Franciscan Daughters of Mary

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On Dignity

Human life is a great gift from God, Who loved each one of us in to being.  As every new mom or dad spends a considerable time looking for their own features in their newborn baby, he’s got your eyes, she’s got your high cheek bones. Our Heavenly Father also takes great joy in seeing Himself in each of us, “Let us make human beings in Our image, after Our own likeness.”(Genesis 1:26)

“He first loved us”( 1 John 4:19), then there we were. Each newly conceived human person is so valuable to Our Lord that He desired the whole human experience, becoming a single celled human individual in His Mother’s womb. Our well-being so important to Him that He assigns an angel to remain with us throughout our whole life, to guard, protect and guide us. His love is so complete that He has chosen to be with us intimately by becoming our food in the Holy Eucharist!
What more can we say to articulate the great God-given dignity that is ours?!

The “right to life” is primary to forming a just society, one that upholds the dignity of every human person from the moment of conception until natural death. Children who are raised in a loving, stable and nurturing environment, where children are welcomed as a gift, are more well-adjusted, intelligent and successful adults.

Well, if this is indicative of the family, wouldn’t it follow that the same holds true for society, for the whole human family?
We need to get back to basics – loving our neighbor. Love is patient, love is kind… it does not seek its own interests…it rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-6)

A society that makes the distinction of who is worthy of care or worthy of life is one that destroys the very essence that will give it a stable and successful future. As the Lord God, the Creator of all things holds each one of us in such great esteem, we, as followers of Jesus Christ need to be like-minded. To change our society, we must change our own hearts. Let us make it our aim and goal to uphold the dignity of every human person, from the first moment of conception until natural death.

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What we wear: Habit sign of hope, eternal realities

 

On Oct. 7th, 2011 Sr. Clare Marie of the Holy Eucharist was invested in the habit of our community, as she entered into the Novitiate stage of formation. At her Investiture ceremony, Sr. Clare consecrated herself to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the true Superior of our community. She received the medal of Our Lady of Guadalupe as a sign of her consecration. She was then tonsured, a total rejection of the vain things of the world, by willingly offering her one crowning beauty before she received our habit.

We are often asked why we wear a habit. The answer: We choose to!

Every part of our habit has meaning and significance. The tunic clothes our sister in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ and is a sign of willingness to endure every distress and hardship. The cords are a sign of her readiness to embrace penance. The Rosary girds her with the armor of God, so that she may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil, for "our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with the principalities and powers, with the world rulers of this pre-sent darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens, so to be able to resist on the evil day." (Ephesians 6:12)

Our Novices are invested with a white scapular, a sign of purity and of her consecration to Our Lady as well as a commitment to live out her vocation with the Blessed Virgin Mary as her role model and intercessor. The veil is our helmet of salvation and hope, a sign of her humility and unfailing obedience and of her firm intention to turn her eyes away from foolish vanities.