El tesoro de la vida religiosa
Monday, June 14, 2010
*Sr Silvia Maria,SCTJM
El alma consagrada a Cristo es llamada a la unión nupcial con el Esposo Divino. Este llamado a la intimidad profunda es el tesoro supremo de la vida religiosa.
¿A qué se parece esta unión? Al reflexionar en la comunión profunda entre el Padre y el Hijo, se nos ofrece una mirada a lo que puede ser dicha unión. Al imitar la entrega absoluta de Cristo a nuestro Padre celestial, podemos aprender a entregarnos con totalidad a nuestro Señor, y que este modelo elocuente nos inspire a alcanzar una intimidad profunda con nuestro Esposo Divino.
A través de Su vida en la tierra, vemos la profunda comunión del corazón de Jesús con Su Padre, al entregar por completo Su voluntad y Su vida a la voluntad del Padre. Aunque existen dos personas – el Padre y el Hijo – hay un solo Dios, en unión absoluta. Jesús proclama: “Yo estoy en el Padre y el Padre está en mí” (Jn. 14: 10), y “El que me ve a mí ve al Padre” (Jn. 14: 9).
Las disposiciones del corazón de Cristo estaban tan entregadas al corazón del Padre, que nuestro Salvador nos dice que Él no vino a hacer Su voluntad, sino la voluntad del Padre. Incluso, cada palabra dicha por Jesús era una sumisión completa al Padre: “Cuando les enseño, esto no viene de mí” (Jn. 14: 10), y “el mensaje que escuchan no es mío, sino del Padre que me ha enviado” (Jn. 14: 24).
Más aún, de ninguna manera Jesús busca sus intereses personales, sólo los del Padre. El Hijo le dice al Padre: “Yo te he glorificado en la tierra y he terminado la obra que me habías encomendado” (Jn. 17: 4). El Hijo no reclama nada como Suyo, y hasta se despoja a Sí mismo de Su gloria: “la misma Gloria que tenía a tu lado antes que comenzara el mundo” (Jn. 17: 5).
No está atado a las creaturas, y sólo se aferra al Padre: “Está llegando la hora… en que me dejarán solo. Aunque no estoy solo, pues el Padre está conmigo” (Jn. 16: 32). El Padre y el Hijo están tan unidos, que Jesús comparte todo el poder y la hermosura del Padre. Esta comunión de dones es clara, cuando Cristo expresa que “Todo lo que es del Padre es mío” (Jn. 16: 15).
El corazón de Jesús es un instrumento sometido por completo a la voluntad del Padre. Esta entrega y comunión total da fruto abundante, pues en Su Encarnación, pasión y muerte, en obediencia absoluta a la voluntad del Padre, nuestro Señor se convirtió en el Salvador del mundo.
Este modelo de humildad total de Cristo, el desprendimiento y la ofrenda propia al Padre, es un modelo elocuente para que los religiosos alcancen la plenitud de la unión y la fecundidad deseada por nuestro Señor. En imitación de la propia entrega de Cristo, que nosotros también podamos renunciar a todo, perteneciendo íntegramente a nuestro Esposo, en una entrega absoluta, en perfecta comunión y sumisión a la voluntad de nuestro Esposo, como lo fue Cristo ante el Padre, para que la unión con nuestro Señor produzca fruto abundante para la Iglesia.
Si desea más información sobre las Siervas de los Corazones Traspasados de Jesús y María, visite www.corazones.org.
Comments from readers
Surrendering to our Lord- there lies our peace.
Why would we keep our hands full of ___________(anything we hold on to) when it keeps us from being able to hold on to LOVE?
But this only makes sense when we come to know of the greatness of His love.
So pray for so many who have not yet received the gift He has given to you.
May the Lord bless you abundantly
He is saying to us all day long, "what about me"; that is why I belive He waits for us in the Tabernacle. He awaits in the unthreatening space of a small piece of Bread. Who could ever imagine that God- the Kign of Kings- would await, the Love and to love His children, and hidding not only in a piece of bread but even within the smallest particle of this bread- in a crumb hidden in a box? From His hidden silence it screams to us almost of his (if I might say) desperate desire to be with us, to love us, to share our daily life with us....
How sory we need to be for not running to him more and entering His presence with a more receptive heart. May He do this transformation in us
As I understaned it, our fecundity comes not from our work, but from His. And we share in this, His work, His plan, His frutifullness- to the extent that we unite ourlseves to Him.
May you follow wherever the Lamb leads you- for there we will find not only our peace, but also our greatest fecundity. And may the Lord remove all fear in following so good a God, the God who is Love!
Thank you for your questions, thougths and comment. From my littleness, I would simply say to your second question what Brother Demaria shared with us of how St. John of the Cross spoke of his soul as a "she." And I would also add to this that the entire Church is the Bride of Christ, male and female. All of us, regardless of our gender, are called to wed the Divine Bridegroom. As religious we simply begin to live this reality in a more intimate way here and now, and as women religious this reality seems easier to visualize.
