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
God’s Army of Victim Souls to Raise up a Holy Priesthood
In the document of the Congregation for the Clergy, “🔗Eucharistic Adoration for the Sanctification of Priest and Spiritual Maternity,” the Church recognizes the urgent need to raise an army of spiritual mothers for priests and seminarians:
The vocation to be a spiritual mother for priests is hardly unknown, barely understood and consequently, rarely lived too little although fundamental and vitally important. It is a vocation that is often hidden,
not apparent to the human eye, but intended to transmit spiritual life.
The mission of the women of the Love Crucified Community is to help raise up God’s army of victim souls. They are spiritual mothers who bring forth His “Apostles of Light” for the decisive battle at hand. Women like Mary, who out of love for Christ live the hidden martyrdom of the heart, united to Christ crucified. The food and nourishment, the source of life of a Spiritual Mother, must be the Eucharist.
Mary: We will use your hidden lives, lived in Jesus crucified, to aid in the renewal of the Church, the sanctification of priests, and the salvation of many souls. You will be the hidden force that raises up my army of holy priests. These are the priests who will usher in the reign of my Immaculate Heart, a new Pentecost for the Church. The ways of God are not the ways of the world. He will use the vocation of motherhood, united in me, to bring new life to the Church. Know that the most ordinary tasks of motherhood, lived in sacrificial love, please greatly the Father. He will use these simple and generous mothers, united to me, to renew the Church. This is the power of the Cross: souls united to Love Crucified solely to love Jesus as He has loved you. This is the love that will transform the world. —6/13/0), Simple Path, #142, p.386.
Spiritual Motherhood Lived Only in Mary
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the source of spiritual motherhood instituted by Christ from the Cross. Spiritual motherhood can be lived only in Mary. If lived without her, it is not spiritual motherhood. We find the purest essence of spiritual motherhood in the union of St. John and Mary established by Jesus at the foot of the Cross. Jesus, in His deepest agony, waited until He could share His Passion with them, to call them forth to become mother and son. 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. Mary, now the Mother of the Church, remains to form, St. John and the apostles, Mary Magdalen and the holy women, 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.
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. Share with them your experience of the Cross. My little one, share with them your life. It is living testimonies of my Son's grace that touches and awakens hearts. 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.
A Gift from the Holy Spirit
Spiritual Motherhood is not a program, nor a new apostolate nor something you do following a set of rules. Spiritual maternity is at the core of the feminine heart. This holds true for all women, either married or single, professional and/or domestic, religious or consecrated. We become spiritual mothers as we come to know intimately the passionate love of our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, through the power of the Cross and choose to respond, in complete abandonment, with our whole heart. Spiritual Motherhood is a GIFT from the Holy Spirit and grows as the Spirit heals our feminine hearts and transforms us to become a new creation.
Only Living as Victims in Christ can Holy Relationships Between Spiritual Mothers and Priests Exist
The Church is discovering the urgent need for priests to have such spiritual mothers. In order for these relationships to be fully from the Lord, both the spiritual mother and priest must be willing to accept this call to enter the depth of their hearts and identify the wounds and disorders they carry. They must be willing to do the “work” required in the Simple Path so that the Holy Spirit can heal and purify them. As Christ purifies hearts in the fire of His Sacred Heart, He restores men and women’s ability to truly love and compliment each other in the service of the Kingdom. In our brokenness, we may find it hard to believe that a mother-son relationship between women and priests is possible or even desirable. We tend to think only of dangers that stem from our fallen nature, but we also need to believe that Christ at Calvary poured out His Spirit to make all things new. The Lord continues to raise up relationships between spiritual mothers and priests, but this is possible only to the extent that they are truly victim souls, One with The Victim. Mary went to Calvary with St. John and wants to take every priest to Her Crucified Son.
