October 4 Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

The Grace and Peace of the Most Holy Trinity be with all forever!

In 2001, while I was serving as Regional Custodian in Puerto Rico, I asked if there were any BTMI members on the island.  Rose Morales spoke to me of Sapho Rodriguez in Cabo Rojo.  There was a reason for my question.  How and who were the members of this lay branch?  I searched and asked for Sapho, but only after two years did I meet up with her.  Sapho was caring for a member of her family in New York and from there on occasion visited the Sisters at the Motherhouse in Philadelphia.

It was there, in the refectory, that we met, only to share a few words, but I was more than pleased to have made her acquaintance.  She was quite surprised at my wish to know her.  Last July I went to visit her at her house, together with Sarai.  Sapho, at this time, was not doing well health-wise.  We spoke of our families, of the charisma that united us, and of the call to serve.

That night I slept in her wooden house, painted white, the kitchen lit up, and a wonderful sense of peace and prayer.  The Sacred Heart was witness of the moment that we shared.  She gave me a mantilla, her mantilla, as a present.  We woke to the rooster’s call and a delicious cup of coffee.  We prayed in the shade of a “lechosa” tree.  We then went out to visit Sary.  Sapho was quite pleased with our little walk and I spent time discovering and learning the lesson of fidelity to the One and Triune God.

Returning to my house, I wrote in my little diary: “God showed me the face of fidelity in Sapho.  Our fourth branch has few members and many of them are up in years and their health ever more delicate.  However, their calling is ever so strong, their faithfulness and giving of self over to the charisma.  This does not depend on numbers, but rather on the testimony of their lives in a world where they insert themselves each and every day.  Although the BTMIs go unnoticed by the members of the other three branches, this is not so on God’s part.  With only observing Sapho’s look, I could see how loved, how intimate she was with God.  Thank you, Lord, for my getting to know her because in her I felt the need that I have of being intimate with you.”

Sapho now finds herself in the Cenacle in heaven.  She arrived at the heavenly gates and presented her life of fidelity for love of God and her neighbor.  She smiled so as she was embraced by the One and Triune God.  Then Father Judge, Mother Boniface and Margaret Healy invited her to contemplate the Most Holy Trinity.

While she was here on this earth, on the small island of Puerto Rico, a Family gathered – four branches with the same spirit, the catholic spirit, the apostolic spirit, charity at white heat.  Father Marco Antonio Sanchez, S.T. of the new generation of Missionary Servants, introduced Sapho to the family, to the parish community and the pastor and to this Missionary Family of the Church.  Father Marco very simply explained that he did not know Sapho, nor did he remember having seeing her, but that he was present because she is of his family.  This brief expression touched my heart.  “I am here because she is of my family!”  We sang, “Blessed be God the Father who created us.  Blessed be God the Son who has redeemed us.  Blessed be God the Holy Spirit who has sanctified us.  Blessed be the most Holy and Undivided Trinity now and forever.” Exchanging embraces we said goodbye.  Rosa Tirado returned to New York and the rest of us to our homes.

“What more beautiful legacy, more beautiful inheritance than that of an example of a life fragrant and rich in the traditions of the Cenacle!  This means that even after your death, you will continue your apostleship through others whom your virtue has attracted to the service of God . Such will be  my constant prayer for you; Do make it your constant effort.”

In love and service,

Alma Robles, MCA

The following is the September MCA newsletter reflection from Alma Robles, General Custodian of the MCA.

We will be reconnecting, planning out the meeting schedule for the year and looking at how God has been working in the Providence of everyday life.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

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

We began the day at 1pm with a nice luncheon (thanks Cary!) followed by a reflection on the history of the Missionary Cenacle Family by Sr. Terry Ahern.  After a break, we then held table discussions answering the question, “Of what were you reminded today through Sr. Terry’s talk?”

Then at 4pm, Fr. Conrad from the Shrine joined us for Mass as our celebrant.  Jeff Beer led us in song and Grace St. Pierre was the altar server (good thing she was prepared, sort of).  Angel, Margaret and Marie also contributed with readings in English and Spanish.  Terry did a super job with prepping our readings and also helping Fr. Conrad with Mass setup.

It was a terrific event all around!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FLYER

Whether you are reading short stories about Fr. Judge or some of his longer essays, his words from the early 1900′s are still relevant today.  His prophetic call for a “spiritualized laity”, the emphasis on everyday missionary spirituality, and his many devotions within the Church all come to mind.

This article, published in Ecclesiastical Review (The Catholic University of America) is called “A Spiritual Militia” and can be downloaded here.

by Pat Regan, MCA

In December 2010, the Church marked the 45th anniversary of the closing session of Vatican II.  Among the many gifts of the Second Vatican Council were a deeper understanding of the Church in the world and a vision of the role the laity play in the Church’s mission.  The conciliar document, Gaudium et spes, spells it out clearly:  Since they have an active role to play in the whole life of the Church, the laity are not only bound to penetrate the world with a Christian spirit, but are also called to be witnesses to Christ in all things in the midst of human society (#43).

