Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ in this joy-filled Eastertide …

What a grace-laden Holy Week and Triddum!  Truly, truly it will take all these 50 days of celebration to continue to allow such an extravagance of blessings to penetrate, and to adequately express our gratitude for the unending mercy and love of God.  Alleluia!

The silence within Holy Thursday last week brought me to a grace-into-gratitude moment.  I recalled my time, years ago, as a nurse for the Good Shepherd Sisters. A rotation of priests offered daily Mass.  One priest came infrequently, but when he did, it was bittersweet.  While reverent in his Mass offering, the homilies at times leaned heavy toward political themes.  And with views I did not share.

Arrangements were made one summer morning to paint the Chapel.  The smaller, nearby Community room became a temporary Chapel.   That day, the aforementioned priest arrived to serve. The Sisters made their way like happy bees to the honey hive for their communal prayers before Mass. I finished a phone call and scurried to Chapel to discover no spare seats – or inches. Sr Valerie smiled, pushed her walker toward me, motioning me to sit.  My spot atop the walker seat was in the threshold of the door, next to the altar, which was facing the wall, immediately inside the door.  So uniquely close to the altar, a softening of heart during the Consecration came about. A peace seemed to fill every void… But it was at the reception of Communion that an even greater grace presented.  When Father held the host for my consumption, my newly tenderized heart sensed a message, “I have chosen him.”  

The statement brought an intense realization that God chooses each man for His priesthood – even this one that I was not especially akin to. My place is not one of cringing at His choices nor dwelling on imperfections. Through tears, I asked God for forgiveness.  That moment, I lived what St John Chrysostom stated, “He that honors the Priest, will honor God also; and he who has learned to despise the Priest, will in process of time insult God.” 

Last week recalling that moment, I responded in a swell of gratitude that God brought that conversion of heart through His heart. Perhaps at that moment, entwined with the intimacy of the Sacrament of Unity, sitting in that physical threshold, a new unseen threshold presented itself to open ways toward the Seven Sisters Apostolate.

An enduring first fruit of the Apostolate continues.  It is a beautiful maturing of heart for each Seven Sister intercessor: a deeper, rightly ordered understanding and embracing of the dignity of the priesthood. “You are clothed with His Royal Priesthood, and your own priesthood is but one with His, and you are but one priest with the Sovereign Priest.  You are Jesus Christ living and walking on earth. You represent His Person, you hold His Place” (St John Eudes).

Over and again Seven Sisters are compelled to tell of their conversion toward deeper understanding, a deeper love. They come close to what St John Vianney articulated, “If I were to meet a priest and an Angel, I should salute the priest first before I saluted the Angel.  The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place… When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest.”

Likewise, this heart of St Leonard of Port Maurice is understood, “What tongue, human or angelic, may ever describe a power so immeasurable as that exercised by the simplest priest at Mass? Who could ever have imagined that the voice of man which by nature hath not the power even to raise a straw from the ground, should obtain through grace a power so stupendous as to bring from Heaven to earth the Son of God?”  

What a privileged call we hold to pray for our priests and bishops.  What a journey of heart we assent to!  It is not always simple, straightforward nor burden-free. St John Chrysostom (quoted above) also stated, “The road to hell is paved with the bones of priests and monks, and the skulls of bishops are the lamp posts that light the path.” We must take up arms – the arms and hands and knees of prayer interceding for perseverance, fortitude, wisdom and holiness of every priest and bishop.

May we come alongside Our Madonna, Our Lady, and gain her assistance, her insight, her tenacity in hope and in prayer.  As Fr Paul Philippe, OP, reflects, “For Mary, a priest is always a priest, a living image of her Son, and if that image is disfigured by sin, she only has a more ardent desire to give him back that resemblance to Christ, for she sees him as God sees him and with the very sight of God.” 

Let us trust and pray and ne’er lose heart!  Amen!  Alleluia!

