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Traditional
Religious Orders - Women
The Work that Our Mother Conchita initiated within the Franciscan family, living in poverty, obedience and chastity is a social Work, at the service of the Church to gather souls in Her bosom. Our apostolate consists in giving religious conferences to women, with the purpose of re-establishing morals in customs, of enlightening the souls that are confused or have fallen into error, of arousing piety and religious fervor in women and teaching them their duties before God and society as Catholics. In other words: we work for the spiritual welfare of souls and God’s glory, particularly dedicated to feminine youth in order to moralize their customs, since the goal of our apostolate is to teach women how to be good Catholics and carry out their religious, domestic and social duties. We provide this education to modern women who are in such need of it, thus cooperating with the Holy Church, striving to remedy one of society’s greatest present-day problems.
Name of the Order: Franciscan Minims of the Perpetual Help of Mary. Ours is the newest and perhaps the last branch of the great Franciscan tree, whose seed is our glorious Father St. Francis of Assisi. We observe the spirit of littleness, of humility and poverty that should stand out as a characteristc trait, so as to imitate our holy Father, who called himself the “poverello”. After manifesting that the Order is little like the mustard seed of the Gospel and poor because of the member’s total detachment from earthly goods, we all bear the last name of “Perpetual Help,” to signify that as sons and daughters of the Mother of God, we honor her as Patroness under this sweet and consoling advocation.
Patrons of the Order The Order is entrusted to the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Since she is considered Superior General, we beg for her counsel and advice on every occasion, commending everything to her with a profound spirit of faith and childlike trust. In every aspect of our daily life and our customs, the members of our Order strive to make this marian devotion stand out as a tribute to Our Divine Lady and Mother. We take refuge in her motherly embrace to obtain perfect union with Jesus who she carries in her arms. The goal of this devotion is the practice of confidence in Mary. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus consists in venerating the physical heart of Jesus. Since the goal of this Order of Atonement is to console this Divine Heart, we members try to unite ourselves to Christ and offer ourselves as victims with Him and like Him, participating in His internal Passion in the Holy Eucharist, where He mystically perpetuates His victimhood. The devotion to our father St. Francis is to honor him as our Founder. Our goal is to adhere ourselves to him as Father and founder of the doctrine of penance, poverty and love, in his fervent prayer and the simplicity of his conduct to glorify God, imitating Christ Our Lord and His Blessed Mother as he did, practicing a life of perfect immolation. Lastly, the devotion to glorious St. Joseph, as spouse of Mary and head the Holy Family, is also childlike with a spirit of total confidence in his patronage. We commend to him in particular the cultivation of the interior life in our souls. Above all these devotions, the sons and daughters of this Order have a loving and trusting devotion to Divine Justice. We honor this attribute and offer ourselves in atonement for all the sins of the world, as victims in union with Jesus Victim. One of the principal goals of this Work is to offer ourselves up to and love God´s justice, so greatly offended and commonly feared. We strive to spread this beautiful devotion and teach it to all, so that Our Lord Jesus Christ may have imitators ever more faithful in the practice of this virtue that He taught us with His life and example when He came to earth exclusively to offer Himself up to Divine Justice as Victim of atonement for the redemption of the world.
The colors of the Holy Habit The colors of the Holy Habit of this Order of reparation are those of the clothing of our Virgin Patroness. The moroon habit signifies that the religious should be inflamed in ardent charity; the green head veil signifies the theological virtue of hope that should enliven the soul, and the long blue veil is the veil of Mary, simbolizing that the religious should be clothed with heavenly aspirations. In this way, our exterior clothing is a symbol of our religious life. Coat of arms of the Order The star and the cross that appear on our coat of arms are the two emblems the Queen and Mother of the Order displays on Her virginal brow. The two words: CHARITY and IMMOLATION are reminding the members of their two great duties before God and the souls that must be saved for His glory; they are an expression of the work and participation the sons and daughters of this Order must carry out to obtain the desired goal. We must be all love for souls and victims for God.
Works to be performed in the Church and in society Our work is to unify everything in the spirit of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, offering our prayer and sacrifices, as well as our apostolate, to create a link of union that in true charity formulates one flock under one Shepherd. The feminine branch of the Order is dedicated to an intense life of detachment from the world to offer ourselves up continuously to prayer and sacrifice. Our only exterior apostolate, within the covent itself, is to give religious conferences to women, organizing groups of catechism and feminine Catholic activities, with the purpose of educating women in morals in social customs and instructing them in a life of piety. Another part of our apostolate is the publication of bulletins, so as to expand our work and send out little rays of light to Catholic homes. Goals of the Order The principal goal is the sanctification of its members. Each member should take into great consideration what it means to be a true vicitm soul: a faithful imitator of the virtues Jesus has taught us with His example, particularly in the charity and immolation of His Heart, hidden in the Holy Eucharist. The logical result of this principal goal of a victim soul who wants to immolate itself, filled with zeal and ardent love, is: the glory of God, the triumph of the Church of Christ on earth, and the fulfillment of Our Lord’s greatest desire to formulate one flock under one Shepherd, reuniting in the bosom of the Church all souls, especially those who have been redeemed by Baptism and live in a certain way, whether within the Church or not, contaminated by error, ignorance or malice. We strive to work for the salvation of these souls with zeal and untiring love by way of prayer, sacrifice and apostolate. We try to revive by way of this new Order the primitive Franciscan spirit of simplicity, poverty, humility, love and sacrifice in order to give a good example to souls and thus combat error, falsehood, pride, egoism and the world´s sensuality in the eyes of Divine Justice. Eucharistic Order In order to strengthen the life of prayer of all the members of the Community, as well as to compensate for the forgetfulness of men concerning the Divine Guest on our altars, our Order is dedicated to perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. According to the spirit and sublime goals of our Institute, we render worhsip to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by way of perpetual and uninterrupted adoration. The purpose of this adoration is to offer Him the worship due to Him in this adorable Sacrament, uniting ourselves to Him as eternal Mediator between heaven and earth, between Divine Justice and the guilty world. We offer ourselves with Him, like Him and for Him in atonement, striving to console the Divine Heart of the Prisoner of Love in the tabernacle.
