Way of Life
Community of Love Crucified
The vocation of the Love Crucified Community is to live passionately His love revealed at the Cross. There we receive the gift of His thirst, His gaze, His tears, His radical love which holds nothing back. Now He calls us to respond.
The Lord has given our Community this standard:
“ Suffer all with Me, no longer two but ONE, in my sacrifice of love"
As brothers and sisters we enter into a covenant with Christ and with each other to live fully this love in the heart of the Church, according to our spirituality (The Simple Path to Union with God) and mission.
At first, commitments may seem to be a burden, but the Lord promised: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." -Matthew 11:30. "Sanctity does not consist first of all in doing extraordinary things, but in letting God act" -Pope Francis. God's grace makes this way of life liberating and joyful through love. It disposes us to receive a new life in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our way of life embraces the following commitments:
1. Lives centered on the Eucharist
2. Marian Consecration
3. Docility to the Holy Spirit
4. Live The Simple Path to Union with God: Our Spiritual Formation Book
5. Victims of Love + Offering life for others; for priest
6. 5 Stones: Humility, Purity, Simplicity, Trust, Courage
7. Repentance and Conversion
8. Community Life
9. Obedience to Mother Church
10. Fidelity to our state in life
I propose to do ever what is most perfect. I propose to seek in all things Jesus and His Cross, in conformity with His holy will. I propose in my actions to pursue the interests of Christ and not my own. ...I will never be disquieted should circumstances prevent me from observing my 'Rule of life.' I will go on tranquilly. I will be flexible in the face of difficulties, humbly... then onward, ever onward! -Extract from her "Rule of life", Ven. Concepción Cabrera de Armida, Aug 21, 1894
1. Lives Centered on the Eucharist
The Eucharist is Christ, our life, the source and summit of all we are and do.
We seek to participate in Holy Mass daily, if possible.
At Holy Mass we unite with Jesus as His victim souls in His sacrifice of love to the Father. We go to die to self and receive new life in Him. We become living hosts. We offer ourselves with Jesus to the Father after the consecration of the Precious Blood with this prayer.
We commit to a minimum of once a week of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament to listen, adore, praise, intercede, give thanks, and accompany and CONSOLE Jesus and Mary in their suffering for souls.
For their work, prayers and apostolic endeavours, their ordinary married and family life, their daily labour, their mental and physical relaxation, if carried out in the Spirit, and even the hardships of life if patiently borne-all of these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Pt 2:5). During the celebration of the Eucharist these sacrifices are most lovingly offered to the Father along with the Lord’s body. Thus as worshipers whose every deed is holy, the lay faithful consecrate the world itself to God. John Paul II
See teaching Fr Jordi Rivero>>
2. Marian Consecration
To come to the most perfect intimate union of love with Christ—victim united to Victim— we need to consecrate ourselves to Mary, Mother and Bride, with the understanding and abandonment that she will bring us to the foot of the Cross. We commit to be forever "Totus Tuus" (All yours).
See “Importance of Consecration” letter from Lourdes Pinto to community>>
33 Days to Morning Glory -Preparation to Marian Consecration. by Fr Michael E. Gaitley, MIC; Marian Press.
Renew our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Daily Recitation of the Rosary
3. Docility to the Holy Spirit
We live in the Spirit attentive to God and submitting to Him everything we do. We ask of Him in every situation, “Lord what do you want of me?” We trust in the Holy Spirit and invoke Him constantly.
See “Importance of Consecration” letter from Lourdes Pinto to community>>
“Yet there is no greater freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead, letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills.” Pope Francis p. 13
We welcome the Holy Spirit as our teacher and guide through living the Simple Path. It is He who leads us through the passage -- from the feet of Jesus crucified to receive the gift of self-knowledge, into the Sacred Heart of Jesus and brings us into the unity of the Most Holy Trinity.
“God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). Nevertheless, it is not enough to know the Spirit; we must welcome Him as the guide of our souls, as the “Teacher of the interior life” who introduces us to the Mystery of the Trinity, because He alone can open us up to faith and allow us to live it each day to the full.” Pope Benedict XVI, XXXIII World Youth Day, 2008
4. Live The Simple Path to Union with God: Our Spiritual Formation Book
Each Mother of the Cross (MOC) and Missionary of the Cross (MC) must be willing to allow The PATH to lead them through the painful purification and healing of their hearts into the depth of self- knowledge. Each person must persevere to:
Follow Christ daily to the Cross,
To die to self—to what we have become that we are not,
To make ourselves vulnerable and stripped of our masks and false identity
And suffer ALL with Christ, in order to be transformed into Love.
5. Victims of Love
Our life is an offering of love. Our crosses, including the injustices we suffer, as well as the daily duties, are powerful when done with great love and united with Christ. God waits for the FIAT that signals our total surrender. We don’t just offer something; we offer ourselves without reserve, our entire being, our will, our heart, our body and soul, one with Him. This is to be with Christ victims of love.
It is a victim soul's 'yes' that 'stirs into flame' the power of the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit can lead a docile and willing soul to die with Me. It is this voluntary death that brings the soul to new life…I continue to thirst for love, but it is only the love of My victim souls that satisfies My thirst… Therefore, bring Me many victim souls. 2/1/11 Simple Path #124 p.331
See “Victim of Love” by Fr Jordi Rivero>>
6. 5 Stones: Humility, Purity, Simplicity, Trust and Courage
The MOC and MC must be committed to growing in these five virtues as we persevere in living the Simple Path and taking to heart the teachings of this community.
Virtues Needed as Warriors of Love
My little one, the time draws near. You hold the sword of the Spirit in the mission given to you. My family of LC are My warriors of love that will defeat the dragon in the decisive battle that draws near. Be ready to approach this evil in the same way that David approached Goliath. You will conquer the dragon in your littleness and purity because it is.
God who is with you. You must not fear and believe with the innocence and zeal of David… You each must also approach the battle with five stones.
1. First, the stone of humility, possessing the perfect knowledge of your nothingness and of My power and majesty.
2. Second, the stone of purity, purity of mind, heart, intention, word, desire…
3. Third, simplicity, detached from all, most especially from your ego.
4. Fourth, trust perfectly abandoned to My will.
5. Fifth, courage, courage rooted in love of Me to be perfectly obedient to My commands.
These stones are your weapons for battle, for the dragon will not be defeated according to the standards of the world but in the Light of Love… 1/18/12 Simple Path #148 p. 436
7. Repentance and Conversion
As Love Crucified, we are committed to go daily to the Cross to kiss the feet of Jesus crucified and beg the Spirit for the gift of self-knowledge, so that we can come in truth to know our sins, wounds and disordered tendencies. It is then, through this self-awareness, that we receive the gift of repentance.
Repentance is the gift of God that serves to pry open the hardened human heart so that My seeds of conversion can grow. Repentance is the Sword of the Spirit that opens the darkness within the human heart to be filled with God’s Light of truth, and the truth sets you free.
To live in repentance is to live clothed in the knowledge of who you are, which is misery, and the knowledge of who I Am, which is Love and Mercy.
To live in repentance is to live in the freedom of living in the embrace of Abba, Our Father.
Tell My souls to seek true repentance at the foot of My Cross and the power of My Love Crucified will set them free to live in My peace and the joy of My promise. 2/18/18
The soul that lives wrapped in the gift of knowledge grows in true humility and is then able to advance in My path on the wings of the Holy Spirit… It is here, at My feet, that you must persevere… 12/12/11 Simple Path #10 p.40. see full message >>
Confession: We are encouraged to go regularly to confession. There is no better way to make progress on our spiritual journey than by returning in humble repentance and love to God’s infinite mercy.
A Crusade of Victim Souls
Therese of Lisieux is one of these little souls. Through her "little way," God brings a new understanding of victims of love to the world. She offers herself to Christ as a voluntary oblation, “That I may live in one act of perfect Love, I OFFER MYSELF AS A VICTIM OF HOLOCAUST TO THY MERCIFUL LOVE… “ (Story of a Soul Ch.XII)
St. Therese prophesied that the legion of little souls, victims of merciful Love, would become as numerous “as the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore.” “It will be terrible for Satan; it will help the Blessed Virgin to crush his proud head completely.” (St. Thérése of Lisieux, The Legion of Mary Handbook, 256-257.)
In the last one hundred and fifty years the Church has seen an unprecedented call from our Lord and Blessed Mother for victim souls, a gift of God in view of the crisis the Church and world is undergoing. The ways of God are not the ways of the world. He will raise up a transformed priesthood, pierce the darkness of Satan and usher in the new Pentecost with the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, not through more programs, but through His “hidden force”, a crusade of victim souls.
Important Messages and Saints for These Times
St. Therese of Lisieux 1873-1897
St. Therese lives her victimhood of love as a warrior to help priests obtain victory. She writes to a priest, “Like Joshua you fight on the field, as for me, I am your little Moses, and without ceasing my heart is lifted up to obtain victory." She lives in the Heart of Christ Crucified, therefore, she also suffers and laments with Jesus for priests that are not holy: “How many bad priests there are, how many priests who aren't holy enough! We pray, we suffer for them..., do you understand the cry of my heart?” (Convent letter, cited by Cardinal Cordes, in Why Priests? p 55)
Blessed Conchita 1862-1937
Blessed Conchita, wife and mother of nine children, is an example of the fire of love that makes us victims with Christ. Jesus told her: “Offer yourself as a victim for my priests. Unite yourself to My sacrifice for gaining them graces.” (Conchita, A Mother’s Spiritual Diary, 85). Today’s world has a need not only for religious, but also married and single victim souls that will surrender their entire will to God for the sanctification of priests and families.