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….  Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Mother Teresa)

…your kind emails and notes and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU!  Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+

651-484-3404 (h)
651-283-0929 (c)
[email protected]

Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ in this sacred Lenten season…

When our daughter ventured into mischief in those early formative years, one recurrent response from her father and I was, “That’s not very becoming of a young lady.” In truth, if she repeatedly tread on a less-than-desirable path, it might later be easier for her to venture off that destined highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8) toward becoming what God has designed her to be.  As present-day Catholic speaker, Matthew Kelly, phrases it, “Becoming the best version of yourself.”

Our bountiful sacramental life as Catholics is perfectly designed to succour us in our earthly pilgrimage.  Yet our benevolent God deigned it fit to further support us through a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on (Heb 12:1).  Like our parents in our homes having done the same for our benefit, we have brothers and sisters in the heaven lies offering sublime encouragement. They remind us through the real and raw examples of their lives to stay the course and finish well – to become a saint (2 Timothy 4:7). And they pray for us to do just that too! There is help all around!  For each of us, for the priests and bishops for whom we pray!

God has spoiled us with the gift of three patrons to cheer us on as Seven Sisters and to aid us in our prayer offerings: Madonna of the Grapes, St John Vianney and St Margaret Clitherow – whose feast day we celebrate this month. 

March 26th is the day the Church assigns to honor St Margaret. She was actually put to death the day before. Not only was it March 25th- the date that the Feast of the Annunciation is normally celebrated, but in the year that she died, 1586, this date was also Good Friday. She followed in her dear Savior’s footsteps so closely that she died in a cruciform position, her hands and arms outstretched, staked to the street. The martyr was crushed to death by several hundred pounds of weights laid atop a door which rested upon her. It was reported that she was also four months pregnant. Her crime: arranging for Masses to be celebrated in secret and harboring priests, who were at the time hunted and killed.  Catholics who assisted them were charged with committing treason against England and condemned to death. St Margaret’s unwavering and bold witness likely bolstered her children’s understanding of their own call. Her two sons became priests, her daughter a religious sister.

Click here: A Good Friday Saint: Margaret Clitherow, the Pearl of York

The current Guidelines of the Apostolate is shy of some significant details related to our dear patron, St Margaret Clitherow.  This month’s Communiqué highlighting her feast day is a perfect opportunity to bring them to light.  When Fr Johnson asked for a summary of the history of those early months I was a bit vague on the time frame.  I was simply praying weekly for Father as one, with no thoughts of anyone joining me or anything as colossal as Seven Sisters to be a reality. I had firmly connected the Holy Hour when the inspiration was received, however, with a Curatio (Health Care Apostolate) retreat that I attended that next day.  I initially thought it was in the Fall of 2010 (the season this group traditionally had their annual retreat).

As the Seven Sisters Apostolate began to swell in numbers, Father asked me to provide the exact day of the inspiration: “Dates are important to the Church.”  After contacting the Curatio coordinator, I startlingly learned that the retreat was in the Spring of 2011 not the Fall of 2010.  Surprise turned to great joy in discovering that the date was Thursday, March 24, the traditional Feast of St Gabriel.

Two days later that year, during a Holy Hour at the retreat I attended, more regarding the structure of the Apostolate unfolded.  The date: Saturday, March 26 – Feast of St Margaret Clitherow!  Her love and esteem of priests and the Holy Eucharist found a home.  She was with the Apostolate from its inception – so hidden, so humble, so one-of-us, in quietness and trust – a prototypical Seven Sister in every way!

May I heartily encourage you to get to know this saintly sister in Christ who in a sense chose us before we chose her.  Learn her story.  Embrace her as a patron of the Apostolate.  Solicit her assistance in your prayers.  Follow her example in her heroically generous love of the Eucharist and of priests, no matter the cost.  Likely most of us will not be called to the martyrdom that St Margaret Clitherow was assigned.  Nonetheless, no matter the scale, our sacrifices have worth and our prayers have merit.  Our commitments hold weight in the divine economy.

Let us keep St Margaret Clitherow especially busy in this month of March: meeting us, loving us, assisting us, guiding us, praying alongside us to call forth all that God desires of the priest/bishop to become … in His image, in persona Christi.  Yes, that he may be the best version of himself. 

