Go Against the Flow
Greetings to dearest Sisters in Christ! The stream of baptismal waters spilling across one’s brow just might be the first hint that the path in this new life goes against the flow. The serious Christian soon discovers that the life of righteousness truly runs counter to the life of the world. “Going against the flow” is not pursued for the sake of being different, a non-conformist. Rather, conformity to Christ is the path. Our whims and ideas do not govern, instead, love beckons, guides and serves as the fuel. For Christ’s love compels our hearts (2 Cor 5:14). When assented to, the individuals earnestly seeking conformity to Christ become marvelously distinct in that conformity!
Both written and oral traditions of the Faith have preserved testaments of magnanimous lives. This month, March 26, we celebrate our Apostolate patron, St Margaret Clitherow. During the mid-16th century priests were hunted and killed in England. Those associated with harboring them or trying to further the Catholic Faith were condemned to death. A convert, St Margaret refused to partake in Church of England services thus incurring regular, steep fines. Her unwavering love and zeal for the Eucharistic life and priests was central to her heart. She fearlessly arranged for secret Masses in her home, hid fugitive priests and catechized those attracted to the Faith. Discovered by authorities, she was condemned to death. On Good Friday of 1586 (Feast of the Annunciation that year also) she was stretched on the ground in cruciform shape, a sharp rock placed beneath her. A door was laid atop. Unbearable weights were added, one by one, crushing her to death. While her husband never converted to the Faith, her two sons, Henry and William, became priests and her daughter, Anne, a religious sister. Her last three breaths: “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu!” St Margaret Clitherow, pray for us!
Seven Sisters consistently pray in the sacred Presence of Our Eucharistic Lord, with the strongest of hopes, for a deeper conformity of Christ for the priests/bishops for whom they pledge to pray. The priest has sacramentally acquiesced to this radical cause “against the flow” on the day of Ordination. Christ’s love through our sacrifices of prayers supports and invigorates this interior, revolutionary, eternal holy order. Dominican priest, Fr Henri Lacordaire, offers insights into the counter-culture life of a priest in his familiar poem, Thou Art a Priest Forever:
To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures;
To be a member of each family, yet belonging to none;
To share all suffering; to penetrate all secrets; to heal all wounds;
To go from men to God to offer Him their prayers;
To return from God to men to bring pardon and hope;
To have a heart of fire for Charity and a heart of bronze for Chastity;
To teach and to pardon, console and bless always.
My God, what a life; and it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ!
Venerable Mother Claret de la Touche, in her book, The Sacred Heart and the Priesthood, conveys more insight into the in-this-world-but-not-of-it life of the priest: “God the Father sees in the priest the most perfect image of the Word Incarnate, a second ‘Jesus’ so like the first that he could be taken for Him. He sees him in a luminous mirror in which the virtues of His beloved Son are reflected. He hears the voice of Jesus in the voice of the priest. The Word sees in the priest a brother, a friend, a product of His heart, another self, by whom He continues all His works, and in whom His human life and His life of Priest and Victim is prolonged as it were through the centuries.” Against all odds and practicalities, the priest is called to win others, save others and be a partaker of the Gospel himself. All this as alter Christus. Such graces he must be afforded, for the world bears no guidance!
The priest’s witness is meant to stir, challenge and enlist hearts to likewise follow Christ in this counter-cultural way of love. The heart compasses of Seven Sisters seem set in this direction. We have tossed our cloaks to the ground to move, unencumbered, upon that narrow way. While last minute invitations, tiredness, forgetfulness, word of new clearance sales and a myriad of other temptations may present themselves to sway our commitment to a Holy Hour once a week, we are not deterred. We are familiar with this way that is not easy, that must be deaf to the call of the world, while keen to the call of commitment. Our “yes” means “yes”. The way of love motivates and impels.
It has been said that it is better to walk alone, than with a crowd going in the wrong direction. For Seven Sisters, it might be added that walking (and kneeling) with six others is a fortifying gift! And is it not in the generosity of our Lord to also bless us in united prayers with intercessors all over the world in our quest to call forth strength and sanctity for our shepherds!
When the sister of St Thomas Aquinas asked him how to become holy, he replied that it needed only one thing – a firm act of the will, for God would certainly supply the necessary grace. Let us be heartened that our firm acts of the will in prayer, albeit counter-cultural, will indeed be met with the necessary graces to persevere in those prayers destined for the fruit of sanctity. Nothing less!
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 (Howe)
+JMJ+
[email protected]
