In the Shadow of His Wings

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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Sponsa Christi June 22nd, 2011

    Annually on the Feast of the Sacred Heart each Sister receives a message from the Sacred Heart of Jesus typed out on a slip of paper. In 2010 the messages were taken from the diary of Saint Faustina. Currently, one of our Sisters is going through the belongings of our dear departed Sr. Margaret Mary.  She recently came across the message Sr. Margaret Mary was given last June. Immediately I thought of you all and wanted to share it with you.

    Our Sister Margaret Mary suffered immensely the last 18 months of her life due to Fourth stage Multiple Myeloma cancer and a multitude of other complications. It was so difficult to see her go through this. We couldn’t remove her suffering but we tried to journey with her through it. Although, ultimately, it became an intimate dance of surrender to Jesus, her Divine Bridegroom. We praise God that during her last weeks on earth she was alleviated of much pain.

    Here is the message Sr. Margaret Mary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus received from the Sacred Heart in 2010:

My daughter, know that if I allow you to feel and have a more profound knowledge of My sufferings, that is a grace from Me. But when your mind is dimmed and your sufferings are great, it is then that you take an active part in My Passion, and I am conforming you more fully to Myself. It is your task to submit yourself to My will at such times, more than at others. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone. I am giving you a share in My sufferings because of My special love for you and in view of the high degree of holiness I am intending for you in heaven. A suffering soul is closest to My Heart.”

    I hope you will receive this message as personally transmitted to YOU.  He has loved you with an everlasting Love.

    And may Sister experience the full embrace of that special love from her Crucified Spouse and may she intercede for us!

     Above image found here.

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Tags: Rest in Peace, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Saints

• Monastery traditions , Passionist Life , Redemptive Suffering
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Sponsa Christi May 26th, 2011

Greetings to each of you!  Wow. Where to begin. So much has been going these past couple of months. Perhaps I can use the photos to tell the story…

The story begins at Holy Week…

Sisters prepare Hot Cross buns

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Even the holy water channel is prepared for the great Paschal celebration!

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Two of Sr. Mary Andrea’s brothers (Mike and Rob) come to build a new closet for us in the Eucharistic chapel

Rob shows off the “blueprint” on a paper plate!

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Preparing Easter Eggs

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Friends Chuck, Ethan and Mark build us pantry shelves on Holy Saturday!

All in a day’s work!

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Beautiful Spring

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Easter visiting our Sisters

Last known photo taken of Sr. Margaret Mary on Easter 2 weeks and 2 days before her death on May10th. Dear Sister, faithful Daughter of the Passion and Bride of Christ, rest in the eternal embrace of your God.

Our dear Bishop William Medley made time in his busy schedule to offer the Funeral Mass for Sr. Margaret Mary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

May her soul, and the souls of all our dearly departed, rest in God’s eternal Love

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In the midst of all this the walk-in refrigerator broke down – a perfect opportunity to do some much needed spring cleaning!

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Last week brought us some of the Fathers of Mercy on a mission of mercy.

Fr. Tony, CPM points out a tree that will come down

Working hard in the woods…

Back at the generalate and all cleaned up. God bless and reward you our dear brothers in Christ!

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This week brought us the “Goretti Girls” on a vocation retreat.

    This group was formed out of the heart’s of mothers desiring further Catholic teaching and fellowship for their daughters after the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation. We had 10 14-18 year old gals here from the Toledo, OH area. “The Goretti Girls” take their name from St. Maria Goretti. They seem to have had a wonderful time here. And they loved learning about our charism and our saints. Yesterday we had a grand 4 innings of baseball (without gloves!). It has been a long time since I ran bases or fielded balls. I am sore today but it was so much fun! Last night they had a thrilling adventure of joining all the nuns in the basement, along with our chaplain, because of tornado warnings. They never thought they would get to come into the cloister…much less with all the nuns.

Deadly spring tornadoes – this picture was taken on the other side of our county. Let us be united in praying for the victims of these natural disasters.

May the Lord show us His mercy!

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    I hope you have enjoyed this update. As I put this together half of us Sisters have begun our annual 8-day solitude retreat. We are referred to as the “Marys”. The other half of the Sisters are keeping the monastery up and running. They are the ”Marthas”. We would certainly appreciate your prayers for us! We have been so busy and need time to slow down and hear the voice of the Beloved on a deeper level.

