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CLUNY in the Caribbean | "The
Holy Will of God" |
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CLUNY in the Caribbean | "The
Holy Will of God" |
| patrons spirituality & Mission praying with anne marie | |
| In the Radiance of Anne Marie Javouhey | |
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"May God be glorified! In everything and everywhere may his Holy Will be done!" This was the consuming desire of Anne Marie Javouhey. It was her loving response to God who had chosen, prepared and sent her to live the Gospel and to make known his love throughout the world. Anne Marie Javouhey was the courageous young girl who during the terrors of the French Revolution, guided outlawed priests and catechised the children of neighbouring villages. She was the young woman who, at the call of God, consecrated herself unreservedly to him, always ready to do his Holy Will. She was the tireless apostle who attracted others by her example and who never ceased to proclaim the Good News. In view of the work for which he had destined her, God had bestowed exceptional gifts on her. Anne Marie Javouhey was the strong woman, prompt to act, yet full of wisdom, at once audacious and prudent, enterprising and thoughtful. Her keen mind took note of everything but grasped the essential. As soon as she had decided on her goal, she devised the means to attain it and set to work. For her to know the Will of God and to do it were the same. She was a woman of action and a leader. But she was also a woman of delicate intuition, with an inexhaustible goodness of heart, ready to love and forgive generously. This love, drawn from the heart of Christ which gives sanctuary to every human misery, attracted her towards the ignorant, the poor and the suffering, impelling her to cross the seas in long perilous journeys. She would have liked to be every where at once, never content while there was suffering to be relieved and people to be saved. Through faith she discovered the Divine Will in the signs of the times and the contemporary needs of others, responding to them with boundless generosity. She was at the service of all: children to be educated, neglected sick to be cared for, slaves to be liberated, far-distant peoples to be evangelised.
Open to contemporary thought, she often surpassed it by the daring of her ideas and her creative genius. Convinced that God was demanding more of her than a response to the immediate need, she attacked evil at its root. Respectful of human dignity, she had confidence in everyone. She was the educator who prepared people for the future and tried to establish everywhere a better and more christian social order. True daughter of the Church, she sowed the seed of the young African Churches. She did not act alone. She collaborated fraternally with all those whom God placed in her path and whom she led by the light of her genius. She collaborated too with all those who, inspired by her example, had consecrated themselves totally to the service of Christ. Everywhere, she animated communities where gospel values were lived in preparation for the Kingdom of God. Fortified by contact with God and refined by filial intimacy with Our Blessed Lady, she had unlimited confidence in the wisdom and power of God. She surrendered herself to the Divine Will, source of unity and harmony in her life. Strong in action, serene in contradiction, profoundly peaceful in conflict, she went ahead wholly abandoned to the Spirit who guided her. The Holy Spirit dwelt in her, enlightened her in contemplation, inspired her every action and made her mission fruitful. God made of her "a mother happy among her children". "Her light was not put out in the night ... She lives". She lives because her daughters, from every race and nation and tongue, have but one heart and one soul and continue in the Church the work the Lord entrusted to her. She whom Pius XII beatified on 15th October 1950, has left us this injunction: "May all my dear daughters strive to become saints". |
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Congregation of Saint Joseph of Cluny, founded at the beginning of
the 19th century by Anne Marie Javouhey, developed rapidly and soon
spread throughout the world.
Saint Joseph is its patron. The sisters learn from him to live in intimacy with Jesus and Mary, and to appreciate the nobility and sanctifying value of work. From the beginning, the Institute was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In union with Christ's love for all, and wishing to spread it throughout the entire world, Anne Marie Javouhey gave her religious family an essentially missionary orientation. As its Foundress wished, Mary is the Superior General of the Congregation. Every year in a gesture of trustful fidelity, the donation is renewed, confiding to her Immaculate Heart all the sisters and their apostolic activities. Saint Teresa teaches the sisters to seek God in all things and to unite contemplation and action. Under her protection and that of Saint Martin, Saint Francis Xavier and Saint Peter Claver, the Congregation pursues its mission in the world, in order that "the whole human race might become one people of God, form one body of Christ, and be built into one temple of the Holy Spirit" (Ad Gentes, 7). The Mother House is the centre of animation and co-ordination, a place of meeting and renewal. It keeps the memory and spirit of the Foundress ever alive and is the sign of unity for all the sisters. |
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To know the Will of God and to do it was the guiding principle of the thought and action of Anne Marie Javouhey, the secret of the serenity and fruitfulness of her life. "To do the Will of God, surely that is everything. We must therefore see iot in all things, love to do it and make it loved". It was in the search for and in the accomplishment of this Will that she was united to Christ in everything, and she draws us after her to sound the depths of the mystery of the Word Incarnate. |
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whole life of Christ reveals that he is the one sent by the
Father. His constant preoccupation expressed in his words and
acts was to do the Father's Will, to show his filial dependence in
everything.
