

Beneath your gaze I’ve blossomed forth, as a rose in the sunshine.
With joyful heart I’ve given all to the mystery of love.
In peace I will come before you with empty hands,
relying solely on your merciful love.
Through the veil your face appears,
beauty shrouded, bathed in tears.
Bread of sinners I will share,
rose un-petalled everywhere.
Ah, my God, I will sing of your love
for this one eternal today,
for this one eternal today, eternal today….
Until in eternity we join in one chorus,
forever singing of God’s merciful love,
canticle of love, for today I will sing, sing of your love.

by Sr. Marie Therese Sokol, OCD
(St. Therese of the Child Jesus was also young when she entered religious life.
The following hymn using St. Therese’s words and spirit, is very fitting for a young Passionist Nun.)

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Happy parents

Happy brothers

The reception for our guests following the Mass of Religious Profession

“Most Sacred Heart of Jesus I implore,
that I may ever love Thee more and more.”

Fr. Fred Sucher, CP – perhaps the most venerable of all our guests!

Sister greeted all the guests – here she is with two postulants of the Fathers of Mercy.

Well…I know I kept you waiting for this blog post; I hope this was worth the wait!

*** Special thanks to our dear friend Larena Lawson who took all these photos!

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• Bride of Christ , Novitiate news , Passionist Life , Passionist Spirituality
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Sponsa Christi July 5th, 2011

I hear that some of you are so anxious to see some photos from Sr. Rose Marie’s First Profession of Vows. The visitors to the blog last Friday were almost double the usual amount – Perhaps hoping for some news about the festive day! Here are a few photos to whet your appetite…

Thanks to Larena Lawson there will be more to come later of the actual Profession Rite and Mass.

After professing her vows the Nun receives the black veil, the Passion Sign, the ring and the Profession Crucifix.

Here are the five vows the Passionist Nun freely professes:

1. To Promote Devotion to and Grateful Remembrance of the Passion of Jesus
2. Chastity
3. Poverty
4. Obedience
5. Enclosure

 She then is given the cross and a crown of thorns; she wears the crown of thorns for the rest of the Mass.

Here is the “altar of sacrifice” and the chair in which the Superior sits. With the authority invested in her by the Church she is able to receive the vows of the religious. The vows are made for 3 years, then renewed for another three years. At the end of six years she will make perpetual profession. Pray for that blessed day!

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  Later I will upload some photos of the actual rite and Mass

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NOW HERE IS THE BRIDE…

with faithful college friends from Texas A&M

  with Aunt Tina and Nanny

and her beloved family…

More to come later…

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Sponsa Christi May 11th, 2011

    “Life around here has been pretty crazy lately”. This has been our comment for about the past 2 1/2 weeks and especially this past week. Do you ever feel as though you don’t know whether you should laugh or cry? That’s how we’ve been feeling.

    I know some of you look for photos to catch your attention. There aren’t any in this post but I think you’ll find it interesting anyway…

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    In late April our Sr. Margaret Mary was given 2 weeks to live. She had been suffering from last stage of multiple myeloma cancer for over a year. We and her family and loved ones are grateful for the time we had to spend with her day and night these past weeks. She went home to God yesterday, Tuesday, May 10th at 10:30 a.m.  She was a very private person; that is why we didn’t post this info earlier.  It has been quite a roller coaster ride.  Now we prepare for the wake which will be here at the monastery Thursday 1 – 7 p.m. with prayers at 7 p.m. and on Friday visitation at 12:30 and funeral at 2 p.m.

    I hope you will read her lovely journey to Passionist life on our website. I don’t have time to post photos but you can see some when you read her story. Please pray that she will enter fully into the fiery love embrace of the Most Holy Trinity – her Love and Life. Rest in eternal peace faithful bride of Christ!

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    Now…here is a little peek at Passionist life in St. Joseph monastery this past week.  I took at Sister to a doctor and ran errands last Thursday afternoon. When I got home another Sister who is in her mid-70′s had a bad fall running to answer the phone.  We took her to Urgent Care, got x-rays at RDI, back to urgent care – she has a broken bone near the rotary cup. She hit her head hard too and passed out. She’s a tough cookie. She’s still smiling. Thankfully the bones had not separated and it looks as though she won’t have to undergo surgery.

