The Annual Sacred Heart Novena will take place in Visitation Monastery’s Sacred Heart Chapel, with a 7:30PM Mass every night for nine evenings, From Thursday June 19- Friday June 27, 2014.
The celebrants are:
UPDATE: THURSDAY JUNE 26 Celebrant has been changed to: Very Rev. Tizio CssR
The great Feast of Pentecost, which completes the Easter season, falls on Sunday June 8th this year.
The Holy Spirit is always ready to give us spiritual gifts, and especially on this day.
St. Francis de Sales assists us in asking for these gifts:
“May it please the Divine Majesty to grant us the gift of fear that we may serve Him filially; the gift of piety to revere Him as our most loving Father, the gift of knowledge to know the good we ought to do and the evil we ought to avoid, the gift of fortitude to overcome courageously all difficulties in the practice of virtue, the gift of counsel to discern and to choose the true way of perfection, the gift of understanding to realize the beauty and benefit of the mysteries of faith and of the truths of the Gospel; finally the gift of wisdom to taste how good God is, to savor and experience the sweetnesses of His incomprehensible benignity.
Oh! How happy shall we be, if we receive these priceless gifts, for doubtless, they will lead us to the summit of this mystical ladder where we shall be received by our Divine Savior who awaits us there with open arms, to make us participants of His glory and felicity.” (Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost)
Read the entire sermon here:
http://web1.desales.edu/assets/salesian/PDF/Sermons-Pentecost.pdf
Saturday, May 31st, is the Feast of the Visitation,the Titular Feast of the Order of the Visitation.
Scholar Helene Bordes enlightens us theologically about the meaning of this Feast in the mind and heart of St. Francis de Sales, Founder of the Order. In her article, The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales, Ms. Bordes concludes, ” ..in St. Francis de Sales, the mystery of the Visitation is how to live already risen from the dead,and already in the world of the Transfiguration, when creation is not anymore groaning in one great act of giving birth.”
She suggests that in the Visitation, “Easter is lived to its fullness, in the present instant. This reading of the mystery of the Visitation, model of the ‘hidden life’, gives complete unity to the thought and Salesian style,and is for the bishop (St Francis de Sales) the thread that unites the mysteries of faith with them.
To live and to speak the Visitation is to live and to speak Easter in the light of the actual mystery of Christ, the Transfiguration at work in the world and in time. It is the realization of the Incarnation.
The Incarnation is “visitation” of man by God,…
The exchange which is the mystery of the Visitation shows how the love of God and the love of neighbor, comparable but not identical,, cannot function without each other.”
Source: Salesian Insights, 1999.
Despite Struggles and Obstacles, the Church Welcomes Late Vocations
A sister to St. Therese of the Lisieux, Leonie Martin decided at the age of twelve to enter the Poor Clares.
Leonie’s family saw her difficult temperament as an obstacle to religious life, but in 1889, at the age of twenty-three, she entered the Poor Clares. Due to poor health, she stayed with them only two months before she was forced to leave.
However, she wrote “my soul’s deepest wish is the desire for intimate union with Jesus”, and a year later, entered the Visitation of Holy Mary. Yet after only six months, Leonie returned home, unable to bear the sacrifices. Soon after, her younger sister Therese was accepted to the Carmelites.
Again in 1893, Leonie asked permission to return to the novitiate, and stayed with the Visitandines for two years before the trials and struggles overwhelmed her. At last, in 1899, at the age of thirty-five, Leonie received the grace to live out her religious vocation. For the third time, she entered the Visitation convent – and this time, remained there until her death four decades later.
Many women experience similar obstacles and frustrations towards entering religious life. While the requirements vary from community to community, the Visitation Order welcomes both young and mature candidates.
To prepare for Sunday’s chat, please read our article, “Visitation Vocations: Early and Late.”
In our Living Jesus Chat Room this Sunday, we will discuss these points:
Sign up for our Chat Room Come to our Living Jesus Chat Room, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time U.S. this Sunday. Sign up here and get your own username, or just come on Sunday and sign in as a guest. Seats are limited so, come on time
The lovely spring weather has brought both Novices ( and Canadian geese!) onto our monastic grounds to rejoice in the beauty of God’s creation.
An evening recreation outside reveals the splendors of nature even in Brooklyn, New York!
We thank our weekend vocational discerner for these photos! She too enjoyed Brooklyn beauty.
A group of the faithful from the Diocese of Brooklyn attended the recent canonizations of St. John the 23rd and St. John Paul 11.
Can you spot the Visitandine among them?