Let the extravagance of grace continue to affect our hearts – to discover and love the saints both in heaven and those-in-the-making for whom we pray on earth!

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….  Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Mother Teresa)

…your kind emails and notes and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! 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…

In June of 2014 my husband and I reunited with our son, Fr Spencer, then living in Rome, in Ireland.  Day two held a full agenda heading out of Dublin: a late afternoon Ordination Mass and a stop-on-the way at Silverstream Priory in County Meath.  The Prior, Dom Mark Kirby, is a monk whose blog, Vultus Christi, I follow and to whom I had previously spoken regarding prayer for priests.  I was over-the-moon excited to meet him. Our first words were those of Morning Prayer with his community, then silently, seamlessly, we entered into holy Mass. All-too-suddenly this joyful serenity was shaken, however, when Dom Mark, with great animation, vociferously challenged us in his homily to “never miss” the Introit of the Mass.  It is “the key, the key, the key” to unlock the understanding of the themes of the Mass ahead.

The introit? That fragment of a psalm sung a’cappella as the cross-bearer, acolytes, lectors and priest process toward the sanctuary? I hardly noticed.  After soaking in the beauty of the musical score, my appreciation generally vanished. Dom Mark assured that paying attention to the message of this sliver of Scripture was indeed the all important “key” to opening one’s heart to remain attentive to what was ahead in the holy Mass. “Open the door… enter and enter deeper still”, he irresistibly encouraged.

As Seven Sisters we might overlook “the key” that opens our hearts to the beauty of God’s call as intercessors serving our priests in Holy Hours of prayer.  While in the summer of 2010 I indeed prayed that first Hour exclusively for Fr Joseph Johnson which lead to another and another, both the idea and desire to offer Holy Hours I attribute to God. In responding, this likely perfectly poised me to be in His Eucharistic Presence and months later attentive and open to the concept of Seven Sisters.  Ven Fulton Sheen, who is said to have offered a Holy Hour every day of his priestly life, states: “All my sermons are prepared in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. … The most brilliant ideas come from meeting God face to face. The Holy Spirit… is the best atmosphere of illumination.” 

Drawing from Dom Mark’s perspective, likely God’s inspiration (His beginning, His introit) for the Apostolate is “the key” to the Apostolate… the prayer practice which brings us most deeply into God’s plans for calling us into His work and for moving it forward.  Perhaps He needs us to be in the rays of the Blessed Sacrament for both the sake of the priest and for our own sake. St Teresa of Calcutta experienced the multi-layered benefits of being in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. “I make a Holy Hour each day in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  All my sisters of the Missionaries of Charity make a daily Holy Hour as well, because we find that through our daily Holy Hour our love for Jesus becomes more intimate, our love for each other more understanding, and our love for the poor more compassionate. … No where on earth are you more welcomed, no where on earth are you more loved, than by Jesus, living and truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the best time that you will spend on earth.  Each moment that you spend with Jesus will deepen your union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven, and will help bring an everlasting peace on earth.” 

Two comments from Seven Sisters: (1) “I am hoping Father is benefiting from these Holy Hours, because I feel as if I am reaping all the graces… At first the prayer was difficult to stay focused, but now there is little of that and the day of the week doesn’t seem to come quick enough. I love this – thank you! I hope it never stops spreading.  Every priest – and every woman – needs this Apostolate!”

(2) “This is hard to admit, but this was the first Holy Hour I ever finished in my life. I had a mission and now I realize I was part of that mission of God.  He is teaching me so much in these Hours and our priest has expressed  gratitude over and over.”

Some Seven Sisters have asked if a Mass can be offered in the stead of a Holy Hour. My answer, “While a Mass is indeed the highest form of prayer, the inspiration for the Apostolate is the offering of Holy Hours. We do well to stay close to this inspiration.”Can a Seven Sister arrange to have a Mass offered for a priest? or offer the benefits of her Communion for the priest for whom she prays? Of course, and with great merit to the priest, no doubt.  Her commitment as a Seven Sister, however, is fulfilled by the offering of one Holy Hour each week for the priest for whom she is committed to pray.  Anything additional is from her own discretion and generosity.