His work here below was that which his Father "had given him to do". His love was expressed essentially in an obedience freely offered, an obedience which brought him to death, death on a cross. He rose from the dead for the glory of the Father, so that we might live a new life. |
| United
with Christ and in answer to his call, we share in his mission.
It is precisely into the heart of this mystery of Christ the Saviour
that we are incorporated through fidelity to the missionary spirit
which animated Anne Marie Javouhey.
Constantly renewing ourselves in total availability to the Holy Spirit, we ask him to guide us and to make us more like Christ. |
| Convinced
that our activity of itself has no apostolic worth, we allow ourselves
to be possessed and transformed by Christ, so that throught us he may
radiate his love for the Father.
Thus from day to day Jesus Christ takes ever greater possession of us, prays in us and continues his own life in us. We share in his freedom in giving himself, in his joy in proclaiming the Good News and in his peace in doing the divine Will. We unite with him in his solitude and in the misunderstanding which he endured. We live his poverty and his powerlessness in the face of abuse of freedom and refusal to accept the truth. But a lively faith in the Holy Spirit's influence over everyone, hope of Christ's final victory and love overflowing from his heart help us to have a true missionary spirit. To this special call of God we respond with total availability, ready to leave our country to go where God calls us to serve our sisters and brothers. |
| Available and fraternal, making ourselves "all things to all people", we will know how to adapt to social and cultural conditions in a balanced and courageous manner. In mutual giving and receiving, we will do our best to understand those to whom we are sent, allowing ourselves to be enriched by their authentic values. Thus, God gradually opens up the ways by which he chooses to reveal himself; together we discover that we are children of God through Jesus Christ. |
| "It is God's work we are doing", Anne Marie Javouhey never tired of repeating. The certainty of sharing, through the Congregation, in the Church's vast mission of evangelisation is a powerful stimulus, which makes us more conscious of our responsabilities. With faith in the continuous call of the Holy spirit, every sister feels committed to carry on today the task begun yesterday. |
| Coming from different cultures and backgrounds, we work together, each contributing her talents in a spirit of real collaboration. The thought of our sisters dispersed throughout the world stimulates our apostolic zeal. We remain united across the continents in the same fidelity to God's Will, attentive to discern it in events which he never ceases to direct in such a way that his plan is imprinted on them and made known. |
| Our union with Christ, renewed each day in prayer and the Eucharistic Sacrifice, intensifies our desire to proclaim the Good News. It encourages us to speak as well as to witness by our very presence. In complete fidelity to the doctrine of the Church under the action of the Holy Spirit, we endeavour to transmit the message of salvation in all its vigour and purity, reechoing the teaching of the Word Incarnate and stressing the Father's love for all. |
| By means of our apostolic activities - whether they be proclamation of the Word, education in the faith or preparation of minds and hearts through teaching, nursing, social work or any other form of service - we are always engaged in evangelisation, for the Kingdom of God begun here below grows to the extent that justice, peace and charity are promoted. |
| But our mission is not limited to our apostolic activities; our whole life contributes to it. Our adherence to the Will of God as shown in the observance of our Rule of Life, our fidelity to the demands of our consecration and of our community life, our prayer, our suffering and our death itself, all bear witness to and proclaim Christ the Lord. |
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Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey
Lord, our God You enabled Blessed Anne-Marie to consecrate herself to the carrying out of your Holy Will in all things and to be ever attentive to Your calls as manifested through the poorest of her brothers and sisters. Grant that we, in the Church of our day may zealously continue the work you confided to her. Through her intercession hear the prayers we address to You ........................................................ In Your goodness grant us the favour of her canonisation for Your glory and to promote Your Reign of love, justice and peace. AMEN |
Prayer
for the intercession of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey
O Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, whose heart beat only for God and for souls, teach us to love as you loved, to pray as you prayed, to suffer and to pardon, to give ourselves as you did. Obtain for us a heart like yours, loving intensely God's Holy Will, believing in his love in everything, a heart strong and kind, ardent and pure, loyal and faithful, humble and confident, a heart ready for every sacrifice, a heart like to the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. AMEN |
| Prayer
for the intercession of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey (2)
O Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, who following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, found the nourishment of your soul in the Holy Will of God and the exercise of your zeal in works for the salvation of souls, obtain for us your vivid faith, enabling us to recognise, love and accomplish all that God wills; your heroic confidence and your perfect abandonment to Divine Providence; as well as your intense love of God and of souls. AMEN |
Prayer
for the intercession of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey (3)
O powerful and eternal God, who adorned Blessed Anne Marie, your virgin with apostolic virtues, and who by her raised up a new family in your Church, grant to us in your mercy, that by imitating her patience and her charity, we may merit to attain to heavenly glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. AMEN |
