Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ! With this month we enter a new season of nature.  Most Seven Sisters reside in the Northern Hemisphere and thus enter Fall, while our Southern Hemisphere dwellers welcome Spring. Regardless, both seasons fittingly launch the heart afresh and anew.  We side with St John Paul II that, in season and out, “Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure.”  Here, there and everywhere, Our Lord is making all things new (Rev 21:5).

A young Australian boy visited his ailing teacher, who shared of her long-time desire to see the ocean.  She lamented that this wish would likely not be fulfilled given her condition. Spurred by an idea, the youth set out the next day, walking in the direction of the coast. Enduring several sweltering days and frigid nights and the dangers of the elements, including wild dogs, he finally reached the shore.  The lad unwrapped an empty bottle he brought along, waded into the ocean and filled it from the rolling tide. He turned around and commenced the arduous return journey.  When he arrived home, he presented the “bottled ocean” to his teacher. “What a gift,” she whispered, “but it was not necessary for you to make such a difficult journey for my sake.” “But teacher,” the boy readily replied, “the journey was part of the gift.”

Sooner or later a Seven Sister appreciates that the offering for the priest/bishop for whom she prays is well beyond sixty minutes.  Within weeks of commitment to this way of prayer for priests, a familiar reflection rises from most of you, “I hope this is benefitting the priest as much as I am benefitting.  The Holy Hours are helping me to live more deeply in Christ.”  Our interior conversions are most surely also a benefit to the priest, for this is the collective goal of our shepherds: to help the sheep to love and follow the Good Shepherd.  Yes, the journey is part of our gift!

Responding to a call of love, in love, beckons one’s whole self as offering to the Lord.  St John Neumann’s maxim was, “Never waste a minute.”  Mother Church helps us enfold the principle by the habit of the Morning Offering at start of day and learning to intentionally “offer up” our sufferings along the way.  Thus, consecrating our minutes eternally elevates them.  Our loaves and fish in the Hands of God meet with the benefit of Divine economy. “Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God’s sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God” (Thomas a’ Kempis).

Countless Seven Sisters have shared the surprisingly swift response of so many to the work of the Apostolate.  Countless have also shared the ensuing challenges at times of keeping faithful to the committed hour:  time constraints, forgetfulness, closed Chapels, health issues, literal physical barriers (one Sister reported a tree fell in front of her car on the way to the Chapel for her hour). Regardless, these stories generally carry happy endings.  Against all odds, the Hour is kept. The demands of love strengthen fidelity. A bonus is that all the trials, offered up, can also be intentionally offered for the priest/bishop for whom one prays.  The journey is part of the gift!

Seven Sisters often share about a compelling desire to tell others about the mission of the Apostolate.  Many have extended personal invitations, passed on Apostolate materials, made phone calls, composed parish bulletin spots, hosted informational coffees, used social media. But an endearing and common prayer and practice among scores of you – no matter the Hemisphere in which you live – is to pray and light vigil candles along the way.  The echo of prayer during those visits is similarly offered as, “I pray that this Apostolate will spread like a fire throughout the world.”

These actions are straight from the heart and efficacious.  The ancient practice of lighting vigil candles is not simply a gesture the Seven Sister makes to accompany her prayer.  It is a tangible, faith-filled way to entrust her words and thoughts to Christ, the Light of the world.  Petitions may sometimes seem to be held in the shadows of the future or the darkness of the past. The flame symbolizes an illumination of the situation and our own lives, as children of light, through Christ.

There is a great swell of hope through these actions and testimonies.  Collectively, they are the impetus for a challenge to current Seven Sisters.  Presently there are nearly 1700 active Seven Sisters groups world-wide.  This number would represent 11,900 Holy Hours offered each week for the well-being and sanctity of priests/bishops!  (Many groups have more than 7 intercessors that offer additional hours, so this number is conservative).

What is proposed and hoped: A birthday gift to our Lord on 12/25/20 of 2020 total active groups! This would anticipate 14,140+ Holy Hours every week for priests/bishops!  The initiative calls for many sacrifices and prayers and invitations to accomplish that. Let the challenge begin! We have 4 months to reach the goal! The journey is part of the gift!

