The Exaltation of the Holy Cross - M. Maria Celeste Feast Day

The Cross is the altar of the sacrifice of Christ who is always present also in our crosses. Through faith we can transcend the negative aspect of the suffering we meet in our way and allow God to make it an avenue of Grace not only for ourselves but for the Church and the world.

        The Cross is the superabundance of God's Love poured out upon this world and the great sign of Christ's saving presence. Love of the Cross is essentially love and imitation of Jesus Christ.  (Rule of Life #30 - Constitutions OSsR, 57)

On this liturgical feast day of the Triumph or Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Redemptoristine daughters of Mother Maria Celeste -including this hermitess- celebrate also her triumph and passing into Glory as Jesus himself promised her:

Know, My daughter, that in this world, you will not be separated from My Passion, but will have an abundance of troubles and infirmities, because you cannot acquire love without sufferings. Thus, whatever I dispose and ordain for you, it is all love! Therefore, you must have patience and I promise you, on My word, that the moment your soul leaves your body, I will lead it into heaven where it will enjoy Me for all eternity.  Dialogue IX

Mother Maria Celeste, the Holy Prioress of the Monastery of the Most Holy Savior in Foggia, Italy, was nearing her 59th birthday when on September 14, 1755, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross:

.  She had taken communion that morning in the community Mass and the day began as one more day in conventual life.  But, feeling very ill, she had the confessor called, Father Nicholas Lombardi, who administered the viaticum to her and holy unction.  Then, she requested him to read her the Passion according to St. John, and when the confessor arrived at the words “Consummatum est” (‘everything is completed’, Jn. 19:30) Mother Maria Celeste quietly died.  It was at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. (Autobiography, Apendix) 

As we praise and thank God for the great gift of the life and death of M. Maria Celeste, we pray through her intercession for her glorification, and for the future of her legacy, the Order and the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. We also pray for the new forms in which her spirituality is lived out in various ways around the world, particularly the Redemptoristine eremitic life. Most especially we pray that her very rich doctrine on the transformation of the human person into Christ, which she herself lived and experienced, may be made accessible through publications in different languages, and that many daughters and sons of her spirit be called to live the Christian vocation to the depth of intimacy with God that she was called to mediate.

Receive, My daughter, the spirit of your Institute so that you may instil it into every soul willing to receive it, and through you, be united to Me in love. (Dialogue IX)

Venerable Mother Maria Celeste, pray for us!