The Seven Sister is always linked to the Mass.  There is no consecrated Host for the monstrance without the prayers of holy Mass. Perhaps the priest that confected the Host, held in the embrace of the monstrance she kneels before, is the one for whom the Seven Sister prays. What a tender joy and personal connection for her! Our Scriptures remind that we profess a faith of one baptism, one body, one bread. Wherever a Seven Sister may be adoring, there is a link, a meeting as it were of all the other intercessors. We meet at the altar – whether for holy Mass or holy Adoration. And thus a vital part of  the Apostolate identity is one heart of prayer.  This unity hearkens to the reflective Eucharistic heart of St Augustine:  “O sacrament of piety! O sign of unity! O bond of charity! He who wishes to live has a place to live, has whence to live. Let him come close, let him believe; let him be embodied, that he may be revived in life.”

With that said, when there is no Adoration Chapel near by, offering one’s Hour in front of a tabernacle is encouraged and acceptable.  Ven Fulton J Sheen offers a solution that has worked for Seven Sister members.  In his book, Those Mysterious Priests,Ven Fulton J Sheen states, “If .. a part of the Hour were made before Mass and the rest of it after Mass, that would still be continuous.”  The Mass does not interrupt a Holy Hour.  This is a beautiful way of keeping faithful to the Hour if a Seven Sister resides in an area where there may not be Adoration Chapels nearby and/or parishes are not kept open during other parts of the day outside of Mass times.

What about the woman sensing a call to pray for priests in this way, but home bound – either permanently or temporarily?  There may be Chapels/parishes nearby, but factors restrict her ability to get to one.  The Apostolate respects the heart call for each woman to be involved in the Apostolate.  The Anchoress of a group is encouraged to prayerfully discern each situation individually.  If it is deemed that an intercessor will be faithful to the offering of an hour of prayer from her home/residence, then so be it.  Some women in this situation have made it a goal to try to get to a Chapel once a month as an extra sacrifice.  Every sacrifice has worth…

We have been called into a rich and rewarding milieu – the very Heart of Jesus – in which to intercede for our brothers in Christ, who are also our shepherds.   This call to offer Holy Hours seamlessly for bishops and priests is brilliant.  It is the idea of Brilliance Himself. We are beckoned to have audience with the One for whom we beseech graces for another. Blessed are the ears that catch the secret whisperings of Jesus (Thomas a Kempis). In the economy of the Divine, we too are recipients of the lavish of graces.

St Elizabeth Ann Seton, a convert, received great solace by bringing her sorrows to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and speaking heart to heart with Him there: “How sweet, the presence of Jesus to the longing and harassed soul! He is instant peace and balm to every wound.”  As we carry the weariness and wounds of the priests for whom we are committed to pray, let us implore this same solace for them.

The long-anticipated meeting of Dom Mark in the summer of 2014 was a highlight of that trip abroad because “a key” helped open my heart and sight to something always there, but never noticed.  Recently a book has been published entitled, In Sinu Jesu.   When Heart speaks to Heart. The Journal of a Priest at Prayer written by a Benedictine Monk.  Dom Mark is that monk. He shares insights into the unique power of Eucharistic adoration and the homage of silence. Listening closely one might hear him encourage, “Open the door… enter and enter deeper still.”  It is “the key”…

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….  Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Mother Teresa)

…your kind emails and notes and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU!  Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+
[email protected]

Epiphany greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ…

Am trusting that Advent served you to prepare for a Christmastide that was amply filled with all things good, true and beautiful! And if challenges were threaded through the days, we have a pledge that our benevolent Lord will work all things for good. Heartfelt prayers for a Blessed and Prosperous New Year in the Lord for each of you. Truly, truly, the best is yet to be! Grace upon grace…

My commitment as a Lay Missionary of Charity involves a concentrated prayer discipline. Along with Mass and other prayers, each day includes a Litany.  On Tuesday it is the Litany of Humility. In those early weeks (2007) into months as an LMC, I dreaded this Litany.  I often skipped it. One day I confessed to a locally-assigned Missionary of Charity Sister about my troubles in praying what I sensed I did not understand – and further, did not really desire.  Sr Lucinta smiled and offered a sincere and penetrating look, it seemed, into my soul. She took my hand and added, “Don’t worry, I will pray this litany for you every Tuesday for two years, then you will come to know it.” Deal!

