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Events, MYSTIC OF THE MONTH, Visitation News, Visitation Saints   No comments yet —  Filed under 

Mar Mystic: Beatification Process for Sr. Anne Madeleine Remuzat

By Sister Susan Marie on March 8th, 2014

The Visitation Order in the USA is pleased to learn that the cause for our Venerable Sister Anne Madeleine Remuzat’s  beatification has begun! http://visitationspirit.org/2012/06/june-mystic-of-the-month/

On February 15th, 2014 the first session was held by Postulator Bishop Jean Pierre Ellul. If you understand French, you can meet him here:

http://provence-alpes.france3.fr/2013/10/29/la-beatification-de-soeur-remuzat-relancee-par-un-prelat-marseillais-348087.html

Bishop Ellul, in preparation for Lent the following day, Feb 16th, delivered a homily in Marseille, focusing on Ven. Anne Madeleine Remuzat and her mission to that city and her spirituality.

Below are some translated highlights of Bishop Ellul’s sermon:

As we prepare to enter Lent in three weeks,  yesterday, Saturday, Feb. 15 , the anniversary of her death in 1730 , opened in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart , the beatification and canonization process of our Visitandine Anne Magdalen Remuzat . It is in our Basilica that the relic of her heart was placed in 1986 when the Visitation Sisters  left Marseille to join the Monastery in Voiron .

One may wonder if there is an interest in re- igniting the  spirituality of Sr. Anne -Madeleine Remuzat and if it can be useful to us today.

The mercy of the Lord  she has witnessed throughout her existence . The Lord taught her the way of the Gospel, she kept his law of love . Very young , she was chosen by Christ to be His messenger , his disciple, his spokesman , ” the victim ,” as it was called in those days !

Sister Remuzat  also experienced the test of a mystical, long and painful night. Yet she remained faithful to the Lord . She received the stigmata as signs of her  total union with Christ. There is always in her – and this is important to emphasize to understand spirituality – that consciousness of cooperation between her own human availability and the divine power of grace. The last years of her life passed through untold suffering . Her union with the Sacred Heart became increasingly strong until the “displacement ” of her heart  was immersed in the ” fiery furnace ” of the Heart of Christ.We find traces of this  in her chest, when she died .

To summarize her path , it is characterized by three accents that are of great theological relevance for our times : – First, the trust in the mercy of God. – Then the consciousness of cooperation between God’s grace and human freedom necessary for the emergence and development of every vocation . – Finally, a strong commitment to total availability to the movement of grace that offers  service of others and thus serves the glory of God . “A passion of love” : this is what  her life was for 33 years.

A few weeks before the entry into Lent, the servant of God Anne- Madeleine Remuzat  allows us to  meet Christ Jesus better. He came to ask us to change our lives , to convert our heart , our eyes , our anger , our pride, our complaints. . ” The last shall be first and the first shall be last , yes, many are called , but few are chosen ”

Let’s make sure to be worthy of the Kingdom .

Source: http://mgrellul.over-blog.com/2014/02/soeur-anne-madeleine-r%C3%A9muzat-5.html

LENT, Salesian Spirituality, Visitation Saints   No comments yet —  Filed under 

Lent Week 1 with Blessed Louis Brisson OSFS

By Sister Susan Marie on March 7th, 2014

The Founder of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, Blessed Louis Brisson, will guide us for the first week of Lent.

Sunday March 9:

“My friends.. we must keep Lent…We are obliged to perform the penitential acts that are within our reach.

How, then, shall we do penance? Undoubtedly, if we could keep Lent in the way prescribed by the Church,that would be the very best kind of Lent, the best penance we could take up. Health permitting, fasting will bring peace to the soul, it will make you really happy.

Your conscience must be your guide in deciding just what you are able to do.”

Monday March 10:

“There are different kinds of abstinence. I am going to suggest to you a very particular kind of abstinence. St. Peter said: “Have a share in the sufferings of Christ.”

Tuesday March 11:

“There are 3 ways of sharing with Our Lord, to have a share in His Will by uniting our will with His, to have a share in His Sacred Body- that’s Holy Communion, and finally to have a share in His sufferings and Passion and this is when we accept all the trials  and troubles and sufferings that come our way in union with Our Lord in His Passion.”

Wednesday March 12:

” Let this be an important part of your resolutions for the day, to perform an act of mortification at table, in your room..we must take on our share of everything Our Lord had to endure.”

Thursday March 13:

” I wish you would keep in mind these two ways of doing penance; mortify yourself at every meal and abstain from your own self-will by exact, faithful and loving obedience to the Will of God.”

Source: Lenten Mortifications, March 3, 1897, Pere Brisson’s  Conferences

Friday March 14:

“We unite ourselves with Our Lord’s sufferings from the first moment of our morning’s meditation by going straight to Him  for one day’s preparation. Whenever one of the great mysteries impresses you in a particular way,  relax and meditate on it leisurely. We must be most careful about realizing the things which Our Lord sends into our souls.”

Source: Passiontide,Mar 22, 1899, Pere Brisson’s Conferences

Saturday March 15:

” All the while we are getting ready for the Paschal solemnities,let’s not let the mysteries of the Passion slip by without reaping a harvest from them. Feed yourself on these things and you will be well nourished. Make them the subject of your meditation, think them over seriously, pray about them.”

Source: Holy Week, April 7, 1897, Pere Brisson’s Conferences

Discernment Sundays - Chat Room, Visitation Outreach, Vocation news   No comments yet —  Filed under 

Chat 3/9:Sisters Share the JOY of a Visitation Vocation

By Sister Susan Marie on March 4th, 2014

March 8-14th is the newly designated national Catholic Sisters Week! To celebrate that and the upcoming Year of Consecrated Life, we have a special chat session this Sunday.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life released a letter on Feb 26th entitled Rejoice (in English) in preparation for 2015’s Year of the Consecrated Life. (1)

Members of religious orders, secular institutes and consecrated virgins are asked to spend a considerable amount of time remembering the joy they felt when they first realized God was calling them.(2)

“Joy isn’t a useless ornament, but a necessity and foundation of human life,” the letter said. “The world often has a deficit of joy. We are not called to make epic gestures nor to proclaim pompous words, but rather to witness to the joy that comes from the certainty of feeling loved and the confidence of being saved.” (3)

This Sunday March 9, Sister Susan Marie of the Brooklyn Visitation and Sister Mary Roberta of the Georgetown Monastery will share their joy as Visitandines.

Joy is absolutely inherent in the Gospel passage of the Visitation!

Luke 1:39-56 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

39 Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

The Magnificat

46 And Mary said:

“My soul exalts the Lord,
 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
 48 “For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
 49 “For the Mighty One has done great things for me;
And holy is His name.
 50 “And His mercy is ]upon generation after generation
Toward those who fear Him.
 51 “He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the]thoughts of their heart.
 52 “He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
 53 “He has filled the hungry with good things;
And sent away the rich empty-handed.
 54 “He has given help to Israel His servant,
In remembrance of His mercy,
 55 As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and his descendants forever.”

Visitandines carry that joy internally and externally all the time as they live out their founding, scriptural mystery. Learn how you can associate with the Visitandines and bring out your own budding joy to the full.

Join us Sun Mar 9 at 730PM est for a joyful chat about the vocation of a Visitation nun!

Source: 1: Currently In Italian only, entitled “Rallegratevi”: la Lettera a tutti i consacrati

2 and 3: Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service |  Feb. 27, 2014