Summer Reflection from Alma Robles, MCA
This came in from our General Custodian, Alma Robles, MCA:
Our Lady of Carmen Feast July 16 2011
May the Grace and Peace of the Holy Spirit be with us forever!
“The apostolic spirit is a unique spirit, a priceless spirit, a spirit high above that of those who are
ordinarily devout. This is the spirit of those great, self‐denying sacrificing lovers of Jesus Christ who strive
to be good, to do good, and to be a power for good in the providence of everyday life.”
These are the words in the Rule of Apostolic Life that unite all members of the MCA. I invite you to take
time, not so much to look at and evaluate the condition of our apostolic spirit, but rather I invite you to
contemplate and value how UNIQUE, SELF‐DENYING and SACRIFICING is our apostolic spirit. As MCA
members, we are known because we give testimony as real lovers of Jesus Christ.
Our personal and collective response in this contemplative process will led us to see, judge and
act, responding to the invitation from the Church to bring about a NEW EVANGELIZATION.
First, to see: who we are, how many we are, where we are, what we are doing as consecrated MCA
members. We are a catholic association of committed Catholics who have been called by God to be
missionaries in the providence of our daily lives.
What does “the providence of God in our daily lives”
mean? Simply, it is where we find ourselves at any given moment with our families, at work, in our
community, in our parish. Our lives are mission. We are missionaries. We invite others to live their lives
as missionaries, in mission. According to the last Assembly reports, we have almost 423 members. In the
regions of the Northeast, South and West of the USA, we have about 199. We number 224 in Puerto
Rico, México, Costa Rica, Colombia and El Salvador. However, this apostolic and missionary spirit is no
longer ours alone.
We give thanks to our Lord that we share and unite with many lay people from both
inside and outside the church in missionary and apostolic works. Glory to our Triune God in that the laity
of the universal church is little by little awakening and responding to our reality with love and fidelity to
God!
Then, what makes us different? First, we were founded to be ourselves a family, and as the lay
branch of the Cenacle Family we develop lay leadership that will inspire others to become responsible
for the future of the church and, also, for the Cenacle in its prophetic and evangelical mission in the
world. Second, we exist so as to develop and cultivate a unique relationship with two religious
communities and a lay secular institute.
We were founded to reflect a Spirit of Counsel that reflects
unity and listening. This family relationship cannot be set in a mold. We have to live it and feel it, not
only among ourselves, the laity, but also in unison with all the clergy and religious of the Church.
Charity is the answer, charity aflame. To be one with others as God is One with us. We have to
come into communion with those whom others do not see.
Fr. Judge, CM thought of his followers,
trained them and challenged them to go where the religious and priests were not able to go. Today we
have many lay people who are catechists, evangelizers, preachers, educators and formers of the future
missionaries. Yet still, as missionaries, we must ask ourselves who is in need today? Where is the faith in
danger? Among the poor and abandoned is the answer.
A NEW EVANGELIZATION obliges us to ask ourselves what are we not doing, what have we
forgotten to do, why do we continue to have the same members in the same cenacle, why do the
people I invite to the cenacle never respond, why do they choose other apostolic groups?
“This family idea will engender the most beautiful fruits, if it is passed down, for the Honor and Glory of
God and for the edification of the church.”
In Love and Service;
Alma Robles MCA