To your first question I would say that the Holy Spirit also submits and obeys in His giving himself away in self-abnegation and complete obedience which marks the Love within the Trinity. For the Holy Spirit also comes in the time specified for Him- after the Son has gone to the Father. He too " does not come to speak of His own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak" (Jn. 16:13). And the Spirit comes not to glorify himself, but to glorify the Son (Jn. 16:14) . It seems to me that this self-abasement is moved by Their mutual eternal exchange of Love. With God's grace, may we imitate it.
Thank you for yoru insights ...and may we remain, even in our poverty, eternally faithful to this Bridegroom our good Lord has lavishly given us- Himself.
God Bless you,
Sr. silvia, sctjm- by the wonder of God's mercy
AMEN!
I understand Brother, I was writing first to myself...and it has been my meditation.
May the Lord Bless you
What an unmerited gift if in any way the Lord can use me to bring others to His Love!
Thank you for your encouragement.
What a beautuful prayer you share with us- to be taken out of the thrones we make for ourselves of our very selves, and to be led to the place of our greatest joy, peace and fulfillment- the Heart of our Lord.
Thank you for your comment and for your good wishes for our community. May we all imitate Jesus's obedience to the Father, for as Bishop Jenky form Peoria tells us, "His will is our peace."
Sr Silvia Maria of the Merciful Love of God:
La LINEA RECTA mas corta para alcanzar LA SANTIDAD a la que estamos llamado es justamente "la Obediencia" y por ello la INTIMIDAD entre Jesucristo y Su Padre Dios.
Surrender to the Will of God in which ever state of Life. Thank you for sharing these beautiful thoughts from your "Daily Life with Christ". Ese es el Titulo de "un gran Libro
y sencillo a la vez" de los a�os 60, escrito y compartido por Rev.Fr. Anthony Paone, Jesuita de Staten Island, de descendencia italiana y a Quien conoci en Brooklyn, NY.
Que los Traspasados Corazones de Jesus y Maria sean siempre mas conocidos y amados por la obra del Espiritu Santo en cada una de Ustedes y la Comunidad en general.
Gracias por esta preciosa ense�anza que nos permite crecer en la relacion de "intimidad con Quien sabemos nos ama y desea lo mejor para cada uno".
Con cari�o y gratitud a Dios por Ustedes,
Sinceramente en Jesus y Maria, Judith Padron
6/14/2010 10:30 PM
Just as the love between the Father and the Son was so great that a third Person preceded from that love, so, too, it is with the religious. The spiritual fruit of the relationship with the Divine Spouse are the spiritual children that he or she raises, whether or not the children ultimately become consecrated persons. What a blessing it is that God has given you many spiritual children on a college campus! You are their spiritual mother who forms and raises them with love so that one day they can go out into the world just as the apostles did and bring the Gospel to others. You give them a personal witness to this relationship that all of us are called to imitate regardless of our vocations. While one can always look to the gospels for perfect examples, it is your personal example that will inspire people to take that love relationship that you imitate and reproduce it in their own relationships with God and with others. It is through you and the relationships that you establish that the Lord can make His love come off of the pages of scripture and bring to LIFE in a very unique and very real way to people today!
God bless you.
Muchas gracias sister por mostrar lo bello del llamado a la vida religiosa, la cual es un misterio de la Misericordia de Dios. Que bello el ser llamadas a tener con Jes�s la intimidad que El mismo tiene con el Padre.
Uno de los mayores tesoros que nos dejo nuestro querido Juan Pablo II fueron sus escritos en referencia a la verdadera identidad de la persona humana, llamados a ser comuni�n de amor, imagen y semejanza de la Sant�sima Trinidad. El tambi�n nos explica como nuestro fin es vivir la realidad escatol�gica de las Bodas del Cordero, la eterna uni�n con Dios. La vida religiosa hace hoy posible esta realidad para nosotras, mientras es presagio del gozo eterno para las dem�s vocaciones.
Que nosotras podamos crecer diariamente en agradecimiento ante este don tan inmerecido, que podamos ser, con su autentica vivencia, verdaderos testigos del mismo.
Thank you for your reflection! I have two questions and one comment:
1) You focus on the relationship between the Father and Son. How do you see the Holy Spirit in the vision you have described? I would be all the more interested in this because the SCTJM are charismatic.
2) Your description of religious life as nuptial union is most immediately applicable to female religious. How would you apply it to male religious? While the spousal union of the soul with Christ is the calling of all Christians male or female, I would be curious to know how you would articulate your vision specifically to male religious. Since I teach at a school administered by a congregation of religious brothers, this interests me.
3) Finally, my comment. How I wish more marriage preparation courses and retreats and more homilies on Sundays spoke of the Sacrement of Marriage as grounded in the spousal union of Christ with His Church! It seems to me that part of why so many marriages among Catholics in the United States fail is that far too few Catholics enter marriage with this vision. So many seem to view marriage as simply a form of self-fulfillment, with no articulated motive stronger or deeper than "This is what we want." If more Catholics understood that Matrimony is a sacramental manifestation of the covenant between Christ and the Church, and if more Catholics understood how profoundly recriprocal married life is to the spousal consecration of religious life, I can only believe the Church would enjoy both stronger and holier marriages and more abundantly strong vocations to religious life!
I hope this wasn't too long! Thank you for your insight and your sharing!