Dear friends, we are continuing our monthly articles that celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of our community. This time we wish to talk about an important aspect of our mission, that is our spiritual motherhood towards priests and seminarians. As our Rule reminds us, following Our Lady’s example as Mother of the Church, the Missionaries of Divine Revelation have an ardent zeal for souls in our hearts such that urges us on to offer our daily lives and prayers for sanctification of the priesthood (cfr. Rule of Life, n. 4).
We live this aspect of our lives in an almost concealed way, hidden from the eyes of the world, as we know that He who called us to consecration sees what we do out of love for Him and transforms that offering for the good of the whole Church. Therefore, everything we do, as an offering to God, has a much greater value than it seems. It is an immense joy to know that a simple gesture such as cleaning, washing, ironing, studying and, above all, praying, when done in obedience and in union with the Heart of Jesus, becomes strength and consolation for our brothers. They are the ministers of the Word and of the Altar who toil every day in parishes, rectories, seminaries, chaplaincies and as missionaries in foreign lands. These brothers of ours who, like us, want to bring the love and beauty of God to the world need to be supported spiritually in their great work. In a certain sense, not only do we consider them ‘Fathers’ but also our spiritual ‘Sons’ who need our spiritual support.
Since we sisters are also women, many people often ask if we lack the experience of motherhood. It may seem strange but we can say that our femininity and maternal desires do not change when one becomes a spouse of Christ. Instead, all things are sublimated to Him and over time our union with Jesus generates spiritual children who we hold in our hearts. In fact, we are graced with so many spiritual children that our roles as mothers always seems to be fulfilled. Indeed, we are very grateful to the Lord for this gift of spiritual maternity that cannot be explained by human reason alone.
We live out spiritual maternity within our community life because we offer our days of work and prayer, that start before the sun rises, for the Priests and the Church. Each day when we recite the Holy Rosary, we include the intention for the Priests who have requested our prayers and every Thursday, as a community, we also offer the Eucharistic adoration for them. Furthermore, on Fridays, the Blessed Sacrament is Adored throughout the day and here we offer the intention for the sanctification of the Priesthood and the Religious life. Finally, during our daily time of Adoration, each missionary is called to remember the Priests during her intimate dialogue with the Lord and to intercede with the Lord by asking for them the individual graces that they need to carry out their mission in the Church.
Furthermore, because of our apostolate and mission in Italy and throughout the world, we have the grace of knowing many priests directly and so we can experience the beauty of that friendship described by St. Francis de Sales in his Introduction to the devout life: "It is a blessed thing to love on earth as we hope to love in Heaven, and to begin that friendship here which is to endure for ever there." (The Introduction to a Devout Life, III, 19).
We invite everyone to always pray for priests and seminarians because without them we would not be able to receive the sacraments that sustain us on our pilgrimage to Heaven. We pray that the Lord will send holy Priests to adorn His Church and to yield a bountiful harvest.
God bless us
And the Virgin protect us