Metanoia et Missa – Women’s Household
COVENANT:
(Metanoia = Greek for “ongoing conversion,” Missa = Latin for “to be shot forth”)
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
“Since like all the lay faithful, lay Christian are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by men throughout the earth.” CCC 900
As missionaries in Metanoia et Missa we strive to emanate love on mission, climbing the heights to sanctification. We will encounter Christ’s unconditional, radiant love in our own ongoing conversion and then be shot forth to mirror his love to all.
We believe our mission is to adventure through this earthly life in order to get to heaven and bring as many others with us as God wills. We know the way to Heaven is to Jesus through Mary, the first true disciple. We plead for Mary, Gateway to Heaven’s intercession. Following in her perfect example, we will make our own fiat to fulfill the role God calls us to in this life.
By our Baptism, we understand our call to share in the three-fold mission of Christ, which includes sharing in Christ’s roles of priest, prophet, and king. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9). In order to participate in these roles, we will strive to be servant leaders, authentic witnesses, and practice countercultural intentionality.
Servant Leadership: We will lead through following Jesus, our model of service. To be a servant leader we must learn to die to ourselves by making sacrifices. All of our works, prayers, joys and sufferings are to be in the Spirit and offered to Jesus through Mary as spiritual sacrifices. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). We will invite the Holy Spirit into our everyday and look for how the Holy Spirit is already working in our mission, recognizing that we are coming into His plan. We will ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance to serve others out of his promptings and not from our own desires.
Authentic Witness: To be an authentic witness we must come as we are ready to testify to God’s presence in our life. In the words of Pope Paul VI, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers and if he does listen to teachers it is because they are witnesses.” Our words must be of Christ and match our lifestyles.
We embrace St. Thérèse’s idea of the Body of Christ being a “whole banquet of flowers.” We desire to treasure the individual as they are for comparison is truly the thief of joy and so we will aim to love our own individuality as well.
Our witness will be one alive in expectant faith. We will enjoy God’s presence in the moment, while appreciating his faithfulness in the past, and anticipating his future with faith. We will not be discouraged if we do not get to see the fruits of our witness, but realize that we are planting seeds and sometimes the beauty grows underground, unseen.
Countercultural Intentionality: We will not allow ourselves to be enslaved by our bodily desires or worldly standards. We will intentionally judge our decisions and act accordingly. We will discern our God given charisms and use them to build God’s kingdom. As St. Catherine said, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” We will best fulfill our temporal duties guided with our intentional consciousness of God’s glory.
We are to have a humble boldness in pursuing a life in Christ. This humility is rooted in understanding we are fully dependent on God and we can accomplish nothing on our own. We will offer up all glory of our missions to God. We will pray a Glory Be when caught up in the glory of our accomplishments.
We are to unconditionally love others as gifts no matter how they respond toward us, by being intentionally present. As St. Teresa of Calcutta says, “Love until it hurts.” Giving full attention to conversations with the people we encounter and not being distracted by our desires.
Commitments:
We will attend a weekly summit night. Every week we will either participate in worshipping the source and summit of our faith, the Eucharist, in adoration for a holy half, or in following the missionary spirit of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, will offer up a weekly rosary for all the missionaries in the world knowing that our conversion must go through Mary. Following this time of prayer, we will share our “summit” and “valley” moments of the week within our off campus and on campus missions.
In order to pour ourselves out for others, we must be filled with grace through the sacraments. We will celebrate daily mass once a week as a household and partake in confession once a month.
As a part of our ongoing campus mission we will continue St. Thérèse’s desire to “shower the world with roses” by keeping our campus adorned in flowers, specifically the Marian grotto and the tomb of the unborn.
We will participate in once a week fasting in order to continually deny ourselves, in understanding that the cross is the path to sanctification.
We will make a daily morning offering. This includes offering up our schedules and missions, pursuing to remain unattached to our expectations while perceiving time as not our own but God’s. This will enable our lives to be interruptible and inconvenienced, giving God full control and trusting that he will multiply our time if needed.
We will prioritize “resting in the shade of prayer” (John Paul II) through making a personal commitment of daily prayer. We recognize we must breath in to breathe out.
In holding this covenant, we desire to be all that we can be, the best version of ourselves. We then hope to pour ourselves into others to help them become who they are called to be. We ask for prayers of our friends who have already completed their mission on this earth, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and St. Damien Molokai.