| Prayer
for the intercession of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey (4)
O glorious and blessed Anne Marie, solidly established in the love and fear of God, obtain for us that same clear-sighted faith in the Providence of God that was your own, and perfect reliance on the sanctity of his Holy Will. Obtain for us the grace to trample on self pity and with patience and long suffering to walk and wait with Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross. Obtain for us light in our minds and determination in our wills, with mercy and compassion in our hearts towards all, especially the ignorant, the poor and the erring. Obtain for us complete docility to the teachings of faith and continual responsiveness to the Holy Spirit of God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN |
Prayer
for the intercession of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey (5)
O Blessed Mother, look down upon us here, in these Caribbean Islands, as we endeavour to serve the Lord and the peoples of these regions. We thank God for the vigour of your example and the challenger of your far-sightedness, which has enabled you to go to the far ends of the world, in loving service and self-forgetfulness. Obtain for us, your children, the ardour and zeal of your acceptance of God's Will in all the events of life and the readiness to assume and carry out whatever tasks and responsibilities are confided to us, so that the Kingdom of the Lord may be established and sustained and spread in the many lands where our Sisters labour and spend themselves. We ask that we too, like you, may watch and pray, labour and serve, spend ourselves and be spent, so that all may come to a loving knowledge of God and a generous self-giving in His service and among His people. Amen. |
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Novena in Preparation for the Feast Day of Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, July 15.
July 6th: The Foundress
"We can justly consider that the future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping." The Church Today God gave Anne Marie Javouhey some quite remarkable gifts, intelligence, breadth of vision, initiative, strength of character. He gave her a mission and to enable her to fulfil it, faith, hope and charity in no ordinary degree. The story of her life as we know it and as reflected in her 1,041 letters, is the story of her use of God's gifts, her correspondence with his grace. She used every ounce of effort her whole life through; at seventy, she was still trying, still making a fresh start. As daughters of Anne Marie Javouhey how have we used our God-given gifts? Are we fulfilling our mission in faith, hope and love?
(Short pause for reflection)
Let us pray: O powerful and eternal God, who adorned Blessed Anne Marie with apostolic virtue, and who by her raised up a new family in your Church, grant to us in your mercy, that by imitating her patience and her charity, we may merit to attain to heavenly glory. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us.
July 7th: The First Commandment
"Only by the light of faith and by meditation on the Word of God, can one always and every where recognise God in whom we live and move and have our being, seek his will in every event, see Christ in all whether they be close to us or strangers". This statement from the Document of the Apostolate of the Laity, would seem to have been lived out in advance by Mother Javouhey. Her spirit of faith made her recognise God everywhere. God was the beginning and end of all she did: 'If God and religion are not the beginning and end of our actions, we are wasting our time, and we have no merit before God; it is important that all of us be penetrated with this truth'.
(Pause for Reflection)
Let us pray: O God, imbued with the spirit of our Mother Foundress, may we never lose sight of the high motives which prompted us to consecrate ourselves to you and through this congregation, to the service of our fellow men. In the face of the vissicitudes of this life keep us from being discouraged, conscious that heaven is at the end. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us.
July 8th: The Will of God
Union with the Will of his Father was the goal of Jesus' life, from the first moment to the last: This is what he said on coming into the world ...'God, here I am. I am coming to obey your will.' (Heb. 10:3,7). 'Father .... let your will be done, not mine ... ' (Lk.22:42) Anne Marie Javouhey had the mind of Christ in this matter. She dedicated herself wholly to God and to the doing of his Will. Because of this total availability, God led her to become a foundress and a missionary. Today, He is just as ready to 'do great things' for anyone who is united to Him. Devotion to God's Will is the beginning and end of sanctity. But a true devotion must avoid the errors of fatalism and passivity, which unbalanced it somewhat in the 19th century and have laid it open to attack in our day. All that affects us and that does not originate in our will may and should be looked on as coming from God, his will for us.
(Pause)
Let us pray: The only real consolation is to do God's Holy Will: May the Spirit of God inspire us and guide us according to his Holy Will. Let us not put any limit to our submission; let us sincerely say: "May your Holy Will be done in me, by me and in the whole congregation." We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us.
July 9th: Prayer
All Anne Marie Javouhey's confidence was in God. She wished her sisters to look for the same support through intimate union with God. "God alone can take the place of all. Yes, be always in spirit in his presence by habitual prayer. We need to acquire a spirit of prayer, and a deep interior life. With this two-fold spirit there is no danger any where. Let us then, work with all our strength to attain it, to desire it in the midst of our multiple duties. If we lack this double spirit we lose the merit of our best work; we would all miss the essential without which it is nearly impossible to reach heaven, or to achieve the perfection of our holy vocation."
