As Passionist Nuns, our spiritual home is the “cloister” of Calvary, where we dwell in the shadow of His wings – the outstretched arms of Jesus Christ upon the Cross.
There, in union with Our Sorrowful Mother, we keep Him company in His Passion, we offer our lives with His in a loving sacrifice to the Eternal Father, and we strive to become channels of His grace, life, and love into our world.
The Father crowned you by making you a sharer in His power; the Son crowned you by making you a partaker of His wisdom; the Holy Spirit crowned you by making you a partake of His boundless love. The three Divine Persons declared you Queen of Heaven and Earth, and assigned you a place at the right hand of Jesus.
O Mary, Mother of God, confidence fills our souls, for you were raised to this glory not for your own advantage only, but for that of your frail and lowly children also, in order that we might feel the effects of your maternal care and protection, and seek the help of your intercession.
The Church teaches that in you, O Mary, we see ourselves answering the invitation of our heavenly Bridegroom. You are like the Morning Star shining in the dark place of our journey of faith, until the first streaks of light appear and we see the Lord coming to take us to heaven that we might be with Him where He is, in the bosom of the Father.
The great Mother of God, so mysteriously united to Jesus Christ from all eternity by the same decree of predestination, received the final crowning privilege of being preserved from the corruption of the grave and, following her Son in his victory over death, was brought, body and soul, to the highest glory of heaven, to shine as Queen at His right hand.
The first canonized saint of the Western Hemisphere, Rose of Lima (1586-1617) might also be considered a type of the special vocation of contemplative-in-the-world. Inspired by the example of St. Catherine of Siena, Rose became a Dominican lay tertiary and devoted herself to works of active charity while living a life of extreme austerity.
When he was twenty-one, Dominic received the first direct inkling of what the Lord's plans for his future might be. He writes: "One of these days (I think it was one of the last of the year 1813) as I was saying my prayers, the idea came to me that God wanted me to be a priest, and that I was to go and bring the light of the Gospel to a foreign nation."
Mary was born to be the mother of the Savior of the world, the spiritual mother of all men, and the holiest of God's creatures. This is one of the three birthdays in the Church Calendar: Jesus, John the Baptist, and Mary. All three were born without original sin, Mary and Jesus being conceived without sin, and St. John being cleansed of original sin while in the womb at the Visitation of Mary.
Paul Daneo confides to the Heart of Mary himself and the Congregation she has asked him to found. Into her hands he makes a vow to promote with all his strength devotion to the Passion of her Son. She had appeared to him, clothed as he is now. From now on it would be up to her. He has placed his future and that of his Institute forever in her care.
Mary then is Queen, first of all by the natural right of her divine motherhood. Secondly, by right of conquest upon Calvary; and thirdly, as Mediatrix and Dispenser of all the grace Jesus acquired by his death. But the Queenship of Mary rests basically on what is called the principle of consortium---that is, the union of love between Jesus and Mary by which she lived the very life of her Son, and through a communion of pain and sorrow most properly deserved to become reparatrix of the sinful world.
“I rejoice in the Lord that you often find yourself plunged and immersed in the Sacred Passion of Jesus and in the great furnace of His Eucharistic Presence....”
It’s been over a month since we celebrated Independence Day with our usual Gaudeamus, but hopefully it’s not too late to share some pictures from the occasion!
As much as you can, do not omit to embrace [Jesus] in the Great Sacrament of His love, and give your heart free rein to pour out its affects to this Infinite Love …
God has bestowed many blessings on our nation, and today we wanted to highlight just one of those: the great natural beauty that surrounds us at every turn!
The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this July 4th inspired us to give our summer newsletter a subtle patriotic flair!
This weekend will mark the 250th birthday of the United States of America. “America 250” celebrations are sure to include a lot of talk about freedom, that value which lies at the heart of our national identity. But what exactly is this liberty that we prize so highly?
The days, weeks, and months keep marching on apace … it seems that we were just sharing about our Lenten vocation retreat back in March, and here we are already reporting on our June vocation retreat!
A blog post about our annual fall chalk art bonanza is LONG overdue - pardon the negligence of Sister Webmistress, and enjoy the photos and reflections from our favorite monastery “graffitists”!
As we spend our annual 40 Hours of Adoration before Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, our hearts are particularly filled with thanksgiving (Greek - eucharistia) for two special blessings God has recently bestowed upon us …
Yesterday we celebrated the great Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. As a belated but still-applicable tribute, enjoy a reflection one of our Sisters recently wrote about her experience contemplating this great mystery with the help of a famous icon …
A four day silent retreat based on the prayer methods and exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Led by Dovehouse Ministries. A directed silent retreat is an opportunity to take time away from the noise and distraction of everyday life, to rest and listen for God. The retreatant will meet daily with a spiritual director to process times of prayer and to mutually discern the movements of the Holy Spirit.
A four day silent retreat based on the prayer methods and exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Led by Dovehouse Ministries. A directed silent retreat is an opportunity to take time away from the noise and distraction of everyday life, to rest and listen for God. The retreatant will meet daily with a spiritual director to process times of prayer and to mutually discern the movements of the Holy Spirit.
An 8-day silent retreat based on the prayer methods and exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Led by Dovehouse Ministries. A directed silent retreat is an opportunity to take time away from the noise and distraction of everyday life, to rest and listen for God. The retreatant will meet daily with a spiritual director to process times of prayer and to mutually discern the movements of the Holy Spirit.
Wonder what it’s like being a Nun? Interested in Religious Life? We have just the retreat for you!
A four day silent retreat based on the prayer methods and exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Led by Dovehouse Ministries. A directed silent retreat is an opportunity to take time away from the noise and distraction of everyday life, to rest and listen for God. The retreatant will meet daily with a spiritual director to process times of prayer and to mutually discern the movements of the Holy Spirit.
Rachel's Vineyard is a safe place to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion. This weekend retreat offers you a supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release and reconcile painful post-abortive emotions to begin the process of restoration, renewal and healing.
This is a private group retreat for the propaedeutic-year seminarians of the Diocese of Evansville.
A four day silent retreat based on the prayer methods and exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Led by Dovehouse Ministries. A directed silent retreat is an opportunity to take time away from the noise and distraction of everyday life, to rest and listen for God. The retreatant will meet daily with a spiritual director to process times of prayer and to mutually discern the movements of the Holy Spirit.
“Make yourself a good retreat in the interior of your soul, and in that desert treat with the Highest Good one-on-one, adoring him in spirit and truth.”
“The Passionist Nuns... are to strive for perfection in God’s love by living in His Divine Presence and by preserving indelibly written in their hearts the most holy Life, Passion, and Death of the loving Jesus who was sacrificed on Calvary for the world’s redemption.”
Our Retreat House and Chapel, located on a peaceful 170-acre site of beautiful woodlands, gives women and men of Catholic and other Christian denominations the opportunity to enter into a deeper relationship with God by sharing in our Passionist liturgical celebrations, while renewing and strengthening themselves spiritually and physically in a place of deep silence, solitude and prayer.
“From the Foot of the Cross”
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O Mary, Mother of God, you reign in splendor for all eternity with your Divine Son, Jesus. You reign on a throne of tenderness, mercy and pardon. All your trials and sufferings are now transformed into glory. You who are the Queen of Martyrs, the Mother of Sorrows, are now crowned with everlasting joy because you suffered with Christ on earth.