For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

There is a very powerful flashback scene in the Passion of the Christ a little before Jesus is crucified where He reminds us of His Sermon on the Mount and His teaching to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (cf. Mt 5:44). It’s easy to forget that Jesus does not ask us to do anything He Himself did not do first. It’s a sobering privilege for us to repeat the persecuting words of the Crowd in the Passion Narrative read every Palm Sunday and Good Friday; for, as the Catechism teaches, “All men are implicated in Adam’s sin, as St. Paul affirms: ‘By one man’s disobedience many (that is, all men) were made sinners’: ‘sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.” (CCC 402)

It’s an even greater privilege to hear Jesus’ response to us personally in His last words from the Cross: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34)

We enter into Holy Week not trying to recall a series of events that happened 2,000 years ago but to enter into the Paschal Mystery present right here, right now. The Holy Triduum is a continuous liturgical event that begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, (notice that Mass is not concluded on Thursday), continues with Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion, and ends on Easter Sunday evening. The Catechism teaches,

“His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is – all that he did and suffered for all men – participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all.” (CCC 1085) 

These are arguably the most important three days out of every year. The Triduum liturgies make present the institution of the most Holy Eucharist, the institution of the holy priesthood, and the one sacrifice offered in place of the old to bear the sins of many for my salvation and yours (cf. Heb 9:28).

If you usually attend Mass only on Easter Sunday at the end of the Triduum, we highly encourage you to participate in as much as you can of this 3-day-long liturgy. These days pull us right into the heart of salvation history, into the open heart of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, they bring us into the loving embrace of the Father, who so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Here are some recent pictures, and a glimpse of what is happening at Casa Maria as we prepare for the Triduum:

“Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the LORD looks into the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

 

As we enter into this 4^th Week of Lent, we have ample opportunity to reflect on our experience of Lent so far and consider our preparation for Holy Week. No matter how we have done, Venerable Bruno Lanteri would famously remind us that it is never too late to “Begin Again!” Most of the spiritual life consists in beginning again, no matter what liturgical season we are in. But perhaps we’ve made one too many resolutions, fallen behind on a daily practice, or just need to switch gears with some different spiritual reading to bring us into Holy Week.

 The Lord isn’t quite as concerned with our plans as we are, as long as our first concern is always Him. Although it’s good to make resolutions and revive them as needed, we’ll never get a demerit mark from God for falling behind on Catechism in a Year, not finishing that book study, or finally realizing it’s more of a penance than a blessing to others if I give up caffeine for Lent. The first reading from the 4^th Sunday of Lent recounts Samuel’s journey to Jerusalem to anoint the next king. It sounds easy enough; God tells him which family to visit. But God doesn’t tell Samuel which of Jesse’s seven sons will be the next king, and He doesn’t accept Samuel’s first assumption. Or second. Or third. Samuel has to meet all of Jesse’s sons that come to Jerusalem, and still request that the missing son, David, God’s chosen one, come in from the fields.

 God is never distant, but sometimes His ways are mysterious, and we end up waiting on the Lord for the answer that only He himself must provide. Waiting is fruitful if we can endure it in trust; it’s insanity if we spend it in worry. But if we simply believe, we’ll see that God is who He says He is, and He’ll do what He says He’s going to do, and this is exactly the kind of waiting we should practice in these last weeks of Lent. Fulton Sheen reminds us that there is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday, and as we begin again in these final weeks of Lent, we are preparing to receive the same message that the woman at the tomb received from the angels:

 “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” (Matthew 28:5)

Jesus has not only gone ahead of us into in Galilee, but in the mystery of His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, He has gone ahead of us to our Heavenly Father, and is waiting for us both now in the Eucharist, and ultimately in Heaven. So let us continue to set our Lenten eyes toward Calvary and the empty tomb, and trust that wherever we find ourselves, the Lord is always calling us in from the fields to Himself.

Greetings to you all! Here in Alabama, the winter is past and the first buds of spring are opening up! It is still a mental adjustment for me to observe Lent while spring is already peeping out. I grew up in the North, and from what I remember as a child, we didn’t often have any signs of spring until well after Easter. Lent was associated with the slush and mud that were the last remnants of winter. I thought that this was fitting, as I viewed penance and reflection on Christ’s suffering as sad, or dreary at best. We just had to wait patiently for the glories that would come later.

But I am glad to say that since then, Lent has become a very rich and precious season to me. It is full of invitations to reflect on the love of God in His Incarnation and sacrifice, to dialogue with Him about it, and to walk close beside Him, in acts of love. The spring flowers don’t seem out of place during Lent anymore. Their loveliness helps me to see what is actually happening even within a penitential season! In fact, reading the introduction to Lenten reflections by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., I found, “‘Lent’ is a Middle English word that means ‘spring’, expressing the anticipated outcome of this penitential season.” Lent is indeed a time of quiet tilling of soil, but it holds a loveliness all its own.

In our community, we each choose our own personal spiritual reading, prayers or practices for the season. As many of us are browsing the “Lenten Meditation” shelf in our library, we wanted to point you toward some favorites that are available in our bookstore. We also highly recommend looking over the variety of Stations meditation booklets and recordings of past Lenten retreats available on MP3 or CD.

(Click here for a selection of items)

Retreats are back in full swing at Casa Maria! With the new year just begun, and Lent around the corner, many people choose these months to make their annual retreat. It’s a very busy time for the Retreat House, so please keep us and all those making retreats in your prayers.

We’ve also had some young visitors stopping by with their parents – these pictures are so precious, we wanted to share them with you!

At the beginning of January, seven Sister Servants traveled to St. Louis to attend the FOCUS SEEK conference, along with 17,000 other participants! Many attendees were college students and FOCUS missionaries from across the country, but there were also large numbers of FOCUS missionary alumni, priests and religious, as well as others who desired to share and deepen their Faith.

We had an incredible week, fruitful in prayer, sacraments and fellowship, sharing our life and apostolate with many friends – both new and those we have met on campuses already visited.

Mother Louise Marie, Sister Mary Philomena and Sister Madeleine Marie flew into St. Louis, while Sister Marie Therese, Sister Mary Faustina, Sister Mary Michael, and Sister Rose Marie trekked on the road with materials for our vocations booth and compact bookstore. Sister Madeleine Marie was also asked to share her story, as a St. Louis vocation, and tell about our community on Roadmap to Heaven. Listen below! (Sister is interviewed in the middle section)

At our booth, we offered free rosaries, medals, stickers, and coffee! We also brought a variety of bookstore items to offer for sale, including spiritual reading, Rosary booklets, Pier Giorgio T-shirts, and more. Pier Giorgio has been a great heavenly friend of our community, and always introduces us to new friends, as his story and our connection with Frassati USA bring up lots of questions, and requests for ‘selfies’ with his cutout!

Each day, the Sisters were chiefly kept occupied meeting and building connections with various groups. We enjoyed meeting new friends amongst all the different groups, or running into familiar faces in the crowd. Our experience in St Louis confirmed the fruitfulness of our campus visits over the past two years.

Highlights for the Sisters included the beautiful and carefully planned Eucharistic Liturgies – with over 400 priests and numerous bishops. What an incredible witness to Christ and His Church today!

Mother Louise Marie was moved to tears on entering the adoration chapel, seeing the number of seats provided, and knowing that it had been regularly filled to capacity during the conference. Wednesday evening included adoration in the stadium with a Eucharistic procession; during this time confessions were available late into the evening.

We have all been inspired anew at this conference to “go and bear fruit that will last,” as we work in our apostolate to evangelize through catechesis and retreats!