Dear Prayer Partner,
 
Happy Easter!  I know it has been many months since an update was sent with prayer petitions.  Thank you for your faithful prayers for us. Much has happened in recent months.

Icon of Our Lady of Fatima
"In You Is Unity"

On Monday, April 29, Sr. Catherine Marie was formally accepted as a novice into another community as Sr. Christina Marie.  Please pray for her as she continues her vocation with the Franciscan Sisters of Christ the Light.
 
Sr. Joanna Marie has decided to take more time to discern before her perpetual vows, so her vows will not be on June 29 of this year.  However, we are going to have an open house that day at our motherhouse in St. Joseph, Missouri on Saturday, June 29 from noon to 4pm.  Please come and see our beautifully restored convent, newly carved altar and new icon of Our Lady of Fatima!
 
Sr. Faustina and Sr. Joanna have been together in Missouri since early February.  I am here in Vladivostok until June 19.  We will have some time together in Missouri including our community retreat July 2-9.  Then, Sr. Faustina will return to Russia, and I will join her by the end of August. God willing, we will all have Christmas together in Russia!
 
The Catholic student group in Vladivostok continues to grow.  It is such a joy to study the Bible and pray together with students from all over the world: many countries in Africa and South and Central America, as well as Russia and Ukraine. Rachel’s Vineyard continues to expand across Russia: I recently helped lead a retreat in Novosibirsk, and another will be in Ussuriysk near Vladivostok May 24-26.  In April, Russian Catholics led Rachels’s Vineyard retreats in St. Petersburg and Kazakhstan.
 
In the US, Sr. Faustina has been setting up a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium at the St. Gianna center (Early Childhood Center) next to the Cathedral of St. Joseph.  She and Sr. Joanna are frequent cantors for Sunday and school Masses.  Everything is finding its place in our new convent (we moved in December 23).  Sr. Joanna is completing her third year of studies at Benedictine College and continues to teach catechism to parish children on Sundays.  They are hosting a “come and see” May 22-23 for any young woman considering religious life at our convent in St. Joseph, Missouri.
 
We pray for you daily at Vespers.  Please send us any prayer petitions you may have. In the meantime, we are so grateful for your prayers for us!  We hope to see you on June 29.  Please RSVP by email: [email protected] or by phone: 816 500-6345 (same contact info for the “come and see” event).

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May Petitions

• For the Rachel’s Vineyard retreat in Ussuriysk (near Vladivostok) May 24-26.

• For peace in Ukraine and Russia.

• For Our Lady of Fatima’s intercession for unity between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, especially as the Orthodox begin their Easter season (Easter: May 5 this year!).

• For the young women discerning their vocation who are coming to visit us May 22-23 in Missouri for a “come and see”.

June Petitions

• For our parish pilgrimage day on June 1 to the memorial in the woods outside Vladivostok, where many people, including parishioners, were martyred in the 1930’s.

• For safe travels for Mother Stella back to the US June 19-21.

• For Sr. Joanna on her discernment retreat May 25-June 24.

• For vocations to our community, and for our brothers who are studying Russian in preparation for ordination.

Prayer to Our Lady of Fatima
 Dearest Lady of Fatima, our Foundress and Mother,
guide us in the mission that you have inspired
and to which your Son has called us,
so that we may do all and only
what He, our Lord, desires. Amen.

Your prayers make all the difference for helping hearts to be converted and our work to continue in Russia! 

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Dear Prayer Partner,
Thank you so much for your prayers! A newsletter will be in the mail soon. Praise God, I have completely recovered from the surgery that removed a benign tumor from behind my heart in March, and the surgeon confirmed that I do not even need to go back for any more follow up visits. We had two wonderful visits with Mother Julia at the Maryknoll motherhouse in July and August.

Sr. Catherine and Sr. Faustina are doing well in Russia. They are helping to prepare four children for baptism. One of the little girls, age six was not sure she wanted to be baptized, and her parents were waiting, but this past Sunday, she came and asked for baptism. She said that Jesus came to her in a dream, and told her that she and her mom, dad and sister would all go to heaven! The Catholic student group continues to grow and there are more students at Mass this year than in the past. Sr. Catherine is very involved with one-on-one mentoring and healing programs for adults and spiritual direction. The sisters sang at the dedication of the new Catholic Church in Nakhodka on October 14, "Our Lady of the Pacific."

Sr. Joanna and I are well in St. Joseph, Missouri. We hope to move into the new convent by Christmas. We are very involved with sacred music at the parish and for the school Masses, and with catechesis, too. Rachel's Vineyard retreats for healing after abortion continue here in Missouri and across Russia!

Prayer for the deceased for this month of November: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Gratefully in Christ,

Mother Stella on behalf of the Sisters in Jesus the Lord
 

P.S. I was on EWTN Friday, November 10 on "EWTN News In Depth: Spirituality, Faith & Work of Women Religious." It's now on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ERMPtGGhdMo?si=IQfv4JdZ14XYW8GX

Also, see "The Russian Influence on an Order's Maroon Habit | EWTN News In Depth November 10, 2023": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm-xuUwAdLE

November 2023 Prayer Intentions

• For the Pro-life prayer congress and Rachel's Vineyard retreat in Belarus, surrounding the Nov 18 anniversary of the legalization of abortion in Soviet Russia (1920).

• For all the deceased members of Most Holy Mother of God Catholic church and for the conversion of their family members who do not believe in God.

• For the drainage system to be installed properly around Dom Marii, that it will protect the foundation for decades to come.

• For the children and adults preparing for baptism in Vladivostok this month and at Easter.

Prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for our mission work would be most appropriate.

Our community, Canonesses (Sisters) in Jesus the Lord, is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) who was a sister of the Visitation Order in France was responsible for spreading the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus throughout the Church. She said in one of her letters:

"It seems to me that our Lord's earnest desire to have his sacred heart honored in a special way is directed toward renewing the effects of redemption in our souls. For the sacred heart is an inexhaustible fountain and its sole desire is to pour itself out into the hearts of the humble so as to free them and prepare them to lead lives according to his good pleasure."

A prayer that we sisters say daily is the following:

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, inflame our hearts with your love.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, help us to make you known and loved by all.
 

Orthodox Seminary Chapel Icon in Vladivostok, Russia (Photo taken with permission)

Chapel of the Martyrs of Most Holy Mother of God Catholic Church in Vladivostok, Russia