July 15th is the patronal feast of both the Redemptoristine Nuns and Redemptorist Priests and Brothers (respectively the Order and Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer). It no longer has a place in the general calendar of the liturgical year but we are able to celebrate it as a solemnity since it is Proper to our spiritual family.
At Easter time we celebrate Redemption as an historical event. This feast puts before us the deep mystery of Redemption, its universal significance. It stresses those aspects of the Redemption which lie outside the scope of history, namely the love of the Father who gave us his Son, and the love of the Son, giving himself up in our place.
He has sent deliverance to his people
and established his covenant forever.
Antiphon, Evening Prayer I
Our Constitution and Statutes begin with a section taken directly from the original inspired Rule of the Order received by Venerable Maria Celeste Crostarosa, our foundress. It is a seminal text for us and is referred to as "The Design of the Father." This the Redemptoristine 'take' on the mystery of divine redemption.
From all eternity, by the virtue of a plan born of His mysterious and utterly
gratuitous love for us, God wishes to call us to live in communion with Him,
to give us His Spirit of love so that He might constantly live with us and in us.
So, when He judged that the time had come,
He sent into the world His only Son in whom He had had loved and chosen us
from the beginning, and predestined us to become His adopted children.
Through His life of complete humility, by his death on the cross,
by His glorious resurrection, Christ has saved us and set us free.
He has revealed to us the love of His Father and has made us able
to know Him and to respond to His love.
And it is through Him, glorified at the right hand of the Father, that we
receive the Consoling Spirit who gathers us together and helps us to live
in unity.
Having become truly children of the Father, through the Spirit, we receive
in the Son, life, holiness, truth, and all divine grace.
Constitution and Statutes of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer
Chapter 1, No. 3
1 comment:
Kate was very complimentary in her comment to the last post concerning contemplative prayer. Internet media seems to be the way of the future in communication. Unfortunately, technological skills do not come to monastic contemplate a pace with the developments. When I entered seven years ago I came with past word-processing and library automation skills and that was about it. Thanks to a wonderfully skilled woman who spent time in our community I learned a great - enough to give me the push to try to set up this blog on my own. No, we have not used the Internet as much as we could. It all takes times. The beginnings of our website are accessible with the Metropolitan Association of Contemplative Communities link on this blog. It is very much 'under construction' but a great beginning an will give your more information about our life.
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