In the ensuing months, fruits of the Litany painfully presented themselves to me, causing me to ask Sister to ease up on the regularity of prayer.  While I was sensing the opportunities to grow in this virtue, the wellspring of all virtues, I also sensed I was squandering the graces and all-too-often living in opposition to humility. Her ready response: a smile.  For her, a deal is a deal.  A hope is the strongest of hopes.

Today I pray the Litany of Humility on Tuesdays. Some weeks it remains acutely and tenderly demanding. With that said, I am comforted that I have grown in the graces to pray it, albeit infrequently live it. Nonetheless, gratitude endures for Sr Lucinta’s generosity, foresight and wisdom in partnership in prayer ten plus years ago…

William Ullathorne in his classic The little book of humility and patience (1908) – (later resurrected by Sophia Press as Patience and Humility) – pens, “When humility finds nothing in itself to rest upon, it finds its true center, and that center is God.” Our Lady’s example is perfect in this.  She is that empty vessel, allowing the fill-to-the-brim-and-more of God Himself.  Mary is full of grace!  Ullathorne concurs, “He who is truly humble, truly empty of himself, is a vessel of election to God, full to overflowing with His benedictions. He has only to ask to receive still more. He is the child of all the Beatitudes: poor in spirit, meek of heart, and hungering and thirsting for justice.”  

This orientation is surely something I readily recognize in Our Blessed Mother, likewise recognized in Sr Lucinta and similarly recognize in so many Seven Sisters! It seems that Dutchman Jacob Maris, aptly captures through paint stroke this heart of a Seven Sister in his work,Girl seated outside a house.  A Seven Sister intercessor, like this reflective girl in the painting,  knows the value and necessity of emptying herself in anticipation of God’s assistance, His filling, for her Holy Hour. She heartily cherishes a serious recollection both before and after her prayer.  It is inherent in the offering.  She does not tire nor depart from its discipline. One can almost imagine the purposed divine rays of the tabernacle in the far off church affecting the heart of this young and open one. And so the same for a Seven Sister…. giving and receiving, receiving and giving.

Our Faith affords us innumerable opportunities of growth in humility.  Our duty to prayer is foremost.  We confront ourselves as we really are.  We learn our littleness, our nothingness in the Light of Christ, and at the same while, our belovedness in that same Light.  Both realizations grow our humility! Our sacramental life so too cultivates humility: dipping our fingers in the waters of Baptism, signing ourselves, bending the knee to our King, soliciting the aid of the Saints in our intercessions, believing that our Savior has humbled Himself to the extent of Bread placed upon our tongues, adoring that same Jesus Hostia in tiny chapels of our churches.  The world shakes its head in pity for such foolishness.  While our bodies remain on the earth (the humus – root word of humility), our spirits take heavenly flight in these seemingly petit acts to accept the fruits of our labors of love and joy – accepting a greater reality of humility, that which was exemplified by our Lord Himself, meek and humble of heart.   

“Humility is the mother of all virtues: purity, charity and obedience.  It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent.  If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you are blamed you will not be discouraged.  If they call you a saint you will not put yourself on a pedestal.” – St Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Embracing our mission as Seven Sisters to pray for the sanctity of priests assuredly enrolls us in the school of humility. We rely on both the direction of the Holy Spirit for our prayer offerings and for their answers.  If led in your prayer times to do so: consider to pray for humility for both the priest or bishop for whom you are committed to pray – and for yourself.  Our growth in virtue, and this (humility) the wellspring of all virtue, is a struggle against our frailty, but St Paul reminds us that there is triumph over weakness in Christ (II Cor2:14). Here is the Litany of Humility mentioned earlier, composed by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), Secretary of State for Pope St Pius X:

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled …
From the desire of being honored …
From the desire of being praised …
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted …
From the desire of being approved …
From the fear of being humiliated …
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes …
From the fear of being calumniated …
From the fear of being forgotten …
From the fear of being ridiculed …
From the fear of being wronged …
From the fear of being suspected …

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I …
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease …
That others may be chosen and I set aside …
That others may be praised and I unnoticed …
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

I have Holy Cards of this Litany that I will happily send FREE to anyone who sends me a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope).

