One of the characteristics that Mother Margarita desired of “her daughters” (Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz) was that they live with a spirit of JOY. She wanted her Sisters to be full of life and radiate God’s love to everyone around them, no matter the circumstances.
Here is an uplifting story of one of these Mercedarian Missionaries, Sr. Stella Ifenuk, which is quite appropriate for us today.
Sr. Stella once shared that she was an angry and rebellious teenager, so much so that she ran away from her island home on Chuuk and went to the island of Ponape (now spelled Pohnpei). A very unhappy young lady, far from home, she was in a miserable frame of mind.
What would it take to change Stella’s outlook on life and open her heart to life and love and all that is beautiful? It seemed that it would take a miracle. Well the miracle occurred in a beautiful smile, the smile and love that radiated from the late Sr. Rosario Arberas!
Who would have known that in Sr. Stella’s most difficult time in her life, she would encounter Our Lord in the gentleness and simplicity of a smile! Sr. Rosario, with her beautiful smile, would invite Stella to accompany her as she visited the sick and those in need. Slowly, Stella began to feel something change inside. With time, Stella became Sr. Stella!
Sr. Stella’s story not only reminds us that God is with us all the time, but that SIMPLE SMILES and ACTS OF KINDNESS really do make things better!
Blessed Margarita’s Missionary Vision
Mother Margarita wanted all the Sisters of the new Institute of the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz to be:
+ Missionaries solidly formed in the Mercedarian redemptive spirit filled with the life of Christ, identified with Him, with his loves: The Father and the sisters/brothers.
+ Missionaries in love with their vocation and determined to live it to the full.
+ Missionaries who are holy, of deep interior life, dependent on the Spirit, who contemplate deeply the Redemptive mystery of Jesus Christ.
+ Missionaries who are enthusiastically committed to the work of the Kingdom, happy to cooperate with Christ in the redemption of the world, always open to the new calls of God.
+ Missionaries who live in order to make Christ known to every people and nation, proclaiming His love to those who do not know Him.
+ Missionaries who are committed with a Redemptive Fourth Vow and who live it with joy and self-forgetfulness, without being afraid of any sacrifice.
+ Missionaries who face the Cross, the difficulties and sufferings for the sake of the Kingdom with courage and joy, and who are capable to live in action as well as in solitude.
+ Missionaries who feel with the Church, who identify with its Mission, working for her even in the most difficult places.
+ Missionaries who love and contemplate Mary, Mother of the Church, Co-redeemer with Christ, model of fidelity and commitment.
+ Missionaries with a universal heart based on an unconditional love for their own mission.
+ Missionaries with a great love for the poorest and most insignificant.
+ Missionaries who are united among themselves by an affectionate charity, prolonging the family spirit and union which made possible the transformation of the Monastery into a Missionary Institute.
