Thanks to our dear friend Gina Marie -- who graciously photographed the Sisters' First Profession of Vows, we have wonderful pictures of the ceremony to share.

First Profession of Vows of Sr. Mary Victoria of Our Sorrowful Mother and Sr. Michelle Marie of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels

Our Lady of Grace Sodality, one of our apostolates, celebrated the Marian consecration of one of its members on First Saturday. The Sodality is a group of young ladies who are committed to growing in personal holiness and serving their parish community through their consecration to Jesus through Mary. The young women of this Sodality have chosen as their secondary patron Venerable Teresita Quevedo, a lively Spanish Sodalist who lived her Sodality consecration to our Lady with heroic virtue. Her Sodality motto was, "May all who see me, see thee, O Mary!" Dying at the young age of twenty, she is recognized as a model of personal holiness and a special friend of Sodalists. During the consecration ceremony, the candidate makes her Marian consecration and receives a blessed garment as an outward sign of her consecration and her association with the Sodality. The Sodality consecration was followed by the newly elected officers making their Sodality pledges.

 While not every sister teaches in a classroom, every sister participates in carrying out our charism of joyful evangelization in some way. Some sisters do teach the faith in a classroom setting, while others form the younger sisters or serve as catechists for the parish and diocese.

As women religious, our primary duty is the contemplation of divine things and assiduous union with God in prayer (cf. Canon 663), but from this union with God flows an abundance of apostolic works.

This past week, the sisters...

Formal, communal prayer is an important part of the life of a Sister. It is also, to be honest, a real joy. In these times of praying the Divine Office, adoring Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, praying the Holy Rosary, and attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass together, we grow in love for Jesus and are prepared for the coming day. We are like Our Lady at the Annunciation - open to the workings of the Holy Spirit and inviting Jesus to come to us. We, with the Blessed Mother's help, can offer our own little fiat for that day. The times of personal prayer, especially visits to the Blessed Sacrament, help foster and deepen what was planted in times of communal prayer (and vice versa).

Our life is not just spent in the chapel, although we keep the chapel in our hearts in all we do. Like Our Lady in the Visitation, who after receiving the Word into her womb went out in charity to her cousin Elizabeth, we go out to our duties for the day. Whether it is out teaching in the schools or laboring in the cathedral sacristy or at home cooking, cleaning, and gardening, we strive to live the spirit of the Visitation. We come together several times in the day for prayer as well as meals and time for recreation. All of these activities, flowing from our times of communal and personal prayer, make our whole day a prayer.