In what many believe to be the most important document to come out of Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, we see great value placed on what Father Judge called “the providence of daily life:”

The laity, by their vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God.  They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven.  They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven (#31).

Many post-conciliar documents and teachings of the Church reiterate the same emphasis.  Our vocation as laity is to transform society.  In his recent encyclical, Caritas Veritate, Pope Benedict lays out a vision of a just world, of a society which cares for the poor, which works for justice, which builds up people who are oppressed and powerless.  Certainly, both the universal Church (with a capital “C”) and the local churches have programs in place to address some of these issues.  However, it is clearly going to be up to the laity – “workaday men and women” as Fr. Judge called us – to bring about the changes the Holy Father envisions.

The blessing of Vatican II in terms of empowering the laity is, I think, a two-edged sword.  On the one hand, it has opened up many possibilities for lay men and women to engage in the formal ministries of the Church.  We can be lectors, Eucharistic ministers, catechists, etc.  We can avail ourselves of formal studies in theology; we can even be parish administrators, responsible for the life and well-being of entire Catholic communities.  The “sleeping giant” Father Judge spoke of is wide awake!

Yet, I wonder if this abundance of opportunities – and certainly the great needs of our parishes today for lay ministers to help with the pastoral responsibilities – has caused a drift in our understanding of the lay apostolate as our Founder envisioned it.  When Father Judge called forth that first handful of women to meet with him in St. John Perboyre Chapel more than 100 years ago, he laid out his vision.  He told them that as Catholic lay people they must bring the Church where people live, work, and congregate and, in the providence of their everyday life, they must be the Church.  (Awake the Giant, p. 33)

Many MCA members feel called to share their gifts and talents in various ministries in their local parishes.  That is a noble calling.  As good parishioners, we want to support our parish in as many ways as we can.  In Evangelium Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI describes the ministry of the laity within the Church:  “The laity can also feel called, or in fact be called, to cooperate with their pastors in the service of the ecclesial community, for the sake of its life and growth (# 73).”

However, to paraphrase a thought expressed by Sr. Brenda Hermann, MSBT, in her recently published book on taking council, it would be a mistake to confuse the various forms of parish (ecclesial) ministry with the laity’s field of mission.  The primary mission field of the laity is within family and society, not within the Church itself.  It is in that mission field of family and society that the lay person is called to holiness.  Is the lay person who works in the Church on the “fast track” to holiness more so than the one who works at the grocery store, or who runs a business or who is a “stay at home Mom?” Maybe, but if so, it is not based on the fact that they work for the Church!

In other words, the minister is not necessarily the same as the missionary.  Yes, it is possible to be both a minister and a missionary.  As Fr. John Seymour, S.T. points out in his document comparing the two, “It is not so much the tasks or works that distinguish the minister from the missionary, but the spirit in which the works are carried out.  It is the possession of ‘the missionary thought, the missionary idea, the missionary spirit’ that distinguishes the missionary from the minister.”

Most often, I believe, the lay person carries out that missionary thought, that missionary idea, that missionary spirit based on his or her everyday experience.  Years ago, I got involved in literacy work because some of the adults I knew in Alabama couldn’t read or write.  When I moved to Maryland, I became aware of homeless people and volunteered with a few other women from my parish to bring a hot meal to a transitional shelter once a month.  I know someone who got concerned about the kids hanging around after school and became a tutor.  Another has met a lot of immigrants and so teaches English as a second language once a week.

Too often, I think, we give short shrift to our “everyday” missionary experiences and only consider ourselves to be missionaries when we are engaged in church-related projects and ministries.  This mindset, I think, does a grave injustice to the spiritual thought and vision of Father Judge.  As the MCA enters its second century of existence, and as the Church celebrates the 50th anniversary of the close of Vatican II, I challenge the lay branches of the Missionary Cenacle Family to really claim the gifts the Second Vatican Council and Father Judge gave us . . . to be missionaries, spreading the Good News and building the kingdom of God, wherever we are.  Imagine what would happen if we really took to heart the notion that, wherever we are – in our everyday lives – we are the Church!

The Second Vatican Council gave us a vision of the laity’s role in the Church, but it does not provide the “how to.”  For that, we have Father Judge, who left a blueprint for an apostolic laity.  We are to be missionaries in the providence of daily life.  Let us celebrate that, let us ponder that, let us be challenged to be the Church wherever God is calling us in this particular moment in time.

__________________________

Ecclesial References

Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), Vatican II Document, 1964.

Gaudium et spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), Vatican II Document, 1965.

Evangelium Nuntiandi (On Evangelization in the Modern World), Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI, 1975.

Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth), Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVI, 2009.

Here are but two excerpts:

• “As with every other fruit of human ingenuity, the new communications technologies must be placed at the service of the integral good of the individual and of the whole of humanity. If used wisely, they can contribute to the satisfaction of the desire for meaning, truth and unity which remain the most profound aspirations of each human being.”

• “Entering cyberspace can be a sign of an authentic search for personal encounters with others, provided that attention is paid to avoiding dangers such as enclosing oneself in a sort of parallel existence, or excessive exposure to the virtual world.”

Click here for the full document.