“My Life… Must Be A Perfect Copy of that of St. Francis de Sales”
Two new Saints on Divine Mercy Sunday! The Church prepares for the canonization of St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II. As Visitation Sisters, we recognize the work of our founder, St. Francis de Sales present in the spiritual lives of these two popes!
As a seminarian, John XXIII chose St. Francis as his patron saint, and strove to model his life after him. He wrote in his autobiography “Journal of a Soul” on St. Francis de Sales’ feast day, January 29, 1903:
“Today was a perfect feast; I spent it in the company of St Francis de Sales, my gentlest of saints. What a magnificent figure of a man, priest and Bishop! If I were like him, I would not mind even if they were to make me Pope! I love to let my thoughts dwell on him,on his goodness and on his teaching. I have read his life so many times! His counsels are so acceptable to my heart. By the light of his example I feel more inclined to humility, gentleness and calm. My life, so the Lord tells me, must be a perfect copy of that of St Francis de Sales if I wish to bear good fruits.”
During his pontificate, John Paul II also praised this saint.
“Doctor of love, Saint Francis de Sales has unceasingly emphasized the lively source of the covenant of God with man: God loves us, God accompanies us at each stage of life, with a patient and faithful love; God puts in us His desire for what is good; an attraction towards what is beautiful and good.
“…Francis de Sales was tireless in showing his brothers and sisters the patience and tenderness of God ready to pardon, to save. He does not cease to transmit the Good News of the Annunciation: the Son of the Most High born of Mary comes to be united to humanity. In a distraught world, the presence of Jesus reopens the ‘wounds of love’, cures distressed hearts, offers a covenant of pardon and of renewal.”
The Triduum of Holy Days, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil Mass at Brooklyn Visitation Monastery will be celebrated by a Redemptorist Father in our Sacred Heart Chapel.
Holy Thursday, April 17, 2014 at 7:30 PM
Good Friday April 18, 2014 at 3:00PM
Holy Saturday April 19, 2014 at 7:30PM
Easter Sunday Mass will be at 9:00AM
Monastic life, monastic environment, monastic prayer, monastic horarium, monastic music, monastic architecture all nourish the spiritual life of the soul, layered as abundantly as creation’s mountains and valleys, alternating with light and darkness, the sun and the moon.
Monastic life at its best is steady with routine and pierced by surprises, filled with the Presence of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament under the monastic roof.
Visitandine monastic life is symbolized by the violet. Gentleness pervades every movement, humility stills the heart.
Engrossing flames of the purest love of Jesus’ Most Sacred Heart engulfs the Sisters’ Hearts and from there spill over the monastic walls to touch the hearts of all.
The unique chant of the Vistandine’s Liturgy of the Hours are a soft thrill to ear and soul, and invisibly the words pour forth TRUTH and vibrate goodness, overcoming evil.
Private prayer unites the Visitandine with Christ in a delicate union and the Spiritual Directory makes each moment of the day, each exterior and interior action, cushioned in a specific prayer and disposition.
Safely ensconced in the Heart of the Lord, the Visitandine may face any storm of life, any tragedy, any loss with peace.
Monastic Beauty combines a life style with an environment soaked in the goodness, truth and justice of God Himself.
For an example of a full monastic , Visitandine day, we reference these posts:
http://brooklynvisitationmonastery.org/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-brooklyn-visitation-nun/
http://brooklynvisitationmonastery.org/a-day-in-the-life-a-visitation-sisters-morning-work/
http://brooklynvisitationmonastery.org/a-day-in-the-life-a-visitation-sisters-afternoon/
http://brooklynvisitationmonastery.org/a-day-in-the-life-a-visitation-sisters-evening-and-night/
Mary’s “Yes” to her Vocation can Inspire us to Reply “Yes” to Ours
As we focus on our own vocations in life, let us remember the simple woman who responded perfectly to God’s call for her life! In fact, many parallels can be made between Mary’s calling and our own callings from God. In his homily given on the feast of the Annunciation, 1621, St. Francis de Sales preached on religious life:
“The dedication which young ladies make of their hearts to the Divine Majesty they would never have had the desire to make if the Sovereign Spouse of their souls had not drawn them and assisted them with His grace.”
Comparing religious life to Our Lady’s vocation, St Francis says she was alone in her room when the Angel came to greet her and bring her the news of the Incarnation to take place within her. Likewise,
“What do religious do but remain in their cells and enjoy conversation with their Spouse.They retire into the depths of their hearts where they live in solitude”
Let us draw courage from Mary’s “Fiat”, to make our own “yes” to God’s will. Please read our article, “The Call at the Annunciation.”
For reflection:
Come to our Living Jesus Chat Room, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time U.S. this Sunday. Sign up here and get your own username, or just come on Sunday and sign in as a guest.