Journal | Brooklyn Visitation Monastery

A Day in the Life of a Brooklyn Visitation Nun

Posted on August 24, 2013 by the Sisters

We are beginning a short series in which we will share the spirituality, prayer and responsibilities in the day of a life of a Visitation Sister. We hope it gives you a glimpse of the beauty of a soul called by and dedicated to the Lord, and the precious uniqueness of the Visitation way of life.

The Visitation Order was founded across the ocean in Savoy, now Annecy, France in 1610 and a foundation was made in Brooklyn in 1855, the Monastery nestling into the borough as a precious pearl . Today this pearl glows with prayer within the City of New York, still hidden from many, but discovered by some.

Early Morning

5/5:30AM

Perhaps the sun has not yet crossed the horizon, if it is winter,

or maybe it is joyfully breaking through the clouds bordering the not too distant Verrazano Bridge, if it is summer.

Whatever the season, it is time for the Visitandine to awake, and as our Spiritual Directory says, “First of all on awakening, the Sisters are to direct their minds completely to God by some holy thought such as the following:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that on the last day I will rise again. My God, grant that this be to eternal glory; this hope rests in my inmost being (Job 19:25-26).

They will make these holy aspirations or others which the Holy Spirit may suggest, for she has freedom to follow his inspirations.

They will make the morning exercise, adoring Our Lord from the depths of their being and thanking him for all his benefits. In union with the loving offering which the Savior made of himself to his eternal Father on the tree of the cross, they will offer him their heart, it’s affections and resolutions, and their whole being, and beg for his help and blessing. They will greet our Lady and ask for her blessing, as well as that of their guardian angel and holy patrons. If they wish, they may say the Our Father. All this should be done quickly and briefly.

As they begin to dress, they will make the sign of the cross and say:

Cover me, Lord, with the cloak of innocence and the robe of love. My God, do not let me appear before you stripped of good works. “

The Visitation novices, the formator, the Superior and other Sisters make their way downstairs

to the choir of our Sacred Heart Chapel, to spend an hour in silent meditation before Our Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. What happens there between the Sisters’ soul and God? That is their secret.

She may use the Holy Scriptures to meditate especially on that day’s Mass readings, but eventually she will be drawn as our Foundress, St Jane de Chantal said, into the prayer of simple unity. St Jane Said, I clearly recognize that our Lord leads nearly all the Daughters of the Visitation to the prayer of simple unity, and simple abiding in the presence of God, by an entire abandonment of themselves to His holy will, and to the care of Divine Providence.

Morning prayer with the entire community follows morning meditation.Here we chant the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours, to a chant composed by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, especially for the Visitation Order in the USA.

The Sister raises her soul to God and with that is also raised the world, special intentions, the Diocese of Brooklyn and the frenetic world of NYC, especially those traveling to work on the subway and bus.

Does a New Yorker ascending to his employment in a rapidly rising elevator in a skyscraper or business office realize that a Sister is praying for him or her? Perhaps not, but she does so, day after day.

Our Spiritual Directory advises us :”It is especially recommended that they show simplicity and readiness in praying the Liturgy of the Hours. Each time they begin, they should place themselves in the presence of God and, in imitation of St. Bernard, ask themselves what they are about to do.

Before beginning the Liturgy of the Hours, they will stir up in themselves similar affections. Then, after the act of adoration, they will offer this action to our Lady and Mother and for the salvation of all creation. When they say:

O God, come to my assistance,

they should think that Our Lord answers:

Be attentive to my love.

In order to maintain the proper respect and attention, they should consider from time to time what an honor and privilege it is for them to perform here on earth the same role the angels and saints fulfill in heaven, and that they are praising the same Lord whose majesty makes the highest seraphim tremble.”

Holy Mass follows.

We are blessed to be served by priests of our local parish, St. Patrick’s of Bay Ridge, as well as the Pastor of Sacred Heart/St Stephen in Carroll Gardens and the Redemptorist priests.