On a trip to Cuba, a question was posed directly to Pope JP II as to why he did not retire since he had “trouble walking and (his) hands trembled.”  His reply: “Fortunately I do not lead the Church with my feet or my hands, but with my mind and my heart.”  Enduring pain and suffering, the Pontiff continued to lead with strength of heart.  As the Church endures so very much suffering within this broken world, may Seven Sisters continue in strength of heart and prayer and journey with a noble goal of hope and persistence in prayer for priests/bishops. “In strengthening the priest, you strengthen the whole Church… the whole foundation… everything in the Church” (Fr Gerald Fitzgerald).

United in prayer and mission…that our prayers may find the heart of every bishop and priest…

… eternal gratitude continues as you each remember to offer a wee Hail Mary for me every day….  “One Ave Maria makes hell tremble” (St John Vianney). Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Teresa of Calcutta)

… your kind emails and notes and phone calls and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Your financial sacrifices are for 100% furtherance of Apostolate.  THANK YOU!  The letters of testimony are so beautiful and edifying! What glory is given to God through your writing! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU! Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+
[email protected]

Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ!  The wisdom of the Church fittingly places the Feast Day of St John Vianney on August 4, at the advent of the month dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament and Adoration.  He deeply loved and lived the Eucharistic life. Let us together heartily celebrate the testimony of our patron and pledge to strengthen our friendship with him!

A recent remembrance of a schoolyard scene held a link to our work.  Amidst giggles and scurrying, my chums at St Anthony’s readied for a friendly game of Red Rover.  As Britenbucher’s whimsical image depicts, players hold hands in a line.  Two teams face one another several yards apart.  Alternately the teams chant, Red Rover, Red Rover send (specific name) right over.  The summoned one dashes toward the opposite team and judiciously chooses a spot to break through the chain of arms.  The group line may choose to tighten their grip and stance, or throw arms up and let the person pass.  If successful, he/she brings a person from that team back to the original team.  If not, he/she joins the team.  That day, called to memory, our third-grade teacher, Sr Mary Richard, found a place in the line.  The other team gained the benefit of spunky Sr Patrice.  This recollection still held for me a sense of both  impenetrable strength and heart-bursting joy when Sister simply took my hand.

Seven Sisters also have the ready help of saintly souls “taking our hand” and fortifying our hearts.  As patron, St John Vianney is a stouthearted friend. From personal experience, he responds swiftly!  Grace upon grace ensues.  His actions imitate the good God (an endearment St JV oft used): “Grace, my children, is a supernatural assistance which leads us to good… the hand of the good God is always ready to support us. … God speaks to us, without ceasing, by His good inspiration; He sends us good thoughts, good desires.” Seven Sisters apply that good help to the best use – desiring good for the other.  As friend, St JV cautions, “Let us take care not to be unfaithful to grace.”

It is said that St JV sought wisdom only in Jesus Christ.  To him no other wisdom was authentic or useful.  He pursued it in prayer, on his knees, at the feet of the Master. Likewise, Seven Sisters seek wisdom before the Blessed Sacrament.  St JV meets us there with honesty. “Our prayer is an incense which He receives with extreme pleasure.  My children, your heart is poor and narrow; but prayer enlarges it, and renders it capable of loving God. … It never leaves without sweetness.” St JV called prayer the “armor of the saints… within reach of the ignorant as well as the learned, enjoined to the simple and to the enlightened, the virtue of all mankind.”  He encourages simple albeit sincere prayers. “The good God does not require of us fine prayers, but prayers which come from the bottom of our heart.”

Through our weekly Hours with Jesu Hostia our prayers and desires to pray mature. “When we pray with attention, with humility of mind and of heart,” our patron explains, “we quit the earth, we rise to Heaven, we penetrate the Bosom of God, we go and converse with the angels and the saints. …Yes, my children, prayer is the source of all graces, the mother of all virtues, the efficacious and universal way by which God wills that we should come to Him.” St JV’s advice instills invigorating confidence to our Apostolate efforts emboldening us to beseech much for the priest/bishop for whom we pray. “The good God says to us: ‘Ask, and you shall receive.’ None but God could make such promises and keep them. … Ought not this promise fill us with confidence and make us pray fervently, all the days of our poor life?”

