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Traditional
Religious Orders - Women
Pro Eis In Corde Matris On the 21st November 2006, Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta signed the decree of erection of the Congregation Handmaids of Jesus Eternal High Priest, and of the Heart of Mary. That same day three novices pronounced their first vows in a moving and solemn ceremony marking the birth of a new religious family for Holy Mother Church.
Everyone already knows how, through difficult and distressing events, Divine Providence disposed our arrival in Madrid in October 2005. We were received not only with exquisite charity in the Casa San Jose, but also received the moral, spiritual and material support of Bishop de Galarreta, the Fathers (SSPX) and of all the faithful. Thus it is that we can say ain all truth that the Congregation was under the shelter of our dear priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X. As one expected, the house in El Alamo became too small and after passing nearly nine months there, St. Joseph took compassion. The priests- who did not spare themselves in searching – found an appropriate, although provisional property, where we could continue our religious life with regularity. Situated outside Grinon, the great advantage of this property is that it is very near the Casa San Jose, thus facilitating enormously the task of providing us with spiritual assistance (daily Mass, etc,). We regret that we were unable to invite the faithful to the ceremony of the profession of our novices, but our present ‘chapel’ is tiny. Bishop de Galarreta plans to buy a prefabricated structure large enough to serve, now, as a chapel (and later to be used in our future convent). He also desires a small separate prefab room to be used as the parlour, which enables us to receive vocations and establish the cloister. We hope that with the help of St. Joseph and of those who wish to assist us, this will soon be possible.
What do Cloistered Nuns do? Before answering that, we would have to recall a fundamental truth: The end of man. We have been created “to know, love and serve God in this life in order to be happy forever with him in the next.” The reigning materialism, the lack of reflection – as today everything possible is done to ensure we do not think nor enter for a moment inside ourselves- the uncontrolled sensuality, have drowned in souls and in consciences this duty of every Christian. And not only do we not think about sanctity, but not even that we have a soul to save! It is a grave mistake to believe that Christian perfection is the concern only of priests and religious …it also applies to all Christians from the mere fact of being baptized in Christ, as He Himself tells us: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt.5: 48). And St. Pius X wrote: “It has not been conceded to everyone to embrace the religious life, which is the patrimony of a small number, but all men ought to strive to reach that perfection to which God calls them.” (Letter ‘Inter gravissimas,’ 13th April, 1910, to the Society of the Daughters of St. Francis de Sales). While all Christians ought to work towards this sacred summit of holiness – which consists in the perfect love of God and of one’s neighbours – the religious must strive for this by vocation: it is her professional duty. It is not that she must strive to be so. She consecrates to God her whole life so that she may love Him alone with all her heart, and in order to do so, she freely embraces the evangelical counsels through the vows of poverty , chastity and obedience. “To the worship of money which hardens hearts and raises up hatred and conflicts, the religious opposes, through the vow of poverty, the example of total detachment and voluntary self deprivation. “Before the spirit of independence and emancipation – which dreams of destroying all authority and refuses to recognize any obstacles – the religious , by vow of obedience , offers the example of submission which, far from degrading her, enables her since she obeys God Himself. “In this way, the religious overcame with their vows, materialism, save the world and at the same time, save souls. They draw men towards the practice of Christian virtues: they do more than what is necessary so that others are encouraged to do the indispensable, and, moreover, they expiate for the sins of nations. How mistaken is the world in its judgement when it believes that in religious houses, particularly in convents of the contemplative life, so many lives are buried without utility for the common good!” (The Religious Life, Royo Marin, O.P.) This is the general end of the religious life, but God has given each Congregation a specific mission inside the Church. “Handmaids of Jesus, Eternal High Priest… Ours is a cloistered contemplative Congregation and, as our name indicates, an eminently priestly one obliging us – in addition to the three common vows – to a fourth vow called ‘vocationist’. By this we bind ourselves to offering up our entire life – total immolation for the sanctification of priests and consecrated souls, and in order that these may increase. A few paragraphs extracted from the writings of the great Spanish St. Teresa of Jesus, explain perfectly the object of our vocation: “There came to my notice the devastation in France and the ravages that those Lutherans had done and how this unfortunate sect was spreading. (Today we can say the same of the ravages that Modernism has caused, not in one nation, but in the whole Church!) It caused me great sorrow and, as if I could do some thing or was something, I cried to the Lord supplicating Him to remedy so great an evil. (…) And, seeing myself a lowly woman and unable to do as much as I would like to in the service of the Lord, all my anxiety was, and is, that as has so many enemies and so few friends, at least these (she refers particularly to priests) were good, I thus determined to do