And in the sacrifice the Sister offers herself completely to God the Father every day.

Saint Francis de Sales, our Founder, said of Holy Mass that it is the soul of all devotion.

After her deep thanksgiving after Holy Communion, the Sisters bow and greet one another as they exit the choir to go to breakfast with the words God be praised and Good morning dear Sister

And make their way promptly to the Refectory . Breakfast is eaten in silence, so as to continue the interior discourse with the Lord, who grants strength and grace for the day ahead.

Our Directory suggests, “They should not go to the refectory merely to eat, but to obey God and to take part in a community exercise.

If some tend to be too particular or too eager in eating, they should, upon entering the refectory, make a firm resolution and invoke the grace and help of Our Lord to courageously exercise self-control.

They should never leave the table without having denied themselves in some way. Nevertheless, they ought to eat without hesitation or objection any foods given them for their well-being. With a spirit of indifference they are to accept from the hand of the Lord what they like as well as what they do not like, be it food or anything else.”

Fortified in body, soul and spirit, the Visitation Nun is ready for the day ahead!

Next: Morning Work

Posted in Monastery Events, Ordinary Time, Vocations | 4 Comments

Contemplating a Vocation to the VisitationMonastery in Brooklyn?

Posted on August 14, 2013 by the Sisters

You mean there’s a Monastery in Brooklyn!??!!

This is often the tone of the delighted surprise we hear from those first discovering us.

We also have responded to perplexity and amazement: You take a subway to a Monastery?

Yes, there is a Monastery of the Visitation in Brooklyn, New York, with a view of the Manhattan skyscrapers, Verrazano Bridge, New York Harbor, East River and the new Freedom Tower.

Nestled among seven acres of a cloistered garden, the Visitation Sisters intercede for the world immediately beyond, the rest of New York City, as well as for all persons in our contemporary, often frenetic world.

How do you begin to decide whether you might have a call to prayer with us here?

First, come and meet us!

With a phone call or e mail, we will set up an appointment to chat with you in our Parlor.

If God continues to draw you, we will ask for a letter from a spiritual director or Pastor and invite you to your first retreat with us.

This may be a day of recollection, an overnight weekend retreat, or a week long stay.

As you work with your spiritual guide, the Formation Directress will set up additional retreat experiences as you discern your vocation.

When you are ready you may want to make a longer live-in retreat for up to a month.

You will become more familiar with our Founders, Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane de Chantal, our spirituality and our central devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

As you finalize your employment decisions and prepare to enter the Monastery to give yourself as a Spouse of Christ, the Sisters will be praying for you and explaining all the little details necessary for entrance into the Brooklyn Monastery.

May Jesus bless your journey! Call us at 718 745 5151 for an appointment or retreat experience, or e mail VAMonastery@aol.com

Posted in Vocations | Leave a comment

Feast of St. Jane de Chantal August 12

Posted on August 7, 2013 by the Sisters

The Prophetic Heart of St. Jane de Chantal

As the Feast of the Foundress of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary , St Jane de Chantal, approaches on August 12, we turn to our Holy Mother’s devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to understand more deeply the mission of her monastic vocation.

Both she and her co-founder, the Bishop of Geneva, St Francis de Sales, seemed to intuit, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the centrality of the love of the Heart of Christ among the Visitation Sisters.

Sixty years before St. Margaret Mary joined the Order and received the revelations of the Sacred Heart from Jesus, His holy Heart was already the seal of the Order, its source of virtue and its central focus.

Bishop Emile Bougaud captured these sentiments very well in his book on St. Margaret Mary.