Our wise and humble patron is the wise and humble patron of all priests.  “The priesthood,” he reminds, “is the love of the Heart of Jesus.  When you see the priest, think of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”  His insights regarding the priesthood can fuel the unwavering fidelity and heart-bursting joy that are hallmarks of Seven Sisters.  “What is a priest!  A man who holds the place of God…. When the priest remits sins, he does not say, ‘God pardons you’; he says, ‘I absolve you.’  At the Consecration, he does not say, ‘This is the Body of Our Lord,’ he says, ‘This is My Body.’” … “The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures, it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of His wealth.” Our Adoration Hours are made possible only because of the priest.  “At the sight of the church tower, you may say: ‘What is there in that place?’ ‘The Body of Our Lord.’ ‘Why is He there?’ ‘Because a priest has been there, and has said holy Mass.’” St JV reminds that the priest is for the other. “The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself.  He is not for himself; he is for you. … Leave a parish for twenty years without priests, they will worship beasts.”  St JV speaks to our times. “When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because when there is no longer any priest, there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion.”

In Red Rover, one must astutely notice who is holding whose hand.  Strategies matter. In our Seven Sisters prayer times we are mystically fortified and united with the prayers of the others in our group.  We can look to the Saints too.  Invite St John Vianney to partner in your Holy Hours for guidance and holy endurance.  Consider one of these reads: (1) The Curé D’Ars Today (Rutler, Ignatius Press) or (2) The Little Catechism of the Curé of Ars (TAN Books). Finally, take another, closer look at Britenbucher’s painting.  Is that dear, intrepid St John Vianney in the midst of seven with a 7 on his sweater?  It could be – if you ask!  St John Vianney, pray for us!

United in prayer and mission…that our prayers may find the heart of every bishop and priest…

… eternal gratitude continues as you each remember to offer a wee Hail Mary for me every day….  “One Ave Maria makes hell tremble” (St John Vianney). Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Teresa of Calcutta)

… your kind emails and notes and phone calls and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Your financial sacrifices are for 100% furtherance of Apostolate.  THANK YOU!  The letters of testimony are so beautiful and edifying! What glory is given to God through your writing! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU! Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+
[email protected]

Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ as we meet the many graces of the month of July, dedicated to devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus.  Fr Frederick Faber in The Precious Blood, provides insight to fortify our prayers this month: “Everything that is holy on earth is either a leaf, bud, blossom or fruit of the Blood of Jesus. … It is out of the Precious Blood that men draw martyrdoms, vocations, celibacies, austerities, heroic charities, and all the magnificent graces of high sanctity. The secret nourishment of prayer is from those fountains.”

The Mission is a film depicting a true story of 18th century Jesuit Missionaries bringing Christ to the Guarani Indians (South American jungle) and likewise aspiring to protect them from the slave trade.  A priestly predecessor holding fast to the same goal was martyred.  Despite this, barefooted Fr Gabriel arduously scales the mountainside inch-by-inch amid roaring waterfalls to reach these same people.  The mission prevails. Love alone motivates such heroics. Finally reaching the crown, Fr Gabriel meets with an immediate, intense challenge.  And then another, and another, and another.  But again, and again, and again, the mission to bring Christ’s love compels.  This witness of sincere love earns the respect and eventual reciprocal love of the tribe.

For Catholics, love through, with and in Christ is the fuel of mission.  Seven Sisters understand and live this!  The two words seem synonymous.  The highest love we can offer for the priests/bishops for whom we commit to pray is intentionally and deliberately “inch-by-inch” beseeching sanctity – and remaining faithful to the mission!  This is the will of God, your sanctity…. (I Thes 4:3).  Any other goal is too small.  God has indeed sent us on strong paths (Tenboom).  His graces are sufficient.  As Mother Angelica puts it: “We are called to be great saints.  Don’t’ miss the opportunity. … Holiness is not for wimps and the cross is not negotiable… it’s a requirement.”

