An evening of Eucharistic Adoration at Reynoldsburg St. Pius X Church on Thursday, Dec. 18 featured words of comfort and community from Sister Madeleine Carmel, S.V., one of four members of the Sisters of Life congregation who were on hand to provide prayer and music of praise.
Sister Madeleine based her talk on the words of Isaiah 40:1-2 – “‘Comfort, comfort my people,’ says your God. ‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service has ended, that her guilt is expiated, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.'”
“The key to experiencing the Lord’s comfort is to allow the gift of forgiveness of sin to penetrate us entirely,” she said. “God created us to live in joyful community. He placed a hunger in our hearts that makes us want to choose Him.”
In Isaiah 40:1-2, she said, “I hear Isaiah speaking to people who are fearful and trembling and expecting God’s wrath. The Lord has been offended, yet He doesn’t lash out. God lets them see He has a greater point of view – a plan to set them free.
Sister Madeleine said the first place many people are accustomed to hearing words of comfort is from their mothers when, as children, they are trembling in fear.
“What explains God’s tender response? He has one aim – community. He is in the Trinity a communion of love. Everything He does is with one aim – that of community.
“He offers forgiveness and a chance for reunion. We see this in Genesis in the story of Adam and Eve. Their sin brought division where there had been community. Immediately, we see God seeking reunion. He seeks them in love, but they hide from Him.
“Human nature has been weakened, but God still chooses us. He loved you into being and can’t take His eyes off you, even at this moment. He has a marvelous plan for you that no one else can fulfill. No sin is beyond the reach of His mercy.
“He planted something in our hearts that guides us toward our destiny – a hunger. … This is no ordinary hunger, but a deep hunger for happiness, fulfillment, community – a restless ache to belong, a hunger for permanent love.
“We try to fill that need in different ways, but nothing seems to fully satisfy us,” Sister Madeleine said. “This is the wisdom of God, lest we wander too far or too long. We can’t ignore it. It won’t go away. It reminds us that we need something other than self to keep us alive, and that something is to be in a face-to-face relationship with God.”
She reminded listeners that Christmas would be celebrated one week after the date of her talk. “In one week, our salvation comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ,” she said. “He has given us this season of Advent to lift our hungry hearts to Him. In return, you will be saved.”
Sister Madeleine lives in Phoenix with a community of Sisters of Life who serve women in need and visit the Arizona State University campus twice a week. She recalled that this past February, the sisters were donated a car that they nicknamed Lassie in honor of St. Scholastica.
“That car was one step from junk,” she said. She recalled struggling to get the sunroof open, then finding it wouldn’t close. She said that like Lassie, the sisters “putter along and are chipped” but fulfill their mission with God’s help.
She recalled the story of a woman the sisters had helped return to the Catholic Church and to whom they had given a toy bear inscribed with the phrase Jeremiah 29:11 – a Scripture verse which reads, “for I know the plans I have for you.”
When the woman received the gift, Sister Madeleine said, “Her jaw dropped. She’d been hearing that same message over and over – first in her head, then on the radio, and now with this bear. God was calling out to her, comforting her. She has received from the Lord double blessing in response to any of her sins. That’s the gift of redemption – we receive not just double but a hundredfold.
“Sometimes we’re even a little scandalized at how abundantly grace-filled and merciful God is. Sometimes I go to confession and afterward, I feel I don’t deserve to have the joy that comes from receiving the sacrament. I never reject it. It just proves how powerful the Lord is. Every lost sheep is a cause for rejoicing, and you are that sheep.
“We’re nearing the end of Advent and the beginning of the Christmas season. I don’t know how many times you’ve gone through this time of year, but the birth of Jesus is always new. Are we ready for Him to lift the weight from our shoulders, the heaviness from our heart?” Sister Madeleine asked.
“Children love gifts. What greater gift is there than the inheritance of God’s kingdom? In the final week of Advent, let us become like children,” she said.
Sister Madeleine, along with Sister Mary Grace, Sister Esther Hope and Sister Avelina Joseph from her congregation were in Reynoldsburg as part of a weekend that included a young adult conference from Friday to Sunday, Dec. 19 to 21 at the Damascus Catholic Mission Campus in Knox County and a Mass and Holy Hour on Saturday, Dec. 20 at Resurrection Parish in Lexington, Kentucky.
Sister Mary Grace will be one of the speakers at the annual Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference on Saturday, Feb. 21 in Columbus.
The Sisters of Life are a contemplative/active Catholic community of women religious who profess traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and a fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.
The community was founded by Cardinal John O’Connor in New York in 1991 and serves in the Archdioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Phoenix, Washington and Toronto and the Dioceses of Albany, New York, and Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Its missions include serving women who are vulnerable to abortion; hosting weekend retreats; evangelization; outreach to college students; and helping women who have suffered after abortion to encounter the mercy and healing of Jesus.
The evening of Adoration was part of a program titled Evenings with the Merciful Jesus that takes place at St. Pius X monthly, generally on the Wednesday or Thursday closest to the 22nd day of the month in honor of Jesus’ first appearance to St. Faustina Kowalska on Feb. 22, 1931. It includes prayer, music, Adoration and recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