“A century before opening his adorable breast and declaring to Margaret Mary that He wished to make the daughters of the Visitation the depositaries of His Heart, the Lord cast a look of love on him who was to be the founder of the Institute, (St. Francis de Sales) formed his heart on the model of His own, and rendered it the meekest and humblest of all hearts. ” I do not know,” says a certain author, ” whether there has ever been a saint that practised more excellently the lesson of the Savior : ‘ Learn of Me that I am meek and humble of heart”

Some years after, God also prepared for foundress the saint who, formed by St. Francis de Sales, became, as she was pleased to call herself, ” the child of the Heart of Jesus,” (St Jane de Chantal) and who was to practise in a high degree, in the natural and supernatural greatness of her strength, the virtues of meekness and humility. “It was revealed to a soul eminently favored by God,” relates Mother de Chaugy, ” that, when Jesus pronounced this high lesson : ‘ Learn of Me that I am meek and humble of heart,’ ‘ He cast a look of love and predilection on our holy Mother de Chantal.”

But it is especially during the years that the two saints worked together to form the Visitation, that it is sweet to study by what mysterious ways they were led to dispose all things in order that this Institute, ” founded on the golden basis of meekness and humility,” might become the sanctuary of the Sacred Heart.

At the moment of Mme. de Chantal’s departure for Annecy to begin the foundation of the Institute, St. Francis de Sales wrote her a line to animate her courage : “ My advice, my daughter, is, that henceforth we live no more in ourselves, but that in heart, intention, and confidence we lodge forever in the pierced side of the Savior”

Again, on the eve of her entrance : ” My daughter, I must tell you that I have never seen so clearly how much you are my daughter as now. But I say it as I see it in the Heart of our Savior. O my daughter, how I desire that your life be hidden with Jesus Christ in God !

The Brooklyn Monastery honors Holy Mother St. Jane by living in the Heart of Christ, promoting this devotion through its annual Novena, and First Friday Masses. By welcoming the Brooklyn Diocese’s Sacred Heart Apostolate to our Chapel, we hope that the Sacred Heart of Jesus will become central to all Brooklyn Catholics!

Source: The Life of St. Margaret Mary by Bishop Emile Bougard

Posted in Salesian Feast Days | Leave a comment

Attended or Followed WYD? Want to Evangelize?

Posted on July 30, 2013 by the Sisters

“Pope Francis commissioned some 3 million young people to join forces and form what could be called Missionaries Without Borders.

“Where does Jesus send us?” he asked World Youth Day pilgrims July 28. “There are no borders, no limits: He sends us to everyone.” (Catholic News Service, Cindy Wooten)

And Saint Francis de Sales, founder of the Visitation Order of Holy Mary, was a Missionary in his 20′s, as a young priest, whose Mission to the Chablais area(France and Switzerland) resulted in one of the most remarkable conversion stories in Catholic history!

St. Francis makes an excellent intercessor and model for you, who have been directly invited by our Holy Father.

St. Francis de Sales’ own life provides the how-to!

“Let us attempt to trace the portrait of the evangelizer such that Francis de Sales was in the Chablais by means of his own person.

We find there the portrait of the great missionaries of the Church, since the apostle Paul. First of all, the missionary is in the front line, a bit alone, even if Francis de Sales was accompanied by his cousin in the entire first part of his sojourn. It is Francis who carries and conducts the mission. He lived poor, deprived of resources. He had little by way of human support. Certainly the baron of Hermance, who governed the chateau of the Allinges where the only Catholic army of the Chablais resided and where Francis de Sales went each night to sleep, took care of him;but Francis refused to preach the Gospel protected by weapons.

The duke of Savoy followed his mission from afar, but gave him neither an official delegation for the mission nor financial means. And slowly, patiently, without being discouraged, Francis pursued his mission by laboring there each day. His hope was in God alone. Prayer and daily Mass were his strength.

Even if he was insulted and mocked, , he treated them with a great respect and a profound charity and took them seriously. He privileged dialogue to confrontation.

He put in motion an apostolate of contact which had for its sole model only Jesus going along his way in Galilee and in Judea. He had Jesus in his eyes as in his heart. Francis went ordinarily by foot, by pastoral choice, as was the habit quite simply of a rustic gentleman; this manner permitted him to encounter workers in their shops, the peasants in their fields or villages.