The Apostolate annual June re-commitment to continue in prayer is a fitting time to assure that our mission is rightly-ordered in God’s love to help bring about conformity to Christ in the priests/bishops for whom we pray.  What might seven Saintly priests have to say about sanctity?  Their words can perhaps serve to help form and strengthen the offerings of our Holy Hours in this coming year.  Here are seven insights from holy Shepherds that desire the best for their brother priests and, while so doing, lead us and encourage us to continue to “follow the way of love” (Cor 14:1) … and its sure reward! …

1)      “Holiness … is simply the state of grace purified, illuminated, beautified by the most perfect purity, exempt not only from mortal sin but also from the smallest faults; purity will make saints of you! Everything lies in this!” – St. Peter Julian Eymard

2)     “As the shepherd, so the sheep; as the priest, so the people. Priest-victim leadership begets a holy Church. Every worldly priest hinders the growth of the Church; every saintly priest promotes it. If only all priests realized how their holiness makes the Church holy and how the Church begins to decline when the level of holiness among priests falls below that of the people!”  – Bl Fulton J Sheen

3)     “Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without grace.” – St. Augustine

4)     “Do you wish to know if the people of any place are righteous? Look what sort of a pastor they have. If you find him pious, just, sound, believe the people will be the same, for they are seasoned with the salt of his wisdom.” – St. John Chrysostom

5)      “If we would only bear in mind, dearly beloved brethren, the exalted character of the things that the Lord God has placed in our hands, what unbounded influence would not this have in impelling us to lead lives worthy of ecclesiastics! Has not the Lord placed everything in my hand, when he put there his only-begotten Son, coeternal and coequal with himself? In my hand he has placed all his treasures, his sacraments, his graces; he has placed there souls, than whom nothing can be dearer to him; in his love he has preferred them to himself, and redeemed them by his Blood; he has placed heaven in my hand, and it is in my power to open and close it to others…” – St. Charles Borromeo

6)     “The priestly vocation is essentially a call to sanctity, in the form that derives from the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  Sanctity is intimacy with God; it is the imitation of Christ, poor, chaste and humble; it is unreserved love for souls and self-giving to their true good; it is love for the church which is holy and wants us to be holy, because such is the mission that Christ has entrusted to it.  Each one of you must be holy also in order to help your brothers pursue their vocation to sanctity.” –  St. John Paul II

7)      “The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.” – St. John Vianney, Apostolate patron

We serve as conduits of the very love of God.  Dedicated emissaries, ambassadors of His love (II Cor 5:20).  Our mission strengthens the Church.   Exemplary is your steadfast perseverance and fidelity to love and prayer, especially while living these current difficult days!

Eventually, the oppressive slave traders and misguided powers within the Church itself pounced upon Fr Gabriel and the Christianized Guarani Indians. In the closing scenes of The Mission, Fr Gabriel, flanked by his congregation, firmly raises high the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance and processes to meet the opposition.  Amid singing, rifle shots silence the heart of Fr Gabriel.  His last action, his last breath – literally upholding the mission.   “Love is never finished.” – Pope Benedict XVI

United in prayer and mission…that our prayers may find the heart of every bishop and priest…

… eternal gratitude continues as you each remember to offer a wee Hail Mary for me every day….  “One Ave Maria makes hell tremble” (St John Vianney). Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Teresa of Calcutta)

… your kind emails and notes and phone calls and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Your financial sacrifices are for 100% furtherance of Apostolate.  THANK YOU!  The letters of testimony are so beautiful and edifying! What glory is given to God through your writing! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU! Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+
[email protected]

Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ as together we are carried on the generous and swift current of Eastertide graces that transported us to Pentecost and now onward toward Corpus Christi then further still to the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (this year, June 19).  No matter what country this Communiqué might find you, no matter what circumstances surround you, our liturgical rhythm unites us.  The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Unity.  An unwavering firm foundation.

While a Catechist to aspiring First Communicants at St Vincent de Paul parish in St Paul, each year my class ventured on a pilgrimage “outside and up the front steps” to their own parish for an in-depth tour. Once the wiggles and giggles of excitement diminished, the children were deeply attentive to fresh nuances and the holy hush of this sacred space.  One year stands out.  While pausing before the statue of the Sacred Heart, little Peter pointed and gasped, “His heart loves us so much, it’s popping out!” His wide-eyed gaze was fixed on the statue.  No glance met mine. He was not looking for the nod of his teacher, for he was the teacher in that moment.