(Pause)
Let us pray: O God, help us to strive to increase in virtue each day, especially in the spirit of prayer; it is during prayer that you speak to us; it is then that you instruct us; teach us to lovingly accept the crosses of our life instead of fleeing from them; teach us to unite our actions and the troubles inseparable from our lives with hat of Christ who passed through all the sufferings of our lives so as to be our model. Amen.
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us.
July 10th: Religious Life
Religious Life was for Blessed Anne Marie primarily a total dedication to God. She wanted her sisters touse all means to advance in holiness, never to lose sight of the obligations of their state, to keep their fervour alive and their motives pure: "You left your families, your friends, your country, to do God's Will; now don't spoil it by clinging to what is not God." "If we put our hand on our heart we might find we have forgotten the aim of our vocation; we have often put ourselves in God's place, and tried to have an easy life, to get personal satisfaction, to get glory for ourselves. Aren't we weak and unfortunate!"
(Pause)
Let us pray: O God, help us to strive to acquire the spirit of our holy state and to inspire it in those whom you have confided to us. Dear God, how easy it is to forger the aim of our vocation. Faults increase, virtues are forgotten, yet death is approaching - may our hands not be empty when we stand before our heavenly Spouse. Amen.
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us.
July 11th: The Second Commandment
"Why do you want to put limits to my love when God puts no limit to his graces?" Anne Marie Javouhey's love for her neigbour was of the same degree as her love for God. She extended it to the needy of the whole world, regardless of colour, class or creed. "People have a right to our charity, do not miss any opportunity of showing your love". The first ingredient of her love was respect. Her work for the negroes was successful because she sincerely valued them as she valued herself. such love and devotedness to others means sacrifices. Anne Marie Javouhey was ready for them. Are we?
(Pause)
Let us pray: Let us work at our sanctification and let us remember that we are responsible for the sanctification of those people who are confided to our care - the poor and humble and the well-off. Let us as true daughters of Anne Marie Javouhey do all for the glory of God, shirking no sacrifice and putting no obstacles to his great designs. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us.
July 12th: Humility
"It is God .. who puts both the will and the action into you." (Ph.2:13). The humble person sees things as they are in truth, he sees God as the creator of all good, and he sees himself as invited by God to co-operate in carrying out his plans. Anne Marie Javouhey saw her congregation as God's work, and herself as merely an instrument in God's hands. Not only did Anne Marie see herself as an instrument, she was a poor instrument, unfit for the work: "How glad I am that God is showing me how much I lack the ability necessary for such a holy and important undertaking!" This view is perfectly accurate. Only when we too have sharpened our spiritual sight to see as she saw, will we be ready to give all the glory of our work to God.
(Pause)
Let us pray: "How good God is to use us, poor little creatures, to do so much for our fellow men!" May we remember that all this is indeed God's work; thank him for using us and give hill all the glory, or we will run the risk of doing everything for this world and nothing for heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us.
July13th: Confidence
The divine virtue of hope has in it two elements, desire and expectation. It's object is God. We desire to attain to God, to find him, to be united to hin in heaven, and we expect we will with his grace, Undoubtedly, Anne Marie Javouhey had this basic virtue. The confidence she continually preached in her letters is a somewhat different quality though related to it. God was her Father, she was working for him, he was caring for her concerns, his help would always be there. He would work our his plan for the congregation; in the end all would be well. Her confidence bore on great and small matters. She knew God would support his own work.
(Pause)
Let us pray: Confidence in God gives light, R/ It is God's work, let us have no anxiety. Confidence in God gives light, R/ If we have crosses he will be our light and our strength. Have confidence in God, R/ Nothing happens without God's permission and always for our good.
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us.
July 14th: The Carrying of the Cross
"If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow Me." (Lk. 9) Christina suffering is an art. To practise it, we need first to understand the place of the cross in the mystery of our Redemption. This is easy enough in theory; when the actual carrying of the cross blots out all understanding, we can remember that Christ suffered for us, trust him to work out his plan for us, whatever it is, and 'offer up' our pains in love. Anne Marie Javouhey had a hard life and she shouldered a wide variety of crosses, great and small: poverty, political upheavals, death and disease, violent persecution by church leaders ... Wise woman that she was, Anne Marie Javouhey saw the place of the cross in her life, its power, its blessings: "Don't be discouraged, the cross strengthens us in God's work, it is by it that He shows us a great proof of his love, let us not lose courage."
(Pause)
Let us pray: Anne Marie accepted the troubles of life from the hand of God as she accepted its joys ... peacefully, thankfully, with courage and happiness, with patience as a penance, often with a laugh. Grant that we who follow her, may be like her in our acceptance of God's designs for us. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessed Anne Marie, Pray for us. |
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Litany to Blessed Anne Marie
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