Augustinian Recollect Nazarene Nun of Motril with Cross, Crown of Thorns, and Rope Cincture
Augustinian Recollect Nazarene Nun of Motril with Cross, Crown of Thorns, Rope Cincture Sister Madalena Caterina of Jesus, O.A.R. La Agustina Recolecta Nazarena de Motril (Spanish) Ordo Augustinianorum Recollectorum (Latin) “Caritas veritatis” – “Service to charity, but it loves truth” “Necessitas caritatis” – “The necessity of truth” which preserves and expresses charity’s power to liberate in the ever-changing events of history.
Holding a continual conversation with God, she shines a light on Devotion to the Passion of Christ. Her heart is restless until it rests in God and becomes one with Him. She is Christ-centered, grace-centered, and grace-filled, affirming that humans are created in God’s image (imago Dei) and must discover that divine presence, soul, and identity within themselves.
Foundress: Mother (Madre) Sebastiana María de la Cruz Gómez
Place: Motril, (Granada) Spain
Year: February 3, 1699 A.D.
Her Charism: A charism is an experience of the Holy Spirit that implies a way of being, a specific mission, a spirituality, and a fraternal lifestyle. This nun’s Augustinian charism can be summarized in the unconditional love of God, which unites souls and hearts in community life among her Sisters and which spreads to all of God’s children in an effort to unite them to Christ. This “unity and charity” is the very heart of this Augustinian nun’s life. The opening words of St. Augustine’s Rule directs this contemplative nun to be of one mind and heart on her way to God. She is on a pilgrimage and Christ is her constant companion, her way and her goal.. Her journey is characterized by three (3) essential elements: a constant search for God by means of a deep interior life fostered by prayer, poverty and humility: the practical love of neighbor which nourishes loyalty, trust, and understanding; and the constant pursuit of truth. These are the “tools” she uses on her way to her heavenly homeland. But while on earth, she is a kindly mendicant – a beggar before God – who possesses a love for monastic perfection and an ardent desire to follow Christ, chaste, pure, and obedient. In the manner of St. Augustine, known as the “Theologian of Grace”, this nun is a “silent achiever” who goes beyond the limits of her monastery walls and discovers -with crystal clarity- the demands of charity, the intensity of recollection, the constant search for God by means of a deep interior life, the love of neighbor, and the resolute pursuit of truth. This is “evangelical radicalism.” Her humble life demands the virtues of tenderness and human warmth like those of the Holy Virgin, Mother of God Totally devoted to Mary, she emulates her heaven-born qualities because She is the perfect model of a life consecrated to God, thus being Marian. With her Sisters in Community, she lives with “one mind and one heart intent upon God.” Her sublime mission is to enlighten children of all ages for Heaven while her charity embraces the world (Amor Diffusivus – a diffuse love in the Trinity and in Creation). However, she carries out her contemplative work with a peculiarity: Her special devotion is to pray for the preservation of the devotion to Jesus of Nazareth Whose image is venerated in the monastery. Because of this devotion, she dresses in a purple habit, richly symbolizing the authority, kingship, and royalty of Jesus., and lives in the style of the Nazarene Carmelites of Lima, Peru. Lent is lived all year round in her convent. She prays the Way of the Cross daily. But on Good Friday, and 15 days prior to it, this moment is more intense because then, she bears a crown of thorns, a large wooden cross on her shoulder, and a heavy rough rope around her waist. In addition, fasting and abstinence are practiced every Friday throughout the year. 300 years later, the Monastery of the Visitation of St. Mary continues to be the “heart” of devotion to the image that was carved by Domingo Sánchez Mesa Granada in the 20th Century to replace the original that disappeared during the Spanish Civil War. That “missionary in the heart of the Church” possesses a tender, warm, human, and maternal “heart” which beats to the rhythm of her other little Augustinian Recollect Nuns of Nazareth. In unity and charity they carry the Cross of Christ each day with their prayers. for the healing and salvation of the world through devotion to Jesus of Nazareth and His Passion In her passionate search for love and truth, she helps society recognize the dignity of each person and sharing the gift that each one is for the other. Her prayer covers the human being in all its dimensions without losing sight of the final goal: the encounter with the interior Master Who nourishes and vivifies the meaning and reason for existence. It is that meaning to life that fills each heart with authentic happiness, and, those who upon finding it, feel loved fully.