While we oft-times pursue love ‘in all the wrong places’, Jesus reminds that love begins in the heart.  How good of Him to meet us more than half-way in our quest.  He extends His Sacred Heart to us!  While Jesus mentions vices that could flow from our hearts (Mark 7:21-23), love alone flows freely from His.  Along with extending His heart, Our Lord extends a deal (Ez 36:26).   He will replace our stony hearts with ones whose softness holds potential to be filled with love.  Overflowing love.

How fitting that the Apostolate universally renews its commitment in this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Many Seven Sisters (myself included) offer the Novena to the Sacred Heart (pg 10 in Guidelines Booklet) during our Holy Hour.  “Let the soul who is desirous of advancing in perfection hasten to my Sacred Heart” (Jesus to St Gertrude).  We beseech holiness, perfection of love – for the other – from the Other.  Cor as cor loquitur.  Heart speaks to heart.

Recently a priest serving the St Paul-Mpls area wrote something applicable to every Seven Sister: “I can honestly say I have felt the ‘lift’ of the prayers of the Seven Sisters who have daily (throughout the course of each week) held me up in prayer. Prayer is powerful, it avails much, and I am truly grateful for the generosity of spirit and dedication of these women of faith who advance the work of the Gospel by their focused intercession for my priestly ministry, intentions and well-being. May every Christian rediscover the efficacy of their duty and privilege to pray without ceasing.” – Something of deep love is deeply understood here.

Following are some excerpts from a letter of a Seven Sister (North Carolina) written in gratitude to Fasting Brothers, men dedicated to come alongside Seven Sisters in offering some type of fasting each day (except Sunday).  May this serve as an invitation to consider encouraging a group of Fasting Brothers to come alongside your Seven Sister group.  “Dear Fasting Brothers, I want to thank you once again, from my heart, for your dedicated sacrifices for our pastor.  I know it’s making a huge difference. …  I believe without a doubt that it is the quiet, strong, steadfast leadership in sacrifice of you men which is creating a rampart to surround the Seven Sisters. I believe your fasting is a wall protecting us (including our priests) from the attacks of the evil one, which allows our prayer to be more peaceful, more trusting, and therefore more effective. Your fasting combined with our holy hours is literally a match made in heaven. We need your sacrifices! Thank you again, with all our hearts, and please, stay strong and keep it up, no matter what happens.  May God continue to pour out blessings on you and yours.”- Something of deep love is deeply understood here.

Finally, snippets from a note of a new Anchoress in Ohio: “I came to know Fr. Peter three months after his arrival … he administered the Anointing of the Sick upon my mother … Although my mother passed away, we beheld God’s merciful love and grace fill her to the point that this 86-year-old, arthritic woman jumped up afterward and wanted to dance with him! The following year, I felt called to go to Africa … I asked this priest if he ever took parishioners back with him on mission when he visited. In his hospitable, Swahili manner, he graciously welcomed four of us to visit his home in Tanzania where we all witnessed holiness in action.  Fr. Peter finds himself the firstborn of twelve children. Two of the siblings serve the world as priests and two serve as Sisters, one in Italy and the other in England. I feel honored to participate in this prayerful endeavor for one who continues to sacrifice so much on our behalf especially given the great distance from his homeland. He embraces all he meets with the love of God, offers all the friendship of Christ, and reflects to all the Holy Spirit alive and active in him. … I and my fellow prospective Sisters humbly submit ourselves to this ministry.” – Something of deep love is deeply understood here.

Varied systems of thought and action to better the world exist.  Approaches might use power, wealth, science, deception, promises, pleasure, force.  We are experiencing some of these in our days.  Our Christian way to better the world is love.  The three prior testimonies give snapshots of that love, almost as clearly as “His heart popping out”.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus serves as a school of love that precisely conveys and motivates the mission of love.  The little catechism sage, Peter, understood something deeply about love that morning. The truth is exhilarating!  The heart that embraces the ever-full Heart of Christ is ever full.  It is a wellspring. His love cannot be contained.  Seven Sisters have hearts like that. They bear witness to the world in imitation of Christ.  They bear hearts that love so very much that they are “popping out” to meet the challenge and thirst of the world.

