Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ!  In poetic cadence, it is said, “In November we remember.” On a natural level, in this month most reminisce on the all-too-fleeting summer days and swiftly vanishing year.  Catholics intentionally remember to visit cemeteries in November, and offer prayers for those who have passed.  The liturgical year concludes with both the solemn consideration of the Last Things and the climactic celebration to remind that Christ is King (this year, Nov 22).

Times of recollection often lend themselves to interior reflection.  Where have I been, where am I going? Are my days generally fully embraced or squandered?  Do complexities stifle the joy of the journey?  Our Seven Sister ways are likewise worthy of periodic review.  Do I keep my commitment to pray? Stay true to the mission?  Has its simplicity become unduly knotty?

At the heart of the Apostolate we each respond simply and surely to the Lord’s invitation to His work, “So, could you not watch with me for one hour?” (Matt 26:40). The offering is eternal, for it is a labor of love.  Quite literally, it is the gift that keeps on giving (I Cor 13). Both intercessor and recipient benefit.  St Teresa of Calcutta reminds: “Each of us has a mission to fulfill: a mission of love.   At the hour of death, when we come face-to-face with God, we are going to be judged on love; not on how much we have done, but on how much love we have put into our actions.” Bl Charles de Foucauld reminds, “The best prayer is the one in which there is the most love.”

A Seven Sister is faithful to the mission of the Apostolate by: (a) keeping the commitment to a Holy Hour on her designated day of the week (or securing a sub); (b) praying for the well-being and sanctity of the one priest/bishop for whom she offers the Hour; and (c) sometime during the Hour praying for a deepening devotion to Mary for the priest/bishop. A beautiful simplicity continues to define our work.  This strength hearkens to the words of Fr Joseph Johnson, Apostolate founder, in the early hour of learning about the inspiration: “I believe it is from the Holy Spirit because it is so simple.”

The Holy Hour is unique to each Seven Sister.  She chooses the Hour within her committed day and also the flow of prayer within that Hour.  Thus, the collective prayer offering of the group is likewise unique – tailor-made for the priest/bishop each day, each week!  The Seven Sister, recurrently enters a sort of school of intercession in these Hours, gradually learning and living a docility of heart that heightens her keenness to the impulses of the Holy Spirit.  Guide me, O Holy Spirit, in my prayer today. Help me to be a conduit of Your Love.  Our simple assent to the Holy Hour brings us into audience with the Triune God, who is all Wisdom and all Love.  The patrons of the Apostolate and the countless, exquisite angels encompassing the Blessed Sacrament enhance the sanctity of the setting. What at first glance appears a mere calendar point and duty of our day as a Seven Sister, when lived, can be perceived and experienced beyond the thin veil.  Truly time collapses in the presence of God.  Heaven settles upon earth.  What could not be wrought here?

Our Lord over and again presents an offer – simple yet beyond full understanding:  strike the rock, rise and pick up your mat, love thy neighbor as thyself, put out into the deep, take and eat.   Every offer beckons our participation coupled with His.  Our offer is straightforward and simple:  One holy hour, one priest, each week, one heart of prayer.  The invitation is not for one holy Mass nor for multiple priests nor for every day nor solo, without others.  His Ways are higher, His thoughts complete. Untold goodness arises from this untroubled heaven-sent blueprint.

We do best to stay as close to the inspiration of the Apostolate as possible.  Your witness to do so is heartening!  It is wildly fruitful! You remain like-hearted to a mentor, St Teresa of Calcutta, who shares her secret of trust: “My secret is simple.  I pray.”  Oh, how it confirms what looms large in our hearts: that in quietness and trust is your strength (Isaiah 30:15).

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+
sevensistersapostolate@gmail.com

Let us TOGETHER continue to prepare a Birthday gift for Our Lord: 2020 active groups by 12/25/20 Prayer will make things clear as to who, when, where and how to encourage new groups!

Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ! The Church dons full regalia in October.  There are treasures and a rosary in every pocket! The liturgical calendar is overflowing with Feast days and in this month mother Church reminds us to turn toward Our Lady of the Rosary and pray as she repeatedly prompts us. Our Lady also reminds us to make frequent and good Holy Communions.

