The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, February 2nd, is 40 days after the Nativity of the Lord, when all first born sons in Israel were required to be consecrated to the Lord. The Lord Jesus was presented by his Blessed Mother and good St Joseph and received by two prophetic and expectant Israelites, Simeon and Anna. The Church, the priestly people of God, are called to live the consecration of their baptism in order to shine the light of Christ for all the world to see.
Every year on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord the Church celebrates the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life. Each consecrated person is called to be a signum contradicetur, a sign of contradiction, a eschatological sign of the world to come, where God will be all in all. This is done by living the evangelical counsels in vows or promises that in a consecrated person's radical witness, the life of Christ would be made manifest. It is a good day for consecrated men and women to renew their commitment to the Lord. In many diocese throughout the world SOLT celebrates this day with special fervor. As Pope Benedict XVI said for this year's celebration:
“On today’s feast we therefore celebrate the mystery of consecration: the consecration of Christ, the consecration of Mary, the consecration of all those who commit themselves to following Jesus for the sake of the Kingdom of God.”
Simeon's canticle Nunc Dimitis, which the Church prays every day for night prayer is taken from this encounter in the temple. Enjoy this musical tribute to the Presentation from Vatican Radio.
On July 16th, 2011, Sr Mary Elisabeth of the Coronation did something that changed her life forever. She made public perpetual vows in SOLT of chastity, poverty, and obedience. The following is her answer to the question, "What did it feel like?"
Ask someone what the happiest moment of his life was, and you'll probably hear about a wedding day or the birth of a child. Why? People are happiest when they're in love. And that's what being a religious sister is really all about. What other bride wears her veil every day for the rest of her life? The veil is a symbol of our eternal espousal and a sign to the world that we belong to God alone. Only He is invited to enter the mystery of our inmost selves. Likewise, He invites us into the depths of His heart, to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in a profound intimacy that begins here and now but that will continue increasing forever in our eternal union with Him.
What do sisters do?
"What counts most is not what religious do, but what they are as persons consecrated to the Lord", said Blessed John Paul II*. Often people associate sisters with the good works they perform, yet our identity comes, not from the types of work we do but from our relationship with God. Our vows do not come from ourselves alone; they are not made merely out of a desire to accomplish a certain good work in the world. They are a response to God's invitation to live a life of love with Him. When you love a person, you are attentive to the desires of his heart. "What would He like? What more can I do for Him?" From the answer to these questions arise the types of work that sisters do in the world.
Dear young women religious, as part of the World Youth Day which we are celebrating in Madrid, I am delighted to have this opportunity to meet you who have consecrated your youth to the Lord, and I thank you for the kind greeting you have given me. I also thank the Archbishop of Madrid, who arranged for this meeting in the evocative setting of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Its famous library preserves important editions of the sacred Scriptures and the monastic rules of various religious families, yet your own lives of fidelity to the calling you have received is itself a precious means of preserving the word of the Lord, which resounds in your various spiritual traditions.
Dear Sisters, every charism is an evangelical word which the Holy Spirit recalls to the Church’s memory (cf. Jn 14:26). It is not by accident that consecrated life “is born from hearing the word of God and embracing the Gospel as its rule of life. A life devoted to following Christ in his chastity, poverty and obedience becomes a living ‘exegesis’ of God’s word… Every charism and every rule springs from it and seeks to be an expression of it, thus opening up new pathways of Christian living marked by the radicalism of the Gospel” (Verbum Domini, 83).
This Gospel radicalism means being “rooted and built up in Christ, and firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7). In the consecrated life, this means going to the very root of the love of Jesus Christ with an undivided heart, putting nothing ahead of this love and being completely devoted to him, the Bridegroom, as were the Saints, like Rose of Lima and Rafael Arnáiz, the young patrons of this World Youth Day. Your lives must testify to the personal encounter with Christ which has nourished your consecration, and to all the transforming power of that encounter. This is all the more important today when “we see a certain ‘eclipse of God’ taking place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity” (Message for the 2011 World Youth Day, 1). In a world of relativism and mediocrity, we need that radicalism to which your consecration, as a way of belonging to the God who is loved above all things, bears witness.
This Gospel radicalism proper to the consecrated life finds expression in filial communion with the Church, the home of the children of God, built by Christ: communion with her Pastors who set forth in the Lord’s name the deposit of faith received from the apostles, the ecclesial Magisterium and the Christian tradition; communion with your own religious families as you gratefully preserve their authentic spiritual patrimony while valuing other charisms; and communion with other members of the Church, such as the laity, who are called to make their own specific calling a testimony to the one Gospel of the Lord.
Finally, Gospel radicalism finds expression in the mission God has chosen to entrust to us: from the contemplative life, which welcomes into its cloisters the word of God in eloquent silence and adores his beauty in the solitude which he alone fills, to the different paths of the apostolic life, in whose furrows the seed of the Gospel bears fruit in the education of children and young people, the care of the sick and elderly, the pastoral care of families, commitment to respect for life, witness to the truth and the proclamation of peace and charity, mission work and the new evangelization, and so many other sectors of the Church’s apostolate.
