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.



Spiritual Motherhood
In God’s great love for His priests, He does not leave them alone to walk the narrow path of the Cross to become ONE with Christ Crucified. He gives them His Mother of Sorrows and, as one with her, spiritual mothers who bring encouragement, strength, support, love and consolation to their priest sons.
The “new Adams” and “new Eves”
The first fruit of Jesus and Mary’s love at the Cross is St. John, the chosen of the Lord, His beloved disciple. Of all the apostles, he is the one who knew the Heart of Jesus intimately. From this intimacy is born his openness to intimacy with Mary at the Cross.
Jesus in His agony called them forth at the foot of the Cross to become mother and son/disciple.
They could not be mother and son to each other without first being victims of love, one with Christ’s Passion. Union with Christ at the Cross is at the center of Mary’s motherhood and at the center of St. John’s son/discipleship. At the Cross, they come together, and their relationship acquires a new meaning and a new fecundity because it has the fire of pure and perfect love. When it reaches maturity, we find the purest essence of Spiritual Motherhood.
I, the Mother of all in heaven and on earth, the Mother of all priests, desire for their holiness. As I embraced St. John at the foot of the Cross, enveloped in the precious blood of my most adorable Son, I also want to embrace each priest. Through my Son, they are each my sons. I love them with my motherly pure heart. I want to lead them to be holy as Jesus is holy. I want to lead them into the abode of His pierced Heart. I will bring each of them to the Cross as I accompanied my Son. I will form them to be perfect victims as I formed my Son. I will place in their hearts the love of the Cross as the Father placed this love in the Heart of my Son and in mine.
My daughter, I want you to help each priest come to the Cross… Tell them to allow me to reveal to them the love of Jesus Crucified. It is only this love that has the power to transform. It is when each of my consecrated priests unite themselves, through my heart, to Love Crucified that the hearts of the faithful will be opened. —8/5/09, Simple Path #138 p. 370.
Mary becomes God’s instrument to continue the work of redemption in St. John, especially through the healing and formation of his heart. This includes the healing of his emotions, feelings, desires and his self-image. Jesus, the man, formed him; then Mary, the woman, completed the formation of his heart as only a woman can.
She is also his companion. The Lord said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen 2:18). No one is more apt to accompany and help man than the woman Mary. The relationship of Mary and St. John shows that Jesus meant the complementarity between man and woman to find expression, not only in marital relationships oriented towards having children, but also in spiritual relationships that bring spiritual life to many.
“Woman, behold, your son!” (Jn 19:26). This is the Mother and companion Jesus gives us. But Jesus also spoke to St. John, “Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’” (Jn 19:27). He can be blessed with the gift of Mary only if he responds with all his heart. He must “behold” her. John understood that, to behold Mary, meant to receive her; therefore, “from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (Jn 19:27). She is not a mother whom we visit while keeping her at a distance. He took Mary into his own home, into his heart—a heart that belongs to Jesus—and allowed her to enter the intimacy of his priesthood.
Like St. John, every priest is called to love Mary and receive her into his heart:
Priests must love Mary with the same love, with the same tenderness, respect, obedience and fidelity, gratitude and purity with which I loved her…. Priests should appeal to Mary, begging her, imploring her to model them, feature by feature, in accordance with her Son Jesus… When I left the world… I left Mary to it, who represented Me in her virtues, in her tenderness, in her Heart, faithful echo of Mine… The newborn Church leaned on Mary… for the protection of a Mother and for her to be the channel where all grace of the Divine Spirit would pass to souls… At the foot of the Cross…. there Mary pronounced her second ‘fiat’ and accepted all humanity as children, but above all, the priests in St. John. —The Priesthood of Christ and the Ministerial Priesthood in the Experience and Message of Concepcion Cabrera de Armida, Juan Esquerda Bifet, 39.
Mary, now the Mother of the Church, remains to form St. John and Mary Magdalene in the school of her heart, as she does with each of us. We, like them, must be formed in the School of Love: The Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In the new Adam and new Eve, Jesus and Mary, we find the perfect harmonious relationship. They are the model and source of grace for all renewed men and women. With Saint John and Mary Magdalene begins a new lineage of renewed men and women, cleansed in the Blood of the Lamb; new Adams and new Eves formed in the heart of the New Adam and the New Eve. It is the beginning of a covenant of love with Christ through Mary.
The following audio talk captures the heart and essence of how we are to imitate the relationship reflected by Jesus and Mary at the Cross.
🔗"The Cross is the Treasure" by Lourdes Pinto
The Work of a Spiritual Mother with her Priest-Son
An important aspect of the Marian dimension of the priesthood is the association of Mary to the sacrifice of Christ. As co-redemptrix, Mary offers Jesus to the Father and unites herself to His sacrifice:
Mary offered Me to the eternal Father to be crucified, and this was her greatest torture. —"The Priesthood of Christ"... Concepción Cabrera de Armida, 40.
A spiritual mother as one with the Mother of Sorrows helps her spiritual son-priest to be crucified as she unites herself to his crucifixion with Christ, as a pure offering to the Father.
The following letter written by a spiritual mother to her priest/son reveals the work of the Holy Spirit:
My Dear Father,
This is exactly where the Path leads us: to the beauty of the fullness of our restoration in Christ as the new men and women of the Kingdom of God!
He (St John Paul II in “Givenness”) writes about the word “helpmate” (Gn 2:18) as a, “Woman is given to man so that he can understand himself, and reciprocally man is given to woman for the same end.” How true this is in the GIFT of our communion. “God has given you to me.” “This awareness becomes a source of enrichment for each of us.” Yes, my dear Father, God has given you to me as my spiritual son and father, and also as my friend. You have enriched my life with the gift of your life as you have made yourself vulnerable to me and have received me into your heart. THANK YOU!!!
“Only someone who has dominion over himself can become a sincere gift for others.” God leads each of us through the narrow path of the Cross to have dominion over ourselves through the gift of self-knowledge and the knowledge that we are the “beloved” of God in Christ. This is what I read in your words to me in the last email. You are acquiring dominion over yourself, and therefore becoming more-and-more a gift for others!
“The beauty of the Transfiguration strengthened the Apostles, so they could endure the humiliating Passion of the Transfigured Christ. For beauty is a source of strength for man. It is inspiration for work, a light that guides us through the darkness of human existence and allows us to overcome all evil, all suffering, with good…” Thank you for reminding me in your last email that I am called to be the Maccabees mother encouraging her son to be martyred for God. I pray as St John Paul writes that the beauty of my femininity and maternity will be a source of strength for you to love as one with Christ to the extreme of the Cross!!!!
Below is a letter from a priest to his spiritual mother in which he opens his heart to her:
Dearest in Christ,
I think it's providential that I increasingly feel my incapacities and my human and Christian smallness. It's hard to recognize them. But they are everywhere. Incapacities to love, to communicate the Gospel, to be a father to the people with whom I interact pastorally. And that brings with it a temptation of distrust and inner sadness.
I try to see and feel the presence of God in my life, but it does not come. Or rather, it does not come as I would like. I must continue to be in purification. Walk in faith, even when the heart is lonely and overwhelmed, seeing the endless needs of the people. And in this inner path of trials, your messages are a balm and a light that God gives me. I thank you very much. God will say how long I will be in this phase and what is it that I should really learn and understand.
Your son asks your prayers and humbly blesses you, (Simple Path, p.388)