Religious Life
“I learned that the world’s existence is maintained by chosen souls; that is, the religious orders. Woe to the world when there will be a lack of religious orders.”
One Spouse – An Undivided Heart
To be a religious is a great privilege! Who could be worthy of this great calling? But, who is worthy to receive God Incarnate, Our Lord Jesus, in Holy Communion? Who is worthy of these unspeakably awesome gifts from God? Yet in His great love for us, He longs for us to accept these gifts with joy and gratitude. He thirsts for our love. As He told Saint Margaret Mary, He so ardently thirsts for our love that this thirst devours Him! He specified to Saint Margaret Mary that He thirsts to be loved in the Most Blessed Sacrament. That is what our community is all about—quenching His thirst to be loved in the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist.
We quench His thirst for love first of all by consecrating our lives to Him through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so She will purify our offerings and present them to God as holy and acceptable to Him. Secondly, we enthrone Him everyday in our chapel and adore Him on our own behalf and on behalf of those who do not adore Him. We pray that someday, soon, please, Lord, that everyone on earth will love and adore Him. We pray that all of our brothers and sisters on earth will be united as one in His Holy Catholic Church, one mind and one heart with Him. And most importantly, we pray for holy priests and bishops who will bring innumerable souls to love Jesus.
“The state of the consecrated life is thus one way of experiencing a ‘more intimate’ consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. In the consecrated life, Christ’s faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come.”
What is "Consecrated Life"?
The highest form of love is the cross. It is thus that religious, through their common life of continual prayer, sacrifice and fraternal charity, draw down from heaven the grace of conversion for souls throughout the world. To be a religious means to share in the work of redemption with Our Divine Lord.
Consecrated life is a supernatural vocation; that is not merely natural but points to eternity. The Church teaches us that consecrated men and women are "beacons" directing mans eye upwards towards heaven, where marriage does not exist (cf. Matt. 22:30; "At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven"). In heaven, all of mankind will be joined in one mystical marriage to Our Lord Jesus Christ, and through this union we will be united to one another. In this sense, those who consecrate themselves to God "skip" the earthly foreshadowing in favor of the heavenly marriage. As Christopher West states; "far from devaluing sexuality and marriage, true Christian celibacy actually points to their ultimate fulfillment." Living a heavenly reality on earth, consecrated souls are free to devote all their time to God, without distraction, as a beloved bride devoting herself to her husband.
“[The] Child Jesus said to me, ‘Look at the sky.’ And when I looked at the sky I saw the stars and the moon shining. Then the child asked me, ‘Do you see this moon and these stars?’ When I said yes, he spoke these words to me, ‘These stars are the souls of faithful Christians, and the moon is the souls of religious. Do you see how great the difference is between the light of the moon and the light of the stars? Such is the difference in heaven between the soul of a religious and the soul of a faithful Christian’.”
“Now if a man choose the way of the world, namely marriage, he is not indeed to blame; yet he will not receive such great gifts as the other. For he will receive, since he too brings forth fruit, namely thirtyfold. But if a man embraces the holy and unearthly way, even though as compared with the former it be rugged and hard to accomplish, nonetheless it has the more wonderful gifts: for it grows the perfect fruit, namely a hundredfold.”
“Whoever denigrates marriage also diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it [marriage] makes virginity more admirable and resplendent. What appears good only in comparison with evil would not be truly good. The most excellent good is something even better than what is admitted to be good.”
“Though I could not at first bend my will to be a nun, I saw that the religious state was the best and safest. And thus, by little and little, I resolved to force myself into it. The struggle lasted three months. [ ... ] When I took the habit, Our Lord at once made me understand how He helps those who do violence to themselves, in order to serve Him, I was filled with a joy so great that it has never failed me to this day.”
“Jesus told me; ‘In convents too, there are souls that fill My Heart with joy. They bear My features; therefore the Heavenly Father looks upon them with special pleasure. They will be a marvel to Angels and men. Their number is very small. They are a defense for the world before the justice of the Heavenly Father and a means of obtaining mercy for the world. The love and sacrifice of these souls sustain the world in existence. ”
A Cardinal's Dream - the Offering of Hands and Hearts
Nicholas Cardinal of Cusa (1401-1464), Bishop of Brixen, was not only a great Church politician, reputable Papal legate and reformer of spiritual life for the clergy and the faithful of the 15th century, but also a man of silence and contemplation. He was deeply moved by a dream in which he was shown that spiritual reality which still has meaning for priests and laity to this very day: the power of self-offering, prayer and the sacrifice of spiritual mothers hidden in convents.Nicholas and his guide entered a small, ancient church decorated with mosaics and frescoes from the early centuries, and there the Cardinal saw an amazing sight. More than a thousand nuns were praying in the little church. Despite the limited space, they all fit due to their slender and composed nature.
The sisters were praying, but in a way that the Cardinal had never seen. They were not kneeling but standing; their gaze was not cast off into the distance but rather fixed on something nearby which he could not see. They stood with open arms, palms facing upwards in a gesture of offering.
Surprisingly, in their poor, thin hands they carried men and women, emperors and kings, cities and countries. Sometimes there were several pairs of hands joined together holding a city. A country, recognizable by its national flag, was supported by a whole wall of arms, and yet even then there was an air of silence and isolation around each one of them in prayer. Most of nuns, however, carried one individual in their hands.
In the hands of a thin, young, almost child-like nun, Nicholas saw the Pope. You could see how heavy this load was for her, but her face was radiating a joyful gleam. Standing in the hands of one of the older sisters he saw himself, Nicholas of Cusa, Bishop of Brixen, and Cardinal of the Roman Church. He saw the wrinkles of his age; he saw the blemishes of his soul and his life in all their clarity. He looked with stunned and surprised eyes, but his fright was soon mixed with an unspeakable bliss.
His guide whispered, "Now you see how sinners are sustained and carried and, in spite of their sins, have not given up loving God.""What about those who do not love anymore?" the Cardinal asked. Suddenly, he was in the crypt of the church with his guide, where once again, more than a thousand nuns were praying. Whereas the former ones were carried in the nuns’ hands, here in the crypt, they were carried in their hearts. They were exceptionally serious because the fate of eternal souls was at hand.
"So you see, Your Eminence," said the guide, "that also those who have given up loving are still carried. It happens occasionally that they become warm again through the ardent hearts which are being consumed for them—occasionally, but not always. Sometimes, in the hour of their death, they are taken from these saving hands into the hands of the Divine Judge, and they must also answer for the sacrifice that has been made for them. Every sacrifice bears fruit. However, when the fruit offered to somebody is not picked, the fruit of corruption ripens."
The Cardinal was captivated by the women who had made an offering of their lives. He always knew they existed, but he saw now, clearer than ever, their importance for the Church, for the world, for nations and for every individual. Only now was it so surprisingly clear. He bowed deeply before these martyrs of love.