“Woman why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Jn 20:15
We, Rosa Mystica Household, seek to fully receive the crucified love of Christ, to lovingly embrace suffering in reparation for our sins and to joyfully share the triumphant love of our resurrected Savior. At the foot of the cross, we seek intimate union with the Blessed Mother, our teacher of humble obedience to the will of God and with Mary Magdalene, our model of penitential vulnerability in receiving the merciful love of Christ. As we strive to live in the continuation of the Paschal Mystery with these two beloved women of faith, we seek to cultivate the gardens of our souls with the seeds of redemptive suffering, steadfast hope, contemplative prayer, liberating self- knowledge, authentic femininity, and jubilant thanksgiving for the triumph of the Resurrection. By passionately pursuing the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we seek, by the renewal of our minds, what is good and pleasing and perfect so as to discern the will of God for our lives. *
As members of Rosa Mystica Household, we are drawn by the sweet fragrance of Mary the Mystical Rose, the choice delicate perfect flower of God’s spiritual creation. * We desire to unite our hearts with hers in prayer and penance, service, and supplication, to make reparation for the many sins committed against her dearly beloved son.
In order to encompass this devotion, I seek to emulate Mary in her response of:
Redemptive Suffering, the thorns of sorrow experienced by the Blessed Mother as she intimately shared in the passion of her son. No mother has ever suffered as she did and in her suffering I see a reflection of my own small sorrows. In this I find consolation as well as the desire to console and therefore wish to unite my suffering with hers in penitential reparation for my sins and those of the whole world. “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance proven character, and character proven hope.”
Steadfast Hope, the green leaves that foretell the springtime blossoms in God’s plan of salvation. I place my trust in the Blessed Mother only insofar as she can and will obtain for me the grace and mercy of her Son. Jesus will not refuse her anything because she is His mother, and she takes no greater delight than in interceding for her children on earth. Knowing that Mary’s constant hope led to her most adorable assumption and glorious blossoming as the Mystical Rose, I turn to her in humble confidence that she will be my hope in death, guiding me to eternal life. “And hope does not disappoint, for God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Jubilant Thanksgiving, the blossoming rose of Mary’s triumph through the Resurrection of her Son, by which the Blessed Mother’s suffering and hope gloriously culminate. With Mary Magdalene, I boldly proclaim Christ‘s Resurrection and joyfully accept His commission to go and tell our brothers the news, Furthermore, in a deep gratitude and an all-consuming love of the Paschal Lamb, I desire nothing greater than to participate in the ultimate sacrifice of thanksgiving by receiving Him in the most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.
I place myself in the garden of Mary’s womb where her Spouse the Holy Spirit resides, hoping to be cultivated like a flower of His spiritual creation through the virtues of:
Liberating Self-Knowledge or a deep awareness of my identity in Christ and an attentiveness to my thoughts and actions that will help me to better love and serve my sisters and every soul that I encounter. Through both the community and spirituality offered me by this household, I hope to gain a more perfect understanding of my identity, continually discovering the woman God desires me to be. I promise to promote and protect the dignity of my sisters, to avoid all occasions of resentment and/or negative speech, to seek reparation where wrongs have transpired and to joyfully obtain forgiveness through the sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a month.
Contemplative Prayer the source of life-giving water for the garden of my soul from which all other good works stem. It is in quiet receptivity that we may be filled with the Love of Christ and may therefore bear fruit for the lives of others.
Authentic Femininity as exemplified by the Mystical Rose, who among women models all the truths of the feminine nature. By emulating the virtues of Mary, her radiant humility, her unblemished purity, and her perfect obedience, I hope to bear that “special maternal charism of giving birth to Christ in men’s souls.”
Thus, as a member of Rosa Mystica household, I desire to encounter Christ in the continuation of His Paschal Mystery, united in redemptive suffering to Our Mother, the Mystical Rose. From her place at the foot of the cross, no other woman has expressed greater thanksgiving for the crucified love poured out by our Savior or shown a more steadfast hope in His promise of the Resurrection. In order to become perfectly myself and perfectly Mary’s, and thus be united eternally with the Triune God and the whole heavenly family in the kingdom of Heaven.
