The Holy Spirit prompted and the Pastors responded in Deanery 9, inviting the Religious of the Diocese to gather at Visitation Monastery for Evening Prayer on October 4th.
About 60 Religious came, from various Congregations; Franciscans, Josephites, Dominicans, Sisters of Charity, Sisters of Mercy, Visitation Sisters who hosted the event, Vocation Committees and Priests.
A beautiful chanted Liturgy of the Hours, with organ accompaniment, Benediction and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, all engendered a feeling of peace and joy as some religious met each other for the first time in the Sacred Heart Chapel of the Monastery.
The Superior gave a brief reflection and dinner followed in the Alumnae Room, with friendly comaraderie.
The Superior reflected:
V+J
What a majestic promise St. Peter shares in the reading we just heard, a promise that is echoed in Pope Francis’ repeated calls for joy, in the consecrated life!
Our joy is being made palpable – we may have been invisible to one another, perhaps, all working for the Lord and His people, and now we have a new birth into a relationship and a bonding that is becoming tangible.
The Divine Office, the Liturgy of the Hours, which we are in the midst of praying right now, making this moment holy, is also our constant daily praise which goes up from each of our locations like separate streams of incense, and today, the cloud of prayer rising is thicker and unified as we are all together. This might be a new birth for us in this area of Brooklyn in this Year dedicated to Consecrated Life
And the year of mercy is upon us, which can form in each of us and in each of those to whom we will show mercy, a new life, a birth of some new aspect of each one’s existence.
In the passage of the Visitation, Mary was a model of this mercy. A Dominicam Fr Marie Dominique Phillippe, has written, “The Mystery of the Visitation shows us how Christian mercy is the first fruit of Christian contemplation. Contemplation must blossom into works of temporal and spiritual mercy.
“With this mystery of the Visitation, we see how Mary’s silent, recollected and contemplative life and her condition as a servant totally consecrated to God do not in any way conflict with the generosity and impetuosity of her fraternal and merciful love.
And thus it is be with us. We are also called as religious, to have times of silence, to be recollected, and totally consecrated to God. We know by experience with our ministries that a contemplative stance does not have to conflict with our merciful outreach, either.
Charity burns Mary’s heart and asks her to change all her bonds with the human community into bonds of mercy. God uses this act of temporal mercy ( going to Elizabeth) to bring about an act of Divine Mercy, John the Baptist’s sanctification and through him, his mother’s.” ” (Fr Marie-Dominique Philippe, OP)
What I find so powerful here is the absolute inclusiveness of mercy. charity within Mary enables her to change ALL her bonds with others INTO bonds of mercy. That means every encounter, every interaction with one another. Keeping in the Presence of God as our Founder St Francis de Sales reminded us, also means keeping our hearts in the presence of an eternal mercy. Mercy is the platform on which we are to build our relationships. It is the Holy Ground of each soul.
The consequence of this act of mercy in each of our encounters brings Divine benefits, for the other and for ourselves.
During this Year of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis was quoted in the document Scrutate as saying, “The Lord is living and active in our history, and calls us to collaboration and collective discernment in the service of the church, in view of the coming Kingdom.”
How to do this?
As the Holy Father reminds us “With the gospel, be daring in the style of the humble and little…
So Providentially, we are gathered here in an Order founded by St Francis de Sales and St Jane de Chantal, who realized that this Congregation of Sisters should be grounded in two simple virtues, humility and gentleness, choosing the motto Live Jesus and grounding them in the love of the Heart of Jesus, who said Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart.
We see in Pope Francis’s down to earth and engaging style that this humble direction is fitting for all consecrated persons.
Similarly, It was St Francis de Sales who coined the phrase, One catches more flies with honey than with vinegar”, perpetuating the sense of a gentle, merciful approach to all persons.
A week and a half ago I had the privilege as many of you undoubtedly did, to go to St Patrick’s Cathedral to pray evening prayer with the Holy Father.
There was much that touched my heart, but one phrase was a direct message for me: “Whatever difficulties and trials you face, I ask you, like Saint Peter, to be at peace and to respond to them as Christ did: he thanked the Father, took up his cross and looked forward!
Sometimes we can leave an encounter like that one with the Holy Father and still miss that earthly appearance of Jesus Christ in the poor and the homeless. Leaving St Patrick’s Cathedral and in the crowd moving toward the closest subway station, in the darkness of the hour, streams of us passed by two figures covered over, practically smothered by blankets, face down on the sidewalk, seemingly asleep. Did any of us stop at that moment? Perhaps. But mostly, the stream of people kept moving toward the subway, our worlds not touching other than visually.
The Gospel of the Good Samaritan came to mind. Our dear novice reflected spontaneously on what was happening that we were passing the homeless persons by.
That image stays with me. How much we all need the mercy of God.
We will shortly be praying the Prayer of Mary’s heart ,the Magnificat.
“The passage of the Visitation shows us how this liturgical prayer springs from mercy. It is the praise of the Christian community, formed by mercy itself. The Christian community is directly founded on mercy. The Magnificat is first and foremost the song of God’s servant who is the recipient of His blessings, of His mercy. “
AS Pope Francis said the night of the 24th of Sept, Let us commend to Our Lady the work we have been entrusted to do; let us join her in thanking God for the great things he has done, and for the great things he will continue to do in us and in those whom we have the privilege to serve.
And it is our joy as Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary in this Monastery, to welcome each of you to this holy ground during our 160th anniversary of Foundation in our Diocese of Brooklyn, during this special year of Consecrated Life.
The pastors of this deanery in their wisdom and graciousness, have called together all of us religious, right into the Heart of Christ, in this sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Heart from which all strength, grace, virtue and Mercy flows.
May Jesus bless us today.