Mary Ward Week: Final Reflection

By Deirdre Browne, IBVM Essentially, we have been on an 8-day retreat together. What a gift! Could Ignatius and Mary Ward in the 16th/17th centuries ever have imagined that their daring dreams would be shared and enacted by men and women of the 21st century? Wonders never cease with an ever-faithful God! My final reflections

Mary Ward Week 2024: Day 8

Who is this woman? Eyes fixed ahead set on her goal. Mary Ward had the courage to opt for the selfless Jesus way on her life’s journey. “To proceed as Christ did… was all the happiness I wished for in this life” she wrote. Like Jesus, her sole purpose was to fulfill God’s will regardless

Mary Ward Week 2024: Day 7

Who is this woman? What is she saying to us? Journeying with Mary Ward in Timor-Leste is very real for me. I see so many sparks of her spirit in the life stories, beliefs, culture, mysticism and hopes of the Timorese people. I also feel so blessed to witness the way her spirit speaks deeply

Mary Ward Week 2024: Day 5

Who is this woman? Why is she travelling so far? The love of the Lord, this is what keeps us going While we see the image of Mary Ward we see ourselves as itinerants (a Romanian sister missionary in Cuba and another returning from Romania to Peru after her apostolic experience as a tertian). The

Mary Ward Week 2024: Day 4

Who is this woman? O take my hand and walk with me! Mary Ward, defined by Pope John Paul II as the “perfect woman”, has always been on the move. She has been on both a physical and spiritual journey, searching, discerning what is right, and “pursuing her dream to its end”. Today Mary Ward

Visit to Romania

Sr Veronica Fuhrmann, CJ Superior General, together with Sr Anna Quinterio, Assistant General, made a visit to Bucharest, LEP Province, from 19th to 22nd January 2024, with the aim of meeting the council and sisters in and around Bucharest. They were welcomed with bread and salt – a sign of local hospitality – and pampered

Mary Ward Week 2024: Day 3

Who is this woman? Where is she going? “O take my hand and walk with me. Come and sing my song.” The words gently urge us to join Mary Ward and continue her journey of determination that God had set for her and her company for some greater thing and for God’s greater glory. This

Mary Ward Week 2024: Day 1

Who is this woman? Lead us on, Mary Ward! “Who is this woman?” This woman, from a young age, in a hostile environment, goes about discovering the secret of her heart. She cannot hold it within. She crosses mountains and seas, breaking borders, because she heard, as did Moses, God speaking in the bush: “I

Mary Ward Week 2024: Song text and video

During this year’s Mary Ward week, the question of our song, “Who is this woman?” resonated with us as an invitation to discover how we live the charism of Mary Ward in our different contexts, cultures, and languages. Here are the lyrics of the song: Direct link to the video with the song: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AFNy4JrbRd2FNHaK2OgGuxS0aNTwzgZ6/view

Mary Ward Week 2024: Introduction

Hello! We are Christa Parra, a Mexican-American from the United States Region, IBVM, and Mariana Ojeda, an Argentinian from the Amerindian Province – Latin America, CJ. We met in Manresa, in October 2022, at the IBVM General Congregation. From the first moment we met, we felt like sisters from the same family. Fortunately, we both