    Then, upon waking Friday we discovered that the walk-in refrigerator had gone out over night so we had to find place for all the food. Blessed be God the repair man got it up and running yesterday.

    Then the pie auction was last Friday evening and we were slated to bake 8 pecan pies for it!  I hope they brought in a pretty penny for a good cause (a home for children with mental and physical challenges).

    Saturday and Sunday we spent much time with Sr. Margaret Mary as it was thought she could die any moment.

    Sunday evening Christie came down with a bad cold.

   One of our Sisters had surgery Monday; she is in her mid-80’s. She had cancer that had to be removed.   Thankfully the doctor is confident she got all the cancer and it had not spread. Our Sister is a trooper and is coming around. We are keeping watch with her day and night. I was with her for half the day yesterday. She’s actually smiling when the nurse makes her sit up in a chair and is walking down the corridor. The nurse said she is doing better than some of her 30-something patients do! 

   Right at the moment Sr. Margaret Mary took off for heaven Tuesday morning a group of 3 discerning gals were pulling into the monastery grounds. They had driven up from Nashville. They attended a nun-run here last year and Passionist life had been on their hearts ever since! I think they had a short and sweet little visit. Hopefully we’ll see more of them!

    Last night we found that that water purifier in the dining room had broken down and was leaking…ah…one sister said that perhaps it was a little jealous at all the attention the refrigerator was getting!

    All ye future Passionist Nuns…do you see what you are possibly getting yourself into?

    Please keep us in prayer as we do all of you.  As we had this crazy week, we kept saying among ourselves, something must be going on that our Lord is asking all of this of us. We lovingly and wholeheartedly offer it with Jesus to the Father. Our lives belong to HIM.  May He be praised in the good times and in the difficult times!  Alleluia!

    Special thanks to all our friends and loved ones who have helped us out in so many ways these past weeks.

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Sponsa Christi April 20th, 2011

Missionary of the Passion: James Kent Stone

    A rich life of sacrifice, praise, sorrow, and joy is lived under the crucifix, and focused on the Passion of Christ.

    As Christians celebrate Jesus’ Passion, death, and Resurrection, Pat McNamara focuses this week’s column on a religious community dedicated to proclaiming “Christ’s crucified love.” During the Passionists’ early years in America, one of their preeminent figures was James Kent Stone (1840-1921). Before age 30, he had been a Harvard graduate, Civil War veteran, minister, professor, and president of two colleges. One Passionist historian refers to him as “this illustrious man.” Read the rest of the story…

   God bless you Mr. McNamara for featuring such a great American Passionist!

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Sponsa Christi March 15th, 2011

    We continue to be united with so many of you in praying for our dear brothers and sisters of Japan at this time. We recently heard from our nuns in Japan that they did not suffer directly from the earthquake nor tsunami. We thank God for that. Special thanks also to Lisa Graas who kindly posted this on her blog just today. Now we must pray against all harm from the damaged nuclear power plants.

Jesus Mercy!

    Another prayer need…yesterday we learned that one of our Passionist priests at St. Ann’s Basilica in Scranton, PA was attacked on Ash Wednesday. He had 12 stab wounds, lacerations and some bruises.  We thank God that he is resting, healing and hoping to be back in full swing soon.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners!

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Sponsa Christi April 22nd, 2008

To all our web savvy friends – Greetings from the cloister!

     We are so excited about this new vocation promotion endeavor – I very well believe we are the first of all the communities of Passionist Nuns throughout the world to have a blog. (Although, I would love to be corrected about that!)

#90 in our Rule & Constitutions states

     The Passionist Nuns, being cooperators with God who chooses and calls whom He wills, strive to encourage vocations by making known the value of the consecrated life and the challenge involved in the following of Christ Crucified, as also through the example of their lives, their prayer and the spoken and written word.

     In your charity, please offer a prayer for us as we “strive to encourage vocations” to Passionist life by casting our net into the deep sea of blogging.

     P.S. I can’t forget to extend a special thanks Louisville seminarian Matthew Hardesty (native of Owensboro, KY) who took time away from his retreat in our retreat house to help us become a bit more educated about blogs. God reward you Matthew! And our continued prayers as you seek to be a priest of Jesus Christ. (Visit Matthew’s blog: http://theschoolofmary.blogspot.com/)

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