Dear Sisters, this is the witness of holiness to which God is calling you, as you follow Jesus Christ closely and unconditionally in consecration, communion and mission. The Church needs your youthful fidelity, rooted and built up in Christ. Thank you for your generous, total and perpetual “yes” to the call of the Loved One. I pray that the Virgin Mary may sustain and accompany your consecrated youth, with the lively desire that it will challenge, nourish and illumine all young people.
With these sentiments, I ask God to repay abundantly the generous contribution which consecrated life has made to this World Youth Day. In his name, and with great gratitude, I give you my affectionate blessing.
"I had the awesome and distinct joy of visiting EWTN studios a few weeks ago and recording aLife on the Rockepisode. It was simply amazing to see the studios in Irondale and the monastary of the Sisters in Hanceville. God bless all of the people who work for EWTN, you guys are doing GREAT and NOBLE things. A special thanks to Fr. Mark, Doug, Emily and Jill for your hospitality and kindness and also a thank you to the Sisters who spoke with us for a few minutes at the Monastary, it was a sheer delight to meet you.
Arriving in Atlanta on my way to Alabama, I almost didn't make the flight. We were late leaving Seattle and so I had to, of course, catch my next flight from the opposite end of the airport. When you hear, "this is the final boarding call, doors will close in three minutes", you know you need to step on it- so, uh, I ended up sprinting down the corridor to the flight. Thank God my little carry on has four wheels (four wheel drive?). For an accurate depiction of my mental state at this time, see picture above-
Anyhoo- made the flight and had an awesome time. The devastation from the recent tornadoes in area was astounding. I have never seen light posts on the freeway bent in half and 100 foot trees laid on their side with the roots literally pulled out of the ground. Our prayers go out to all those who have suffered in the devastating natural distasters that have plagued the midwest and south in the past few weeks. I cannot imagine what that must have been like. I took some pics at Mother Angelica's Monastary in Hanceville- the Monastary setting and a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Sorrows. It was so wonderful to have been there and walked the grounds on a sunny and pleasant day."
The Life on the Rock episode will air on Thursday June 2nd at 10pm Eastern time.
Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for me during this time, I can honestly say that I felt your prayers and I am deeply grateful. God bless you.
Our Lady's Montessori School in Kansas City, Kansas, continues to be a place where little children come to know Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Parents too are encouraged to visit the Lord when they pick up their children. Sr Mary Mediatrix, the Executive Director of the School said to parents, "I encourage you to visit the Lord, perhaps even for a few moments after picking up your child, to thank the Lord for His many gifts and talk to Him as your Friend." Full Story
Montessori School Staff with Archbishop Nauman at the Consecration of the Oratory
If you or someone you know is interested in answering the call of Jesus to be his spouse and bring all people, no matter how small, to communion with God and life in the Catholic Church, contact the SOLT Sister's Vocation Director:
"We have been chosen because we are growing rapidly in vocations and because of the uniqueness of our charism," said Sr Anne Marie Walsh, SOLT, the General Sister Servant of the SOLT Sisters. "We welcome the visitation team with joy and ask you to pray for our sisters that we have a fruitful visit in this time."
According to Mother Clare Millea, ASCJ, appointed the Apostolic Visitator, "the purpose of the Apostolic Visitation in the United is:
• look into the quality of the life of apostolic women religious in the United States,
• learn more about the varied and unique ways in which women religious contribute to the welfare of the Church and society, and
• assist the Church to strengthen, enhance and support the growth of the more than 400 congregations to which the approximately 59,000 women religious in the United States belong."
The secular media has widely misunderstood this visit as an act of mistrust by the Vatican. The visitation teams continue to uphold the great respect and confidence in Institutes of Religious Women in the United States in a cordial atmosphere of openness and dialogue, which can be attested to by the testimonials of those visited (Click here to read some).
In an interview on Vatican Radio Franc Cardinal Rodé, head of the Vatican Dicastery which ordered the Visitation said, "This apostolic visitation hopes to encourage vocations and assure a better future for women religious."
Consecrated Spouses of Christ live in the shade of the Tree of the Cross and the beauty of obedience, the refreshing streams of grace that it brings, will only further inspire the SOLT Sisters to holiness and deeper communion in the Church. Any time the Church authorities, or their legitimately appointed representatives draw near, there cannot help but be an increase in charity, truth, and the mysterious healing that happens when a woman submits herself to God.
How grateful indeed the community of Our Lady of Corpus Christi is to host such an event. Please join us in praying for its success.
If you or someone you know might have a vocation to be a consecrated spouse of Christ, please contact the SOLT Sisters' Vocation Directress, Sr. Mary Emmanuel Schmidt, SOLT.
