Carmelite Sisters Reflect on "For Greater Glory"

[gilliam]

The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles rarely go to the movies, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to be a part of a premiere showing of For Greater Glory. Seventy-five of our sisters immediately said “yes” to the gracious invitation of Archbishop Jose Gomez. Why? Because it was during those days—the days of the horrendous religious persecution in Mexico in the 1920s—that our community began. Mother Maria Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament, affectionately known as Mother Luisita, had already accepted fifty-five sisters into the new community.

It was on July 31, 1926, that President Plutarco Elias Calles started enforcing the anti-clerical laws throughout Mexico. The following day, August 1, 1926, all religious services were stopped throughout Mexico. No more Masses. No more marriages. No more first Communion. No more religious practices of any kind.

This is where the movie begins. And that is why we are so interested. Our community was just beginning at that time also.

Regular folk, people like you and me, felt the loss of their religious freedom all the way to their deepest soul. In the region of Los Altos, where my community and the Cristeros originated, a new group formed made up of these Catholics who protested the law. There was a boycott. There was a petition. When all these failed, there rose up a group known as “Cristeros” who fought for three years to reclaim their churches and their religious freedom.

patheos.com/Movies/Movie-Club/For-Greater-Glory/Carmelite-Sisters-Reflect-Carmelite-Sisters-06-08-2012-.html

 

[Peggy_in_Burien]

I watched For Greater Glory last Sunday, and was overwhelmed. It is very well made, but very intense.

I did know about the subject, as my parents had family members, who while not martyred, did escape to the US. One of our deacons in my parish is the nephew to one of the martyrs.

I hope more people go to see it, and ask themselves if they could really make the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus asked of the Mexican Martyrs…

 

[TempleofTheSoul]

Thank you so much for posting about this. It is such an inspiration to read about how Catholic’s being persecuted in Mexico strongly defended the faith and did everything they could to continue to teach about the faith in the most creative ways!

I’d also like to thank you Gilliam for your siggy link to the Catholic voter’s guides… I can’t believe I didn’t see them before. I will be ordering many of them to distribute in my local parish.

God bless