God longs to use us to make it happen.

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. Nine months ago we celebrated the Immaculate Conception, when (we believe) Mary was conceived without sin. God had a plan: Mary was to bear the child of God, Emmanuel, God with us. The Church reasons that only one conceived without sin could do so. Hence, the Immaculate Conception, and 9 months later, the birth of Mary.

Today is also for many Incarnate Word Sisters, the anniversary of when they were received into the Congregation. There are many of us too young to have experienced what our older Sisters in the United States did: being welcomed at the Chapel of the Incarnate Word, filled to capacity with the Sisters. They entered a Chapel ablaze with light bulbs framing every arch and a sea of black and white veils singing the Te Deum. “I still can hear the Te Deum.” (View/listen HERE).

It has been the practice of Incarnate Word Sisters to celebrated in a special way, all of the Marian Feasts. Traditionally, Sisters profess vows on the 15th of August, the Feast of the Assumption. The Congregation’s feast day is the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25). Mary is our model; Mary was the first to give her “yes” to God, for the Incarnate Word.

The photograph shows the interior of the Chapel of the Incarnate Word on an August 15, on the occasion of reception and profession of vows, sometime in the 1950s.

The Congregation has as its charism the call to make the love of God as shown in the Incarnation, a real and tangible presence in the world. This is a gift that comes from God, Jesus, Emmanuel with us. In these troubling and challenging times, especially, it is vital that we say “yes” every day, to make God’s love real and tangible, in today’s world. All of us are called to be “Christ-bearers” in the world, even in this time of physical distancing.

“With Mary, we are reminded that Christ is near, and that in God’s mysterious time, all shall be set right. God longs to use us to make it happen” (Sr. Jeana Visel, OSB as found in Give Us This Day, September 2020).

Obtained from https://www.ccvichapel.org/post/feast-of-the-nativity-of-mary-fiesta-de-natividad-de-la-santísima-virgen-maría