Thereby he established a simple relation, man-to-man. By way of such a relationship, when a sympathy is established, the friend then became in turn his witness in relation to his own friends. The apostolate of contact is a beginning. He followed it by his preaching. Francis preached with the same care for his rather small flock of faithful in the Chablais as he would for a crowd of the faithful. He took the same means as his adversaries, namely,the Scriptures, in speaking of the totality of the Bible, as they did. “The ministers wish to combat only with Scripture, I wish it; they wishfrom Scripture the parts that please them, I will grant it.”

But it is above all his personal example of life–by way of his courage, his faith, his charity, and his perseverance–that touched the hearts and lead to conversion.

Francis evangelized by word, life, and faith. He wished to reawaken in his separated brothers the spirit and heart of Jesus Christ. He went slowly and surely to accept and to love and to reverse all the oppositions that he encountered and met on his route.”

Source:Mission according to St. Francis de Sales, based on his mission to the Chablais, by JEAN-LUC LEROUX, O.S.F.S.

http://web1.desales.edu/assets/salesian/library/Leroux-Mission.pdf

Contact us to learn more of how you can be a missionary for Christ like St. Francis de Sales! 8902 Ridge Blvd., Brooklyn, NY 11209-5716 • 718-745-5151 • Email: Vamonastery@aol.com

Remember his Missionary Dispositions:

Poverty

Hope in God Alone

Daily Mass and Prayer

Respect and Charity

An apostolate of Contact

Jesus in Heart and Vision

Simple relationships

Love of Scripture

Perseverance, charity, faith and courage

Personal example of love

Come Chat with us Sunday August 4th at 730PM est if you want to be a Missionary for Christ! http://visitationspirit.org/living-jesus-chat-room/

Or call for a Retreat and learn MORE about St. Francis de Sales as you accept the Holy Father’s Challenge to be a Missionary FOR Christ!

UPDATE:

READ THE CHAT HERE:

http://visitationspirit.org/2013/08/chatting-aboutevangelizing-like-st-francis-de-sales/

Posted in Monastery Events, Salesian Spirituality | 1 Comment

Brooklyn Visitandines Pray for Diocese’s WYD Attendees

Posted on July 26, 2013 by the Sisters

We Sisters in Bay Ridge are excited as we pray for all the youth of our Diocese attending the World Youth Day with our Bishops and Holy Father in Rio.

Here are some of the young people being interviewed:

http://netny.net/currents/video/wyd-pilgrims-ready-for-morning-catechesis-72513/

Posted in Monastery News | Leave a comment

RETREAT INTO GOD

Posted on July 11, 2013 by the Sisters

The Sisters of the Visitation Monastery of Brooklyn welcome you to a monastic retreat. We invite you into our garden oasis

where you may find God in nature (yes, even in NYC!),

to our choir with its monastic ambience and liturgical chant,

and to the silent refectory where you may learn about Salesian spirituality through our daily reading at table.

Our Founder St. Francis de Sales was a firm believer in the making of spiritual retreats.

He explained, “ The saints retreated to solitary places, so that, with worldly cares left behind, they could more freely and ardently give themselves up to heavenly love.

Souls that long to love God in real earnest, close their minds to talk of worldly matters and use their understanding to meditate with greater intensity on what is divine; they concentrate all their striving in one single aim which is to love God and Him alone.” 1.

To facilitate the accessibility of an environment conducive to solitary retreats by the laity, St. Francis de Sales had approved by the Holy See a unique outreach to laity from within the enclosure of the Visitation Monasteries he founded.

