We know that God grants special graces on those pilgrimages that are done for His greater glory. Especially when these are done in Shrines dedicated to the Mother of Jesus Christ.

St. Louis de Montfort once said: "Therefore, the more you gain the friendship of this noble Queen and faithful Virgin the more you will be inspired by faith in your daily life (…) For it is a lively faith animated by love enabling you to do everything for no other motive than that of pure love. It is a firm faith, unshakable as a rock, prompting you to remain firm and steadfast in the midst of storms and tempests. It is an active and probing faith which like some mysterious passkey admits you into the mysteries of Jesus Christ and of man's final destiny and into the very heart of God himself. It is a courageous faith which inspires you to undertake and carry out without hesitation great things for God and the salvation of souls (…) Finally, this faith will strengthen you to resist the devil and the other enemies of salvation" (True Devotion, n. 214)

As we draw to the close of October, the month dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary and which celebrates the great Marian Pope, St. John Paul II, we present to you with great joy the new upcoming Marian project of our Religious Family: “May Jesus reign through Mary!”

Here in Iceland the mission was founded in 2004 when the first Servidoras arrived. And then in the beginning of 2005 the IVE fathers came. And we founded first the mission here in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland, a little suburb of Reykjavík, the capital. Then 5 years later in 2009, we founded in Stykkishölmur, a town, a little fishing village about 2 and a half hours from Hafnarfjörður. All of our missions consist in parish work. So we teach the children catechism, we prepare the sacristy and the liturgy. We have oratories in both of the missions and we visit the sick and the eldery in their homes and in the elderly homes. And then we also visit the familes of the children of the catechism and the families of the parish. We spend a lot of our time studying Icelandic, it takes a long time, it’s a very difficult ancient language, but its an adventure to learn it.

One of the most exciting parts of the mission is the winter, here in Iceland, where there is very little daylight. Sometimes the sun will come up after midday a quarter to 1, and then it will go back around  3 o'clock. So we have very little daylight, it’s a couple of hours of sunset colors, that’s all that there is in the winter and then in the summer, there is no darkness at all, so for example right now its 9 o' clock in the evening and the sun is up.

I ask you to pray for the mission and the missionaries here in Iceland and we promise to pray for you and your intentions.

(audio en Español)

Venimos hoy a Siena para recordar, después de 600 años, esa particular obra de Dios, que aquí tuvo su comienzo: Catalina de Siena. Venimos no sólo para recordarla en esta ciudad, sino también para bendecir a Dios en ella y por ella; para dar gracias a Dios por la obra que quiso realizar en ella y mediante ella en la historia de la Iglesia y en la historia de Italia. Después de seis siglos, esta obra aún permanece viva, y todavía tiene su particular elocuencia. Catalina de Siena vive en Dios esa vida, cuyo comienzo fue injertado en ella mediante el bautismo, recibido aquí en Siena, inmediatamente después del nacimiento, acaecido, según la tradición, el 25 de marzo del año 1347. Y esta su vida en Dios, en el tabernáculo de la Santísima Trinidad, confirma de modo definitivo la verdad de las palabras que pronunció una vez San Ireneo, Padre de la Iglesia, en el siglo II: "El hombre viviente es gloria de Dios".

San Juan Pablo II, Visita Pastoral a Siena, 14/09/1980

On June 9th, day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 40 novices were invested with the holy habit (30 in Argentina and 10 in Peru). Now, these novices wear a visible sign of their consecration and bear witness to Christ, the Incarnate Word, to the whole world. 

Update from the Sisters in the new mission in Mankato, MN (USA)

Mother Maria Corredentora, Superior General of the Servants of the Lord, was able to visit the communities and get to know the vocations of the "Immaculate Conception" Province in the United States of America and Canada.

Beginning the month of February, the first course for organists of the Servants of the Lord took place, in which 46 sisters of the province Our Lady of Loreto were able to participate. Throughout the course the sisters learned about the origin of gregorian chant, and various principles to aid the chanting of the Liturgy of the Hours, as it is proper to our Institute. We hope that this will be the first of a series of courses for organists of the Servants of the Lord. 

Sabato 28 ottobre scorso, Festa dei SS. Apostoli Simone e Giuda Taddeo, è stata ufficialmente inaugurata la nuova Comunità delle Serve del Signore e della Vergine di Matarà che svolge il proprio apostolato presso la Scuola dell’Infanzia e Primaria paritaria “Piccola Casa S. Maria Aprutina” di Teramo.

