by Sr. Mary Emmadoña 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 Emmadoña 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 Parish Visitor Editor | Jul 31, 2023 | Newsletter
What is discernment? What is a call to Religious Life? How can I discern whether God is calling me to religious life?
Discernment isn’t just choosing what I think would be best. It’s not about what I want, what would make me most fulfilled in life, etc., but what would please God best. What does God hope for, for me and from me? How can I love Him and best help others to love Him, with my unique self?
Discerning this can be difficult at times. By a call we don’t mean an actual voice, like Jesus calling the Apostles, or the angel coming to Mary, or a voice like that heard by St. Paul. Don’t expect a special revelation, or something dramatic to happen, to let you know what you should do. Of course, it would be a lot easier that way! Then we’d know for sure, right away, what to do, and we would just have to be concerned about responding! However, it doesn’t usually happen that way.
Rather, a call is a growing awareness, a realization, a conviction within you, that this is what God wants you to do with your life. This sometimes grows in you for years, and sometimes it comes more quickly, but it is God’s grace within you helping you realize what He wants of you.
Struggle and tears and fear are normal—fear of the unknown, or what it will be like, or “whether I’ll be able to do it,” the temptation to put it off for a vague “sometime in the future,” or resisting God’s call and wishing He would call someone else instead!
Sometimes even family problems or other problems appear and make things difficult. God frequently allows these struggles and difficulties, perhaps to strengthen our vocation: Are we a “fair weather friend” with Jesus, or are we willing to follow Him even when the going is rough?
“But maybe I’m too unworthy for religious life?” You are unworthy. NO ONE is worthy of the gift of a vocation to religious life. If God chose only those who were perfect and saintly, He would have very few to choose from! But, He chooses ordinary people, ordinary people who love Him and want to serve Him and His people.
Some find it helpful, in trying to discern whether God wants them to enter religious life, to use some of these ideas from St. Ignatius:
List the pros and cons; and think and pray about them.
Imagine yourself on your deathbed and ask what you would then wish you had chosen.
Imagine some other person coming to you to ask your advice on the very same dilemma you have. What would you suggest?
Imagine yourself ten years from now, both in religious life and not in religious life. Which seems to fit you better?
But, the most important thing to do, the absolutely essential thing, is to pray, and pray much! Listen in silence to how God may be guiding you. Daily Mass, if at all possible, as well as reflective reading of Scripture, confession regularly, and frequent prayer to Mary should be part of your prayer. Pray for God’s guidance and for His courage to respond generously to whatever He wants of you.
THINK OF all the people there are, all over the world, who do not know Jesus, or who know about Him but don’t care. Is Jesus asking you to spread His word to them? Is God asking you to love Him so much that you will dedicate your whole life to Him as His spouse? Whatever God has in mind for you, remember: You will be happiest and most at peace if you respond “yes” to whatever God wants. He made each of us and knows us thoroughly. His call is in harmony with our deepest selves. The way of life that God wants for us is the best one for us. He knows how you can best serve Him and His people with YOUR uniqueness. You will be happiest in life, and most fulfilled, in the place where God wants you!
“How sure of my call, and of a particular community, must I be before actually applying and then entering?” While 100% certainty at this point need not be present, one should have at least a reasonable certainty that this is where God wants you. This can exist with “cold feet” and feeling a bit nervous and scared, but if there are serious doubts as to whether you should do this, it would be better to wait a while, pray even more, and, if possible, discuss it with some competent spiritual person.
One can compare entering religious life with getting engaged. An engagement is not something to be entered into lightly. The same with religious life. When a young woman gets engaged, she really feels that this is the man she loves and wants to marry and with whom she wishes to spend the rest of her life. However, everyone knows that an engagement is not a final commitment and can be broken if either party sees that it’s not the best thing. But, the hopes are, upon engagement, that the relationship will lead to marriage for life, just as a woman entering religious life as a postulant is hoping that this will lead to vows for life.
Once you realize that God is calling you to religious life, do not delay any longer than necessary. Courage is necessary, and only God can give that! Ask God’s help and keep trusting in Him, and He will answer! He will also give you all the strength and graces you need, now and for the future!
Recent happenings in the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate
We participated in the Eucharistic revival called for by our bishops. In June we had a Corpus Christi procession at Marycrest and a week specially dedicated to the Eucharist, with films of Eucharistic miracles as well as the display put together by Blessed Carlo Acutis. The week included the renewal of our community consecration to the Sacred Heart and the litany of the Sacred Heart.
Three of our Sisters are on a temporary mission in Ireland. They are involved in family visitation, youth events, and much more! Here’s a photo of a youth retreat in Ireland.
In June we had our annual eight-day retreat, which is a privilege and is always a time of many blessings and graces.
In early July Sr. Carmen celebrated her 60th anniversary since entering religious life and Sr. Eileen Marie her 75th anniversary. Imagine the crowns that will be waiting for them in heaven someday!
Our prayers are with you as you continue your own discernment. May God guide, strengthen, and bless you as you seek to know His will!
In Jesus,
the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate
by Parish Visitor Editor | May 16, 2023 | Newsletter
“Not only is the Holy Eucharist our personal comfort, strength and victory, but it is also the greatest gift we have to offer others for their salvation and sanctification.” (Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, our Foundress)
What is more heartrending than a child who is really hungry?? I remember one time when I brought an emergency bag of groceries to a very needy family. Little Mike’s eyes, seeing it, lit up, as he exclaimed, “Food!”