My address: Janette Howe, 43 Nord Circle Road, St Paul, MN 55127

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….  Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Mother Teresa)

…your kind emails and notes and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU!  Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+

Advent greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ…

In these shared December days, the world frenetically prepares for an event or at best, a nebulous season whose definition is up for grabs.  As Catholics we utilize our Advent hours to prepare, not for an event, but for a Person.  We fittingly and happily remind each other of the immense gift of relationship with that One brought into our midst – our Emmanuel, God with us.  He is that One Who emptied Himself to make right both the course of history and of our hearts.  He is that One Who firmly sets our feet upon the holy highway, designed for those with a journey to make (Isaiah 35: 8,9).  He is that One Who defines our life, our mission, our purpose.  He is that One.

Several years ago I attended a talk entitled, “Handfuls of History.”  Offering persuasive examples, the speaker proposed that the course of history was/is changed not by scores of people, but rather by individuals – by a few, mere handfuls.  Our Faith tradition supports this notion. Our life eternal springs from our life in the one Christ.  While desiring unity among us, He nonetheless seeks each individually. The work of the heart is done not en masse, but one-by-one.

We recall that Christ’s inner circle of Apostles were beckoned individually by a glance of the eye and a call. When complete, they numbered only twelve. Later Jesus sent out His followers on mission: two-by-two.  A group for this Apostolate becomes ‘official’ with merely a circle of seven praying for one. “Never worry about numbers.   Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you” (St Teresa of Calcutta). There is an intimacy in smallness that heavenly ways seems to prefer and Seven Sisters finds benefit in embracing.

Our hearts find strength and verve in this way too. How we delight to look to and discover anew courageous and generous Saintly individuals that one-by-one find their place among the great cloud of witnesses cheering us on.  These relationships bless us to be a blessing.  We too are summoned and sent forth on parallel mission to our holy predecessors, to be a compelling example and sympathetic influence, helping to draw others onto that great holy highway.

Over and again Seven Sister intercessors bear witness and words to a distinctive God-given call to join these prayer endeavors.  These small handfuls of faithful, individual intercessors carry the potential to edify the course of history in their little corner of the world.  We are each with a dynamic part in the unfolding of history.  There is a power of one.

As a Seven Sister, your one hour for one priest each week hearkens to that pebble tossed in a still lake. While the concentric ripples display a seemingly obvious response to the pebble’s initial impact on the lake’s surface, the reality is that the ripples are actually formed from the impact of the displaced water underneath!  What is seen outwardly from your Holy Hours has its origins in the fertile, hidden and deep silence of the Adoration Chapel. Your sacrifices of prayer have worth beyond measure.

Based on the 2015 findings of CARA (Georgetown U based – Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate),one priest (on average)distributes Communion 27,000 times a year, baptizes 21 babies, offers the sacrament of reconciliation 352 times a year, presides at Holy Mass 468 times a year, anoints the sick 10 times a year and presides over 4 marriages per year.  On average that one priest will serve approximately 50 years, swelling these figures to nearly 1.4 million acts of God’s sacramental love offered by a single priest. Oh, and lest we forget… nothing has yet been mentioned regarding countless works of mercy, prayers, hospital visits, street evangelization, spiritual counseling, mentoring of marriages/consecrated vocations and simple acts of daily kindnesses and example. Indeed, the power of one looms more real than a simple, stark cliche. The winds of the Holy Spirit blow where they may… 

As we continue in our Advent season preparation to know, love and serve more fully and deeply Our-Lord-come-among-us, we do well to heed the counsel of St Peter Julian Eymard as we pray the same preparation for the priests and bishops to whom we are committed to pray:  “Have confidence in prayer.  It is the unfailing power which God has given us.  By means of it, you will obtain the salvation of the dear souls whom God has given you and all your loved ones. ‘Ask and you shall receive,’ Our Lord said.  Be yourself with the good Lord.” 

