On February 19, the group of Sisters who will be making the Third Probation this year will meet in Madrid. They will begin a pilgrimage "Following the Footsteps of Saint Raphaela Mary and M. Pilar," visiting places which are significant in the life, origins and development of our Insitute. S. Inés Greslebin, the Instructress of the Third Probation, will accompany them on the pilgrimage.
On 4th February the Intermediate Meeting ended with a closing speech by S. Inmaculada Fukasawa and the Eucharist celebrated by Fr. Joaquin Barrero SJ.
NEW MAYOR SUPERIORS
On 6th February the meeting of the New Major Superiors began in the house of the General Curia. Attending this meeting are the following Major Superiors: S. Dorothy Beck (United States), S. Aurora Santos (Philippines), S. María Vaz Pinto (Portugal), S. Adela Mancuso (Argentina-Uruguay), S. María Luz de la Hormaza (Centro Norte, Spain), and S. Lita Aguilar (Peru-Bolivia).
Eucharistic Celebration of the Blessing of the Statue of St. Raphaela Mary in the Vatican
INTERMEDIATE MEETING -- 2nd FEBRUARY 2010 The Sisters participating in the Intermediate Meeting VIII will attend the celebration of Vespers in the Basilica of Saint Peter for the World Day of Consecrated Life. His Holiness Pope Benedict VI will preside. The members of Insitutes of Conscrated Life and of Societies of Apostolic Life are invited to join the Holy Father in this liturgical prayer.
We invite you to visit our photo gallery of 2010 which we updated on February 2.
Blessing of the Statue of St. Raphaela Mary
INTERMEDIATE MEETING On 27th January, during a time of informal sharing, S. Dorothy Beck spoke to us about the Apostolic Visitation being made by the Sacred Congregation for Religious to the Apostolic Religious Congregations for Women in the United States. For our Sisters there it has meant a time of intense reflection and prayer about our mission and charism. It was a moment of special solidarity among us and of gratitude to Dorothy for her sincerity and for her love for the Church."
Cardinal Massotti, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Regulars, signed the Decree of Pontifical Approbation of the Institute, after many months of working and hoping.
“Without wasting any time, M. Pilar sent a telegram to Madrid that same day. It was then three o’clock in the afternoon, and she was assured by the telegraph office that it would reach its destination within two hours. And so it did, “On Saturday at five o’clock in the afternoon we received the telegram with great joy…We sang the Te Deum, the Magnificat and the Laudate. The singing was not singing, but rather a shout of joy which all the singers were feeling…” (Letter of St. Raphaela Mary, 31st January 1887)
The final paragraph of the decree was an exhortation all the more beautiful because it confirmed the well-known path which the Institute had been travelling for years; it was not a matter of starting out, but of continuing to follow it.
“Therefore, let the above mentioned Sisters proceed, hating evil, doing good, loving one another with fraternal charity, serving the Lord joyful in hope, patient in tribulation, constant in prayer; let them continue to work with ever more fervor under the direction of the Ordinaries, to attain their own sanctification and that of others, and in striving each day more and more to attain the end they have proposed to themselves; and thus, joyful in the sweet heart of Jesus, they will merit to receive the crown of life.”
Let us ask the Lord that today He may keep us on that same path.
(Foundations for a Building, pp.222-223)
NEW VIDEO IN INGLISH!
To view photos of blessing of the statue, click on this link:
