In the Shadow of His Wings

Sponsa Christi November 2nd, 2012

This Tuesday will bring the final evening of prayer for our national elections. These monthly evenings of worship and intercession before our Eucharistic King have been a wonderful time of grace.

We will certainly be heading to the polls on Tuesday to cast our vote. We recently watched a Voters Roundtable on EWTN which I found to be excellent! Even though it is an hour-long I highly recommend it, especially for those of you who want to vote but are struggling to decide because there isn’t a “perfect” candidate. This roundtable discusses this issue and many more. Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ is one of the guests and I have great esteem for him and his ability to speak truth with clarity – which is so needed today!

Also, The World Over of EWTN has had very informative interviews regarding the upcoming elections.

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This Tuesday, along with voting, we will have Eucharistic adoration all day, culminating in the prayer service that evening. Please join us in prayer!

The evening will consist of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Scripture Readings, Sermon by a Father of Mercy, Renewal of Consecration of our Nation to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary and close with Solemn Benediction

Tuesday, November 6, 6:30 – 8 p.m. with Sermon by Fr. Ken Geraci, CPM

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Thanks to Larena Lawson, the following photos were taken during an evening of prayer held this past spring, with Fr. Tony Stephens, Vocations Director for the Fathers of Mercy, along with several of the novices.

So much is at stake. Please vote and vote with an informed conscience!

A Prayer for Our National Elections

O God, we acknowledge You today as Lord,
Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.

We thank You for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to You.

We thank You for Your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged
And recognized as higher than any human law.
We thank You for the opportunity that this election year
puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that Your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their
salvation,
Their response to You requires that they be politically
active.

Awaken Your people to know that they are not called to be
a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world.

Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to You in prayer
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read Your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth.

Awaken Your people to a commitment to justice,
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when Human Lives
Begin,
And not one moment later.

Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of Your kingdom.

May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Voting Principles
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Sponsa Christi July 9th, 2012

Did you hear those church bells ringing at noon on the Fourth of July – the Birthday of the Independence of our Nation? Our monastery bells rang loud and clear. This was just one of the points suggested to follow during the Fortnight for Freedom.

We are so grateful for those days…almost a week now since the Fortnight ended! We were able to take advantage of time for further reflection, education, prayer and penance for the intention of Religious Freedom for our nation.We delighted in talks from Archbishop Naumann at the Topeka, Kansas Rally and the homily given by Archbishop Chaput at the closing Mass for the Fortnight for Freedom. THANK GOD for EWTN and the continuous coverage of these events and other news of our nation and abroad.

Our Sr. Cecilia Maria treated us each evening of the Fortnight with a reading from a summary of the sobering history of our “baby” congregation during the harrowing days of the Napoleonic suppression during the early 19th century.

I will share with you a bit of that which pertains directly to our nuns. Read Sister Cecilia Maria’s full summary or go to the source for the entire story see History of the Passionists Volume II/2 by Fr. Fabiano Giorgini, C.P., translated into English in 2004.

Learning from Our Passionist Forebears
Religious Freedom and the Napoleonic Suppression

notes from History of the Passionists Volume II/2 ”
by Fr. Fabiano Giorgini, CP

 NAPOLEON’S MOTIVES

“As an absolute arbiter, Napoleon did not accept anyone escaping his control and, perhaps, feared … that religious would foment the maxims of Rome in the people, that is, fidelity to the Church’s doctrine and to the directives of the Pope.”

Napoleon was also interested in taking over “the goods of religious in order to pay for the great economic debt caused by the war, lodging soldiers, the increase of bureaucrats and for completing public works.”

The Passionist Situation

The Passionist Congregation had been in existence for ninety years…. When the suppression began in Tuscany in 1808, there were seventeen Passionist communities. At the end of 1810, all the communities were disbanded and the retreats became state property. When the monasteries were put up for sale or for rent, some houses were rented to friends who sublet them to the Passionists as ordinary citizens…. This solution, where possible, allowed at least one Passionist as custodian. Thus he was able to see that the house did not fall into greater ruin, but he was not able to prevent the emptying of its contents.

The Passionist Nuns had been in existence for only 39 years and only had the one monastery at Corneto (later the town was renamed Tarquinia). When they had to leave the monastery in June 1810, there were twenty-seven nuns: nineteen choir nuns, seven lay nuns, and one novice.

