Our People

Question: Rachel, the better half of Rachel and Josh – you met the Community here in Denver. Please share a little about how you met them as a lay couple, and how you came to join them here in Denver.

Rachel: The Community of the Beatitudes accepts couples as couples. You can’t go just as one or the other. It was my husband who was first like, “Let’s join the Community of the Beatitudes!” And then he had to then reel me in slowly over the years, until there was a moment of, “Why don’t we join the Community of the Beatitudes?” And the minute we did, the graces of the Community just poured on me in my life. It has been a huge blessing. It strengthened our marriage and I think the kids benefit… To live for the Lord is the only way to live.

Question: You’ve been in the Community since the very beginning. What was an experience for you that confirmed that God was calling the Community into existence?

Sr. Helen: There are different things that attract me to the Community and that I find important for the world. I think really the Jewish roots make me much more Catholic because it fulfills my Catholic faith. It’s a lack if we don’t dig for our roots. And the fact that we drink from our Jewish roots nourishes my Catholic faith. It’s very important for the Church, because the more people are rooted in Jewish beliefs, the more the Church is richer, is fuller. That is one aspect.

The second thing is the importance of the Liturgy. Often, we want to do things and work, work, work. But the Liturgy is what? It is turning to God and asking to bring heaven on earth. We are a group of people in this Community [who are] very poor, but all together we ask the Lord to bring heaven on earth. For me, when I assist at the Liturgy, the heavens come down and touch my heart. No need to do things – it’s God who is touching the heart, it is God who is converting us. And I think it is important also to find that in the Church. We do a lot of things, which are wonderful, but we don’t let God come down very often. Our vocation is to let God come down to the Liturgy so that it will touch the heart. It makes a job for God. And that is the second point I find important: the importance of the Liturgy and it’s efficacy for the world.

And what I find important also is the life in the Spirit. It’s the same as the liturgy: we ask the Holy Spirit to fall down, touch our heart, and do His job by converting the people and bringing them to God.

Question: Why did you choose to be a priest in Community rather than a diocesan priest?

Fr. Luc-Marie: Because there’s a verse in Genesis Chapter Two which says, “It is not good for man to be alone.” You understand? Not good. And for a guy like me, it is awful to be alone. Especially me. So the Lord put me into a community. I never thought about being a diocesan priest. They are very holy, maybe more holy than religious [are]. But when I received the call to consecrated life and to priesthood, it was evident to me that I was called to live this in a community. I cannot imagine myself alone in my rectory dealing with everything. I think this is my reason, but the Lord also pushed me in this way, because he knows me more than myself.

Question: What is the importance of the Virgin Mary in the spirituality of the community of the Beatitudes?

Sr. Sarah: Mary’s presence in our lives stems from our desire to follow Christ. In order to become a man, Jesus allowed himself to be shaped in the womb of Mary. Following her, we want to let ourselves be shaped by Mary, so that she gives birth to us to divine life, that she teaches us her Fiat, her abandonment and the contemplation of her son Jesus, in moments of joy, as at the foot of the cross. She is our mother, our model, our guide.

Her importance is visible in our spirituality: every morning, we consecrate ourselves to her to give her our day, we always turn to her at the end of the liturgy, and we invoke her with the rosary or other forms of prayer…

She is important to us, but most of all, we experience that we are important to her. “The community belongs to the Virgin Mary,” Venerable Marthe Robin told us, a stigmated French mystic. And it is very true! Many of us can testify how Mary came to take her place in their life of faith, discreetly, but surely!

Question: What does living by the weekly liturgical rhythm of the Beatitudes mean to you, and how does this manifest in your daily lives?

Deacon Colin: So, what does the weekly liturgy mean for us as a couple and as individuals?  Well, beginning the day in God’s Word through the Psalms and Sacred Scripture, through the New Testament, is a real joy.  Just to soak in God’s Word.  And when we’re able to join the Community for prayer, it’s the beauty of the liturgy.  And it’s that rhythm.  Like our heart beats and keeps us going – it’s that same rhythm for us.  As a couple, there’s a beauty there, whether we do it in community or individually.

Maria Coleman: When we first joined the community, I only felt I was praying when I got to the Office, in the chapel.  It was a slow process to realize, “Oh! I can pray all the time!” And I guess that’s what the weekly liturgy has led me to: that you can be in the presence of God all the time.  And it’s just practicing the presence of God, the silence of the chapel – being with God at every moment. But, it’s always a special grace when you get to be with your brothers and sisters because it’s a taste of heaven.

Question: The Beatitudes have a deep connection with the Jewish roots of our faith. How does this aspect of our charism lead you closer to Jesus?

Sr. Magdalit: God took so much love and so much care to prepare His coming to us, and He prepared that with the Jewish people first. To understand Judaism makes me understand the love, the tenderness, the details of God preparing us for His coming, His coming on earth through the person of Jesus – and Jesus is a Jew.  To understand Jesus in his Judaity makes me understand that only the roots of my faith, of your faith as a Christian, make me understand the roots of the New Testament, the background of the New Testament. Because when you have more knowledge of Judaism, there are things in the New Testament that you catch. Like the woman that grabs Jesus by the tassels: if you know that it’s a commandment from the Lord in the Old Covenant, you understand that when she grabs Him, it’s literal. I mean that there actually are tassels on His vestments, and that means something. So, His Judaity helps me to understand Him.  God loved us so much, that He prepared all this to come to us and to bring us back home.  And that’s where the Jewish people come also in, in that I’m moved to know that there will be one day when we’ll all be one. One heart beating around God. And in this, the Jewish people have a place, because they brought concretely the prophecies to unfold to the point where Jesus came. And for me it’s eschatological, which is a technological word to say that it’s about the beginning and it’s about the end, where we’re going.

Question: Samantha, one aspect of the charism of the Community of the Beatitudes is the communion of the states of life (consecrated sisters, consecrated brothers, and lay members). How did this specifically help you to discern your own vocation?

Samantha: The first time I visited the Community, the communion of the states of life made me feel right at home. The Beatitudes are one big family. It’s like in heaven where all the people of God are together and united in Christ, yet each person is so different. This meant that I didn’t have to try and fit into a certain box, but I could just keeping taking steps closer to Jesus and let my call to consecrated life grow and develop. After spending time living, praying, and serving alongside both lay people and consecrated sisters, it became clear for me that my heart wanted Jesus as my Spouse.