Spiritual mothers in Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, become God’s source of strength and encouragement for priests to become ONE with The Crucified:
Walk with Me in My passion. Through Mary, My Mother, I received the strength and zeal I needed to continue to the Cross… She was not only My consolation but also My strength. My Mother knew and accepted My mission… In Her great and pure love of God, she encouraged Me and brought Me to the Cross. It was she that encouraged Me to begin My mission at the Wedding at Cana… Do you see the importance of holy mothers for My priests, who are living images of My Mother? My priests need these holy mothers to help strengthen and encourage them. –2/20/09, Simple Path, #137, p. 369
The Work of Spiritual Mothers: take the Life of Christ Crucified to Priests
Therefore, a spiritual mother must be a mother of the cross, a victim soul who lays down her life for love of her spiritual children. The Ven. Archbishop Luis Martinez understood the power of spiritual mothers and encouraged Conchita to persevere in love:
“You, too, like Jesus, must love the Father on behalf of all your children and for all the souls that God has linked with you through the outstanding grace of spiritual maternity…. Some of your children will love the Father with many limitations. You must supply for them. Perhaps some of them—may the Lord not permit it!—will never love. You must love for them. With what desire you must try to love for all in order that the Father may not lack even a spark of love from your spiritual family.” –Simple Path p. 371
The following letter, written by a spiritual mother to her priest/son, reveals the work required of spiritual mothers: reparation, encouragement, love, tender correction, teach them how to “suffer with”, guide them to live their victimhood, suffer for them and with them, bring them to the foot of the Cross with Mary:
THANK YOU for allowing me the honor of being the custodian, as one with Mary the Mother of the Cross, of your priestly vocation as your spiritual mother. This is something that I treasure and take so seriously. THANK YOU for blessing me and my family through who you are as Christ's ordained priest/victim!!!!
My dear father/son, through the words you write me, I see the beauty of what God is doing in your heart! I see the power of the Holy Spirit working the transformation of your heart! I have been thanking and praising God for His mercy and love being lavished upon you!
Yes, the Cross is the place of our deep purification, of our dying to self, of our letting go of our control, of our titles, of our limited way of thinking… And it is also the place where we enter the most profound intimacy with God!
Father persevere in SUFFERING ALL WITH JESUS, and you will enter the fire of the Holy Spirit in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Continue to PERSEVERE as I read that you are doing. Yes, you are not walking alone, I am with you, and you are with me. We are helping each other, as Mary and St John, to die as ONE with Christ, so that we can become the SAINTS He created us to be!!!!!! The new men and women of the Kingdom of Christ!!
My heart is filled with EXCITEMENT and ANTICIPATION knowing how powerfully the Spirit is working in you. TRUST! TRUST! TRUST! You are becoming a new man, the new Adam!!!
May you always be consoled in remembering that I am sustaining you as God's “hidden force.” I pray for you daily before the Blessed Sacrament, and it is a great honor offering my life as a living sacrifice with Jesus and Mary for you! I am greatly consoled and also sustained through your prayers and priesthood!! THANK YOU AGAIN!!
I humbly receive your priestly blessing and I send you my maternal love through our Mother of Sorrows! –Simple Path p.390-391.
May all of God’s spiritual mothers band together as God’s holy warriors of love with Mary to raise up a transformed priesthood of Christ’s “apostles of light” for the Church and world:
You, My little ones, are the consolation of My suffering Heart because you each have united yourselves to Mary, the Mother of God and the Mother of all. As I gaze at each of you, I see her beauty radiating from you. Allow her to form each of you to perfection.
I need you, My faithful ones, to bring life to My Missionaries of the Cross. It is My hidden martyrs of love, in perfect union with the Queen of Martyrs, that will raise up My Apostles of Light. Know that I have taken My abode in each of your hearts; therefore, radiate the humility and purity of My Mother.
Do not grow weary in your hidden lives of suffering all with Me, for you are My holy remnant that God the Father will use to purify My Church and pierce the darkness penetrating Her. Therefore, go forth, My daughters, as My holy warriors with Mary to seize the dragon and cast him into hell.
I bless you with My Precious Blood and seal you with the power of My Cross. –4/1/11, Simple Path,#141 p. 385.
🔗Teachings on Spiritual Motherhood, text, audio, video.
🔗Eucharistic Adoration for the Sanctification of Priests and Spiritual Motherhood –Document of Cong. for Clergy
🔗See 'Spiritual motherhood' in Chapter 7 of the Simple Path.