November 8, 2004

"Victim Love"

Our fourth vow is victim love.  Another word that we use for victim love is zeal.  We begin our study on page eight of Our Holy Rule by saying, "Our consecration to live Jesus and His Cross as victim lambs of God's most merciful love for the salvation of souls is our response to His new commandment to ‘love one another as I have loved you' (Jn 15:12)."  It's so simple. 

This vow of victim love or zeal for the salvation of souls is unique to the Good Shepherd Congregation.  As far as I know, it's the only congregation in the world that has ever had this particular vow or promise.  It was relayed to St. Mary Euphrasia, and it was the main vow of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and the Sisters of the Cross.  All the time that I was in the cloister, I only heard about it from different Scriptures that had to do with zeal, such as, "Zeal for My Father's house has consumed me" (see Jn 2:17; Ps 69:10)  After I had been home from the cloister about two years and was getting ready to sever my vows with the Congregation and temporarily go under private vows until the new community was formed, I was making a retreat.  I was making a retreat on the vows and the spirit of the vows so that I would really understand them very thoroughly.  I wanted to prepare very well for this transfer of vows. 

When I got to the vow of zeal, very simply the teaching came that it's our response to the New Commandment that Jesus gave to us to "love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12).  This is living Jesus and His Cross.  The catch-22 is "as I have loved you."  I began to meditate on all the ways that He has loved us.  This always takes us to His agape love-the tremendous love of Jesus Christ Crucified.  But it's even more than that.  It's the love of the Father.  It's the love that Jesus had for the Father.  It's this love that drove Jesus to the Cross.  This love is what nailed Him and kept Him there.  That love has to do the same with us.

"In union with the intercessory travail of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:26), we join the Suffering Servant as burden bearers (Gal 6:2) to become sin (2Cor 5:21), making up now in our bodies what is still lacking to the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body, the Church (Col 1:24-25)" (Our Holy Rule, p. 8).  We all know that intercessory travail of the Holy Spirit.  Oftentimes the Spirit groans within us.  Sometimes our intercession is just, "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God."  But that's what the Holy Spirit might be doing within us.  This is how we join the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, the Lamb who was led to the slaughter.  Burden bearers are led to the slaughter.  They're led to Calvary, making up now in our bodies.  This is a great mystery, and I urge you to read and ponder these Scriptures.  Reconciliation only takes place in the Body.  Sometimes we wish, "Can't You just unite souls to yourself, God?  Does it have to go through the flesh?"  But it's a flesh and blood ministry.  It's the ministry of Jesus Christ, and He continues doing it within us.  It's His ministry. 

We talk a lot about formation.  We need to know the teachings of the Church.  We need to know the science of the saints.  We need to know theology.  But basically, we need to know Jesus.  Our formation is what Paul and all the saints' formation was.  We are being formed into the pattern of His death (Phil 3:8).  "And by being formed into the pattern of His death, we stand in the gap" (Our Holy Rule, p. 8).  The gap is vertical; it's the Cross.  It's the gap between heaven and earth.  "We stand in the gap and continue to cast fire upon the earth (Lk 12:49), perpetuating the Love flowing from the pierced heart of Jesus (Jn 19:34-37) that all may have life and have it to the full (Jn 10:10)" (p. 8).  Jesus came that all may have life and have it in abundance.  Where does this life come from?  It comes from the Father.  All life comes from the Father.  This is why zeal for souls is so important. 

Excerpt from "Formation on the Rule," Omaha, NE, 2003.