Recently my husband and I reminisced about a scene in our early family years.  The four of us were being seated in a restaurant.  My husband and I chose seats opposite one another at the round table.  Our son hopped in a vacant chair, looked across at his older sister with a big grin, and announced, “I get to sit between mom and dad!”  In a millisecond something else dawned on him, “Oh,” he mumbled in a whisper, “you get to sit between mom and dad too!”  The truth of the matter is – security and joy are fittingly found near those who love and will protect.

Italian priest, St John Bosco, had vivid dreams from childhood onward, which helped guide his life and proved to be prophetically accurate.  One of his more remarkable mystical dreams was in the Spring of 1862. He had a vision of the near-term future of his beloved Catholic Church.  Following are excerpts from Forty Dreams of St John Bosco, compiled and edited by Fr J Bacchiarello, SDB:

“Try to picture yourselves with me on the seashore, or, better still, on an outlying cliff with no other land in sight. The vast expanse of water is covered with a formidable array of ships in battle formation, prows fitted with sharp spear-like beaks capable of breaking through any defense. All are heavily armed with cannons, incendiary bombs, and firearms of all sorts — even books — and are heading toward one stately ship, mightier than them all. As they try to close in, they try to ram it, set it afire, and cripple it as much as possible.

This stately vessel is shielded by a flotilla escort. Winds and waves are with the enemy. In this midst of this endless sea, two solid columns, a short distance apart, soar high into the sky: one is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin at whose feet a large inscription reads: Help of Christians; the other, far loftier and sturdier, supports a [Communion] Host of proportionate size and bears beneath it the inscription Salvation of believers. …

The entire enemy fleet closes in to intercept and sink the flagship at all costs. They bombard it with everything they have: books and pamphlets, incendiary bombs, firearms, cannons. The battle rages ever more furious. Beaked prows ram the flagship again and again, but to no avail, as, unscathed and undaunted, it keeps on its course. At times a formidable ram splinters a gaping hole into its hull, but, immediately, a breeze from the two columns instantly seals the gash. …

Very grave trials await the Church. What we have suffered so far is almost nothing compared to what is going to happen. The enemies of the Church are symbolized by the ships which strive their utmost to sink the flagship. Only two things can save us in such a grave hour: devotion to Mary and frequent Communion. Let us do our very best to use these two means and have others use them everywhere.”

Through the grace and strength of the Holy Eucharist and the assured intercession of Our Lady, the Church has and will withstand raging squalls and assaults of every type.  “Trust things to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and Mary, Help of Christians,” encourages St John Bosco, “and you will see what miracles are.”

From its inception, the Apostolate has held in its simple mission of beseeching sanctity for all bishops and priests, the encouragement of staying close to both the Eucharist and the Madonna.  It is built in! Our weekly prayer is ideally as near as can be to the Blessed Sacrament. (While in the current pandemic milieu this is not possible for all right now, but please keep fidelity to prayer, even in your domestic oratories.  Return to the Chapels and Tabernacles when you are able).  Within that offered Hour we intentionally seek prayer for the recipient bishop/priest for a greater devotion to Mary.  Don Bosco is worth repeating: “these two things… can save us in such a grave hour.”

As Divine economy would have it, over and again, Seven Sisters tell me they too are growing in knowledge and love of both our Eucharistic Lord and Our Lady. As Seven Sisters we come to trust a growing inner fortification and peace of being near the Blessed Sacrament and Mary.  When we experience a hiatus from one or both we develop a longing that goes unsatisfied until remedied!  Like my son’s epiphany, like St John Bosco’s detailed dream… we desire to be harbored safely (or at least seeking this sweet spot) between trusted Love and Protection.  Please keep fidelity to your Hour.  “Where humble obedience reigns, grace will triumph” (St John Bosco).

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+
sevensistersapostolate@gmail.com

Let us TOGETHER continue to prepare a Birthday gift for Our Lord: 2020 active groups by 12/25/20

Prayer will make things clear as to who, when, where and how to encourage new groups!

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+
sevensistersapostolate@gmail.com

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+
sevensistersapostolate@gmail.com

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+
sevensistersapostolate@gmail.com

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+
sevensistersapostolate@gmail.com