Rome, March 28, 2017.

With great joy we wish to announce that this afternoon today, in Italy, Sr. Maria Aracoeli Beroch, SSVM, received her Doctorate in Philosophy from the Pontifical University, "St. Thomas of Aquinas in Urbe" (Angelicum).

The visit of Mother Corredentora, General Superior, to our community, "Sacred Heart of Jesus", in Tanzania.

SSVM Taking of the Holy Habit - Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará

The religious of our Institute must wear the Holy Habit, which is a sign of their consecration and witness of their poverty (Const. 154).

...it is of a great importance to wear permanently an exterior sign of a religious habit… (Const. 154).

“…In that way the blue scapular, which represents the Divine Word, put over the grey habit, which symbolizes the humanity, is an eloquent statement about the great mystery of the Incarnation, in which the Word was united with our nature and dressed in our flesh…”
(Fr. Buela, IVE, Las Servidoras, Tomo I).

“In each Servant there should be a love for her Habit, it should be like her skin, so that united to the Incarnate Word, who united Heaven and Earth, she may flower into all kinds of good works and be for all the good scent of Christ (2 Cor 2:15).”
(Fr. Buela, IVE, Las Servidoras, Tomo I).

The Face of Mercy - The Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará

Blessed Mother Teresa:
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean.
But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop”.

The work from the Institute
Works of Mercy
Catechesis and Teaching
Cotemplative Life

The “soul” of the apostolic works of the SSVM Institute
Life of Prayer
"...we adore Jesus Christ for all who do not adore Him, for all who forget Him, abandon Him, scorn Him, and offend Him." (Saint Peter Julian Eymard)

We live in the Year of the Mercy, thanks to the vision of our Pope Francis, who unerringly sensed how much people on earth need Divine Mercy.

We look around us, we do not have to go far to witness many material and spiritual needs of mankind.

Do we dare to see them? What does this mean to us? What does God require of us?

The Works of Mercy
The seven spiritual works of mercy
1. Counsel the doubtful,
2. Instruct the ignorant,
3. Admonish sinners,
4. Comfort the afflicted,
5. Forgive offenses,
6. Bear wrong patiently
7. Pray for the living and the dead

The seven corporal works of mercy
1. Feed the hungry,
2. Give to drink to the thirsty
3. Shelter the homeless,
4. Clothe the naked,
5. Visit the sick,
6. Visit the imprisoned,
7. Bury the dead

Love is a verb, we must put it into practice!
St. Ignatius of Loyola says: Love lies more in deed than in words.
God wants us to have his love, for Deus caritas est.

Who is man in the eyes of God?
Every human being has come into the world with his or her "mission" for God and neighbor. Every life has a meaning

"We are not here for work. We are here for Jesus.
First, we are religious.
We are not social workers, teachers, nurses, doctors.
In the poor, we serve Jesus and everything we do is for Him. Our life has no other meaning. This is something that many do not understand.
We serve Jesus twenty-four hours a day, and He gives us the power.
We love Him in the poor and the poor we love with Him, but always first for Him. "  Blessed Madre Teresa de Calcuta

Besides the crucifixion, the incarnation of Christ is the greatest sign of God's mercy: the great God, became a small man, and chose to come to us through Mary.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Mt. 5,8)

In this holy year of mercy, we are called to reflect on ourselves and act on doing works of mercy.  Because it is through these works of charity, that we will bring Christ to others and through those works we will also convert our own hearts.

“The Breath of Mercy” – A Reflection Published by Sr. Maria del Fiat Miola, SSVM

The third video in the series, Vita Consecrata: Why Profess Religious Vows? (3 of 10), highlights passages from #87 of Vita Consecrata.

SSVMUSA (www.ssvmusa.org) presents a ten-part series of short videos highlighting selections from Vita Consecrata, Pope John Paul II's 1996 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "On the Consecrated Life and its Mission in the Church and in the World."

Vatican link to the complete text of Vita Consecrata:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/joh...

About the Vocation to Religious Life:
http://ssvmusa.org/index.php/vocation...

Discerning Servidoras, Come and See Discernment Retreats: http://ssvmusa.org/index.php/vocation...