The Constitutions of the Order of the Visitation contain this invitational clause: By virtue of the Order’s own special privilege and in conformity with the initial intentions of the Founder, women and young girls desirous of making a spiritual retreat are allowed to do so within the enclosure.”2

1.Treatise on the Love of God, Book XII, Chapter 3, St Francis de Sales

2.Constitutions of the Order of the Visitation, 59L

The testimony of those women who have made retreats with us speaks for itself. One retreatant said, ” When I make a retreat here I feel a blanket of peace”. The Lord’s presence permeates the Monastery.

Another said that her favorite kind of retreat was a silent retreat.

But the silence is not empty, it is full- of the Lord’s presence.

We offer both private retreats- for those wanting to pray alone and with the Sisters, and discernment retreats, if you are thinking about the possibility of becoming a Visitation nun.

If you are interested in either one, please call us at the Monastery to make arrangements.*

The Lord is waiting for you!

* First time retreatants are asked to send a letter of reference prior to the retreat.

Posted in Monastery Events | 2 Comments

New Formation Team

Posted on June 14, 2013 by the Sisters

Our Novitiate Sisters are being guided by a new Formation team.

Both a Directress and an Assistant Directress of Formation has been appointed!

The change is related to the establishment of the St. Jane de Chantal Gallery Community at the Georgetown Visitation Monastery. www.visitationgallerycommunity.org

This summer, classes for the Novices and Temporary Professed included the study of the spiritual writings of our Founders, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal, the sharing of Scripture, understanding and practice of the Liturgy of the Hours and a deepening of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Sisterly unity within the Novitiate and the development of a peace-filled interior life is a Spirit-led goal for all of us!

Posted in Monastery News | 1 Comment

A New Novice!

Posted on May 4, 2013 by the Sisters

Sister Mary gave her “yes.”

We have another Novice! Sister Mary gave her “yes” like Our Blessed Mother, and oh, how the graces flowed…such happiness comes from within and it was the Holy Spirit overflowing in the hearts and on the faces of each Sister in our Sacred Heart Chapel as our Mother Mary Pauline placed the white veil of a novice upon Sister Mary’s bowed head on May 1st, the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. The novitiate is work for the body and the soul and it marks the beginning of a canonical year for Sister Mary during which she will be studying our constitutions and writings of Our Holy Founders in order to absorb the spirit and charism of our Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. This will be a time of learning for Sister Mary!

Learning what, some will ask? Sister Mary, with God’s grace, will learn many things, not the least of which will be a learning curve of self-knowledge. We must know Jesus Christ intimately and allow His Light of Resurrection to penetrate our very souls…but in order to allow this, we must first come to a deeper awareness of our littleness in His Greatness. We are at first blinded by His bursting Light and the awareness of His Presence. During this time, we pray, pray, and pray…and learn to trust Him more, more, and more. Learning to trust a loving God, who wants our greatest happiness requires a full surrender in faith, hope, and love. The more we open this door to Him, the door of surrender, the more He will fill us with His love…as the Psalmist wrote: Open to me the gates of holiness… Open wide ancient doors… It’s no surprise that the tomb was “opened” and the Risen Lord, in God’s Glory, appeared. A similar resurrection can and does happen in our own lives. If only we accept the grace God offers, He alone can open our heart and mind to His own desires. Jesus Christ, Crucified, is a Teacher of Love…and Jesus Christ, Risen, is a Teacher of Hope. I am grateful to be His student, and just like Sister Mary, I still have alot to learn.

God puts joy in our daily lives, let us ask Him to bless everyone and everything, especially our newest Novice, Sister Mary with all the graces that she needs to continue to grow in holiness. May Our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, be at her side every day and may Our Beautiful Blessed Mother Mary remain very near to her. May our Founders, Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane de Chantal inspire her! Thanksgiving to God for the goodness that He bestows upon our community…God be praised!

