In this month of July, continuing with the series of articles for our twentieth anniversary, we want to focus on the way in which the Three White Loves - the Eucharist, the Immaculate Virgin Mary and the Pope - are present in the life of the MDR.
"The true Church of my Son is founded on the Three White Loves, love of the Eucharist, love of the Immaculate Virgin Mary and love of the Pope".
These are the words of the Virgin of Revelation that we most frequently repeat. Just as the true Church of Jesus is founded on these three cornerstones, our community also makes these three white ‘loves’ the centre and heart of its mission.
The first white love is the Holy Eucharist. Each day is graced with that encounter with the Lord in Holy Communion which is the centre of our life and of our religious consecration. Every day we receive Jesus in the Eucharist with the profound conviction that in our life, as also in the life of the community and the Church, everything starts from the altar and, everything converges to the altar (Rule of Life 106). On Friday, after receiving Holy Communion, our thanksgiving continues until vespers with Eucharistic Adoration. It is a day of a more intimate closeness to the Lord Jesus. The encounter with Jesus in Communion is also prolonged with frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament which we renew during each day. The frequent and continuous alternation of "green nuns" among the benches of our chapel creates a network of community prayer which, like a wave, comes and goes from the Tabernacle. Everyone wants to be presented to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. Just as so many mothers do for their children, we weave that canvas of prayer for the many souls who knock on the doors of our hearts. In addition to visits to the Blessed Sacrament, each of us has, as required by the Rule of Life, a time of personal silent meditation, which we do in the shadow of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. In fact, the Divine Presence is the only source of spiritual growth and the fount of every mission. It is in this heart to heart that, as consecrated women, we hand over to our Lord and King, all that we are, always asking the beloved Master to fulfil in us what he started by calling us to religious life.
The second white love, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, is the perennial beacon and bulwark on which every missionary shapes her life as a consecrated woman and spiritual mother. The example of Mary's fiat, her acceptance of the divine plan to the angel, is a daily reason for welcoming God's will in the small and great things of life. It is a spur to always give ourselves anew with dilatato corde, a dilated heart, to the Lord knowing that without Our Lady we cannot have Jesus and His Spirit, of whom she always remains the faithful, fruitful and inseparable bride.
Mary’s closeness to God makes her also extremely close to mankind and to our spiritual and material needs. She becomes the Mother of all help and consolation, the Mother of mercy who supports, encourages, admonishes and forgives. Our Lady shares her children’s sufferings, love, joys and defeats. By accompanying us on our journey towards God, she makes us capable of welcoming the radical nature of Christ’s call to us for our lives. Following the example of this Mother, we consecrated women in whom virginity and motherhood also coexist, pray that we may become the help for so many souls who in view of our ‘yes’ to God’s plan, wait on the threshold of our prayer and await a face, a sense, a word, and a loving look. In fact, perhaps they really await Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.
After the Holy Eucharist and the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the third white love, as the Virgin of Revelation called it on April 12, 1947, is the Pope, the third pillar of the Catholic faith. The Holy Father “is the head of the College of Bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the Pastor of the universal Church here on earth." (CIC, can. 331). He was invested by Jesus himself with a supreme power, by virtue of which he sustains and leads souls on the path of holiness to obtain eternal life. This third white love indicated by the Virgin of Revelation is rooted strongly in the charism of the MDR as we use all means to love the Church and to make her loved throughout the world. Without the Church, we have no Christ. This alone should be enough to defend and love the Church. Furthermore, in order to make the fundamental elements of the Church more widely known, in a world that is far from the faith, we disseminate the documents and teaching of the Magisterium and the traditions of the Church during our catechetical work. We use all the means that Divine Providence provides to show the splendour of truth of which the Church acts as a guardian. In addition, given the delicate mission entrusted to the Holy Father, each day we pray for him so that the Holy Spirit may guide and enlighten him in the task of shepherding the Lord's sheep until His return.
We could summarise our charism as follows: from the Eucharist, for Mary, in the Church. Everything starts from the altar and returns to the altar. Everything passes through the Immaculate Virgin Mary, guardian and missionary of Revelation. Everything comes to us through the Church where the great mystery of Salvation unfolds through time. We too, in our small way, firmly rooted upon the Three White Loves, journey on our mission certain that, despite changing times, the Church's boat will remain afloat because Christ is at the helm.
God Bless Us
And the Virgin Protect Us