Regnum Christi

I was able to spend the last month of being 23 years old, alone with God, letting Him probe my heart and draw me deeper into Himself.

My month-long spiritual exercises started May 27^th and ended June 26^th, my 24^th birthday. They were here in Castel di Guido, Rome, where I am for the summer with 23 other Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi, who have been consecrated between 6-9 years, and are preparing for final vows like me and/or deeply integrating and deepening in our vocation. Continue reading →

The photo here is of Mario Olivieri, showing off the voting system we used in our discussions today. As you’ll see, it was a bit less sophisticated than those used in the international or territorial conventions. We used cards in the colors of the Italian flag: green for approve; white for abstain; red for disapprove. None of the votes we took today had any juridical bearing; they were just for giving the commission on the statutes guidance on where the weight of opinion of the room was on many weighty but complex and technical matters related to governance.

To give you a “for instance” of the type of thing under discussion, we spent a good deal of time on the limits of branch autonomy when we as a body are trying to build and model communion. Can the Legion of Christ open a new seminary (hypothetically, you understand; no one is thinking of doing so) of its own accord? Or in the future must it consult some sort of joint governing organ, given that the number of personnel and money involved would have an affect on the Legion’s ability to provide chaplains to existing schools and sections? Continue reading →

No matter how far I go He goes along with me.

No matter where I wander my heart remains in His.

Life is a whirlwind of adventures, but in the midst of all the distance and all the different some things don’t really change. I will always love to wander and He will always remain faithfully beside me. Continue reading →

It’s 11 pm here in Rome and I’m back in my room after a feast day Mass and dinner with the LC community at the Center for Higher Studies. It’s always a treat to go there because you run into priests and brothers you know from back home.

Though they didn’t stay for dinner, I had a short visit with some consecrated women who are in town either taking or giving a month-long course for those preparing for their final vows. It was a joy to give a big hug to Amelia Hoover. And you old-timers like me can feel jealous: I caught a glimpse of Jacinta Curran and said a quick hello to Patricia Bannon as well. What shall I tell you about our work today?

The picture shows you Salvatore Bonventre and Fr. Rodrigo Ramirez presenting a history of the relationship between the Legion and Regnum Christi from the point of view of all the documents in the Legion’s historical archive. Continue reading →

A lot of moms I know (…that’s code for the fact that I’m talking about myself…) survive the May madness of end of school activities by focusing on a blissful vision of summer… Sleeping in, time to read, go for leisurely walks and relaxing vacations and evenings of socializing and family time.

By mid-June, reality has set in and what helped us cope with the insanity of May schedules has vaporized like a daydream.  No school schedule means all day taxi-service for sports and social engagements, kids home more means an unending siege of the fridge and the only books you can get to are those that rhyme and can be repeated to the glee of your audience, day after day after day. Continue reading →

Every year the general government holds plenary meetings with members from all branches present to look deeply at aspects of Regnum Christi that involve the entire movement. This year Rebecca Teti from Washington DC is one of 5 lay members attending the meetings.  She is sharing her informal impressions with all of us from day to day.

Report from day 1

Wondering what a plenary meeting is? I didn’t really know either until I was invited to participate. I’ll include a link with a brief explanation. This is the second plenary meeting. The first was about communion, and was the genesis for Fr. Eduardo’s letter to us about communion. Below you have some pictures so you can understand the scene. Today was very interesting because we “picked the brains” of members of other movements to learn more about the canonical structures available to us and to hear how other movements arrived at their structure. Continue reading →

“We’re not flying. We’re falling… with style.” It’s a rather melodramatic quote from the first Toy Story, but I like to twist it to express something so true, so simple, and yet so hard to do: wasting time with style. We feel like we need to always be doing something productive or recreational. If it’s not one or the other, it’s being lazy. Not exactly. That would be true if everything depended on us, but quite frankly, it doesn’t. The depth of our identity is that we are sons and daughters of God who don’t do anything “practical” for him. We give him joy by being his beloved children who are there just to be loved. Continue reading →

On my first trip to Ávila, my buddy wasn’t so much St. Teresa- it was John of the Cross. For a couple of months I’ve been working my way through “The Impact of God” by Fr. Iain Matthew, in which I think I´ve found a “saint friend.” I haven´t been one of those people who has one super-favorite saint, but in the past few years I´ve come across one or two who I feel very identified with. They make me think, “YES! That’s exactly what happens to me, and WHEW! It’s okay!”

Walking around the little town of Ávila–which is a funny mixture between the ancient and the modern, still quaint and surrounded by its famous medieval wall, but with tourists everywhere—I was struck by the plaques that said “Here lived St. John of the Cross for x years” or “Here in this chair sat St. John as he heard the confessions of Carmelite sisters.” I had a little bit of that “Yes, me too!” feeling—“Look, he was human too!” He sat in chairs, wrote letters on paper, lived in a house, slept in a bed, read books…He’s not just a character in a book, or some distant author of a lot of great ideas. He was just as human as I am, and it’s precisely his holy humanity that inspires me. I think saints are the most human, down-to-earth people…at least, the holy people I know are very much so. That’s one of the things that really inspires me about sanctity- that it´s ME who is going to be made into a saint, the human ME, not some angelic-supernatural-impeccable me that I haven´t yet found. Continue reading →

Have we ever thought about what it means to follow Christ? What do we imagine it to be? A walk through a flowery meadow? through a desert? Take a second and think about what it means for you.

To follow Christ for me means to have Christ as one’s only security. Christ is our only security when we don’t find our security in places like a place to rest, our family, or work. In the world today it seems like many of those securities are not there, or are less certain. There are many uncertainties, but the one security we can always have is that God loves us. This life isn’t everything but we are destined to eternal life with Him. It is a security of faith, but without which life doesn’t make sense. Christ came to give meaning to our life; we need to open our hearts to receiving His love. It is there, but many times, we run from it trying to find our security in other places. Hold onto Christ amidst the changes and storms of life; let Him be your security.

“I will not walk backward in life.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

A mid-life crisis can tempt good people to revert back to the “good old days”, along with all of their bad habits. Looking up old girlfriends/boyfriends on social media, imitating the reckless and immature behavior of your teenage years, cosmetic surgery to look perpetually young and fit, etc. Love your spouse, age gracefully, show the nobility and dignity of a true Christian…our culture needs that strong example!