Vows to be taken The first three vows, that is, poverty, chastity ad obedience, that bind all religious, are taken at the time of temporal profession. In order to rebind the members of this Order with their sacred duties, which will fructify to form a legion of victim souls that consoles the Heart of Jesus, offering themselves with Him to Divine Justice to atone for the world, the members pronounce the perpetual and solemn vow of victim at the time of the perpetual profession, along with the vow of loyalty to the Pope and to the Roman Catholic Church. Characteristics of the spirit of the Order They may be summarized as three: first, the spirit of victims in union wth the Divine Word Incarnate, which comprises a triple character: zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, expiation to atone to Divine Justice, and reparation for the harm sins brings to the world; satisfying Divine Justice, therefore, to transform it into blessings and mercy. Another special characteristic is adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament with the spirit of compensating for the forgetfulness of dissipated souls and those who love too little; to console the most loving Heart of Jesus, Who takes His delights in dwelling with the children of men. Lastly, a very exquisite Marian trait, which is childlike abandonment in Her maternal bosom, with the very special goal of propagating this same devotion. Souls of intense prayer The members of this Order are obliged to unite themselves with a life of a spirit of reparation, that is, as victims to Divine Justice in union with Jesus and enclosed in the maternal womb of Mary. Not just as advice, but as precept, they will try to remain continuously in the presence of God. But this life of prayer must not be concentrated solely in seeking one’s own good, but rather in trying to spread it to souls. Moral obligation according to this sublime vocation Each member of the Order of Atonement must carry out, first of all, a life of prayer and penance, uniting ourselves within the characteristics of the Order. We pray universally, that is, we consider ourselves as mothers of suffering humanity, due to our vocation as victim souls, united to Jesus, Divine Mediator. We must continuously mourn over the wounds of the world, keeping in mind all the spiritual and temporal needs of each and every one who mourns in this valley of tears, praying for all without exception. We also pray in a special way for all that has any relationship with the spiritual welfare of souls and God’s interests, according the the words of Our Lord: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.” The Minim Nun must compensate before Divine Justice for the lack of prayer of other souls, the lack of fervor, constancy and piety. She must make of her ordinary life a perpetual prayer, no only impetratory, but adoring, to compensate the carelessness in which so many souls live concerning the adoration they due to God, especially before the Blessed Sacrament. As far as our life of penance, our goal is to atone for the sins of the entire world, offering up everything to the Eternal Father in union with the Divine Victim and always through the intercession of the Most Holy Mary, seeking the sublime goal of the glory of God and the good of souls. We must never avoid any sacrifice, since it is our duty to practice immolation in general in holocaust, in a total self-surrender to Divine Justice, keeping in mind that it is the duty of the victim to compensate for the sensuality and impenitence of those for whom it wants to atone. Penance is the only means to cleanse the soul, and since this Order is of atonement, we must love penance and practice it with a joyful spirit and not with bitterness.
*** We have briefly acquainted our readers with the Order of Atonement, our spirituality and our goals, not only so that you may become acquinted with us and commend us to God in your prayers, so that we may fulfill the mission He has commended to us, but also to awaken in souls a love for this divine attribute so unnoticed and so feared: divine justice. Our Lord wants to be loved in His justice and asks for souls who will generously offer themselves as vicitms to render love, confidence and self-abandoment to His justice, in order to shower mercy upon the world for the salvation of many souls. In spite of the trials that the Work of Atonement as suffered up to the present date, following in the footsteps of Jesus Victim, Divine Providence continues to keep watch over His Minims. Our Reverend Mother Foundress planted in our souls all detachment for earthly goods and reminds us of this in the following words: “I have never esteemed the goods of the earth as valuable; Heaven has been my only desire since my childhood; Heaven for my soul and for the souls of those I love. And the souls I love are so numerable. . .that my spiritual thirst cannot be quenched! No price is too high in order to rescue souls for Heaven who one day will surround God’s throne for all eternity.” We have come to acquaint you with the Work of Atonement and its mission in God’s Church, but at the same time we want to manifest to you the temporal necessities we have at present in order to continue the construction of the convent for our new foundation in Zapopan. This need inspires us to have recourse to you and to all those people of good will who God has placed on our path. He has told us to seek first of all His kingdom, and this is the primary reason that we have called you together and presented to you the mission of the Work of Atonement. . .but we trust that the second phase of His words will be fulfilled by you and your good will: “and all these things shall be added unto you”. We thank you beforehand for all you can do to help the poor Minims of Mary Immaculate, and be assured that we remember you all in our daily prayers at the foot of the Blessed Sacrament. May He shower your souls with peace and blessings, rewarding you with eternal life and a hundredfold for all your help. May the Blessed Virgin protect you all beneath Her mantle, granting you a profound love for God and the cross. We commend you all to the Perpetual Help of the sweet Mother of Heaven. In union of prayer in the Divine Hearts of Jesus and Mary, The Franciscan Minim Sisters of the Perpetual Help of Mary
Avenida Xochiquetzal # 249. Donations may be sent in personal checks to the name of: Franciscan Minims May it be for the glory of God!
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