   Please know that your needs and intentions and those of our entire world are remembered in our daily prayers, works, joys and sufferings. And please pray for us.

   May the Passion of Christ and the Sorrows of Mary be ever in our hearts!

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Tags: Friends, Rest in Peace, Weather Flora & Fauna

• Passionist Life , Vocation Discernment
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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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Tags: Passionist News, Rest in Peace

• Passionist Life , Redemptive Suffering
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Sponsa Christi April 18th, 2009

    Along with many of you we have been preparing our hearts to celebrate the great Feast of Divine Mercy tomorrow, the 2nd Sunday of Easter. Recently we blessed a new oratory in our monastery cell wing called the Divine Mercy Chapel. Yes, our Lord Jesus’ Eucharistic Presence is now just a couple doors down from our cells! How much He loves us that He makes Himself so present to us. May we all grow in our Eucharistic fervor through this new chapel.

One morning after Mass we had a Eucharistic procession to our new oratory where our Chaplain, Fr. Ray Clark brought our Lord Jesus to reside in His new home.

    A note of inspiration…our Sister Rita Marie was called home to the Lord on Holy Saturday…the 2nd day of the Divine Mercy Novena…the day dedicated to praying for priests and religious.

    A note of gratitude…we were scheduled to host a Nun Run here this past Tuesday and Wednesday from the Rockford diocese but seeing that this would conflict with the visitation and funeral of Sr. Rita Marie our Carmelite Sisters came to our rescue and took them in. Low and behold, they showed up for the Prayer Service and we had a short visit with them afterwards. What a delight it was to meet them…hmm…perhaps some Passionist and Carmelite vocations are in their midst???

    Lastly…I have been wanting to let you know that our most recent newsletter featuring the life of our dear Sr. Mary Bernadette of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is now available to be read on our website. If you are interested in receiving a paper copy of future newsletters in your mailbox just send your name and address and we’ll add you to our newsletter database. *Due to Bulk Mailing this applies only to persons living in the U.S.A.

   Don’t forget the ABC’s of the Divine Mercy Devotion 

• Ask for mercy
• Be merciful
• Completely trust in Jesus

    God love you!

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Tags: Feast Days, Passionist Nuns Newsletter, Rest in Peace

• Passionist Life , Vocation Discernment
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Sponsa Christi April 16th, 2009

    Happy Easter Octave to all of you!

    And we extend our deep gratitude to all of you who prayed for and with us these last weeks of Sr. Rita Marie’s life “in time and space”. She left her earthly body and was led into eternal glory at 4:22 p.m. on Holy Saturday. God certainly lavished his love and mercy upon her in providing so many graced moments during her last week and a half. One or more of us Sisters were able to be with her almost all the time…keeping vigil along with some of her family, friends and the Carmelite Sisters there at the Carmel Home.

    It has been a sacred experience for our community…to be able to walk with one of our own the journey of death to new life during the same time when we were re-living the events of our Lord’s passion and death. About 6 of us were with her Good Friday afternoon after our 3 p.m. service. Walking into her room was like being a Mary at the Foot of the Cross…watching Sister’s every breath…certainly we were touching Jesus Crucified in a special way. We stood and sat in silence and quiet prayer with her…she seemed to know we were present with her up to her last moment on Holy Saturday afternoon.

The Sisters greet the body of our dear Sister in our monastery parlor before the public viewing began.

    After her sacred remains arrived at the monastery on Tuesday morning we spent much time in prayer with her until her funeral on Wednesday afternoon.

    What a sweet grace it was to celebrate her visitation on Easter Tuesday and her Mass of Resurrection on Easter Wednesday…so united with the Church’s Liturgy during this Easter Octave of our Lord’s victory over death, hell and sin!

    Sister had made many sacred vestments for the priests of our diocese over the years and of the 12 priests present for her funeral many were wearing something hand-sewn with love and prayer by our Sister.

    Again, thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for her…if any time does remain for purification, that this may be accomplished quickly. Of course, we already have her very busy interceding on our behalf…especially for the young women God is calling to join us in Passionist life…perhaps she is praying for one of you!

     Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord…and let perpetual light shine upon her.  Amen.