what little good that I could, which is to follow the gospel counsels with all the perfection I could, and to procure that that these few who are here, do the same, confident in the great goodness of God, who never fails to help those who for Him, determine to leave everything; (…) and that all (of us) occupied in prayer for those who are defenders of the Church, for preachers and learned men who defend Her, we may help this my Lord who is so afflicted by those traitors that it seems they want to crucify Him again. Oh! My Sisters in Christ, help me to implore this of the Lord which is the reason I have gathered you here; this is your calling: those must be your concerns, those your desires, here your tears, those your petitions. (…) It may be that you say why do I insist so much on this (to pray for priests) saying (how is it) that we have to help those who are better than ourselves. I will tell you … it is because it is they who have to assist weak people and encourage the little ones. They have to live amongst men and deal with men (…) do you think little is necessary in order to deal with the world and things of the world, and to be in their interior???? and enemies of the world, to be like someone who is in exile and, in the end not to be men, but angels?” (The Way of Perfection, Chpt, 1 and 111) “To be apostles of the Apostles,” as Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus used to say, that is our mission! …. And of the Heart of Mary” The second part of our name indicates the means in order to accomplish our mission: in the Heart of Mary, as it reads in the motto of the Congregation: “Pro eis (for them, i.e. for priests) in Corde Matris”. Saint Ambrose says “The Most Holy Virgin conceived Jesus in Her Heart before She conceived Him in Her womb.” In that Heart of the Virgin and Mother, was anointed by the Holy Ghost, the first unique and eternal Priest, from whom derives the Catholic priesthood. Everything, then, comes to us and is given to us through the Heart of Mary. God has thus disposed it and thus has wished to show it, particularly at Fatima, (even though the devotion to the Heart of Mary has existed for centuries) revealing to us the importance of this devotion for these last times, the last means of salvation and sanctification. “God wishes to establish in the world, devotion to my Immaculate Heart…” “My Heart will be your refuge and the way to lead you to God”… and little Jacinta said to her cousin: “ tell them that God wishes to grant all graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that they ask for them, through Her.” To ask for the sanctification of priests is the grace of all graces. A religious of this congregation has to be formed and let herself be formed in the Heart of Mary, Model of all virtues; she has to unite herself to the Sorrowful Heart, which was at the foot of the Cross offering the Divine Victim, and offering herself with Him to his heavenly Father, thus obtaining graces for His chosen ones, the Apostles, and through them, for the Church and for souls. Our Vocation is, then, spiritually speaking, a participation of the priestly heart of Mary. …. And In Practice? Guided by the Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, the life we lead is humble and simple like that of Our Lady in Nazareth. “The hardest penance,” this Holy Doctor of the Church tells us, “will consist in sacrificing one’s own will and making the observation of the Rule be like the priest who at every moment offers a similar sacrifice.” Work in the kitchen, sacristy, garden, laundry and so on, is interwoven with: assistance at Holy Mass, mental prayers (one hour in the morning and another in the evening0; the recitation of the Divine Office (Prime, Sexte, and Compline, with sung Vespers on Sundays and Feastdays); the Holy Rosary, individual spiritual reading, daily choir practice, reading of Holy Scriptures in community, and also joyful expansion during recreations (2 daily). All these activities, disposed in such a way as to facilitate the contemplative life, are the means by which a Handmaid of Jesus, Eternal High Priest, in imitation of Our Lady (the first religious of God and greatest contemplative), will unite herself to God seeking only His glory, seeing Him and pleasing Him in all things. This service, this total surrender to God, fills the soul with peace and joy. It makes us live the words of St. Paul: “Servite Domino in laetitia,” “Serve the Lord in joy.” It is point of St. Francis de Sales insists on: “Yes my daughter, I tell you in writing and verbally: while you can, rejoice doing good because good work has a double grace when it is well done and done with joy.. Live in a spirit of holy joy that, modestly extended over your actions and words, gives consolation to those who see you, so that they may glorify God, which is our only objective.” (Letter to Mme Bourgeois, April 1609; Mme de la Flechere, August 1608) * This is, in broad outlines, our life. We hope that Our Lord will raise up many vocations who wish to offer themselves for this ideal, and in this way contribute to the restoration of the Church through the Catholic priesthood. “All the Sacred Scriptures look towards the Cross, to the Redeeming Victim, radiant in glory. The whole life of the Church is directed towards the Altar of Sacrifice, and for this reason, its principal concern is the Holiness of the Priesthood.” (Letter of Archbishop Marcel Lefebore to the Fraternity of St. Pius X, 4th June 1981.) We thank most sincerely all those who so generously help us spiritually and materially. We have no other means to repay you than with our poor prayers. May God Bless you all!
(When writing to us in Spain, please use our name in Spanish, “Seirvas etc…and not “Handmaids etc..)
Maria
Mercedes Matia Bahillo Reference: Translation of an Article That Appeared in “Tradicon Catolica” Jan / Feb 2007, No209, Bulletin of SSPX in Spain. * Sources of Joy, Chapt V111, No. 5 Be Joyful. |