Yes, let us be the onethe Lord has called us to be – faithful to respond in love and generosity to the holy endeavors He has called us to share in this Apostolate!  Despite our seemingly small hour coupled with our seemingly small group, this is no small matter! The soul for whom you pray has the potential, as yours, to positively influence the course of history.

Blessed and holy Advent and Christmas seasons to you and your loved ones.

Dive deep, climb high! “Be yourself with the good Lord.” He is that One!

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….  Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Mother Teresa)

…your kind emails and notes and generous support always arrive to my heart door at the right moment! Eternal gratitude is mine for YOU!  Be assured of my continued daily prayers for you at the altar.

Janette
+JMJ+

Greetings dearest Sisters in Christ…

My desktop had a mandatory update on Nov 1st and, while it came with firm assurance that ‘nothing would be lost’, several addresses and files were arbitrarily dropped and the ability to add a background pattern to my emails vanished. Argh! In the meanwhile, as the November chill creeps into St Paul, my home is warm and, even better, my husband steadfastly stays by my side despite my narrowness of heart, at times.  Bearing fresh perspective, this gratitude happily wins, hearkening to my father’s reminders in my formative years that  gratitude turns what you have into enough.

Just as recent circumstances blind-sided me from noticing a more blessed place of reality, so too as we offer our weekly Holy Hours as Seven Sisters, a very real treasure therein may be overlooked. In the blur of the practical sacrifices to get to our prayer times and in the real work of an intense focus of our intercessory prayers, it may remain unnoticed.  It involves gratitude for the fullness of the call we have as intercessors.  While we likely embrace and even, at times, sense the privilege of our prayer efforts for priests, there is something equally beautiful underlying our efforts that we may not as readily sense.

Our principle charge is to pray for the needs and the sanctity of a priest, but we do well to remember that our own holiness is in the equation too.  This is beyond the good feelings of accomplishing what we committed to do. In fact, we may not bear any feelings regarding this aspect of our Seven Sister prayer offering.  Consider this:  “Holiness is produced in us by the will of God and our acceptance of it, says de Caussade (Abandonment to Divine Providence). “…with childlike willingness, accept all that God presents… What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us. … Without Him everything is nothing, and with Him nothing is everything.  We may meditate, indulge in contemplation, pray aloud, practice interior silence…and though they may all be valuable, there is nothing better for us than to do what God wants at any particular moment.” 

Even the desire to be a part of this Apostolate had its genesis in God.  We cannot claim the desire. He both fore-ordained and instilled it.  He called each one of us to respond (or not) to it – not only in the beginning, but He beckons us forth each week.  We live in the Hands of God.  Our Faith allows us to see Our Lord continually drawing us into a cooperation with His grace.  Like St John we can say at any moment, “It is the Lord!” and like St Peter we can respond to “spring into the sea” (John 21:7).

While our motivating factor as a Seven Sister is most certainly not “what will I get out of this”, there is both a sweet and fiery reality that as we remain faithful to our commitment to the weekly prayers (and for as long as God calls us to do this),  we are indeed growing in holiness.  Every God-given call on our lives supports the universal call to holiness and supports His plans to prosper us. Divine economy builds this in.  “In reality, holiness consists of one thing: complete loyalty to God’s will… Perfection is neither more nor less than the soul’s faithful cooperation with God…Our only satisfaction must be to live in the present moment as if there were nothing to expect beyond it” (de Caussade).

