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.
Devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady has its roots in Sacred Scripture and in Christian piety, which always associates the Blessed Mother with her suffering Son. Today's feast was introduced by the Servites in order to intensify devotion to Our Lady's Sorrows. In 1817 Pius VII extended the feast to the universal Church.
As a Passionist, Vincent was a man of prayer and community observance. He was also a zealous and effective missionary preacher. He helped to develop the methodology for Passionist missionary preaching and also exercised roles of authority and leadership in the congregation. As biographer of the founder he did much to preserve St. Paul’s spirit for future generations.
The liturgy celebrates the feast of these three archangels who are venerated in the tradition of the Church: Michael (Who is like God?) who fought against Satan and all his evil angels, Gabriel (Strength of God) who announced the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus, and Raphael (Medicine of God) who took care of Tobias on his journey.
Born in Dalmatia of a Christian, Jerome (345-420) was baptized in Rome. Jerome made a vow of celibacy and withdrew for four years to a hermitage in the Syrian desert before the Holy Father summoned him to Rome and entrusted him with the enormous task of revising the Latin Bible. This work, which took 30 years to complete, is the Vulgate version of the Scriptures.
Today is the memorial of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, more popularly known as "the Little Flower." Although just an obscure cloistered Carmelite nun, she has had universal appeal since her death in 1897. St. Thérèse is the patroness of all foreign missions and patroness of France.
Francis Bernardone was born in 1181 at Assisi, Umbria, Italy. The son of a wealthy cloth merchant, he lived a lavish and irresponsible life. At the age of twenty he experienced a vision from Christ and changed his life completely. He embraced complete poverty, taking the Gospel as his rule of life, and in 1209 with the papal blessing he founded the Friars Minor (Franciscans).
On February 22, 1931, Jesus appeared to Faustina as the King of Divine Mercy. He asked her to have a picture painted of him as she saw him — clothed in white, with red and white rays of light streaming from his heart. The rays represent the blood and water that flowed from the side of Jesus on the cross. Under the image are the words, "Jesus, I trust in you."
The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary was instituted to honor Mary for the Christian victory over the Turks at Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Pope St. Pius V and all Christians had prayed the Rosary for victory. The Rosary, or the Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is one of the best prayers to Mary, the Mother of God.
October 7th is also the Foundation Day of our monastery!
In 1934 the Christian Brothers at the school in Turon asked him to come and hear the confessions of the children of the school. At dawn on Friday October 5th 1934 militiamen forced their way into the Brothers' school. Alongside the Brothers, Father Inocencio was imprisoned, condemned to death, and executed by a firing squad, their bodies buried in a common grave.
We find in the letters of St. Paul of the Cross words of deep human warmth and friendship along with the steadfast faith and practical wisdom, a combination that is a sure sign of true Christian religion and mysticism. His advice did not spring from untested theories, but rather from his own deep relationship with God.
The example of Paul’s faith and the strength of his union with Christ serves as an example to us to renew our friendship with the Crucified. Paul's passion mysticism also serves to give us deep insight into the mystery of the suffering of Jesus and this supports us in bearing our own pain and suffering. The whole edifice of his spiritual life was based on complete trust in the love and providence of God.
Today, as in the time of Paul, human beings find their own personal happiness when they search for their identity in the light of God, when, to use the words of the saint, they allow their "nothingness to sink into God". Only in the acceptance of this basic religious attitude can we truly find ourselves.
Since in Paul's time as in our own, there was a great danger for people to become lost in external activities, one of his great goals was to lead others to a life of interior prayer and union with God. Because the preconditions for this are quiet, silence and a return to the center of a person's being or soul, Paul exhorted his directees to turn inward.
The goodness and mercy of God became manifest in the Incarnate Word, our Saviour, and in every facet of his life. But nowhere was it more effectively revealed than in the passion and death of Christ who died for us and for our salvation. The sufferings of Christ are the most convincing witness of God's love for us. Paul of the Cross was completely imbued with this mystery of faith.
“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....”
We thought you might enjoy this little glimpse at the books some of our Sisters are reading right now, whether for spiritual or recreational purposes. And if you’re not much of a reader … perhaps this just might inspire you to give one of these books a try!
As the end of summer draws near (already??), we thought we’d share a little round-up of some miscellaneous newsworthy items - great and small - from the past few months …
This morning, our Postulant Collette received the holy habit and officially entered the novitiate!
Of course, you might be wondering: WHAT IS HER NEW RELIGIOUS NAME?? We’ve kept you in suspense long enough, we suppose, so let us introduce you to …
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?
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.
Start out your Advent season with a Passionist discernment retreat! Dive deeply into the mystery of God’s love as we ponder the Incarnation through the eyes of St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Congregation, and discover the Holy Infant’s invitation to YOU.
This is a private group day of recollection for married couples, organized by Danny May of the Diocese of Owensboro’s Office of Marriage and Family Life.
A silent Advent 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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Blessed Isidore of Saint Joseph, also known as ‘the Brother of the Will of God’ born Isidore de Loor, a lay brother of the Passionist Congregation, born on April 13, 1881 in Vrasene, Belgium; died October 6, 1916 at Kortrijk, Belgium. Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1984.