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• Passionist Life
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Sponsa Christi October 18th, 2008

Sister Mary Bernadette holding the ”Little Bambino”
during the Christmas Season about 5 years ago

     Yes, our King Jesus came for his spouse, our Sr. Mary Bernadette, this past Wednesday. She was the last of the group of foundresses that came to Owensboro, Kentucky in 1946 to begin Passionist life in this diocese. She has gone home to join the rest of those pioneering Sisters! Please pray for her and us. The visitation and prayers will be Tuesday afternoon  and the funeral will be on Wednesday at 9 a.m. with our dear Bishop McRaith offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Fr. Ed Bradley as homilist.

     It is quite appropriate that Sister should enter into eternal life during the novena of St. Paul of the Cross. Today is actually his death anniversary. 

    The following is an excerpt of a short history we wrote a few years ago in honor of our 60th foundation anniversary.

    “Sister Mary Bernadette, our only surviving foundress, now 93, is proof that hard work accomplished with a generous heart and joyous spirit, doesn’t injure one’s health! Sister was the Assistant Superior, chief gardener, and in charge of the kitchen and all that pertains to the food. She had the patience of Job in working with new members to get the grounds looking more like a monastic garden. She had a “green thumb” which some of the younger ones entering the monastery had been denied when God distributed his gifts and talents. Often mistaking for a weed a beautiful flower-to-be, her helper would pull it up! Each time this happened, Sr. Mary Bernadette, suppressing her regret, and to the astonishment of a postulant or novice, would muster all her detachment of spirit and say, ‘Blessed be God!’

    “Throughout the years Sister was known for her great love for Passionist spirituality and St. Paul of the Cross. Now in her weakened state, Sister continues to inspire the new members simply by her gentle, courteous and respectful attitudes. A long life of faithful love and commitment to Jesus Crucified is bearing much fruit in her golden years.” 

Sister Mary Bernadette and Sister Therese Marie out exploring “the new property” in the early 1990′s before our relocation.

   May the Holy Angels lead you into paradise dear Sister! And please do not forget us wayfarers here below!

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• Passionist Life , Saint Paul of the Cross
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Sponsa Christi May 5th, 2008

Fr. Fabiano Giorgini, C.P. entered into his eternal reward April 28th (formerly the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross!)

     I have seen on various Passionist sites that our Passionist brethren are “waxing eloquent” on all Father Fabiano did for them. View an article here. We too would like to give a loving tribute to a man the Passionist Nuns call “The Second Founder.”

     Father Fabiano Giorigini, C.P. worked tirelessly with the nuns in revising the Rule after Vatican II. In fact, others had given up hope that it would be possible to continue to have one Rule for a group of 32 autonomous contemplative monasteries spread throughout the world. After much study and intense work for over a decade with two different groups of Passionist Fathers the work had stalled. Then comes Fr. Fabiano to the rescue – literally! He begged for an opportunity to lead one more effort at updating the Rule. An international meeting of the monasteries took place May 27 – July 4, 1978 at the Passionist Nuns Monastery in Lucca, Italy (yes, the Shrine of St. Gemma Galgani!). After many meetings and a pilgrimage highlighting our Founder, St. Paul of the Cross’ life, a consensus was reached. Praise the Lord!

     A Rule & Constitutions was composed in which the First Part would include the original Rule written by our Founder; the Second Part would contain the new text expressive of the Passionist contemplative charism today. The final approval for our Rule was granted in April 1979. This was record timing! Below is a photo of Fr. Fabiano and Sister Margaret Mary (Mother Superior at that time) in our chapel back in our old monastery. (We moved to our current monastery in December 1995.) They had a special ceremony where each Nun came forward and received her personal copy of the Rule & Constitutions. How keenly they must have felt our Founder’s presence!

     We owe this man a great debt of gratitude. Only God knows what would have become of the Passionist Nuns if Father hadn’t courageously intervened. In the name of all the Passionist Nuns – “God reward you Father Fabiano! And may St. Paul of the Cross and all the Holy Angles guide you into Paradise!”

Photo taken during one of Father’s visits at our old monastery.

Saint Paul of the Cross and Fr. Fabiano, ora pro nobis!

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Tags: Friends, Rest in Peace, Rule & Constitutions

• Passionist History , Passionist Life , Saint Paul of the Cross
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