My prayers as of late have been that each of us will intensify the love in our prayer offerings, and embrace the graces to savor all of the moments  of the Holy Hours we offer – on every level, felt or unfelt.  In faith, we do not waver from the belief that He lavishes His graces (Eph 1:6-8, 18, 2:7, 3:8).  “A secret working of the divine wisdom is to pour treasure into the heart whilst impoverishing the sense, so that the one overflows whilst the other is drained and emptied” (de Caussade).  He protects us from knowing the workings of His graces, but our joyful witness cannot keep hidden the reality of His hidden work in our hearts alongside His hidden work in the hearts of the priests for whom we pray.  “So, dear souls, let us love, for love will give us everything.  It gives us holiness and all that accompanies it. It is all around us and flows into every receptive heart. O what a thing is this holy seed which ripens into eternal life! We cannot praise it enough… we must be active in all that the present moment demands of us” (de Caussade).

Let us embrace the moments of our Holy Hours! – for the benefit of the priest and for our benefit!

Grace upon grace, gratitude upon gratitude… we indeed live the richest life!

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….  Pray that I will not ‘spoil the beautiful work that God has entrusted…’  (St Mother Teresa)  And one more thought from Pooh:  “We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?” asked Piglet.  “Even longer,” Pooh answered.

Janette

+JMJ+

SEVEN SISTERS – in and out and about:  

SPANISH translation of Communique:  This is generously done every month by Zahyra B, Anchoress for a Seven Sisters group in Venezuela.  They are then posted (and archived) on the Website.  If it is easier to receive through an email account, please let me know.  Zahyra made an ‘appearance’ via mini-video at the St Paul-Mpls Archdiocesan Time of Recollection on Nov 4.  She is JOY personified!

REMEMBRANCE of those SEVEN SISTERS who have PASSED:  We want to remember those Seven Sisters in name and in prayer, who have gone before us to their eternal rest. Visit the Web site. Click on ABOUT folder and scroll to bottom, choose: IN REMEMBRANCE.  Follow prompts… OR you may submit info via the Website email or to my email address. 

Heartfelt and continued GRATITUDE: 

• Gratitude for invitation to speak at the Oct 10 CCW Deanery workshop (Brainerd, MN
• Gratitude for invitation to speak at the Oct 28 Women’s Conference (Mankato, MN) 
• Gratitude to Janela H for hosting informationals in Rochester, MN, on Priesthood Sunday (Oct 29).
• Gratitude to All Saints (Lakeville, MN) Seven Sisters groups for organizing a most memorable and grace-filled Archdiocesan time of Reflection (and gratitude to the 400 who registered) on Nov 4.
• Gratitude to artist, Mary D (MN) for agreeing to commissioned work (painting) of our Patrons
• Gratitude to artist, Annie W (MN) for inspiration to fashion a banner of the Apostolate patrons
• Gratitude to Doreen P who is the newly assigned St Paul-Mpls Archdiocesan Coordinator and will help form and lead a team of Seven Sisters members to pray for and look to forming groups for priests currently not covered in this type of prayer.  If interested, indicate through Web site email.

Thou that hast given so much to me, 
Give one thing more, a grateful heart.
Not thankful when it pleaseth me;
As if Thy blessings had spare days:
But such a heart, whose pulse may be Thy praise.
-George Herbert (1593-1633)

AHEAD on the calendar:

• Nov 17: Fr Johnson and Janette: Regional/District Serra Club retreat/meeting  (MN/Dakotas)
• Serra Club (MN): 01/12/18
• Lorrie E will staff an informational booth at the Beauty in Christ Women’s Conference in Cedar Rapids, IA, on January 27, 2018 (8 am – 3 pm) 
• EWTN spot  (TBD)
• Day of Recollection: Iowa. Spring of 2018.  Theme: Getting to Know our Patrons
• Gatherings in North Dakota, Georgia, Nebraska, Florida remain in the prayer/discernment stage.

RAISING AWARENESS: Let us together remain open to starting groups for priests that are perhaps less visible (those not in a traditional parish setting).  Examples: Hospital Chaplains, Military Chaplains, Monasteries, Professors in Universities, School Chaplains, Retirement Home Chaplains, Canon Lawyers, priests serving in Seminaries, Chanceries,  Exorcists, and Retired priests. If you sense a call to this Apostolate, there is a priest or bishop who needs your prayers!