OUR VOCATION AS PRAY-ERS

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Jesus, as I kneel at the foot of your Cross you teach me my role as a nun of the Order of Preachers.

Those feet which walked the roads of Galilee, those hands which touched and healed the multitude, are now held fast by the nails. And then you hear the mocking shout – “If you are the Chosen One, come down, save yourself.”

How you must have been tempted to show your power.

I too am tempted when friends and those whom I love and respect, suggest that I’m wasting my life and my talents by choosing to live within the enclosure of a monastery... should I not be out among the poor and needy?

I’m also tempted by the desires within my own heart urging me to bring your Word of love to all peoples, but as I gaze on you, Jesus, in your immobile position on the cross, my faith is strengthened.

It is not the nails which are holding you fast -rather it is the love within your heart, that boundless love for your Father’s glory and for our salvation.

I begin to understand that this loving surrender of yourself is the source of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who at Pentecost, empowers your disciples to go out and preach to all nations.

And now Jesus, you invite me to abide in that love – “the one who abides in you with you in her, bears fruit in plenty.”

Abide in My Love

Help me to understand that you are not asking anything extraordinary – I have only to believe in your loving Presence in all the circumstances of my life – to recognise your hidden Presence in all the disappointments, the hurts, the frustrations and misunderstandings, as well as in the moments of happiness, love and friendship.In all the pain and joy of daily life, your love is at work seeking to transform my heart till I can in truth say – it is no longer I who live, but you, Jesus, who live and love in me.

Because I am a sinner I often resist and even rebel against your love, but you are always faithful. You even use my sins and failures to accomplish your plan. In my own struggles and temptations and in times of doubt and darkness, I am one with all of humanity in experiencing pain and anguish, despair and helplessness. And when I say “Jesus, have mercy on me, O Lord, what will become of sinners?”- I’m confident that from your heart there flows healing and strength for us all.

Jesus, lift me up and draw me into your own relationship with your Father, and with me, all those I carry in my heart. In you I’m one with the praise and adoration, thanksgiving and intercession which you are ceaselessly offering to your Father through the hearts and lives of countless hidden and unknown people.

Help me, Jesus, to realise that rather than confining me, my vocation opens me to the breadth and height and depth of your love- that love which is celebrated with so much joy in the Liturgy of the Church – that same love which transforms the poverty and apparent uselessness of my life and makes it bear fruit in the preaching of my brothers and sisters throughout the world.

Telephone: 041 - 983 8524

Charities Registration No.: 20010300

Monastery of St Catherine of Siena
The Twenties,
Drogheda,
Co, Louth,
A92 KR84

Ireland.