Prayer and Spirituality

“You have come here first to become saints!”

-Mother Joanne

A Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary makes union with God her primary goal. The Sisters were founded to give as their primary service to the Church the contemplation of the Word. In union with Mary, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary pray with the Church and for the Church, especially for the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of priests. The spirituality of the institute is both Eucharistic and Marian. Devotion to the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary leads one to her Eucharistic Son and she nurtures within each soul a deep and abiding love for and obedience to His Mystical Body, the Church. The heart of our life and the source of our unity is Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Eucharistic

May the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus be everywhere praised and glorified, and may the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary obtain for us an increase of love for the Blessed Sacrament.

The aspiration above begins each time of communal prayer for the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This aspiration reminds each Sister of the importance of the Eucharist in her daily life as well as her dependence upon Our Lady who constantly points to her Son.

The Eucharist, which is the source and summit of the life of all the Church's activity, is the very life of each IHM Sister. Daily communal Mass, frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and a daily Eucharistic Holy Hour form the framework of each Sister's day.

While the world plays on Friday night, the Sisters pray. Nocturnal adoration is offered for the sanctification of priests, the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary every Friday evening.

Liturgical

The Sisters participate daily in the communal celebration of the Eucharist. Once a Sister is nourished by receiving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, it is then that she can take Him to all she meets.

Each Sister desires to make the Liturgy a worthy praise of her Beloved. To mark the hours of the day, the Sisters meet for the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours: Morning, Midday, Evening and Night. On her own, a Sister prays the Office of Readings.

The Sisters live the liturgical life in union with the Church, both fasting and feasting.

Contemplative

"Prayer is not thinking much but loving much."

- St. Teresa of Avila

The contemplative life is not divorced from the apostolic life, nor is the apostolic life a hindrance to a truly contemplative life. The life of prayer and the life of service are wedded together in the life of the IHM Sister. In study, she comes to know more about Christ, her Beloved, and in prayer, she come to know Him.

The spirituality of Fr. Masmitjá, a Third Order Carmelite, encourages us, his spiritual daughters, in the study of St. Teresa of Avila, the Spanish mystic. As part of each IHM's formation, the works of St. Teresa of Avila and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, as well as other contemplative writers are studied.

Marian

Following the inspiration of the founder, Father Joaquin Masmitjá, the Sisters take as their model and protectress the Blessed Virgin Mary, turning to her in all things to beg her maternal protection and the guidance as they seek to imitate the life of her Son. At all times and in all circumstances the Sisters endeavor to be living images of Our Lady, the Mother of God, who continually points to her divine Son.

Our Lady's "fiat" at the Annunciation, "Let it be done unto me according to thy Word," becomes the profession of each Sister as she strives to live the motto of the community: "I take what is set before me." Each Sister reflects upon Mary's "yes," making it her own.

Each Sister prays a rosary and a Marian Litany daily. Throughout the Liturgical year, the Sisters celebrate Marian Feast days with devotional acts such as processions, singing hymns, crowning Our Lady, praying litanies and offering her flowers.

Click here for Marian prayers and devotions.

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