To feed the hungry—how important that is, and how appealing to our nature. Giving not only food, but giving our love with the food. Yet, how many children lack the food their souls desperately need. They don’t even know that their souls are famished, and often their parents don’t seem to realize it, either.
We find these children and adults everywhere, in every town or city in which we work We want to lead them all to Jesus through instruction in the faith! “Feed with instruction those you meet,” as our Foundress said.
She also said, “Food for their souls is what we want to give them, and indeed, what they need most of all.” Food that will give the spiritual nourishment to sustain them through life and to take them to eternity! Their hungry souls can only be satisfied by coming to God–coming to know Him, or coming back to Him if they have strayed away.
There’s something deep inside everyone that craves for more, for the eternal. However, many people don’t even know why their souls are so restless, don’t know how to go about reaching toward God. Jesus is willing, more than willing, to feed their souls and satisfy their thirst with Himself.
As we are reminded In this time of Eucharistic revival, it’s so important to lead persons to Jesus in the Eucharist! This is true “soul food.”
Persons who have strayed away can be found! They can be helped to return to the Good Shepherd! They can be led to the spiritual food their souls need!
When Parish Visitors approach people, face to face and heart to heart, the people know that the Church is interested in them, that God is interested in them. This personal approach, gentle and non-threatening, can touch hearts quickly. In this age of technology, our person-to-person approach is more and more effective in helping today’s straying sheep.
We’ve been doing all this since our community began, finding these starving souls, who may not even know how starved they are, and leading them to Jesus! Our contemplative prayer life is what empowers this apostolate.
All our convents have a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament always present, and all the Sisters have a Holy Hour of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament daily. What a privilege this is!
New vocations: We have been blessed with new vocations in the US, in the Philippines and in Nigeria, young women who feel in their heart the call to follow the Good Shepherd in this contemplative-missionary vocation.
Our newest novice, Sr. Marie Michelle, talking with our oldest Sister
Some upcoming events: Again we’ll have a temporary mission in Ireland, during the months of June and July. Sr. Margery Therese, Sr. Theresa Marie and Sr. Alina Marie will be serving there. They, and Sr. Carole Marie, were in Ireland last summer, and they’re excited to be going again to serve the Lord’s people there!
On August 5 we’ll be hosting World Youth Day Not A World Away, for high school teens, at Marycrest, our motherhouse, at the time of the World Youth Day in Portugal. Details are on our website. Please keep this in your prayer. Past World Youth Day events at Marycrest have been spiritually helpful to so many!
If you’d like to get to know us better, just email me at pvmi@frontiernet.net and we can plan a time for a phone chat.
Keep praying for God’s guidance for your life! We’re praying for you, too!
God bless you and your loved ones!
Sr. Dolores Marie and all the Parish Visitor Sisters
by Sr. Mary Emmadoña Lee | Dec 16, 2022 | Newsletter
Jesus is the Light of the World! He has come to dispel the darkness of sin, and the darkness of not knowing Him.
We know how much the world needs the Savior. He came into our world! He came to save us!
Let’s let the people know that God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son, who came to save us!
Let’s spread the Good News, to His people everywhere, to young and old.
Let’s be His instruments in helping to turn darkness into light
Hustle and bustle and anxiety into peace,
Sin into grace,
Bickering, arguing and hate into love,
Fear into courage,
Sorrow into joy.
We ourselves need Him, too. Let us love Him deeply and show Him our gratitude for His coming. And may any uncertainty you have about your vocation be turned into certainty, in His own good time.
The wise still follow Him!
May you have peace, joy, and many graces from our newborn Savior!
God bless you and your loved ones at this holy season and throughout the new year.
The Parish Visitor Sisters
by Parish Visitor Editor | Oct 24, 2022 | Newsletter
Jack, about 14, walked into Sister’s religion class one afternoon: “I’ve never been inside a church before,” he told Sister. “But, I’ve been thinking. There has to be something bigger than us. Everybody is into technology, but there has to be more to life than that, and I want to find out what it is!”
God’s grace was working in him, and we didn’t have to look for this teen hungering for God—he looked for Sister!
So many people, of all ages, are hungering for God, and they might not even know it. We find so many, and it’s a privilege to help them to know and love the Lord.
Teens, adults, children—they all need to be helped to know and love Jesus. We want to show them that the truth is lovable. They need to be taught how to pray and how to keep growing in their faith all their lives!
“Our Blessed Lord looks to us for the hearts of His little ones. “God grant that we may make the way straight for many of them, that Jesus may come and go among them freely and that their way to Him may be sure and simple.”
Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, Foundress
Our community has been blessed with five new postulants who want to love and serve God as Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate. There are two postulants here in the US, two in the Philippines, and one in Nigeria. Please pray that many more will come!
This month we are opening a new mission convent in Warren, Ohio, where several Sisters served for a few months last year. Also, in October the four Sisters who were on a three-month temporary mission to Ireland returned to the U.S., after a fruitful apostolate there. There is so much need in so many places!
May God bless you and guide you in your discernment of His will for your life.
The Parish Visitor Sisters, who are praying for you!
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.
What is discernment? What is a call to Religious Life? How can I discern whether God is calling me to religious life?
Struggle and tears and fear are normal—fear of the unknown, or what it will be like, or “whether I’ll be able to do it,” the temptation to put it off for a vague “sometime in the future,” or resisting God’s call and wishing He would call someone else instead!
Jesus is the Light of the World! He has come to dispel the darkness of sin, and the darkness of not knowing Him.