In the prayer after Communion on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart we pray:  May this sacrament of charity, O Lord, make us fervent with the fire of holy love, so that drawn always to your Son, we may learn to see Him in our neighbor. Through Christ Our Lord.  Let us make this prayer ours as we re-commit to another year of Holy Hours of prayer through this Apostolate.

United in prayer and mission…that our prayers may find the heart of every bishop and priest…

… eternal gratitude continues as you each remember to offer a wee Hail Mary for me every day….  “One Ave Maria makes hell tremble” (St John Vianney). Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Teresa of Calcutta)

… your kind emails and notes and phone calls and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Your financial sacrifices are for 100% furtherance of Apostolate.  THANK YOU!  The letters of testimony are so beautiful and edifying! What glory is given to God through your writing! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU! Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+
[email protected]

Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ as we live the days of Eastertide.  While we may be living external social distancing, our internal distancing from the Lord remains fated to narrow and vanish!  Let us together acquiesce to that tender and immense love that is within us and round about us!  “O God, let me know you and love you so that I may find my joy in you, and if I cannot do so fully in this life, let me at least make some progress every day, until at last that knowledge, love and joy come to me in plentitude (St Anselm, in the Proslogion).

A radiant expression of that love and joy are your sacrifices of prayers each week for a priest or bishop.  An eternal offering, for love is never finished (Pope Benedict XVI). The Lord has prepared this work in advance for us to do (Isaiah 65:24).  Let us each seek to be as that little pencil in the Hand of God (St Teresa of Calcutta).  To who, what, where, when and how shall we go?  We are in His Hand. We trust. Dom Jean-Baptiste Chaurtard concurs in The Soul of the Apostolate: “Christ does all the work; we are only His instruments. … All that Jesus wants is our heart.”

As Seven Sisters we rest at the brink of two special months:  May, our month of discernment to remain or depart from the Apostolate weekly Holy Hour commitment; and June, our month of re-commitment to another year of prayer offerings.  Both are places of trust.

My prayers heartily join yours as you reserve this month of May to invite Jesus into the action of your discernment.  “Listen and attend to the ear of your heart” (St Benedict).  Prayer will make things clear.  With that clear sense as to your direction for the year ahead, inform your Anchoress. Kindly allow plenty of time if she needs to secure a replacement for your day – or rejoice with you in your plans of recommitment!

Be open to the call that might be to remain in the Apostolate, but also serve in an additional or different (or new!) group (e.g. Hospital Chaplain, retired priest/bishop, parochial vicar in parish where pastor already has a group, missionaries, priests serving in Seminaries, Chaplain or professors in High schools or Universities, Canon lawyers, priests who serve in the Chancery, priests in religious orders, Military Chaplains, Exorcists). Every priest deserves our prayers!  Be assured, if you ask, you will know where/how you are called.  And likewise, be assured, that God’s graces are sufficient for the task!

No matter when a group commences, each June is the uniting, universal time to re-commit the prayer efforts within the Apostolate. This prayerful action renders an unseen but sure solidarity for the Apostolate.  Re-commit together as a group (maybe in person by June – or try Zoom), near in date to the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart (this year: Friday, June 19), using the Commitment Prayer (see Web site, in English/Spanish) composed by Apostolate Chaplain, Fr Joseph Johnson. Many groups use this opportunity to gather together for Mass and a meal following to share testimonies of the past year.  The invitation may most certainly include the priest/bishop.

Please continue with resolute fidelity and focus in your Seven Sister prayer commitments through May.  In these unique times the priests and bishops tread new waters of pastoral care and expression.  Our sacrifices and prayers will serve to strengthen and buoy them up.  Concurrently, many priests will be learning of new assignments and appreciating extra graces through our extra sacrifices and prayers as they anticipate transition.  “What great blessings God grants to a soul when He prepares it to love the practice of prayer” (St Teresa of Avila).