Posted in Monastery Events, Monastery News | Leave a comment

WASH YOURSELVES CLEAN

Posted on March 9, 2013 by the Sisters

AS I WALKED TO MY FOURTH GRADE RELIGION CLASS LAST WEEK, I THOUGHT, I HOPE THIS DEMONSTRATION HELPS GET THE POINT ACROSS ABOUT HOW SERIOUS SIN IS IN A WAY THEY’LL BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND AND WILL REMEMBER. I WALKED INTO THE CLASSROOM, LIKE ALWAYS, READY TO TEACH AND ENTERTAIN AT THE SAME TIME. IN THESE TIMES, OUR CULTURE DEMANDS A LOT OF SENSORY INPUT TO MAKE THINGS INTERESTING. I NEEDN ‘T HAVE WORRIED, THEY WERE ALL EYES AND EARS THE WHOLE TIME. MY DEMO CONSISTED OF A HALF GLASS OF WATER TO REPRESENT OUR CLEAN CONSCIENCE, A DROP OF RED FOOD COLORING TO REPRESENT SIN, SOME BLEACH AND BAKING SODA TO STAND FOR THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION WHICH IS DONE WITH A SINCERE HEART. I DIDN’ T DO ANY EXPLAINING ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN UNTIL WE BEGAN. WE TALKED ABOUT THE CLEAR GLASS OF WATER AND HOW YOU CAN DRINK IT BECAUSE IT IS SO PURE. THEN I POURED IN JUST A DROP OF THE RED DYE AND IT QUICKLY TURNED THE WATER RED. THIS REPRESENTS OUR SOUL WHEN WE SIN, I TOLD THEM. THEY GASPED AT THAT. WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS WAS THE QUESTION I POSED TO THEM. AFTER A DISCUSSION ABOUT VENIAL AND MORTAL SIN, WE AGREED THAT WHEN WE COMMIT SERIOUS SIN, WE NEED TO GO TO CONFESSION. NEXT I ADDED A FEW DROPS OF BLEACH, BUT THIS DID NOT COMPLETELY TURN THE WATER BACK TO ITS ORIGINAL CLEAR STATE. I EXPLAINED THAT THERE ARE ALSO TEMPORAL OR EARTHLY CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR SINS AND THAT WE NEED TO MAKE REPARATION TO WHOMEVER WE HAVE HURT BY SINNING. THEN I ADDED SOME BAKING SODA TO THE MIXTURE, WHICH HELPED BUT DID NOT COMPLETELY DO THE JOB. WE TALKED ABOUT HOW WHEN WE BREAK THE TRUST OF SOMEONE, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHOM WE LOVE, IT TAKES TIME AND WORK TO REESTABLISH THAT TRUST. IT USUALLY DOESN ‘T HAPPEN OVER NIGHT. THIS FINALLY LED TO A BRIEF DISCUSSION ABOUT PURGATORY. I ASKED THEM IF THEY HAD EVER BEEN BLINDED BY A LIGHT SO BRIGHT, THAT THEY HAD TO SHIELD THEIR EYES. ALL HANDS WENT UP. IF JESUS WALKED INTO THIS ROOM RIGHT NOW WE WOULD ALL BE BLINDED BY THE AWESOME LIGHT OF HIS NEVER ENDING PERSONAL LOVE FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US. IF WE CHOOSE NOT TO LOVE AND OBEY IN THIS LIFE THERE IS A PLACE FOR US WHERE WE CAN GET ALL CLEANED UP AND READY TO MEET JESUS AND LIVE WITH HIM FOREVER. HE LOVES US THAT MUCH THAT HE GIVES US MANY, MANY CHANCES TO SHOW OUR LOVE FOR HIM BY ACTS OF OBEDIENCE, KINDNESS AND CARING FOR OTHERS. THAT IS WHY WE HAVE THE SACRAMENTS. BUT EVEN AFTER ALL THAT, WE STILL HAVE A CHANCE TO BE WITH HIM FOREVER BECAUSE OF THE GRACE OF PURGATORY. IN CONCLUSION, I POINTED OUT THAT WE HAVE THE SACRAMENTS OF THE EUCHARIST, CONFESSION, ANOINTING OF THE SICK AND PRAYER, THE EXAMPLES OF OTHER GOOD PEOPLE TO HELP US ALONG OUR WAY TO MEET JESUS AND LIVE WITH HIM FOREVER IN HEAVEN. HOWEVER, WE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN DECIDE TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL OUR HEARTS AND TO KEEP STRIVING TO PUT OUR LOVE INTO ACTION. THIS WAS A POWERFUL LESSON FOR ALL OF US. GOD BE PRAISED!

