Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker

The newly canonized founder of the Congregation of the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Joseph Sebastian Pelczar, wrote most eloquently about the love of our Lord Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament: “If you want to know the greatness of [God’s] love, meditate on God’s great acts performed for men, namely the three eternal monuments of love: the manger, the cross, and the altar. Stand especially beneath the cross and look on crucified Love. Stand before the Most Blessed Sacrament and meditate upon the immolation of the hidden God, the immense sacrifice of self, the entire giving to men with a love without limits. Then penetrate into the Heart of Jesus and look at His love. Indeed, no one can understand what a great flame consumes that most lively Heart.” Our holy Father Founder composed the Constitutions of our Congregation while on his knees before the Most Blessed Sacrament, and our Sisters have remained there before the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus ever since. Indeed, since the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is by It’s very nature a Eucharistic Heart, a Heart that continues to beat within His holy tabernacle for the glory of His Eternal Father and in merciful love for all of us, it is only right that His Servants be as sentinels of glory before His holy altar. This is why, besides our daily hour of mental prayer before the Most Blessed Sacrament, we try to adore Him who is Eternal Love by frequent visits to the chapel or when this is impossible, to unite ourselves, wherever we may be, to the Lord hidden in the Most Holy Mystery of the Altar. We strive to show the Lord loving reverence and endeavor make reparation for all the ingratitude and sacrileges committed against Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Heaven will not be long enough to begin to understand the love of the Heart of Jesus his august Sacrifice, but we try to contemplate this reality even now. For all eternity, we will continue to sing our canticle to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus: Glory Be to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Glory Forever!

- Submitted by Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Pope Paul VI reminds religious, "The quiet personal prayer in which you encounter Christ in order to keep vital the contact of the soul with God, the source of all graces, simply does not have a substitute." A life of prayer and of constant union of heart with God is an essential element of every Religious. The more alive our union with God is, the more fruit it will yield, not only for us personally, but also for the salvation of others. Therefore we perceive our prayer as an apostolate for the Church and the world.

- Submitted by Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus

Eucharistic Adoration is at the heart of the Charism of intercession, to be sacrificial lambs on the altar of the heart, to live Jesus and His Cross, as did Our Lady in total fiat and union with the Holy Spirit. As contemplatives, when we adore with faith and gaze into the beauty of His Eucharistic Countenance, we look upon Him whom our hearts receive with hunger and thirst each day at Mass. When we adore Jesus Eucharistic we see His inestimable Beauty, which even the Sacramental veil cannot hide, and our communication with Him deepens, blossoms and bears fruit in our lives. We fall in love, in deeper love, in deepest love in Eucharistic adoration and come to know, to experience that He alone is the Treasure on this earth. We adore the vulnerable, gentle, tender Eucharistic Lamb of God, and find in His Eucharistic reflection upon our souls, our being in Love, and in being Eucharist for others in total self-giving, Brides of His Eucharistic Heart.

- Submitted by Intercessors of the Lamb

As the evening sun settles down in the western sky Sisters assembled in the chapel for their time with the Lord. The evening prayer consists the Liturgy of Hours and Eucharistic adoration. The most precious time of the day to regain the graces to continue the daily tasks of their life.

Sisters prepared the altar beautifully. They welcomed the Eucharistic Lord with the melodious song,

“Sacred Heart of Jesus
Truly present in the Blessed Sacrament
We place all our trust in you…"

Yes, one hour Eucharistic Adoration in the evening is the source of life and light to all the members of our community. This is the time we share our joys and sorrows of the day to our Beloved Lord. In the sweet serene tranquility of the chapel we raise our heart, mind and soul to enjoy the real presence of Jesus. He comes to renew our life at this time. This is a time of healing, a time of purification, a time of renewal. In the midst of trials tribulations of our life Eucharistic Adoration fills us with heavenly strength, joy and peace.

Most of our communities have one hour adoration with the evening vespers. Sisters choose the following days’ gospel or any other theme as the subject of their silent adoration. It concludes with the divine mercy chaplet. We started Eucharistic adoration as a daily practice to fulfill the following exhortation given in the Constitution of our Congregation and Canon Law, “all should adore the Lord with a pure and sincere heart, with joy and thanksgiving” (Can. 663.1, Constitution FIH, art. 9). Eucharistic adoration fulfills the words of Jesus in us, “ Whoever remains in Me, and I in him shall bear much fruit, because without Me, you can do nothing” (Jn.15:5).

- Submitted by Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (FIH)

“We are consecrated by God to belong wholly to God and be available to announce the Gospel in the power of the Spirit. By virtue of our consecration, we are called to be persons in love with God and dedicated to our brothers and sisters; persons who possess the capacity for altruism and universal love.

“Our apostolic vocation requires a formation that centers our life around our encounter with the Master at the table of the Word and the Eucharist. In reading, meditating, contemplating and sharing the Word, we receive the guidance we need to live in continual conversion and express that evangelical essentiality that renders us witnesses of the beatitudes. In celebrating and adoring the Eucharist, we enter into communion with the Master; the Eucharist transforms our life, enabling us to become, with Christ, an offering to the Father and bread that is broken for the life of many.” —General Guidelines for Formation and Studies

- Submitted by Daughters of St. Paul