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June News
Feast of Corpus Christi is June 6
Pope's Prayer Intention for June
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The Beauty of Marriage - Let us pray for young people who are preparing for marriage with the support of a Christian community: may they grow in love, with generosity, faithfulness and patience.
The Angelus Prayer &The Mystery of the HumanizedGod in a Dehumanized World
BY SR. HELENA ADAKU OGBUJI, CCVI
In the midst of our fears, Jesus walks among us and tells us: “Be not afraid, I am with you on the journey. This darkness will pass away. These clouds will clear and better days will come.” That is why every March 25th, the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Annunciation. This is an important moment for the Church to recall what happened in the history of humanity when the Incarnate Word became flesh after the resounding “YES” of our Blessed Mother Mary. Jesus became one of us to break the distance between us. He is Emmanuel, “God with Us,” even when we assumed him to be a Stranger. He became flesh to humanize our world! He became human so that we may become divine. It is this mystery of the Incarnation and Jesus’s self-emptying (Phil.2:6-8) that we recall when we pray the Angelus.
Our world is dehumanized because of injustice, racism, inhuman behavior, lack of tenderness and compassion toward one another and toward God’s creation. As if that were not enough, we are still battling with the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic which has the whole world scared and disillusioned. The entire experience feels like walking in a lonely desert and feeling the absence of God. At the start of the pandemic and for many months, the clouds were gloomy and bleak. The roads and streets were empty. The Churches were closed for many months. The number of deaths increased daily. The healthcare providers and first responders were overwhelmed because of pathogen exposure, long working hours, psychological distress and trauma, fatigue, and occupational burnout. The entire world was at a standstill and imagined the “silence of God.” The world was filled with fear, just as were the disciples on the way to Emmaus (Lk. 24:12-32). “We had hoped…”
The Angelus is a Scriptural meditation that points us to Salvation History and the Incarnation story. We meditate on the words of Mary to the angel Gabriel when she gave herself the title: “the handmaid of the Lord.” We join Mary in praying to do God’s will and we invite the Lord “to take flesh” in our lives.
For us, the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, the Angelus prayer is especially important. Apart from our individual time to say the Angelus, it is also part of our morning and evening prayer when we pray the breviary as a community and as individuals. In praying the Angelus, we pause to celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, and how we are incarnating the Word by being the healing presence of Jesus. Our Incarnational Spirituality calls us to enter into a deeper relationship with God who became one of us and whose life mirrors how to be in a relationship with each other.
The Angelus reminds us of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary announcing the plan of God for her. It reminds us of Mary’s fiat and her desire to collaborate with God’s plan. It unveils the mystery of the Incarnation and our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection. It is a prayer that invites us to meditate on God’s greatest love for humanity. Praying the Angelus at noon interrupts our daily routines, so that we turn our thoughts to God, to our Blessed Mother, and to the mystery of the Word made Flesh who taught us to pray without ceasing (Lk 18:1; 1Thess. 5:17).
The Incarnate Word mirrored how to live in a dehumanized world. He spent time with sinners and ate with them. He touched the untouchables in society and let himself be touched. He reached out to the poor and the discriminated. The Spirituality of the Incarnation, embedded in the Angelus prayer, challenges us to commit to eliminating the walls that bring discrimination and to build bridges in the world of walls and dehumanization.
Through the mystery of the Incarnation, Jesus became one with nature and inserted himself, not only into historic reality but also into cosmic reality. He stepped foot on this earth, he breathed the air, and he contemplated about the soil, harvest, etc. Pope Francis, in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, revealed a new relationship with nature and a sense of responsibility and commitment to created things. Our Spirituality, therefore, calls us to be ecologically compassionate and just in our lifestyles and behaviors. Incarnational Spirituality is all about compassion, love, and tenderness toward all God’s creation. The tenderness that comes from within, has the power to heal and bring us closer to God. We are all striving to become more human-like the Incarnate Word. And may Jesus help us to become by grace, what He is by nature—Divine. Praised be the Incarnate Word—Forever.
FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI IS JUNE 6TH
The celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ is a perfect summation of the Paschal Mystery that we celebrated at Easter. When we receive the Body and Blood of Christ we honor Christ’s tremendous gift of self to us as well the acceptance of our self- surrender of our own Christian living. We become what we receive. This is the new and everlasting covenant between God and humanity. Amen! Alleluia!
Full Moon Over the Incarnate Word
By Sr. Ricca Dimalibot, CCVI
MINISTERING WITH JOY IN TORO LA
PARISH MINISTRY IN SANTIAGO APÓSTOL, TOROLA, MORAZÁN, EL SALVADOR
SISTERS MARÍA ARACELY PÉREZ CHINCHILLA, VILMA ARACELY RAMOS GUTIERREZ, AND BETTY CAMPOS ARIAS
ARRANGING FLOWERS FOR THE BLESSED SACRAMENT IN THE PARISH
Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Sr. Ethel Puno, CCVI
Our congregation can claim member representation from two Asian countries, namely Vietnam and the Philippines. Currently, we have four sisters from Vietnam who are professed members and two pre-novices - one who immigrated with her family and one who is of Vietnamese heritage. We have two professed sisters from the Philippines and one who is a novice. The congregation welcomes and appreciates what the heritage of these sisters contributes to enrich our charism, life, and spirituality. To recognize and honor the contributions throughout the generations of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) to the American way of life, we now celebrate annually in the month of May the Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. During congregational events such as jubilees, first and final professions, Assembly and Chapter, our sisters have been introduced to traditional Asian and Pacific Islander foods, celebrations, customs, songs, and prayers, as well as in the daily life of some of our local communities. Some sisters have even ventured to learn a few Vietnamese and Filipino words and phrases. Learning about and sharing in other cultures is one of the great benefits of living in the United States, where people from across the globe immigrate in search of the American dream. Among those who are a vital part of the diverse population of the US are its immigrants from Asia and the Pacific Islands. Asian/Pacific is a broad term encompassing all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Asians and Pacific islanders have carved their niche in this nation dating back to 1587 when the first Filipinos arrived in California before the nation even became known as the United States. The next group of Asians came from India in 1635 and settled in Jamestown, VA. In 1778, the first Chinese to reach the nation arrived in Hawaii while the first Native Hawaiian arrived on the continental United States a decade later. The next group of Asians was Japanese, who arrived in Hawaii when it was still a territory in 1806 and they were followed by the Koreans in 1884. In 1898, Guam was ceded to the U.S. at the beginning of the 1900s, and Chamorros, the indigenous people from the Mariana Islands which are a part of Guam, began to migrate to California and Hawaii. When American Samoa became an American territory in 1904, Samoans began to migrate to Hawaii and the continental United States in the 1920s. In 1912, the arrival of the first Vietnamese was documented in the United States.
May was chosen for the celebration of AAPI Month to commemorate the arrival of the first Japanese immigrant on the 7th of May 1843 and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad on the 10th of May 1869; the majority of the railroad workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants. The first official commemoration of Asian/Pacific American Heritage was celebrated on May 4th, 1979. In many parts of the country, AAPI Heritage month is usually celebrated by eating in Asian restaurants or attending festivals or parades organized by AAPI community organizations where people can taste the different foods from various countries, watch cultural performances, and learn more about AAPI history and culture. The current situation in the United States has affected these ways of celebrating. Due to the pandemic and the present social and political issues, major concerns, which have existed even before, are brought to light. The AAPI community has learned to adjust to, live with, and give voice to these issues to bring about and advocate for meaningful change.
FEAST OF THE IMMMACULATE HEART OF MARY IS JUNE 12TH
Le Coeur De Marie Flowers
The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and above all, her pure love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all people. Veneration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary generally coincides with the worship of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is especially directed to the “Divine Heart”, as overflowing with love for humanity. In the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on the other hand, the attraction is the love of her Immaculate Heart for Jesus and for God. Feast is June 12.
A Heron at the Villa Grotto
PHOTO BY SR. MARY PATRICIA DRISCOLL, CCVI
Contragulations Sr. Symphonie
On May 14, 2021, Sr. Symphonie Giao-Huong Ngoc Ngo, CCVI participated in thecommencement ceremony at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO., where shereceived her Master’s Degree in Theology. Congratulations Sr. Symphonie!