In this month of May, we will be fortifying our intercessory base.  Apostolate materials will be mailed to some 125+ Monasteries of cloistered nuns in the USA who will be invited to offer prayers with and prayers for us, specifically for “purity, presence and proliferation” of the Seven Sisters Apostolate “in and about their diocese and state – and the world.”  You may support this outreach venture through concerted prayers and/or financially to help cover materials and postage.

The Apostolate has received a marvelous gift from Dr Elizabeth Lev, art historian and prolific writer.  She has written an insightful essay for the Apostolate highlighting our patron, Madonna of the Grapes.  In it we learn a bit about the life and art style of Frenchman Pierre Mignard who painted Madonna of the Grapes, as well as astute insights into the composition and nuances of the elements of the painting itself.   The piece is on the Web site and also attached to this Communique.  What a timely gift in this month honoring Our Lady!  Most recently Dr Lev has authored How Catholic Art Saved the Faith, The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in the Counter-Reformation Art.  Highly recommended!

The winds of the Holy Spirit blow where they may, enlightening and enlivening where welcomed.  As Seven Sisters, how readily you have become humble instruments in the sure Hand of God.  Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade (Abandonment to Divine Providence) perhaps says it best: “We are in an age of faith, the Holy Spirit no longer writes gospels, except in our heart; saintly souls are the pages, suffering and action the ink.  The Holy Spirit is writing a living gospel with the pen of action, which we will only be able to read on the day of glory, when, fresh from the presses of life, it will be published.”

United in prayer and mission…

that our prayers may find the heart of every bishop and priest…

… eternal gratitude continues as you each remember to offer a wee Hail Mary for me every day….  “One Ave Maria makes hell tremble” (St John Vianney). Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Teresa of Calcutta)

… your kind emails and notes and phone calls and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Your financial sacrifices are for 100% furtherance of Apostolate.  THANK YOU!  The letters of testimony are so beautiful and edifying! What glory is given to God through your writing! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU! Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+
[email protected]

About the LOGO: Central in both the design and our mission is prayer before our Eucharistic Lord. The cruciform serves as both monstrance and as reminder that our prayers find merit through the sufferings and resurrection of our Lord. The hands all at once can represent a perfect trifecta: a Seven Sister intercessor offering prayer, a priest offering prayer/Mass, and the Lord Himself bringing our offerings heavenward. The seven stars (Pleiades) represent the Seven Sisters – their position on the bottom and almost transparent is the mark of humility, the wellspring of the Apostolate. The shades of blue: every shade that cloaks Mary – and us too! One-liner on bottom: Apostolate in a nutshell. It is striking in black and white too! All is fitting!

Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ as showers of Lenten graces meet us in these unprecedented times, generously preparing us to live more deeply and boldly our Holy Week, Easter glory and Eastertide joy. God is with us! All will be well! (St Julian of Norwich) …

An early pioneer of long-distance radio transmission, Gugliemo Marconi, held fast to a notion later in his life that sound never dies.  He surmised that it simply became too quiet for our ears to perceive.  He believed if he fashioned the right device, any sound could be recoverable. His heartfelt longing was to hear Jesus utter the Sermon on the Mount.  Marconi’s dreams were just that.  Sound vibrations do not perpetually exist, but rather vibrate less and less until the sound vanishes. Or does it?

When my mother passed, I could not recall her laughter. It was both perplexing and painful.  Then one day that lilting laughter fully returned and filled my heart!  Oh, the consoling effect as it broke through a veil of grief.  Laughter. I love you. I am so sorry. Will you marry me? It’s twins! Utterances can “live” long after sound waves dissipate – in the archives of memory and recesses of heart.

Seven Sister intercessors often ponder the life of the priest.  It is essential. Our weekly prayers are formed by this intentional consideration.  Have you ever reflected on the words of a priest/bishop? The sacramental words of Institution, Baptism, Absolution, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick stand as the most powerful. There are innumerable prayers offered with and for others, countless blessings, daily Gospel proclamations, homilies, praying the Liturgy of the Hours, immeasurable words in due season – on the street corner, hospital, marketplace, meeting settings.  A priest is looked to in the crossroads with the “right word”: in both dispute or celebration, for the penitent, engaged couple, grieving family, parochial teacher and student alike, waiter with a question, a brother priest.  He whispers heaven-sent words of wisdom and encouragement (Luke 12:12). He is expected to impart knowledge or levity through the full spectrum of time: from current affairs to the ancient lives of saints to eternity.  The words are ordained to be life-giving!  Resting oft times in our memory and heart, they can be readily evoked when needed: guiding, strengthening, comforting.  The words and actions of a priest mark us – as children of God, as ones loved!  Love affects all things. Eternally.

