I tend to live by the following words. When I was in college, I was part of a small faith community (or Household, if you will) of about 50 women that were committed to the writing you see below. We prayed together, shared with one another, and signed a promise to live the "covenant" (see below). I try to read this everyday (Confession: many days I don't, but I at least think/pray about some aspect of it everyday) and pray that I can continue to live it out. It has become part of who I am and has utterly shaped my spirituality and relationship with Our Lord and Lady. I hope that you can take something from it and shine the light of Christ, like Mary did, in the world around you. Enjoy!
Stella Mariae Household Covenant
Our Covenant to Jesus and Mary
We burn with the fire of God’s love that comes to us from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This ardent love consumes us from within, burning out our sinfulness. Jesus’ heart is the source of our light, and from His enflamed Heart, He makes our hearts shine, shine with Love and Light. We surrender our will to the Lord’s Love and place ourselves in His Heart. Here we abandon our own will and are filled with the will of the Father.
Our Lady is the Star that has led us to Jesus’ heart of love. She teaches us and clothes us with her Ten Virtues: her profound humility, her blind obedience, her ardent charity, her constant mental prayer, her universal mortification, her heroic patience, her divine purity, her lively faith, her angelic sweetness, and her divine wisdom. As we fight in her army, we stand strong with the Ten Virtues as our armor. Our weapons are ones of God’s peace. Thus, Jesus’ Heart shines as the Sun, while Mary’s virtues, as the Moon, are the perfect reflection of her Son’s Heart. So too, are we the little stars striving to shine as they do. As little lights of Jesus and Mary, we are to shine on until the Son comes again.
We commit ourselves first and foremost to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through this we strive to attend daily Mass (wherever we may be), because it is in the Eucharist that we are completely consumed by God’s Love. We also commit ourselves to daily prayer through consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We also commit to pray to the Blessed Mother for her Ten Virtues in saying our household prayer the Ten Virtues, to pray the Holy Rosary together, and to celebrate the Lord’s Day together.
Our Covenant With One Another
Christ has called us into a special bond of spiritual sisterhood with one another. By this sisterhood, Christ calls us to LOVE (1 Cor. 13:1-13) Him first and then His Mother. Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). By striving to truly love Jesus and Mary, we will learn how to love each other. Our love for each other is manifested as we serve, respect, encourage, protect, and challenge one another toward holiness.
We fight as women warriors, moving in unison with one another. Our battle is one for the triumph of Christ’s love in our hearts and in the world. We are here to support each other in this battle, so that when one of us falls, the other women are present to help and protect the one who has fallen. We call each other on to holiness, to imitation of the Blessed Mother; in the way we dress, act, and speak, in what we choose to see and hear. We help each other make decisions for the good. In this way we set our lives apart so that we will be used to bring Christ’s Light and Love into this world of darkness. In giving our lives and ourselves to Jesus and Mary, through interior and communal prayer, we are urged to go forth to evangelize and serve others in the different places God will place us.St. Paul, pray for us.
St. Joan of Arc, pray for us.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us.
Love you, sistar! Allie Millette
ReplyDelete