by Sr. Mary Emmadona Lee | Dec 19, 2023 | Newsletter
God so loved the world – and you! – that He sent His only Son.
Let us turn to Him in praise and thanks as we remember His coming on the first Christmas.
The angels announced His birth with joyful song
And the shepherds went in haste to greet the newborn Savior.
The star guided the wise men, and they knelt to adore.
He has come! The long-awaited Savior! O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!
As the song goes, “Go, tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born!” Is God nudging you to spread the good news with us as a Parish Visitor of Mary Immaculate, to help many others to know and love Jesus?
God’s peace and joy be with you and your loved ones at Christmas and always!
Your Parish Visitor Sisters
by Sr. Mary Emmadona Lee | Nov 11, 2023 | Newsletter
There are many children beyond the normal age for receiving the sacraments, and Parish Visitors are often blessed to help them. Not long ago Sr. Jhoan Marie witnessed the Baptism and First Communion of a group of these children whom she had prepared.
Of course these overaged children preparing for First Communion were to have their First Penance ahead of time, and Jack was really nervous about this. Sister tried to help him with his nervousness as he was waiting for Father, telling him it would be like speaking to Jesus.
He came out of the confessional smiling! “Sister, it’s hard to explain what I’m feeling now! I feel life! It was really Jesus there! I feel so new! I’m forgiven!”
Sister tells us how beautiful it was to see the transformation on his face from nervousness to happiness, and his excitement to share his experience in confession. He even told his brother, who also was to go to confession for the first time, “It’s useless to feel nervous, because it’s really Jesus who is there!”
Let’s pray for Jack and all these children, and for so many other children who need to meet Jesus!
With Thanksgiving approaching, we can thank God that we ourselves have met Jesus in the sacraments. We have so much to be grateful for!
Yes, let’s stop and thank God for our baptism! For the Holy Eucharist and all the sacraments! For our Catholic faith!
We thank God for our family, too. No family is perfect except the Holy Family, but to have grown up in a decent family that cared about me is a great gift from God, which many people don’t have.
Let’s thank God for the food we have every day, for shelter, for clothing.
Thank God, too, for living in a free country, with the freedom to openly practice the faith.
There’s so much more, too, to thank God for–my friends, my health, my education–and the list could go on and on.
How about thanking God, too, that you are discerning your vocation, trying to see what His will is for your life? The fact that you’re even considering giving yourself totally to God is a gift from Him, and He is certainly pleased with that!
A vocation is a precious gift from God and a cause for great thanksgiving. It’s a great privilege to be called to be the Spouse of Christ. Do take it seriously, and act on it as soon as you know what He wants and as soon as you are able to follow. Be generous to Him! God will never be outdone in generosity, and your list of what to be thankful for will grow and grow!
Have you seen our recent video, featuring Sr. Alina Marie, Sr. Theresa Marie and Sr. Mary Emmadona? Here’s the link for it: Behind the Veil #4 – Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate in Monroe, NY – YouTube. Enjoy!
We Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate are so grateful to God for our contemplative-missionary charism. Our combination of contemplation with missionary outreach to those who are straying from the faith, and giving instructions in the faith to children, youth, and adults, is such a gift from God. Contact us to learn more!
God bless you as you continue to discern His will! We’re praying for you! Happy Thanksgiving!
The Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate
by Sr. Mary Emmadona Lee | Sep 10, 2023 | Newsletter
The days of summer are behind us, and you may have wondered, what do Sisters do in the summer? Here’s a little glimpse for you of what we Parish Visitors have done this summer.
Our annual eight-day retreat was in June and our jubilees in early July, as was mentioned in our last newsletter. Much else has happened since then.
Apostolates continued, sometimes in a different form, such as Vacation Bible Schools in various parishes, Camp Wildfire for middle schoolers, and so on. Three Sisters went on a temporary mission to Northern Ireland for two months. There are so many ways to reach out to God’s people, all year round!
Our Arizona Sisters sent us this Vacation Bible School photo; below is from Ireland.
Our World Youth Day Not A World Away was another outreach. This one-day event for high school teens was held at Marycrest at the same time as the big World Youth Day in Portugal, with Mass, Adoration, confessions, a rosary walk, talks, food and fun! The World Youth Day theme for this year was “Mary Arose and Went in Haste” (to visit her cousin Elizabeth), which was expressed on the T-shirts.
In the tent in front of our Chapel
Rosary Procession; listening to a talk by our local Bishop
Fun at World Youth Day, Marycrest
Our Ohio convent, in conjunction with their diocese, directed a World Youth Day weekend there for young adults. Let us pray that all the young people at all these events continue faithfully in their walk with the Lord.
Ohio World Youth Day, with Sr. Debra Marie and novice Sr. Marie Michelle in the above photo
World Youth Day, Ohio
We also had time to have some extra relaxation, of course. Games and picnics are always favorites with us. We even had a marshmallow roast right in front of our Chapel for the sake of the Sisters who aren’t well enough to travel to a picnic!
Our Sisters may visit their families once a year for two weeks (every other year for four weeks for those whose families are in faraway countries). Summer is usually the time for these visits.
Of course our contemplative prayer life continues, in all of our convents. Here is a photo of the Chapel in our Bronx convent.
Some of you may have been wondering what is happening with the cause of our foundress, Servant of God Mother Mary Teresa Tallon. Her cause is still in Rome, awaiting the next step. Meanwhile we have a number of reports of answered prayers through her intercession. Pray to her for your needs, and about your vocational discernment!
May God’s continued blessings and guidance be with you. We’re praying for all of you!
In Jesus,
Your Parish Visitor Sisters
by Sr. Mary Emmadona Lee | Jul 1, 2023 | Events
We began the month with the celebration of two jubilees: Sr. Eileen Marie Laird, originally from Montana, has been in religious life for 75 years, and Sr. Carmen Rivera, from Puerto Rico, celebrated 60 years. We rejoiced with them as they renewed their vows in Chapel at a beautiful Mass and later celebrated with family and the Sisters. May God bless them both in abundance for their years of generous and loving service to Him!
by Sr. Mary Emmadona Lee | Dec 23, 2022 | Magazine
In every Mass the Preface dialogue ends with “Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God,” to which we respond, “It is right and just.” Nearly every Preface begins, “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God.”
Always and everywhere to give thanks seems to imply not just at Mass, or on a national holiday. To give thanks is “our duty and our salvation” and it is “right and just.”
John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Meditations for Advent and Christmas were recently quoted in the October Magnificat. “It would be well if we were in the habit of looking at all we have as God’s gift, undeservedly given, and day by day continued to us solely by his mercy.” He urged us to “thankfully commemorate,” and “dwell upon” the many ways God has gifted us.
This might be a good resolution to take up during these years of Eucharistic Revival and beyond. Let us give thanks “always
and everywhere.”
We certainly give thanks for the graces of our temporary mission in Ireland and our newly opened convent in Warren, OH that you will read about in this issue.
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