ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

My brother Priests,
Dear Friends, especially you, dear Sisters,
Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Spiritual Daughters of Saint Raphaela Mary Porras,

I am delighted to be with you in this Easter season as we offer praise to the Risen Lord Jesus Christ!  The light of His glory shines upon the entire world and penetrates the very depths of our hearts.  In a particular way, that light radiates from the saints, whose personal encounter with Jesus transformed them and made them instruments to make known God’s way upon the earth and His salvation among all the nations (cf. Ps 67).

Today, we gather in thanksgiving for the life and witness of such a saint, Raphaela Mary Porras, Foundress of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Saint Raphaela Mary’s vocation, which is centered on love for the Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, led her from the region of Córdoba to Madrid and to Rome. Through the apostolic work of her spiritual daughters, her influence spread throughout Europe, South America and North America.  With affection and gratitude, I greet the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, especially Sister Dorothy Beck, Provincial Superior, as well as the friends, students and benefactors of the Handmaids.  I take this opportunity to express the appreciation of the entire Archdiocese of Philadelphia for your service in education, spiritual formation and compassionate outreach, which are your deeply-rooted legacy to all whose lives you have touched in this local Church, particularly through Saint Raphaela Center and Ancillae Assumpta Academy.
           
The entire Church is now more than ever conscious of the heroic witness of Saint Raphaela Mary since, in the outdoor alcoves of Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, her image has been placed among statues of other prominent Founders and Foundresses of Religious congregations.  This honor is not only a recognition of the life and vocation of Saint Raphaela Mary, but also a tribute to the enduring mission of the Handmaids to bear witness to the “Love of Christ in the Eucharist and the concern of His Heart for the salvation of all” (ACJ Mission Statement).  What a great contribution to the Church is their offering and prayer of reparation and their passion for reconciliation.  
           
In the Liturgy of the Word, Saint John the Evangelist records for us the words of Jesus on the night before His Passion and Death:  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you.  Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (Jn 14:27).  Peace is the gift of Our Lord to His disciples before His death.  Peace is the message of Our Lord to His disciples on the evening of His Resurrection.  The peace of Christ is always with the Church, guiding us, preserving us and uniting us.  History, beginning with the Acts of the Apostles, relates countless episodes when events and circumstances seemed to threaten the peace of the Church.  However, the Church, always guided by the Holy Spirit, bound in unity by the love of Christ, preserves that gift of peace by her constant trust in Jesus, who instructs us:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”
           
The history of the Church provides numerous examples of  how, as a result of trial, hardship and loss, great saints have been produced.  Raphaela Mary Porras is such a saint.  Even though her family life in 19th-century Spain was somewhat prosperous and unquestionably devout, the young woman knew the grief and pain of the early death of her father, the Mayor of Pedro Abad, who died as a result of caring for the sick.  Her mother, too, died suddenly four years later.  Although the heart of Raphaela Mary was broken with sorrow, she increased her devotion, her trust and confidence in God and decided to embrace the consecrated life.  Even her search for the right Religious Community would be a time of testing until, finally, she founded the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, especially dedicated to the education and service of the poor. 
           
The life of Saint Raphaela Mary indicates that she spent many hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.  She lived in profound communion with Christ, entering into His plan of universal reconciliation.  The world became a great Temple where she worshiped the Lord in spirit and truth.  She sought always to live the Gospel and to teach and share the good news with the poor. 
           
The second reading, from the Book of Revelation, provides a brief but beautiful glimpse of heaven, the “New Jerusalem.”  The descriptions speak of the radiance of the holy city, like that of a precious stone.  Furthermore, as Saint John describes, “The city has no need for sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb” (Rev 21:23).  Similarly, for Saint Raphaela Mary, at every moment, in trial and loss, the Lamb of God truly present in the Blessed Sacrament was her life, her strength, her joy, her peace.  Nurtured by the Eucharist and empowered by her many hours spent in Eucharistic Adoration, Saint Raphaela Mary bore that same light to all whom she met, whom she served, whom she fervently loved with the love of the Heart of Jesus. 
           
You Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are called to continue this mission of service embraced and lived by your holy Foundress.  The world needs to encounter the love of the Heart of Jesus.  In a message given in 2001, Pope John Paul II declared:  “Contemporary men and women need more than ever to draw from the springs of the Sacred Heart of Christ.  Only in his Heart can they find peace in moments of anguish, which today’s secular culture makes less and less bearable.  Spiritual poverty is very widespread today, even at times becoming misery.”  Our late beloved Holy Father urged the need for prayer and for the witness of consecrated Religious as he continued:  “What better witness can this trusting abandonment find than that of a life wholly consecrated to the service of God, known and loved in the Heart of his Son Jesus Christ…” (To the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Dying, 14th General Chapter, January 5, 2001).
           
Pope Benedict XVI has also expressed the importance of religious consecration, saying: “The very fact of being consecrated makes the consecrated person, as it were, a ‘bridge’ to God…a reminder, a reference point. And this is all by virtue of the mediation of Jesus Christ, the Consecrated One of the Father. He is the foundation! He who shared our weaknesses so that we might participate in his divine nature” (Homily for World Day for Consecrated Life, February 2, 2010).
           
Saint Raphaela Mary, warmed and inspired by the great light coming forth from the Heart of Jesus, was a bridge, connecting the poor, the distressed and the troubled with the healing love of God.  As we celebrate Saint Raphaela Mary’s legacy, and the honor attributed by the Church to her statue enshrined at Saint Peter’s Basilica, we willingly participate in her important mission.  All of us, united in the Eucharist, must bring to contemporary men and women, so troubled in our fragile time, the message of hope, the light of the truth of the Gospel, and the enduring gift of peace.  Jesus repeats to us: “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”  Confident that Jesus is with us, we go forward, as Pope Benedict XVI reminded us, to “be the first friend of the poor, the homeless, the stranger, the sick and all who suffer.  [May we] act as beacons of hope, casting the light of Christ upon the world” (Homily, Saint Patrick‘s Cathedral, New York, April 19, 2008).   Amen.