Our Household is founded on complete surrender to Jesus through Mary. In an attempt to understand Mary’s unconditional love and the many ways in which she manifests this love, we find the Beatitudes to be the most perfect summary of our understanding.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for holiness, they shall have their fill. Blessed are they who show mercy, mercy shall be theirs. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you, And utter every kind of slander against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:3-12
In this Marian age where Christ gives us His mother so generously and so urgently, we must cling to Mary, as she has been chosen to be mediatrix of all graces. We have chosen an image of Mary holding the baby Jesus in her arms as the symbol of our household. We understand this symbol in two ways: first, that Mary leads us to her son Jesus, without drawing any attention to herself, and second, that our household is the baby that Mary holds in her arms – which she embraces, nurtures, and protects.
Because of her sinlessness, Mary knew most perfectly her place before the majesty of God. Yet it was through her humility that God was drawn to her and exalted her. It is this humility which is our most ardent desire to imitate. We give ourselves to Our Blessed Lady according to St. Louis de Montfort’s “Total Consecration”, so that as slaves of Mary we might draw ever closer to Christ, who is the center of our lives. Our household is established on the firm foundation of personal and communal prayer, and most especially the Holy Eucharist. For without prayer, our commitment as Christians will remain forever shallow and our actions fruitless.
The patron saints of our household are Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Maria Goretti who both achieved holiness in their youth. We look to them for guidance and strength as we too strive for holiness in the daily struggles of our lives.
The main focuses of our household are HUMILITY, SERVICE, UNITY, and PRAYER. All of this is established on the firm foundation of personal and communal prayer, embodied most perfectly in the Holy Eucharist. For, again, without prayer, our commitment as Christians will remain forever shallow, and our actions fruitless.
We are all committed to affirming each other, and avoiding negative criticism and gossip. We confirm that any personal problems among our sisters will be approached with prayer and humility, and with a loving desire to remain always united by working them out.
Household Commitments
In attempting to show our genuine love for each other and our desire to serve God in each other with humility and poverty of spirit, we make the following commitments:
We will have at least ten minutes of personal prayer daily. We will have Household Mass and Household Rosary once a week. Each member will have statio once a week, which means “on guard”. Those on statio will offer Mass, rosary, holy hour, fast and will lead Night Prayers. We will pray the humility prayer together at Night Prayers. We will have share groups. We will listen to each other. We will be courteous at our meetings by coming on time. We will celebrate the Lord’s Day on Saturdays. Once a week, those on campus will eat dinner together. Two people will be assigned to be in charge of Lord’s Day and cleaning the common room. Once a semester we will have social time together. We will have one major service project per semester. We acknowledge the duty of household sisters to challenge us and to call us higher, always keeping in mind charity and loving concern. We will renew our consecration to Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort once a year.
New inductees must complete the “Total Consecration to Mary” according to St. Louis de Montfort before being inducted. The following are exceptions for missing events: out of town visitors, being out of town, or other extenuating circumstances.
To Jesus through Mary we are sisters forever!