The Nuns’ Way of the Cross

On June 6, 1810, the nuns’ confessor Fr. Angelo Galassi read the imperial decree of suppression to all twenty-seven religious, gathered in the sacristy. On hearing that they would have to leave by June 15, the Sister chronicler records:

The good religious, after calming down, accepted the fact and prayed to God, truly from their hearts, that he would not permit them to return to the world, since they had abandoned it for love of him. But this time, for his own just ends, he did not answer their prayer.

On Friday, June 15, the day the Passionist nuns dedicate to spending time with Jesus in his Passion, they had to drink from his own bitter chalice as they were unjustly forced from their monastery.

• Eight nuns were natives of Corneto and could remain in the city, along with four foreigners who were also allowed to remain in Corneto because of ill health. These nuns sustained their religious life by meeting in groups of four in the houses of families who had taken them in.
• The other fifteen foreigners dispersed to their native cities.
• On January 14, 1811, the monastery was auctioned off for 35 francs.
• The monastery was assigned to the Maestre Pie, to be used as a school, an orphanage, and a clinic for sick women.

Although allowed to reunite by the papal rescript of June 30, 1814, the nuns faced significant practical and canonical obstacles to resuming their religious observance. The monastery had to be cleaned and disinfected, and a new place to be found for the Maestre Pie. Sustaining funds for the monastery and the nuns’ life had been discontinued by the French government, so new funding had to be found before the monastery could be canonically re-erected. Furthermore, a number of the nuns who wished to return were no longer able to live the observance because of infirmity.

Nevertheless, on December 23, 1814, fifteen nuns and the novice who had all returned resumed wearing their Passionist habit and renewed their religious profession in the hands of the Vicar General of the Diocese, Bishop Garrigos. Soon, five more nuns rejoined the group. Four religious had died during the suppression, one had disappeared, and one had requested exclaustration to care for her aged mother.

“The Suppression had been very hard on them, but the nuns had survived well.” The chronicler writes that, when they returned, “all took up the regular observance with readiness of spirit, as if it had never been interrupted.” In 1815, two novices were vested with the habit, and in 1816, eight novices were vested – a beautiful sign of the Resurrection for the community after their profound sharing in Our Lord’s Passion. The Divine Bridegroom is ever faithful to His faithful brides!

Advice from a letter of Sr. Magdalene Calzelli, CP:

Pray constantly to the Lord to free the entire State from our enemies. New evils have come upon us, but God can liberate us, if he wishes…. Trust in Mary Most Holy.

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Passionist History , Passionist Life , Religious Freedom
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Sponsa Christi April 22nd, 2012

That’s right. In 9 days we will host our 3rd Evening of Prayer for our Nation in anticipation of our national presidential elections in November.

Fr. Tony Stephens, Vocation Director for the Fathers of Mercy will be here to lead us in prayer and to exhort us to holiness. Please invite some friends and bring your family.

Tuesday, May 1st, 6:30 – 8 p.m.

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Consecration of our Nation to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary,  Solemn Benediction and more.

Please join us in praying for our beloved nation!

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Sponsa Christi February 29th, 2012

This is a MUST READ!

I was out yesterday afternoon for a doctor’s appointment (yes, nuns do go to the doctor) and as I was driving I was listening to EWTN radio on WIMM Catholic radio. The talk program hosts were discussing what Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, believes are four choices a Catholic Institution will have here in the USA if the HHS regulations are not rescinded. We must work and pray to be delivered from these evils!

May God have mercy on our nation!

Designed by Fr. Julio Cavaglia, CRSP, a Barnabite

Act of Consecration of the United States
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother; in union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you.  Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom, which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America.  Grant us peace.  Have mercy on our president and on all the officers of our government.  Grant us a fruitful economy born of justice and charity.  Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners – on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give our country and ourselves to your sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.  O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by the sword of sorrow prophesied by Simeon, save us from degeneration, disaster and war.  Protect us from all harm.  O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, you who bore the sufferings of your Son in the depths of your heart, be our advocate.  Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God.  Amen.

Imprimatur, Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle,
Archbishop of Washington, 1959,
for public consecration of the United States
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
renewed by U.S. Bishops, November 11, 2006

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• Blessed Mother , Catholic Vocations for Women , Prayer
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Sponsa Christi February 27th, 2012

Do you want to come to the aid of our nation during these perilous times? Along with being educated on the issues of the HHS Mandate and contacting Congress, our Bishops are also asking us to pray and fast for our nation during this critical moment in our history.  Here is an opportunity to put that into action.

