The maxim quoted above is the oft-repeated mantra of our school President. He reminds us early and often that the "spirit of just beginning" is the essential outlook from which we must operate.
And it's a great paraphrase of St. Francis: "Let us begin today, brothers, to serve our Lord God, for up to now, we have done nothing."
In living as "just beginning," there is an element of excitement, investment, daring, that is so often lost when "the new wears off." The beginning is the time when plans are made, goals envisioned; it is a time of joy and hope, trust and confidence. One is open to trying things, experimentation - but always with a purpose.
It is the vision that the Church holds for us a brides of Christ.
Religious women are never referred to as "wives," we are always "brides" - always just beginning the adventure of life with the Lord of Heaven. Our Mother wisely reminds us that we are ever young; our hearts looking to fulfillment in a heavenly marriage feast. And she calls us to renew the spirit of just beginning as the long years meet us. She calls us back to spirit of our girlhood, when we wanted to fling away our lives in the service of the King.
The Church has recently announced the Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of Religious Women in the United States. In desiring to look into the quality of apostolic religious life in the United States, there is a distinct invitation for each religious woman to renew her consecration at its roots, to remember the spirit of just beginning.
And it's a great paraphrase of St. Francis: "Let us begin today, brothers, to serve our Lord God, for up to now, we have done nothing."
In living as "just beginning," there is an element of excitement, investment, daring, that is so often lost when "the new wears off." The beginning is the time when plans are made, goals envisioned; it is a time of joy and hope, trust and confidence. One is open to trying things, experimentation - but always with a purpose.
It is the vision that the Church holds for us a brides of Christ.
Religious women are never referred to as "wives," we are always "brides" - always just beginning the adventure of life with the Lord of Heaven. Our Mother wisely reminds us that we are ever young; our hearts looking to fulfillment in a heavenly marriage feast. And she calls us to renew the spirit of just beginning as the long years meet us. She calls us back to spirit of our girlhood, when we wanted to fling away our lives in the service of the King.
The Church has recently announced the Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of Religious Women in the United States. In desiring to look into the quality of apostolic religious life in the United States, there is a distinct invitation for each religious woman to renew her consecration at its roots, to remember the spirit of just beginning.
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