Consider the sheer volume of words and actions offered through the life span of a retired priest. (Is retired even a proper descriptor?)  They have challenged and changed the course of history for countless individuals.  An eternal ripple effect. The sacraments alone!  The sound of their words is not too quiet to still be heard. (Marconi would be thrilled to know!)  I carry a personal indebtedness for the love and care of retired clergy in my own return to the Faith.  Retired Bishop Paul Dudley (+2007) was a significant mentor and intercessor in my months of discerning a return to the Church.  Retired Army Chaplain, Fr Martin Fleming (+2018), heard my Confession of reconciliation (1999).  Unlike men retiring from a place of employment, the priest remains ever-deployed by the Lord Himself.  I was grateful to be in their paths!

Currently several retired priests have the benefit of Seven Sisters groups.  This Communiqué is a special appeal for launching more. Emphasizing the Apostolate Guidelines, the pastor of one’s parish should have an established group first and foremost.   Given that, groups for other priests are encouraged from members of that parish.  Our mission includes all bishops and priests!

If you sense a call to this Apostolate, there is a priest who needs your prayers.  If God has called you, He will provide.   Schalcken’s serene Lady Holding a Candle might hearken to someone sent to do just that.  The light of the sole candle seems sufficient for her mission.  The light of one’s prayers will make clear (enough!) the path to begin.  Our Lady, mother of all priests, will help.

A retired priest’s group is a bit unique.  He will not receive a new assignment.  Thus, this group may be more long-term then some.  The intercessors may not regularly see or know the priest.  This may be challenging in prayer for some, not others.  Conversely, some groups do know the priest and desire to form a friendship.  Some have been known to plan jubilee gatherings, share meals and prayers, offer rides when needed, even keep vigil during the final days and hours of life.  Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in a letter (02/07/18) to the editor of the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Ser, wrote, “I am on pilgrimage Home.  It’s a great grace for me to be surrounded on this end of the route, sometimes a bit tiring, by a love and kindness that I could never have imagined.”  Likely this is a shared sentiment from a retired priest with the gift of a Seven Sisters group.

A fruit of the Apostolate has arisen regarding prayer for retired priests. Long-time Seven Sister, Deb T (Minnesota) combines her gifts of quilting and intercession to initiate, Appreciated and Loved.   Lap quilts are fashioned with a particular priest in mind. The first was given March 12! Two more are in the making.  The back of the quilt bears a corner label (black with a white collar, of course!) with an embroidering of the priest’s name, “Appreciated and Loved by Seven Sisters Apostolate”, and date.  Ideally the quilt is presented to the priest by the Seven Sister group. This is hoped to also be a way for new groups to start.  Quilters can pray for a group to form as they sew or solicit another group to intercede/form a new group.  Team work at its best! Our Web site will feature photos of the quilts/priests and stories about the lives of the recipient priests.  To learn more on how to begin or financially support the efforts, contact Deb through [email protected]

“At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love,” says St John of the Cross.  It is true for the retired priest; it is true for each one of us. “Let us love until we die of love” (St Therese of Lisieux).  Love affects all things. Eternally.

Most Blessed continued Lent – and Holy Week, Easter, Eastertide ahead!

United in prayer and mission…that our prayers may find the heart of every bishop and priest…

… eternal gratitude continues as you each remember to offer a wee Hail Mary for me every day….  “One Ave Maria makes hell tremble” (St John Vianney). Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Teresa of Calcutta)

… your kind emails and notes and phone calls and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Your financial sacrifices are for 100% furtherance of Apostolate.  THANK YOU!  The letters of testimony are so beautiful and edifying! What glory is given to God through your writing! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU! Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+
[email protected]