Our monastery will be hosting a second evening of prayer for our nation and its upcoming elections in one week – March 6th to be exact.  If you are local we hope you can join us and bring your family and friends. If not, please do join us in spirit!

Here are the details…

Tuesday, March 6th 6:30 – 8 p.m.

Preacher – Father of Mercy – Fr. Louis Caporiccio

Prayers – Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Consecration of our Nation to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary and more

Prayer before our Lord Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist is very efficacious. When we pray before the Blessed Sacrament we are united with Jesus in a special way. We are not only in the presence of his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity but in the Eucharist, as in Heaven, Jesus is forever fixed in his greatest act of self-gift. Let us be united in his perfect act of prayer for our nation.

Last month we had about 100 participants. Help us exceed that number this month!  See you next week!

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Prayer , The Holy Eucharist
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Sponsa Christi February 8th, 2012

I have terrific news! We had a great turn out last evening. Many people came to pray and many of you were united with us in spirit. Our guests began arriving about 4o minutes early! I would say there were over 100 people. Perhaps more will come next month??? (March 6, 6:30 – 8 p.m. Father of Mercy Fr. Lou Caporricio will preach)

It was so good to have two of the Fathers of Mercy with us, Fr. David Wilton, CPM did a wonderful job of speaking of the necessity of interior conversion to bring an end to the Culture of Death. The reverence and prayerfulness of all present was very faith-building. Here are some comments we received about the service:

Wasn’t the service tonight awesome. The singing was beautiful, the organ sounded great, and I thought there were several people there. I love Benediction. I hope I am not being too ‘worldly’ when i say this, even though i know that Benediction means literally a blessing, the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction is so totally awesome, and our grandchildren and children today do not see that. I love to see the sacred host in the center of the gold, and I think that is where it should be. Today’s kids just miss that opportunity of seeing it, I guess. How sad. But I did enjoy tonight’s prayer service and Benediction. Thank you for inviting us.

Love and prayers

C

…[it] was wonderful. I was happy that there were so many attendees–prayer warriors. Dottie took me. I am just too tired by nighttime to attempt it by myself.

ML

Dear Mother:

Thank you very very much for putting together this very powerful evening. I hope you were not too disappointed that the very front rows were not full, but gratified to see that the [pews and extra] chairs were full…

We brought three ladies from our Blessed Mother rosary group and like us they were very thankful. We shall work on getting more and more to attend with us over these next services you are scheduling.

Thank you,

B

Let us continue to unite our prayer to the perfect prayer of Christ and pray for our beloved United States of America.

 crucifix in our main hallway

O God, we acknowledge You today as Lord, not only of individuals, but of nations and governments. We thank You for the privilege of being able to organize ourselves politically and of knowing that political loyalty does not have to mean disloyalty to You.

We thank You for Your law, which our Founding Fathers acknowledged and recognized as higher than any human law. We thank You for the opportunity that this election year puts before us, to exercise our solemn duty not only to vote, but to influence countless others to vote, and to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that Your people may be awakened. Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation, their response to You requires that they be politically active. Awaken Your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world but rather a community of faith renewing the world.

Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to You in prayer are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth; that the same eyes that read Your Word are the eyes that read the names on the ballot, and that they do not cease to be Christians when they enter the voting booth.

Awaken Your people to a commitment to justice, to the sanctity of marriage and the family, to the dignity of each individual human life, and to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin, and not one moment later.

Lord, we rejoice today that we are citizens of Your kingdom. May that make us all the more committed to being faithful citizens on earth. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

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• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Monastic Life , Prayer
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Sponsa Christi February 4th, 2012

Just a reminder of our first Eucharistic Evening of Prayer for our Nation this Tuesday, February 7th at 6:30 p.m.

The next evening of prayer is scheduled for March 6th, 6:30—8 p.m.

Please pass this on to your friends and family who are local. For those of you at a distance, I invite you to join us in spirit, even if only for a few minutes.

Do not think the smallest prayer of your heart for our nation will go unheeded. Our Crucified Lord hears every prayer and desires to be King of our Nation once again.   Let us implore His mercy!

