Mary Immaculate is patroness of our Congregation. Open to the Spirit, she consecrated herself totally as lowly handmaid to the person and work of the Saviour.
She received Christ in order to share him with all the world, whose hope he is. In her, we recognize the model of the Church’s faith and of our own.We shall always look on her as our mother.In the joys and sorrows of our missionary life, we feel close to her who is the Mother of Mercy.Wherever our ministry takes us, we will strive to instil genuine devotion to the Immaculate Virgin who prefigures God’s final victory over all evil.OMI Rule of Life, |
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I begin by singing the Magnificat – one of my most favorite pieces from scripture. It typifies somehow my own experience of God and of connecting with Our Lady. It is a song of praise and wonder, joy and gratitude. I am embarrassed to admit that I do not know from memory the rest of the words for it is these few lines that I tend to sing over and over as images and memories pass before me.
As I entered into this sacred space this morning and began to read – there was a moment of pleasure as I recognized the words. I knew them to be from the OMI Rule of Life but I did not know the number (10). My response was to say very quietly from the depths of my being “Maman”. “Dear God in heaven look at all that you have given to me.”
Not so very long ago but well before I met Eugene, I was not so very sure about people I knew who would go to daily Mass, or celebrate things like Feast Days in a big way. Of course, I thought – that was just for nuns and priests. How could anyone spend so much time thinking about God – or Our Lady for that matter? I have to laugh at myself for here I am today doing some of those very things; celebrating with my whole being, taking advantage of all that is offered to me. And not with a view to gaining an indulgence so as to lessen my time in purgatory, but rather to celebrate God, to praise him because he is God and because I know him. To look with love and gratitude at Our Lady as I take her hand. To look at many of the saints, and to find those with whom I feel a particular affinity. To find one who invites me to share his spirit, with whom there is a very real relationship. Look at me now Lord. Look where you have brought me to. This is the real life that I hungered for.
It is not just that it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, or that it is the beginning of the Year of Mercy, or that this Advent has come alive in ways that I never expected, or even that I continue to become more alive in ways that I could not even dream of. There are no lines or walls defining these things – they are all and each there together and a part of the other and I can barely put words to this experience.
A truly Happy and Blessed Feast day to you, to all who come here and to those who have not. May today be filled with blessings of love and joy, courage and daring, trust and humility, acceptance and openness.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
And my Spirit exalts in God my Savior;
For he has looked with mercy on my lowliness,
And my name will be forever exalted.
For the mighty God has done great things for me,
And his mercy will reach from age to age.
And holy, holy, holy is his name. (from John Michael Talbot, Holy Is His Name)
Amen, Eleanor!
Laudetur Jesus Christus et Maria Immaculata!