VOCATION OFFICE MAY E-NEWSLETTER, 2024

Poured Out Like Mary S

By: Sr Mary Gertrude, O P

aint Matthew gives us the following account of the Institution .....of the Most Holy Eucharist at the Passover meal before Jesus died: “ Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body ’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Matthew 26:26-28) Jesus gave his body and blood for us upon the Cross. He gave his life that we might have life in abundance (cf. John 10:10). He also left us a pattern or way to live in order to receive this abundant life the way of the Cross. It is the way of self-giving that he himself showed us by both dying for us and giving us himself in the Holy Eucharist The challenge we face in trying to give of ourselves as Jesus did is the all-too present selfcenteredness rooted in our fallen human nature Like St Peter, self-interest often dominates over self-gift: “Then Peter said in reply, ‘Lo, we have left everything and followed you What then shall we have?’” (Matthew 19:27). Even our good deeds, prayers and sacrifices can be tainted with self-interest. Saint Augustine in his Rule states: “ . . .pride lies lurking even in good works that it may destroy them.” What hope then do we have of reaching the sublime heights of Christ’s self-gift? We have the hope of the Blessed Virgin Mary

In the prayer The Hail Holy Queen we call Mary, “ our life, our sweetness, and our hope ” Mary is our “Mother of Hope” as Pope Francis reminded us by inserting this title into the Litany of Loreto. If we are called to imitate Jesus in his gift of self upon the Cross, then we are also called to imitate Jesus in his preparation and “training” for this self-gift. Jesus did not just give himself once and for all, but from the moment of his entry into this world, his life was moment-by-moment given for us and for our salvation until his final moment of surrender to the Father upon the Cross God the Father, entrusted his Son to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph for thirty years to be formed by them They were daily examples of the gift of self to God and to others Saint Louis de Montfort has written much about the role Mary has been assigned by God in forming Christ in us. He says that when we place our hearts and our lives in her hands she can do nothing else but bring us to God “When we say, ‘Mary,’ she answers, ‘God, ’ When, with St Elizabeth, we call her ‘Blessed,’ she glorifies God” (Secret of Mary, #21) “ God the Son wishes to form himself, and, in a manner of speaking, become incarnate every day in his members through his dear Mother” (True Devotion to Mary, #31) It is Mary who has been given this special role of forming us into “another Christ” of obtaining for us the graces we need to move away from self-centeredness to self-gift. Through her intercession we can become a true son or daughter of God one given to God and to others

Growing in Marian Devotion

By: Sr Maria Caeli, O.P..

Ihad the great gift of seeing my nephew just three weeks after he was born He was the first grandchild in the family, the firstborn of my younger brother At that age, little Logan was sleeping a lot Whenever he woke up, we would just stare at him At one point, when he woke up, my dad said, “Ok, let’s turn on the Logan channel.” Even though I knew what my dad meant, the phrase struck me as odd Staring at my nephew was so much more meaningful then staring at a screen The endless flipping through videos and watching something frivolous often leaves one tired and empty But not Logan Fixing our gaze on him filled us with wonder, joy, and gratitude. Then I thought about Our Lady. If gazing on my sweet nephew filled me with such joy, imagine the transformation that took place in the soul of Mary, gazing at her Divine Son

In his Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, St John Paul the Great said, “No one has ever devoted himself to the contemplation of the face of Christ as faithfully as Mary ” When praying the Rosary, Christians enter into the Sacred mysteries of Christ’s life through the gaze of Mary Through this gaze, Mary invites us not only to contemplate the mysteries of Christ’s life, but to live the mysteries of Christ’s life. For example, through the joyful mysteries, we are filled with a desire to do God’s will, serve those in need, welcome Christ into our hearts, to trust Him and seek Him through the events of life

Through the sorrowful mysteries we are invited into to a gift of self to others We learn how to die with Christ so we may rise with Christ.

Pope Benedict XVI, while visiting Lourdes in 2008 said, “Bernadette prays the Rosary under the gaze of Mary When we pray it, Mary offers us her heart and her gaze in order to contemplate the life of her Son, Jesus Christ " With new resolve, and tender love, let us pick up the Rosary and with Mary fix our gaze on Jesus. May He, in turn, gaze on us with mercy and transform us into faithful witnesses to the transforming power of His grace Our Lady, Queen of the Rosary Pray for us

Mary is the Mother of the Church, which means both that she as loving mother guides us tenderly to Jesus and that she is the model of all that the Church is: the Bride resplendent in the beauty with which she is adorned by the Lord. In Mysteries of the Virgin Mary: Living Our Lady’s Grace, we contemplate the beauty of she who is full of grace in her earthly life and can let our Mother lead us to Christ and become like her, who is the image of all Christ wants to do in us This May, Fr Peter John Cameron can help us come to our mother and live in the beautiful grace of Christ which she offers us.

Sister Rachel Marie, OP.

When I was in college I came back to the practice of the faith. As I fell in love with the Lord, I loved to go to the chapel late at night and hide myself in one of the pews to pray and think. I relished the thought that literally no other person knew I was there, in that very place at that very moment I had a secret just between me and the Lord. Our Lord loves to give us treasures of the heart that we cherish just with Him. And Our Lady teaches us how to hold and ponder these treasures in our heart (Luke 2:19,51). When I heard the Lord call me to religious life, I begged Him to show me how this divine vocation would be reconciled with my desires to be a bride and a mother. He pointed me to Mary. As a bride of Christ and a spiritual mother, I live a life modeled after the life of our Lady - hidden in many ways with treasures to be cherished deep in my heart and shared with my spiritual children both in the classroom and throughout the entire world.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

By: Sr Anna Catherine, O.P.

In 1993, Mother Teresa wrote the following in a letter to the members of her Order, the Missionaries of Charity: “I worry that some of you still have not really met Jesus. One to one. You and him alone... have you seen with the eyes of your soul how He looks at you with love? Do you really know the living Jesus – not from books, but from being with Him in your heart?” (Varanasi Letter)

In a culture that prizes efficiency as the greatest virtue and human industry as the highest end, it can be easy to let our external works take primacy over cultivating an intimate relationship with Christ Immersed in frenzied activity, we lose sight of being branches, whose entire existence are reliant on the true vine, Christ, and instead succumb to the ever-growing pressure of doing more Thankfully, in her wisdom, the Catholic Church offers a surer road to salvation: Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Approved in 1765 in the wake of the Jansenist heresy (which relentlessly proclaimed the severity of God), The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus celebrates the merciful love that the Father, in union with the Holy Spirit, continuously pours out through the beating, bleeding heart of His Son In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses tells the people that the Lord has “set his heart on [them]” (7:7). Moses is quick to clarify that being chosen has nothing to do with the people’s power, strength, or goodness (of which there was evidently little), but rather because of the Lord’s fidelity and love (7:8)

While it may seem strange that the God of the Universe has his “heart set” on his creation, this is a reality continuously expressed throughout Scripture and the lives of the saints St Lutgard, a Cistercian nun in Belgium, was the first saint to have mystical exchange of hearts with the Lord During one of the apparitions, Christ asked Lutgard what gift she would like from him. The nun replied, “Lord I want your heart!” Our Lord answered her by saying, “What do you mean you want my heart? It is I who want yours ”

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus exists to convey this overwhelming love that Christ has for

Keep Looking at the Sacred Heart. Why Worry? You are His! -St. Teresa of Calcutta

by Vicente López Portaña