INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION
By: S. Maria Rita Ferraris, RVM

Of the first set of Rules and Constitutions that our revered Mother, the Venerable Ignacia del Espiritu Santo presented to the archdiocese of Manila in 1726, the ecclesiastical official charged to review them had this to say: “The finger of God is here. These rules can only be attributed to the interior law of charity under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. …It is with the assurance that there will be no deviation whatsoever from the way of life as heretofore followed by them (the beatas)…” He further observed: “This country can be compared to an arid desert filled with thorns, transformed by the hand of God into a beautiful garden of flowering virginity and of other Christian virtues.”

It took all of two hundred and twenty-two years for the pioneering community of religious women to finally find its place in the official directory of the Church through the definitive Papal approval of the Constitutions, and approximately two centuries after the death of the Venerable Foundress in 1748.

For us who are the living continuation of Mother Ignacia’s spirituality and legacy, the challenge is to so to live that our internal disposition as well as our external manifestations are vibrant testimony to our heritage. In the words of Fr. Paul Molinari, S.J. in our times: “If members of the institute faithfully respond to the graces of their vocation, and take the road mapped out by the foundress, God’s grace will be there to ensure a deeper insight into their vocation and all the implications of the foundress’ original inspiration. In our fidelity to our vocation, which has its origin in the action of the Holy Spirit on our foundress, the presence of the same Spirit will become visible…and in the way in which we contribute to the vigor of the Congregation’s life and activity in the Church.”

“When a religious community has a dynamic memory of past heritage preserved in living tradition, it is more likely to have a creative imagination in moving ahead.” AMEN TO THIS? AMEN!