19 May I AM THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD/FIRST VOWS MANILA
My joy of being called began with an encounter..of the beloved and the lover.
I believe that out of so many great people in this world, I was chosen.
And out of His great love, I am filled with so many graces. Which is to share the tremendous love that poured on me to others.
“Hail favored one! The Lord is with you.. Don’t be afraid, for you have found favor with God”Luke 1: 28
God has chosen me for a very important mission, the very own charism and mission of our Institute, Reparation to the Heart of Jesus which He had called me to collaborate. And with these God is with me. He is within me, staying with me and living with me. As I experienced the fullness of His grace when I professed my vows of chastity, poverty and obedience in His very own presence in the Eucharist.
On the feast of our Mother Foundress, St. Rapahela Mary, I am indeed so blessed to express my deep gratitude to the immense love of God by consecrating myself to Him in my first religious profession of vows.
And I want to share these very affirming lines from one of our sister (Marta Heleno,aci ; Be alive with the joy of encounter) which speaks of my experience of being a handmaid.
To be a handmaid today and always is to know oneself, as did St. Raphaela Mary, “small, yes very small” and feel invited to live in this littleness as a ways of life, of joy and of hope for herself and for the whole world. It is to feel oneself called to respond to that love by giving one’s life; it is to desire to collaborate with God in his plan and salvation and to build a new kingdom of love, peace and justice completely abandoned into his hands and confident that His grace is enough to complement her littleness.
Sr. Maricar Bartolome, aci
