PRAISE GOD!
How good God is! One year on Valentine’s Day morning we looked out and saw every tree, every twig, every bush, covered with ice, glistening in the morning sun! A “forest” of diamonds! What spouse except Jesus could give a whole forest of diamonds to His beloved brides! (A photo can’t do it justice.)
God is so good to us in so many ways. Yet, so many people don’t know about our good God, or don’t care.
Many years ago our foundress felt God leading her to begin a community where women would be “formed in the contemplative spirit and go out in search of the lost lambs and bring them back to the fold by means of instruction in the faith.” Her daughters, the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaulate, have been doing this since our foundation, and this charism is more needed now than ever.
Imagine the joy when a Parish Visitor goes to heaven and meets the ones she helped to reach there:
“My soul had strayed from God
and you came to me.
I was confused
and you helped me to see.
I made a mess of my life
and you sought me out.
I thought I could never be
forgiven and you told me He died for me.
My faith was lukewarm
and you sought me and helped me.
I thought God didn’t care about me
and you visited me and told me He loves me.
I was growing up without knowing God
and you found me and taught me.
I thought learning the faith was a bore
and you showed me how exciting it really is.
I longed to fill the emptiness of my soul and didn’t know how
and you came to my door.
I said the roof would cave in if I ever went to church again
and you told me how much Jesus longs for me.
I was lost
and you sought me out, found me, and helped me to come home.”
Wouldn’t you like to do this with us?
Our foundress, Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, knew in her heart that the Sacred Heart would always be the strength of this community and of the apostolate. We could never do it alone; He would always be with us! And He has been!
The contemplative spirit, a life of prayerful union with God, and seeking out those away from the Lord and instructing in the faith—what a beautiful charism our foundress bequeathed to us!
Our community life is an essential part of our life, too. Not only does it give us strength for our prayer and apostolate, it also is a witness that women from different places, of different backgrounds, can live together in peace and joy!
A VOCATION STORY
“Our greatest joys are found in loving God, in speaking to Him in prayer, and in serving Him with all our strength.” These words of our foundress, Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, are echoed in an article which Sr. Mary Emmadona, who made her final vows last May 31, wrote for her diocesan vocation ministry. It shows her joy in the Lord at being a Parish Visitor of Mary Immaculate, and I’d like to share her article with you.
I thought of becoming a Sister when I was 6 or 7, but as I grew older, I convinced myself that there is no chance that God is calling me to be one.
After experiencing the personal love of God for me in a Life in the Spirit seminar, everything changed. I was spending more time in getting to know this God that loved me. It was at this time that the thought of becoming a Sister resurfaced.
I met the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate through the Legion of Mary meeting. I realized God was really calling me to be His.
However, as I was nearing my entrance to the convent, God called my father to eternal life. During the funeral, I was thinking of postponing my entrance, worried that my family might not be able to bear another “loss,” so to speak. But God wanted me to come and not delay. I couldn’t say “no” to Him. Uncertainties were present, yet God helped me to respond.
In the convent we have a Chapel where Jesus is present all the time in the Blessed Sacrament. He lives under the same roof with us. That joy of knowing I can run to Him any time is a tremendous gift. You see, we always want to have tickets to be in audience with the most famous people. But here is the King of Kings, and I get a private audience with Him every day! He comes to me every day in Holy Communion, visits my poor soul and refreshes me.
He gives me strength to persevere in the call He has given me. He is my Joy. Without prayer, without God, without Jesus, one cannot be truly joyful. Because joy is God’s gift. Joy is Someone. Joy is Jesus Himself. God is the only one who can give us true, everlasting and enduring joy.
My joy started when I decided to follow God’s will and not my own. Finding joy in God opened up new joys for me that I never thought I would have.
For those discerning their vocation, I ask God to give you the strength to do His will. Say “yes” to God in whatever road He has prepared for you. And joy will be realized in your life.
Do not be deceived by the passing joy the world gives, nor the false happiness the devil promises, nor the instant pleasure you get from following your own will, but find your joy in God. The joy that comes from Him will rest in you and nobody can take it away.
May the joy of the Lord be your strength.
Sister Mary Emmadoña
NEW NOVICES
The feast of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, May 31, is always a very special day for Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate. Mary reached out to someone in need while pondering in her heart what God had just done in her—a contemplative missionary!
This year the Visitation was made even more special as our two postulants, Alina Nieser and Meaghan Baldwin, were received into the novitiate. The simple ceremony begins with these words:
“Dear daughters, what do you ask from us?”
“Drawn by God’s mercy, we have come here to learn your way of life. We ask you to teach us to follow Christ crucified and to live in poverty, obedience and chastity.
Teach us to persevere in prayer and penance, in the service of the Church and mankind. Teach us to live out the Gospel every day of our lives. Teach us your rule and help us to learn to love our Sisters as Christ commanded us.”
The photo shows the reception of the white veil. They also received our community Constitutions and Spiritual Directory. As is our custom, Alina kept her baptism name, as it already included a form of Mary, and she is now Sister Alina Marie. Meaghan had a form of Mary added to her name, and so she is now Sr. Marie Meaghan. They’re excited to begin this new step in their journey of following the Lord!
Just what is a novitiate?
The novitiate is the official beginning of religious life, and it’s a time of growing to know the Lord more intimately, a time of many special graces. It’s also a time to know ourselves better and to recognize anything in ourselves that may hinder our relationship with the Lord, as well as to spiritually prepare to go forth to spread God’s word.
This time of spiritual preparation is so important. In Scripture so many persons who were chosen to serve God in a special way, first went apart. Jesus, besides His 30 years of hidden life, went into the desert for 40 days. John the Baptist lived in the desert, Paul spent a time of quiet in Arabia (Gal. 1:17), and the apostles had a three-year preparation before Pentecost.
The novitiate is a time of learning the Parish Visitor way of life more deeply, of learning the way the vows are lived in this community, and of deepening one’s prayerful relationship with the Lord. Then, when the time comes for vows, the Sister, knowing what is involved, is able to make her vows of chastity, poverty and obedience peacefully and joyfully and then serve God’s people as a vowed Parish Visitor of Mary Immaculate.
In Nigeria we have another new novice, too, Sister Rita Marie. With the same words she began her novitiate a week earlier, on Ascension Thursday, May 25. Unfortunately we don’t have a photo of her to share with you. May God bless all three new novices with much joy and peace in following Him more deeply!
NEW POSTULANT
Rowena became a postulant in our community recently, in the Philippines. She’ll be coming to New York soon to continue her postulancy and then have her novitiate. Please keep her, and all those in formation in our community, in your prayers.
CONTEMPLATIVE-MISSIONARIES
To be a contemplative missionary—what a wonderful privilege! Not just a missionary, but also a contemplative! Not just a contemplative, but also a missionary! As our foundress, the Servant of God Mother Mary Teresa Tallon told us, “In proportion as I am a contemplative…in that same proportion shall I be a missionary, and also in that same proportion shall I be a cheerful, generous missionary.”
Once when I was at a monthly youth Adoration gathering, someone asked me, “How often do you have Adoration?” When I said, “Every day,” he was so amazed he didn’t know how to respond! Yes, we have a Holy Hour of Adoration daily! All our convents have the Blessed Sacrament in their chapels. In addition, we have a half hour of meditation daily, and of course, Mass and Communion every day. What a grace to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, all the time.
The Liturgy of the Hours (also called the Divine Office) is the prayer of the Church, for the Church. We pray Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer together and Night Prayer privately. Of course, we, as daughters of Mary Immaculate, honor Our Lady daily with her favorite prayer, the rosary.
Spiritual reading is done privately, using Scripture, various spiritual books, the writings of our foundress. We have so much to nourish our prayer life! Our contemplative-missionary vocation is also nourished by a monthly retreat day as well as a yearly retreat of eight days.
During the day, in the midst of our duties, we strive to have “cloistered hearts,” as our foundress advised us. Our duties, the apostolate as well as convent duties, are done for God and should not detract from our prayerful spirit, even if our minds need to be engrossed in what we are doing. Jesus, too, was occupied with His mission as well as daily tasks of eating, sleeping, traveling, and so on, and yet He had a prayerful spirit, a contemplative spirit. Mary, too, had this contemplative spirit as she went about her daily duties at Nazareth and as she visited her cousin Elizabeth in her time of need.
