Friday, March 9, 2012

IN MEMORY OF ME

Have you ever heard the strains of a song and been immediately transported back to the first time it moved you?   Where a certain event comes to mind or feeling envelopes you?  I wasn’t even born when Glenn Miller’s ‘Moonlight Serenade’ was written but I practically swoon when I hear those opening chords. 

EmmanuelHermitage.blogspot

In Ven. Maria Celeste’s life that ‘strain’ was being a “Viva Memoria,’ a Living Memory of Jesus.  She just didn’t remember Jesus, she experienced him in her inner most being.  And with that awareness of his intimate presence she was transformed into a living image of the Redeemer.  In all the moments of her life: the joys, the sorrows, the struggles, she strove to live by participation-union the life of the Redeemer doing all “In Memory of Me” who so loved her and the world he created. 

Being a Viva Memoria is akin to what happens in the Eucharist when we hear the words, ‘Do This in Memory of Me,’ where what is remembered becomes, in the very remembering, the actual Real Presence.   Likewise, when we live “In Memory of Me,” we carry on the loving, salvific plan of God by becoming, in our own time and place, a Christ for the world.

Remember your beginnings.  What ‘strains of song’ echo in your heart from when you first heard the call to live, “In Memory of Me?”


WE REMEMBER LITANY

We remember our first beginnings:  The 1987 Rosary Bible Group and
Sr. Mary Regina who used her gifts and talents to gather women
to the monastery to share our charism. 
Response: God in heaven be thanked.

We remember our first Associates: Loretta Murphy, Helen Walshe,
Marie Marshall, Kay Watzka, Betty Stevens, Marie Schmidt, Joan Duffy
and all the other women who shared our charism.             
Response: God in heaven be thanked.

We remember those who continue to live the Viva Memoria though they
have moved onward in life:  Nancy Romano, Cecilia Arboleda, Mary Vitti,
Joann Bernardo, Doreen Campbell, Gloria McCasland, Mary Quinn and all
others who graced this monastery.
Response: God in heaven be thanked.

We remember the Associates who have gone to their heavenly reward:
Kathleen Frase, Nancy Moffet, Beverly Tobasco and all our beloved family
and friends who lived “In Memory of Me.”
Response: God in heaven be thanked.

For all of our present day Associates who carry on God’s plan of
love and strive to be “Viva Memoria,” a Christ for others.
Response: God in heaven be thanked.

For the Redemptoristines Nuns in their new location, may they
attract new vocations and Associates to share the charism of the
Most Holy Redeemer.
Response: God in heaven be thanked.


ASSOCIATES, INC.

Setting sail
from the shore
can be frightening
and exciting.
We challenge
the future,
we rely
on the past


Marguerite Violanti

We have had
direction
from the best,
spiritual, practical,
sensible.
The sisters
who devote
their lives
to being
A Living Memory.

But, as all things
in life –
change happens-
the Sisters
will be gone

They are still
with us
in Spirit
and computer.
We must now
continue
and demonstrate
their good works.

© ee jeszeck  2/18/12

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