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UT CHRISTUS REGNET A publication of the School Sisters of Christ the King A Joyful Yes Dear Family and Friends, The joyful day of our Canonical Establishment has come and gone The ChristmasIn season thi is sa privilegedIssue time... for looking back but the memory will last forever. We were joined by hundreds of friends over the graces of the past year. One of our most powerful graces and family members. We are now grafted firmly onto the Tree with all came as the liturgical year was coming to a close. On November the other religious institutes confirmed by the Church. Alleluia! 26, the Feast of Christ the King, our community was raised to the Each Sister’s total gift is now deriving more fruit from the grace status of an Institute of Diocesan Right. Throughout this issue many of her baptism! How good our Mother the Catholic Church is to all her Sisters reflect on the graces of that day. We hope that in sharing children, and especially to those who offer a total gift of self to God in a our experiences of God’s generous love, you may also, in a spirit of religious institute. gratitude, recall the blessings of 2017. We thank you for your love and support over the years and beg for your continued prayers for us as we unite in a common effort to bring Christ to the world, particularly to youth. With joyful gratitude and praise to our King, Mother Joan Paul, CK thank you to all of the bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful present with us on the Feast of Christ the King and for all who support us with their prayers. We are deeply grateful! JP II’s Visit to Lincoln Establishment. It might be strange to say that I “met him” when I only venerated his relic, which the Sisters of the Pierced Heart displayed in “ ehold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done our chapel, but the experience was even deeper than the assurance of his intercession. It was as if St. John Paul II held unto me according to Your Word.” These words are the response of St. John Paul II an impoverished heart overcome by the goodness of the Father. In my face in his strong hands and whispered, B lived his life as a gift His presence, the essential truth of one’s existence gives light to a new “Do not be afraid,” and then led me straight to the Father through freedom: I exist and am chosen in the abundant mercy of God to be the to the arms of the Mother he knew so well. Mary. recipient of His love. I have been created for “the divine pleasure”—a He showed me what an authentically human phrase St. John Paul II once used to describe how the Lord creates and entrustment to Mary looks like: allowing Mary to be my Mother and to calls each person not out of necessity but from the joy He has in us. form my heart as she formed Christ. It means letting Mary’s “yes,” her fiat, No one understood the Father’s divine pleasure more than resound in my heart and becoming, like her, a living sign of the Father’s Mary did. She must have immediately recognized the profundity of the mercy. angel’s words—a plea from the Almighty to entrust Himself to her as her By Sister John Marion, CK Child. The Father was the first Person to entrust Himself totally to Mary and to give her everything—and this gift became flesh and blood in the Incarnation of His Son. Overcome by His humility and the greatness of His request, Mary’s heart opened to receive His gift and thereby became a living sign of the Father’s mercy. St. John Paul II, known fondly as “the Marian Pope,” contemplated the intimate relationship between Mary and the Father. His motto—Totus Tuus—echoed the Father’s entrustment of Himself to Mary. As the Father gave everything in love to Mary, so too did St. John Paul II. He allowed Mary to form his person in her motherly heart and so became, like her, a manifestation of the Father’s mercy to the world. St. John Paul II lived his life as a gift to the Father through Mary, offering his very self to the Father’s “pleasure.” I did not understand the depth of trust we can have in Mary until I met St. John Paul II during our retreat in preparation for our Canonical Celebrating our Canonical Establishment The Celebration Continues w d ethrough are our spiritual blesse mothers, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Thank you for your love, prayers, sacrifices and constant support. ways within the Cathedral. In the sanctuary was Bishop Conley, with our chaplain, Bishop Robert Finn, and Bishop John Folda from my home diocese of Fargo, North Dakota. Many priests were concelebrating, including some who had traveled from Fargo to be present. My own uncle served as deacon for the Mass. Even the altar servers were past and present students of mine. My Sisters filled the front pews on the right, and my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, extended family members and friends sat on the left. I was literally surrounded. Perhaps the most memorable part of the Rite of Perpetual Profession was the Litany of the Saints. As I lay prostrate on the Cathedral floor, I felt the Holy Spirit praying in me and for me. Those gathered by His Love prayed to God for me and invoked the Saints in heaven to intercede for me, and I realized that I would not have been able to give this self- Surrounded“ y dear Sisters … are you resolved to unite yourselves offering to God if not for the prayers of so many faithful people who had more deeply to God, to one another, and to the Church by the new bond supported me over the years. I asked God to bless them abundantly and as a member of the Religious Institute of the School Sisters of Christ the begged Him to pour His mercy upon all His children, especially those M most in need. King?” Following these words, spoken by Bishop James D. Conley Following the litany, I vowed chastity, poverty and obedience after the Gospel reading, a true “convergence of yeses” occurred. As for all my life. After I joined the ranks of the perpetually professed of a community, we responded with the statement of our charism and our community, the chorus of “yeses” continued as seven Sisters in mission. Then, following the homily, my Sisters who had already professed temporary vows professed their vows for one year. In all, twenty-seven perpetual vows went forward to pronounce them publicly as members of Sisters pronounced vows that day, but an Institute of Diocesan Right. What a sight it was to see nineteen Sisters we were part of On this day of my something much profess vows, kiss the Book of the Gospels, and sign the Community bigger. As John perpetual profession I felt Paul II said in his Register! 1984 Apostolic anything but alone. Exhortation Next, I was called forward by myself. I have never particularly Redemptionis Donum, “The enjoyed standing on my own in front of a crowd, but on this day of my whole messianic people, the entire Church, is chosen in every person perpetual profession I felt anything but alone. I knew that I was in the whom the Lord selects from the midst of this people; in every person presence of God, that He was with me as He always had been in the past, who is consecrated for everyone to God as His exclusive possession.” May loving me and giving me the grace to respond to His call. In addition, I each one of us, as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, continue to had a very strong sense of union with the Church. proclaim our “yes” to God for all eternity. This union with the Church was manifested in many visible By Sister Mary Ruth, CK Saying Yes to “keep faith with your Bridegroom.” Through the profession of vows I gave God everything: all that I have, all that I am and all that I could ever hope to be. was 19 years old, sitting near the back of the chapel during Again This year, on the Feast of Christ the King, Bishop James Conley retreat. It was 2:00 in the morning and one light illumined Jesus in the established our community as a Religious Institute of Diocesan Right. Blessed Sacrament, exposed on the altar. A peaceful silence filled the I Through this step, the Church officially recognized and approved our way chapel and my own heart. I don’t remember what I said to Him, but of life as School Sisters of Christ the King. As part of this momentous I remember His response: “I want you to be My bride.” Jesus’ words occasion, we needed to publicly profess our vows in this “new” religious penetrated my soul. He desired me, He chose me, and this filled me with institute. What an opportunity! We spent several months preparing for the joy. historic day, studying and discussing the vows, our charism and spirituality. Because of the way I had been living, especially during my college I anticipated the day when I would get to pronounce my vows and years, I felt unworthy of His call. He really wanted me? There were a say “yes” again, knowing even more fully than I did five years ago what I thousand reasons (probably more) why He should choose someone else, am choosing, with both its joys and the sorrows.

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