Newsletter – October 2018

October 3, 2018

Upcoming Events

Come & See Retreats– Curious to know if religious life is your calling? We offer weekend retreats to share an experience of our life of prayer, community, and service.  For more info please contact us to learn when the next retreat will be offered.

Eucharistic Adoration 1st Friday of each month at our Redeemer Chapel. You are welcome between 3 – 5pm on Friday, October 5th.

Evening Mass & Supper – Join Sisters for Mass and a simple meal.  Last Monday of each month at 6pm.   Next date is October 29th.  Respond here to attend.

Feast of St. Teresa of Avila – On October 15th the Church and our Congregation celebrate the life and faith of St. Teresa.  She is one of the patron saints of our Congregation for her contemplative spirit.

Redeemer Associate Gathering – October 11th at 7pm at the Province Center.  The topic for prayer and discussion:  The Poor in Spirit; Desire for God.  Learn more about Redeemer Associates

Recent Happenings

Beatification of our Foundress!on September 9, 2018, Mother Alphonse Maria was beatified in Strasbourg, France.  We give thanks to God for this profound honor to be bestowed upon our Founder now known as Blessed Alphonse Maria Eppinger. May all who continue to live the Redeemer charism through works of mercy and acts of love receive special graces during this joyous time.  Several Sisters, Redeemer Associates, and Co-workers traveled from our American Province to attend.

Mass of Thanksgiving – To honor extraordinary event of the beatification of our Foundress here in our American Province, we celebrated with a Liturgy on September 23rd.

AbbeyFest  – Sisters, Redeemer Associate, and Redeemer Ministry Corps volunteer attended a local praise and worship event sponsored by the Norbertine Religous Order.  It was an beautiful energizing day that included music, prayer, Mass,and  Adoration.  We were able to share about our Foundress who was recently beatified!

Reflection

Excerpt from the Homily at the Beatification of Mother Alphonse Maria Eppinger
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Representative of Holy Father Pope Francis
Strasbourg, France September 9, 2018

“Blessed Alphonse Maria Eppinger learned the gift of self-surrender by contemplating Christ the Saviour on the cross.  Her ardent desire was to live and work for Christ, to imitate his gentleness, his humility, his love, seeking to please him alone.  she was always happy to say:  ‘To see God  in God, to see God is one’s neighbor, to see God in everything.’  These words are a wonderful summary of the extraordinary testimony to the Gospel of the new Blessed.  They are very much up to date.  It is extremely necessary nowadays to witness to authentic Christian love;  not as an abstract idea, but a concrete help to others, especially to the weak and poor, who are the body of Christ.  The Holy Father Pope Francis reminds us of this saying that, ‘a love that does not acknowledge that Jesus has taken flesh, is not the love God commands us to do.  To acknowledge  that God sent His Son, became man and lived how we live, means to love as Jesus loves; to love as Jesus taught us; to love and go the way of Jesus.  And the way of Jesus is to give life’ (Homily of November 11, 2016 in Sainta-Martha).

Throughout her life, Blessed Alphonse Maria Eppinger witnessed, in words and deeds, that Jesus not only came to us to speak about the Father’s love, but that as a person He embodied His immense mercy by healing those whom he met on his way.  She has recognized the wounds of Jesus in the poor and needy humanity and has become for them the instrument of the merciful love of God.  The experience of our Blessed, who has taken the example of the Church as a model to follow Jesus, encourages us to love the people we meet every day and become the instruments of God’s merciful love for them.”

Presider Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Beccui, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, representative of Pope Francis, celebrates the Mass for the beatification of Alphonse Maria Eppinger. (photo by Holger Fechner)