SUMMER
In June we had our general chapter, with elections, and our new general superior is Mother Maria Catherine, who had been the U.S. formation director. Sr. Carole Marie, the former general superior, will be moving soon to the novitiate as novice and postulant director.
We celebrated two jubilees on July 2. Sr. Mary Gemma marked 60 years in religious life, and Sr. Mary Josita, 50 years. Their picture is on our website under “Events.”
July was also busy with Vacation Bible School in the local parish, as well as Camp Spiritus in the same parish, for young teens. Our formation Sisters assisted Sr. Mary Josita in these.
In August two Sisters will be giving an evangelization workshop in Michigan, and two others in Illinois. May much good fruit come out of these workshops!
NEW NOVICE
Another new novice! Sr. Maria Rowena began her novitiate on September 8, beginning her journey into a deeper love of the Lord as a Parish Visitor of Mary Immaculate. Soon we’ll be one novice less—Sr. Rebecca Miriam is counting the days until November 21, the day of her first vows!
Each Sister has her own unique story of how she realized her call!
God brought our novices from far and wide to love and serve Him here. On the left in the photo is Sr. Alina Marie, who grew up in Georgia but was working in Michigan before she entered. Next, Sr. Rebecca Miriam, from Arizona. Sr. Maria Rowena is from the Philippines, and Sr. Marie Meaghan comes from Long Island, New York.
In Nigeria we have another novitiate with two more novices, and Sr. Leona Marie completed her novitiate and made her first vows on August 28.
OUR LADY OF FATIMA
On September 13, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, we held an evening of prayer at our motherhouse, which included Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the rosary, an outdoor procession with the image of Our Lady of Fatima, a talk, and Benediction. Many persons attended and many of them took advantage of the opportunity for confession. May we all heed the call of Our Lady of Fatima for prayer and sacrifice!
OUR HABIT
We recently added a cape to our habit. All the Sisters took a vote on this not long ago, and we began wearing the cape on October 16, with a blessing of the habits after Mass. This photo shows Sr. Alina Marie in the habit with the cape.
THE WISE STILL FOLLOW HIM
Did you ever realize that following a vocation can be compared to the wise men following the star?
The wise men of old wanted to follow Him. They had to leave family, home and possessions to go forth.
You want to follow, you may feel you probably should follow, but ………….. it’s hard. Are you willing to leave all to follow Him?
It was probably hard for the wise men, too. Perhaps their friends and relatives laughed, or thought they were a bit strange to consider such an idea. Perhaps the wise men had a hard time deciding if they really should go ahead and set out on this journey.
What about you? If your friends think you’re crazy, will you still go forward? Will you keep praying for the grace to know God’s will and the courage to really do it?
Perhaps there were cloudy or foggy days when the star was obscured.
Are you waiting until the way is 100% clear, not realizing that clarity will grow as you follow Him?
Traveling through the desert, of necessity they had a minimum of distractions and could concentrate on their goal.
Are you avoiding unnecessary distractions and overstimulation so as to pray better and discern God’s will more clearly?
They didn’t know how long their journey would be until they reached their goal. Would it go relatively quickly, or would it perhaps take years?
Your discernment, too, may move quickly or may take years. But, like them— don’t give up!
With all the many stars in the sky, they looked for the one special star, The Star.
Will you keep your focus on Him?
What if they had stayed home? They could have still been good people, but look what they would have missed! They would not have been able to adore Jesus, and they would not have been able to spread the good news upon returning. The journey was worth it!
God showed them the way, but they needed the courage to follow, perhaps despite cold feet and the fears of facing the unknown.
God does His part, and we must move forward to do ours!
Upon reaching their destination, they offered their gifts.
We offer ourselves and all we are, for God to use for His glory and for His people.
How pleased He was with the wise men, and if He is calling you, how pleased He’ll be if you follow His call and give yourself to Him! His help will be there. The road may look rough, until you begin walking upon it. His peace, His joy, and He Himself await you if you follow the star!
