At Sacred Hearts Congress: saints everywhere

By Priscilla A. Greear - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | At the III International Congress in Honor of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, some 5,000 participants heard faith testimonies from living saints and witnesses to the canonized, from the daughter of pro-life exemplar St. Gianna Milla to a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. Likewise, they embraced the message first proclaimed by St. John Paul II to “be not afraid to be the saints and apostles of the third millennium.”

The Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary sponsored the congress June 8-10 that featured a cornucopia of archbishops and other distinguished clergy and lay evangelists from across the Americas, Europe and Israel. They included the postulator of the cause of John Paul II, Msgr. Slawomir Oder, theology professor Mark Miraville of Franciscan University of Steubenville, and the mother of Blessed Chiara Luce, Maria Teresa Badano.

The congress also drew Catholics from across Florida and beyond, from the parish delegation from St. John Neumann Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to the 40 from Illinois State University’s Catholic center who were staying on another week to run a Pierced Hearts summer camp for migrant children.

Throughout the weekend, participants attended Masses and talks, praised God and savored the spiritual nutrients and moments of quietude before relics, including the incorrupt heart of Padre Pio brought by Franciscan Capuchin friars from Giovanni Rotondo in Italy. Some even went to confession after 40 years. All the while, 53 Pierced Heart sisters donning long brown habits with dangling rosary beads circulated throughout the conference hall, bookstore and adoration chapel, ensuring the spiritual flow of the weekend.

 

FOCUS ON SAINTS

Carolina Ballestas, of St. Agnes Church on Key Biscayne and the Apostles of the Pierced Heart lay association, said she liked the focus on saints and their example to trust in God and offer up one’s daily struggles and illnesses. “It’s a wonderful opportunity that gives you a lot of hope and that teaches you how to live your life with simple details and united with God. Every day of life you can become a saint. That is what they taught all of us.”

The weekend opened on the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart with a procession, led by a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, to the altar overflowing with white, yellow and red roses and snapdragons. Archbishop Thomas Wenski celebrated the opening Mass, where he called the Sacred Heart God’s love poured out for mankind in Christ and the heart of the Church.

Nurtured by this love, he invited Catholics to live it. “Authentic Christian life engages us in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy; authentic Christian life leads us to wash the feet of the brethren.”

Afterwards Mother Adela Galindo, foundress of the Miami-based Servants, spoke on the conference theme from St. John Paul II to “go out into the deep” as modern saints of the new millennium.

 

EUCHARIST IS GRATITUDE

Father Santiago Martin of Spain, founder of the Franciscans of Mari, said after his talk on the closing day that he was impressed by the devotion of the participants and the sisters’ expansive ministry. Having written 36 spiritual books and established the Franciscans of Mari, which is dedicated to spreading the spirituality of gratitude, Father Martin recapped his message on the Eucharist.

“The Eucharist shows us how much God loves us and we have to respond to the love of God with an attitude of gratitude, which is the meaning of the Eucharist, action of gratitude. This attitude of gratitude we have to turn it into works of gratitude and the works of gratitude show us the love of God and lead us to holiness,” he said.

George Pardo of Little Flower Church in Hollywood came with his wife, Elaine, as an early Father’s Day present for spiritual enrichment. He highlighted the compelling talk by the Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculee Ilibagiza, whose entire family was murdered except for one brother. She wrote the bestseller “Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.”

“She is helping others by her talk just to trust in the Lord and just to never give up and know that he is going to be with you,” George Pardo said.

His wife added, “She’s very authentic and sincere in her speaking and animated and joyful with all she’s been through. Her final message was that if I can forgive anyone can.”

Active in respect life ministry, the Pardos also listened attentively to Dr. Gianna Emanuela Mola. She spoke of how her mother, St. Gianna Molla, a pediatrician, refused an abortion and hysterectomy amid complications during her fourth pregnancy to allow her daughter to be born before she died.

“Just being in the presence of the daughter of a saint is incredible,” George Pardo said.

Julissa Callejas, a catechist at St. Martin de Porres Church in Homestead, said that she plans to share Ilibagiza’s story of faith, hope and charity with youth.

“I like teaching them there are people not just in Scripture but now today that are living proof that God is alive within us and the Church,” she said. Furthermore, “when you come to something here and see the young people expressing faith and they are involved and active, it gives you hope and injects you in your faith, like charging the battery of faith again.”

She also appreciated the vocational message by Father Juan Solana of the Legion of Christ, papal appointee for the Notre Dame of Jerusalem center in Israel and director of the Magdala Project, a center in Galilee to highlight the transformational ministry of Jesus.

His message, Callejas said, was “Don’t let the world tell you you’re not good enough if you are meant to be a mommy or meant to be a lady who goes to work. Don’t let the world tell you this is not what you’re meant to be because God has a plan for you and your life.”

 

CALLED TO HOLINESS

Grace Morrison came with her 14-year-old daughter, Sophia, and over 10 others from St. John Neumann Church in Gaithersburg, Md.

“We are all called to holiness, all called to be saints and apostles and all are called to our individual missions. It’s really to keep praying and asking God’s will so that each one of us can become a saint in these times,” she reflected. “Each one brought their own special message tied into that same theme of holiness and love for the Lord.”

Morrison said the congress encouraged her to continue her spiritual exercises of daily Mass and prayer. “It’s just the reminder of what a blessing that is and to take full advantage of Mass and frequent confession and adoration and then just a faithful prayer life. A running theme over and over was the power of the rosary,” she said. “It was a very special mother-daughter time so we felt blessed to sit side by side through this.”

The Pierced Hearts’ vicar general, Sister Ana Margarita Lanzas, said afterwards that the congress edified and inspired both participants and speakers.

“They all left renewed in their faith with a lot of hope and eager to become saints,” she said of their positive feedback. “The speakers, they were the mother of a saint, daughter of a saint, parents of saints. It’s regular people who just take their faith seriously and live it to the fullest — and that is to be a saint.”