Submit to Eucharistic Letter Revisited

 

30          THE EUCHARISTIC LETTER

 

It seems to me also, that in this adorable mystery, we will find the nature and the activities of our Institute. 

  

Father Medaille is consistent throughout the Eucharistic Letter that all the aspects of the Little Design communities are integrated and united and flow from Eucharist.

 

Notes from Marius Nepper, SJ and intercongregational research team:

 

“It’s nature.”    Father Medaille is going to give a fairly concrete description of the way the first community of the Institute is set up, such as it actually was then or such as it exists sketchily in his imagination. It is in this sense of concrete realization in which the spirit of the Institute will be incarnated that we must understand by this word, “nature.”

 

“The activities.”  These are charitable activities toward which the Institute will be oriented; Father Medaille does not determine them with precision; he is content, in The Letter, to give the general principle to which they ought to remain faithful.”

 

We cannot help but marvel once again as he makes the profound Mystery so ‘contained’ in our ‘little nothing’, in our small groupings, in our human existence.

 
Medaille had a great sense of himself being changed into Love. In his reflection on the Eucharist he writes:
O Jesus!
in this miracle of mysteries 
effect in me a miracle of love. 
Grant that when I have the happiness of partaking 
in this sacrament, 
Your grace may change my life into your life.”

  

Observe how ‘open to the Spirit’ this Little Design remains. 

 

Comments  

#6 stmarys 2013-07-22 15:32
God's timing?!!! A letter written to an individual Sister, somehow preserved over the centuries, comes to life again to challenge, to encourage, to energize us today. Proof of being open to the Spirit...to take up an age-old document and recognize the value, the gift that it is...to take its message to heart and share it with the world at a time when the world so desperately needs to hear/experience forgiveness, unconditional love, "other" centered lives. Little did Medaille realize, at the time he wrote it, how much his message would be needed/relevant for the far-distant future communities based on his little design!
#5 arletteh 2013-03-28 00:37
"Envisioned in Father Medaille's mind and now, in our hearts. "Yes!
#4 arletteh 2013-03-28 00:32
"The Little Design communities are integrated and united and flow from the Eucharist."Last tnight, was watching the National Catholic Mission.One statement really struck me. It was regarding living eucharist,for e.g.,:when we,with love, look someone in the eye, we are living eucharist."Obse rve how open to the Spirit the Communities really are."I was looking for the reason. The GRACE,already given;"I give you My Life."The WAY:of littleness, humility,simpli city. The COMMUNICATION:i n very transportable ,intimate little communities that can in sharing, go down to that Life, to help each other grow in it.The MISSION:living it daily,eucharist ically,from a "given' heart.The POSSIBILITY:a beautiful variety of Little Design communities.
#3 virginia 2013-03-24 15:33
Just having received the true King of Glory this Palm Sunday, I pray Fr. Medialle's prayer to Jesus that His grace will change my life into His. Especially as I walk THE WAY this Holy Week!
One of our sisters who lives with me was a member of the research team with Fr. Marius Nepper ( S. Leonie) We are certainly indebted to him for his legacy in affirming and fleshing out this precious document.
The Eucharist Letter has become our blue-print for the refounding of Our Little Design around the world, envisioned long ago in Fr. Medialle's mind and now in our hearts! It IS providential that we are taking it up again after not being circulated at the time!!
#2 daviddhunoo 2013-03-24 04:57
I LOVE THE WAY JP MEDAILLE EXPRESS < BEING CHANGED INTO LOVE >,JESUS HAS GIVEN TO US ANOTHER MASTER THE HOLY SPIRIT ,HE WILL HELP US TO FULFILL THIS TASK ,TO SPEAK TO OUR HEARTS AND SOULS THE WORD OF LIFE . THIS WAY WHEN WE SPEAK TO OTHERS ,IT IS NOT US THAT SPEAK IT WILL BE HIM SPEAKING THROUGH US .I BELIEVE THAT OUR FIRST SISTERS LIFE CARRIED THE LOVE WITHIN THEMSELVES WHEN THEY WENT OUT SHARED THE LOVE IN THEIR DAILY ACTIVITIES. IN HUMILITY AND UNION AMONG THEMSELVES ,THEY SERVED THE COMMUNITIES FOR THE GLORY OF GOD .CAN WE BE THE LITTLE DESIGN IN THIS CENTURY TO TAKE THE CHALLENGE TO CONTINUE THE MINISTRIES .
#1 rosemaryo 2013-03-24 02:51
From the HISTORY and VISION section of this website:
"Written after the Avis et Reglements, this message could help to unify from the inside out the diversity of forms of life in the houses. That union was effected through making littleness, humility, and the absence of legal recognition the basis of the new association and a means of advancing “the glory of God and the salvation of souls.” It seems however, that the message was not received, at least not in this particular form. Apparently, the Eucharistic Letter was not circulated, or very little, among the communities." Marguerite Vacher, Nuns Without Cloister.

Here we are some 350 years later revisiting The Eucharistic Letter. Today we too can marvel at this 'openness to the Spirit' and rejoice in the variety of ways this 'way of life' is being expressed and manifested around the world.

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