Posted in Lent | Leave a comment

Sacred Heart Apostolate

Posted on January 22, 2013 by the Sisters

The Diocese of Brooklyn is preparing its parish members to renew devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus so that a diocesan-wide Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus can take place in June 2013. The Sacred Heart of Jesus will be enthroned in homes and in hearts throughout the diocese. All are welcome to devote their heart to Our Lord…more details to come as the month of June approaches.

In the meantime, all are welcome to join the Sisters of the Visitation on the 1st Friday of each month at 7:30pm in our Sacred Heart Chapel located at 8902 Ridge Blvd, Brooklyn.

The Holy Spirit is working on this renewal of devotion and is sparking a fire of devotion in many other places and countries around the world. Pope Benedict XVI writes ” The essential nucleus of Christianity is expressed in the Heart of Jesus; in Christ…the newness of the Gospel was revealed and given to us: the Love that saves us and already makes us live in God’s eternity. Even our shortcomings, our limitations, and our weaknesses must lead us back to the Heart of Jesus. His divine Heart calls to our hearts, inviting us to come out of ourselves, to abandon our human certainties to trust in Him and, following His example, to make of ourselves a gift of love without reserve.”

Stop reading. Only for a moment! Look, really look, at a picture of Jesus’ Sacred Heart…then read again, slowly, the Pope’s words.

His divine Heart does indeed call to our hearts. I have come to realize that every person has that moment of intimate calling, the call of Heart-to-heart, when Jesus’ Own Sacred Heart has reached out to our own poor, weak, lonely, wounded heart…and we respond!

Yes, we must reach that place of being poor in spirit to allow His Spirit to rush in.

Yes, we must set aside all of our own will to become weak, that He may take over and show His Almighty power. Yes, we must be lonely enough within, like realizing we have four walls of our newfound freedom (to borrow Thomas Merton’s thought) which are not walls at all but a spiritual freedom that hovers near, echoing the call to Love. Yes, we must cry out to Our Lord and tell Him we are wounded too, right beside You, Lord, and we feel Your pain and sorrow as You gently pull aside the garments to reveal Your Own Wounded Sacred Heart to us…still beating a pulse of unending Love for us. He calls us to join Him. How do we respond in that intimate moment? What do we say to Your invitation to make our hearts one with Yours, O Lord? To abandon our human certainties and to trust in You while making of ourselves a gift of love without reserve? If anyone is thinking, gee, the Pope’s writing asks alot…not really…it’s Jesus Who asks! It’s exactly what we are called to do. Abandon what we “know”. Let go, and let God. God sent Jesus to us, for us. God allowed His Sacred Heart to become wounded right before our eyes on the Cross. How do we respond to that much Love? If we were seeing the Crucifixion up close, like the Good Thief, then would we respond just like Dismas did? Jesus’ Sacred Heart, so full of Love for us, simply waits for our heart to speak to His with love.

Let us take time to offer ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, now, in a moment of intimate calling…

He is calling each of us to come closer. To abandon what we already know, and to trust in Him as He offers us the very Heart of Love…His Own Sacred Heart, aflame with Love for us. It is a heart that beat first within Mary, His Blessed Mother. May she remain very near to us as we adore Him and abandon ourselves to Him.

**FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1ST, 2013 MASS AT 730pm WITH BISHOP NICHOLAS DI MARZIO

Posted in Monastery Events, Monastery News, Salesian Spirituality | 1 Comment