The more the human conscience succumbs to secularization and moves away from God…the more the Church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy ‘with loud cries.’   These ‘loud cries’ should be the mark of the Church of our times, cries uttered to God to implore his mercy…

Blessed John Paul II: Rich in Mercy #15

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Sponsa Christi January 27th, 2012

Greetings!  I apologize for not posting more often. Last November a nasty virus began making its way through our community and a number of us are still dealing with the many and varied side effects that come with such a germ.  In community life we share all things in common – unfortunately, even colds!

Now – on to the purpose of this post!

During this election year we are going to host Evenings of Eucharistic Prayer for our Nation. We sure hope you can join us.

Each evening will consist of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Intercessions, Scripture Readings, Sermon by a Father of Mercy, Renewal of Consecration of our Nation to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary and close with Solemn Benediction

First evening is scheduled for Tuesday, February 7th 6:30 – 8 p.m.

Sermon by Fr. David Wilton, CPM

For those of you who live nearby please tell your friends and family to join us in prayer at the monastery. For those who live at a distance please feel free to join us in spirit. Our Nation is in a moral crisis and we need much prayer! May we return to the God-centered values of our Founding Fathers! May God bless our upcoming Presidential Election!

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Sponsa Christi May 1st, 2010

…to stand up for Truth and to follow God’s call.

    Our community is currently watching this week’s The World Over (a Catholic news program on EWTN). Raymond Arroyo is interviewing Newt and Callista Gingrich about their new movie Nine Days that Changed the World which examines Pope John Paul II’s 1979 trip to Poland and his role in the fall of communism. WOW - many of us were brought to tears. We pray this movie will touch many hearts and open the minds of all our citizens to see where the American elite are leading our beloved nation – to be a nation of people who are not free to practice our faith.

    Speaking of Pope John Paul II, I came across the following quote in some reading I did during our annual 8-day retreat and have been looking for an opportunity to share it with you. I think I just found that opportunity. This is an excerpt from a talk given by Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. during the Eucharistic Congress in Washington, DC last September.

     With the on-going purification the Church is going through right now and the need to keep focused on the necesity and importance of ministry and consecrated life in the Church today, I thought you would appreciate these stirring words of Pope John Paul the Great at the concluding Mass of World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto.

    Even a tiny flame lifts the heavy lid of night. How much more light will you make, all together, if you bond as one in the communion of the Church! If you love Jesus, love the Church! Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members. The harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us with a deep sense of sadness and shame.

    But think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests and religious whose only wish is to serve and do good! There are many priests, seminarians and consecrated persons here today; be close to them and support them! And if, in the depths of your hearts, you feel the same call to the priesthood or consecrated life, do not be afraid to follow Christ on the royal road of the Cross! At difficult moments in the Church’s life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent. And holiness is not a question of age; it is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit, just as Kateri Tekakwitha did here in America and so many other young people have done.

    …Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weakneses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.”

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Sponsa Christi July 8th, 2009

    We continue to be graced by Fr. McGonigle’s presence among us these days. Last evening he shared with us his thoughts about the great importance of our contemplative cloistered vocation in the Church and world of today. He shared this in the light of the Feast of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne which will be celebrated next week.

    We had been chatting about the crisis in our nation and in our Church. Father began our next conference by asking us…what’s the answer? the Martyrs of Compiegne.  One might dare to say their profound witness brought an end to the French Revolution.

    What is the role of cloistered nuns now?  WITNESS

• Witness to life of community
• Witness to life of prayer
• Witness to life of service
• Witness to life of penance
• Witness to life of charity

    Prayer of contemplatives is of immense importance for our society. What is God’s will for us as cloistered nuns? Holiness of life. Many do not recognize the need of God or Christian morality.

    Therefore, witnesses are needed.

    Who is sustaining the diocesan priest living alone? covering 3 parishes? overburdened with administrative duties? so tired its difficult to pray? We must come to their aid (especially during this Year of the Priest) and to the aid of our Church and nation.

    Our apostolate of the 21st century is that same as it was when we were founded in the 18th century…to help people hear the Gospel and open themselves to the mystery of the Passion of Christ which flows from the Bosom of the Father. We celebrate this mystery at every Eucharist. Our life is important in Salvation History.

    We too are called to bear the cross for the Church in the US and for our beloved Nation.

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• Passionist Life , Passionist Spirituality
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