The cloistered life is very important in the world, even today, because cloistered nuns are meant to be signs pointing to the life of the world to come, to remind humanity that this present world is passing away and we are all meant to be journeying to the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Read MoreHoly Week Service Schedule for 2018
Read MoreThe Lenten season of spiritual warfare fought with the weapons of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, is almost at an end. But one recent afternoon...some of our nuns were reminded of a very different sort of war...
Read MoreIt is good to fast for several reasons. We are strengthening our wills so that we don’t just give into every craving of our bodies. We are also acknowledging the primacy of the spiritual dimension. Life is not just about food and material pleasures. Fasting ultimately is meant to raise our minds and hearts above earthly cares and turn them to God.
Read MoreMarch 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.
Read MoreQuestion #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.”
Read MoreAs 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.
Read MoreQuestion #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.
Read MoreQuestion #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.
Read MoreToday 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.”
Read MoreJanuary 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!"
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreAs 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.
Read MoreAs 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.
Read MoreDecember 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.
Read MoreAdvent 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)
Read MoreOn 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!
Read MoreEntering 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.
Read MoreWhile 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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