Jesus asks Conchita for a crusade of victim souls-- generous men and women in all vocations of life to help priests and families: “I am going to ask you one thing: a crusade of victim souls to the glory of My Father following the spirit of the cross.”
“… It is a union of pure souls, without self interest, victims in the midst of the world, who, fulfilling their duties, with love and zeal and a sacrificial life, give me glory.”
Jesus wants Conchita to give Him holy priests. United to Him, she will belong to priests in the sense that her life will be an oblation for them. Jesus tells her:
“This will truly be a solace to My heart, giving Me holy priests. Tell Me you accept, that you will belong with Me to priests always since your mission on behalf of them will continue in heaven.”
Mary Appears as "Rosa Mystica" to Pierina 1947-1966
The apparitions of our Blessed Mother as Rosa Mystica in Montichiari are specifically a call to priests, religious and consecrated souls and a call to the world to pray, sacrifice and do penance for them.
First Apparition - Spring of 1947
“Our Lady, a beautiful woman, wore a violet dress and a white veil around her head. She was very sad; her eyes were filled with tears which fell to the floor. Her breast was pierced by three big swords. Our Lady said, ‘Prayer-Penitence-Expiation.’”
Second Apparition - June 13, 1947
Our Lady appeared dressed in white and instead of the three swords she had three roses: a white one, a red one, and a golden one. She brings a message of hope with powerful promises to male and female institutes, religious orders and secular priests:
“I promise those religious institutes, orders, and secular priests who venerate me in this special way my special protection, an increase of spiritual vocations, fewer betrayed vocations, and great sanctity among the servants of God. I wish the 13th of each month to be celebrated as the day of Mary... I wish the 13th of July of each year to be celebrated in honor of 'Rosa Mystica.'"
Third Apparition - October 22, 1947
Our Lady explained to Pierina the meaning of the three swords and the three roses:
The first sword means loss of the vocation as a priest or a monk.
The second sword means priests, monks, and nuns who live in deadly sin.
The third sword means priests and monks who commit the treason of Judas. While giving up their vocation, they often lose also their faith, their eternal beatitude, and become enemies of the Church.
The white rose means the spirit of prayer.
The red rose means the spirit of expiation and sacrifice.
The yellow or golden rose means the spirit of penitence.
Fourth Apparition - November 16, 1947
She said, "Our Lord, my Divine Son, is tired of the many offenses, the severe offenses, the sins against holy purity . . . "He wants to send another flood of punishment… I have interceded that He may be merciful once more. Therefore, I ask for your prayer and penitence to expiate these sins."
Blessed Elena Aiello 1895-1951 (Simple path 430-431)
Sister Elena Aiello was beatified on the Feast of the Holy Cross, 2011, by Pope Benedict XVI. The prophecies given to her by Jesus and Mary are very serious and urgent. Again, souls are asked by our Lord and Blessed Mother to suffer for priests and pray and do penance for the conversion of the world.
Jesus: The Church is opposed, and the priests are despised because of the bad ones who give scandal. Help Me, by suffering, to repair for so many offenses, and thus save at least in part, humanity precipitated in a slough of corruption and death.
Then the Madonna appeared to me. She was dressed in black, with seven swords piercing Her Immaculate Heart. Coming closer, with an expression of profound sorrow, and with tears on her cheeks, she spoke to me, saying:
Cry out until the priests of God lend their ears to my voice, to advise men that the time is near at hand, and if men do not return to God with prayers and penances, the world will be overturned in a new and more terrible war. Arms most deadly will destroy peoples and nations! The dictators of the earth, specimens infernal, will demolish the churches and desecrate the Holy Eucharist, and will destroy things most dear. In this impious war, much will be destroyed of that which has been built by the hands of man.
Clouds with lightning flashes of fire in the sky and a tempest of fire shall fall upon the world. This terrible scourge, never before seen in the history of humanity, will last seventy hours. Godless persons will be crushed and wiped out. Many will be lost because they remain in their obstinacy of sin. Then shall be seen the power of light over the power of darkness. >>>
Our Lady of Akita, Japan 1973-1981
The Second World War brought incredible devastation upon Japan. Atomic bombs annihilated two of its cities. It is, therefore, remarkable that Our Lady warned the world at Akita that if we do not turn to God, “Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad.” Akita is not an apparition, rather, Mary shows the continuity of her presence through tears shed by a statue of Our Lady of All Nations. She speaks about the power of the “cohort of victim souls” to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa:
Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him, to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates... I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him [The Father] the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood, and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger. I desire also this from your community… Already souls who wish to pray are on the way to being gathered together. August 3, 1973