March 8-14 is celebrated in the United States as National Catholic Sisters Week, and our diocesan newspaper, The Western Kentucky Catholic, featured women religious from around the diocese in its March issue.
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Question #3: If Jesus has saved us by His Passion, death, and Resurrection, why is it necessary for us to take up our Crosses?Paragraph 1521 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.”
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As we journey into this Lenten season which culminates the the Church's celebration of the Paschal Mystery in the Triduum - a real high-point of the liturgical year for everyone but especially for us as Passionists - we would like to share with you a letter from Fr. Joachim Rego, CP, Superior General, to the worldwide Passionist Family.
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Question #2: If Jesus has died for the salvation of mankind, can we sinful people do anything for our own salvation or that of other souls? Yes, Jesus did die for the salvation of mankind. He redeemed us by His Blood. That was something only He could do since, being God, His Blood had infinite value.
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Question #1: If God, the Holy Trinity, is love, why was the suffering of Jesus in His Passion and death on the Cross necessary for the salvation of mankind? God could have “snapped His fingers” and saved us. Did the Father will that Christ suffer instead? With the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), we can affirm that God is love.
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Today we find ourselves immersed in the Sacred Passion of the Crucified Christ. It is an immersion into Revelation’s greatest truth…. Wisdom’s greatest enlightenment, Love’s greatest gift. Paul of the Cross says: "...the immersion of the soul in the sea of his most holy passion … is his greatest and most astounding work of divine love.”
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January 25th brought us the annual celebration of a Gaudeamus Day in honor of our superior, Mother John Mary. Gaudeamus Days are always full of laughter and extra time for sisterly companionship, and this one was no exception. There was plenty of joy and hilarity to be had. And well there should be: gaudeamus is, after all, Latin for "let us rejoice!"
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A friend of the community once quipped that a postulant is a half-baked nun, while the key word of aspirancy is being "poured out" - like batter! It's an apt analogy for the process of discernment and formation, perhaps even better since our newest smiling face in the monastery has already been enlisted for a few baking projects.
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This year's Christmas photo has two unfamiliar faces--both of whom are not Passionist Nuns! Mother Fernanda Barbiero, SMSD, is the Holy See's General Delegate to the Passionist Nuns, and Fr. Floriano Fabii, CP, is our General Assistant. Both were here in September for an Assembly of the Passionist Nuns from the USA, Korea, and the Philippines.
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As we enter the last few days of Advent, the spotlight shines on Mary, the privileged daughter of God who was first to receive the Son at His coming into this world. Among the Gospels read at Mass this week, we hear the story of the Annunciation to Mary, her Visitation to her elderly cousin, Elizabeth, and Our Lady's hymn of God's glory, the Magnificat.
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As the season of Advent progresses, it draws us not only into silence, but into a spirit of wonder. There is a certain natural wonder we encounter, even among those who approach Christmas in a more secularized manner. Think of the amazement and delight so evident in children as they admire the trappings of the season.
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December 8, 2017, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, was a day of great joy for our community at St. Joseph Monastery as we witnessed the consecration of a new Bride of Christ by the profession of the five Passionist Vows--Sr. Maria Faustina of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful Heart of Mary.
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Advent is undoubtedly a time for silence, even if the lived reality of the season is often far from this ideal. As the liturgy recounts for us the centuries of Israel's wait for the promised Messiah, we are invited to join the vigil. There is a sense of hush, of the silence and stillness of midnight while we long for the first blush of the "dawn from on high to break upon us" (Lk 1:78)
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On Friday, December 8, our chapel was transformed into a winter wonderland of blue and white as we celebrated the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the first profession of vows of another member of St. Joseph Monastery. We'd like to share the wonderful homily preached for the occasion by our chaplain, Fr. Lou Caporiccio, CPM!
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Entering Advent, we find ourselves before a banquet of spiritual riches. In the liturgy and practices of the season, the Church seeks to help up prepare ourselves to encounter Christ anew. It is a time to recall His coming as an Infant in Bethlehem, to look forward to that final glorious coming upon the clouds, and to receive Him as He desires to be present in the small, daily moments of our lives.
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While our chaplain, Fr. Lou Caporiccio, CPM was spending a few days visiting his confreres at the Fathers of Mercy Generalate, we were blessed by the presence of Fr. Arthur Carrillo, CP. Hailing from the community of Passionist Fathers in Chicago, Fr. Arthur came to offer Mass and take a few days of solitude in our Guest House.
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After four graced days of retreat (Nov. 17-20), the nuns of our community renewed their vows during the Holy Mass commemorating the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. As we renew our self-offering to God on this feast each year, we ask her intercession help us persevere in faithfulness as handmaids of the Lord and His work of redemption.
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One misty November Sunday, we were astonished to see a pair of vandals in our cloister courtyard. Armed with a pack of Crayola chalk, aprons, and jackets, they braved the bitter chill and waning light just to leave their mark on our patio concrete. Perhaps such hooligans are commonplace on busy New York City streets, but in the Western Kentucky wilderness, it was a shock.
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In September, St. Joseph Monastery was blessed to host an international Assembly for English-speaking Passionist Nuns. This was a graced and fruitful time for the superiors and delegates from each monastery to gain a better understanding of the new juridical structure of communion we will soon be establishing.
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Our Holy Founder was a saint, not because he did extraordinary things (which he did indeed do!), but because he was radically in love with God and because he surrendered his life to God with great faith and generosity. He was a man of action BECAUSE he was a man of prayer.
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