Transcript of Vita Consecrata - 3 of 10 - Why Profess Religious Vows?

From Vita Consecrata (1996), #87 © 1996 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

87. The prophetic task of the consecrated life is brought into play by three major challenges addressed to the Church herself: they are the same challenges as ever, posed in new ways, and perhaps more radically, by contemporary society, at least in some parts of the world.

(00:19) These challenges relate directly to the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience, impelling the Church, and consecrated persons in particular, to clarify and testify to the profound anthropological significance of the counsels. The decision to follow the counsels, far from involving an impoverishment of truly human values, leads instead to their transformation.

(00:42) The evangelical counsels should not be considered as a denial of the values inherent in sexuality, in the legitimate desire to possess material goods or to make decisions for oneself. Insofar as these inclinations are based on nature, they are good in themselves. Human beings, however, weakened as they are by original sin, run the risk of acting on them in a way which transgresses the moral norms.

(1:06) The profession of chastity, poverty and obedience is a warning not to underestimate the wound of original sin and, while affirming the value of created goods, it relativizes them by pointing to God as the absolute good.

(1:20)Thus, while those who follow the evangelical counsels seek holiness for themselves, they propose, so to speak, a spiritual "therapy" for humanity, because they reject the idolatry of anything created and in a certain way they make visible the living God. The consecrated life, especially in difficult times, is a blessing for human life and for the life of the Church.

https://www.youtube.com/ssvmusa

Join the V National March for Life in Rome, Sunday, May 10, 2015. It start at 14 from Piazza Castel Sant'Angelo.

The Fabro Project was officially founded on April 11, 2002, with the immediate goal to preserve and disseminate ideas and works of Cornelio Fabro. On Sunday January 11, 2015 in Celleno, Viterbo, the new community for the Fabro Project was founded.  The community is placed under the protection of St. Lucia Filippini, the beloved local saint whose congregation is our first benefactor. Read more ... (only in Spanish)

To learn more about this, read the recent article "A visit to some places of St. Thomas Aquinas" (only in spanish).

On January 22 marked the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout the United States of America.Since that tragic decision, more than 56 million children's lives have been lost to abortion, not to mention the countless mothers and fathers who suffer their absence.

Please join us in prayer and sacrifice for this very important intention, begging our Lord, through the intercession of His Blessed Mother, for an end to abortion.

Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará (SSVM) welcome young women (ages 18-35) to a Come and See Discernment Retreat 2015 from Friday, March 27 (5:00pm) to Sunday, March 29 (3:00pm) in Washington, DC. 

We belong to the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word founded in Argentina by Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela, IVE in the 1980's. Together with the IVE priests and Third Order lay members, we are missionaries who make a fourth Marian vow and commit ourselves to the prolongation of the Incarnation through the evangelization of culture. 

St. John Paul the Great taught us by his pontificate and holy life never to fear the missionary adventure, but to "open wide the doors to Christ"! As spouses of Christ and daughters of the Church, we are sisters who wish to give witness to Christ in the Third Millennium.

For schedule, on-line registration, and more information visit www.ssvmusa.org or contact the Vocations Director, Mother Mary of the Immaculate Conception, SSVM at ssvmvocations@servidoras.org / (202)543-1179.

God Bless You! Our Lady of Lujan, pray for us.

Our Missions in Siria

Mother Anima participated holy mass for the first vows in Jordan December 2013

Mother Anima visit our mission in Gaza December 2013

The fifth video in the series, Vita Consecrata - 5 of 10 - What is the Vow of Poverty?, highlights passages from #89 of Vita Consecrata.

The second video in the series, Vita Consecrata: The Trinity and the Evangelical Counsels (2 of 10), highlights passages from #21 of Vita Consecrata.

The second video in the series, Vita Consecrata: The Trinity and the Evangelical Counsels (2 of 10), highlights passages from #21 of Vita Consecrata.

(audio is only in spanish)

The first video in the series, Vita Consecrata: Introduction to Consecrated Life and the Evangelical Counsels (1 of 10), highlights passages from #1 and #16b of Vita Consecrata.

SSVMUSA (www.ssvmusa.org) presents a ten-part series of short videos highlighting selections from Vita Consecrata, Pope John Paul II's 1996 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "On the Consecrated Life and its Mission in the Church and in the World.