Mother Mary Raphael Lubowidzka - 100 Holy Hours for Women

By the Translator, Sister Mary Edith Willow, CSFN

I N the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council, on December 4, 1963, Pope Paul VI said, We are on the brink of a new era of familiarity with the Bible by the whole Catholic body in virtue of the new constitution. He adds with fervor and determination, The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of Gods word.

The manual of devotion At the Feet of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, written by Mother Mary Raphael Lubowidzka a few years before she died on March 20, 1921, is a book based on Scriptural reflections for visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Indeed, in her spiritual foresight and fidelity to the promptings of the Spirit who breathes where he will, Mother Raphael has opened up lavishly the treasures of the Bible for her fellow religious and the spiritual daughters of the Foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Frances Siedliska, known as Mother Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd. This manual of devotion, which was written in the Polish language by Mother Mary Raphael and translated into English by Sister Mary Edith Willow, consists of one hundred adorations. Each one is centered around four or five relevant excerpts from the Old and New Testaments. A reflection on one Biblical excerpt alone may perhaps be sufficient for some individuals to spend a half an hour or an hours meditation on these inspired words of Scripture.

Mother Raphael wrote these reflective meditations from the fullness of her heart. She was steeped in the knowledge of Scripture, and her adaptation of Scriptural references to the adorations is unified, effective, and spiritually uplifting. She quotes the Psalms frequently, and makes poignant references to the prophets: Isaias, Ezechiel, Jeremias, Daniel, and Osee or Hosea whose name signifies The Lord has saved. She further includes carefully selected excerpts from the Books of the Old Testament, namely, Paralipomenon [Chronicles], Ecclesiasticus [Sirach] and Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Wisdom, Genesis, Kings, and the Books of Ruth and Tobias. Mother Raphael uses a particular Scriptural text as the basis for each adoration, and the life of Jesus and His passion and death are vividly portrayed against the background of verse and chapter quotations from the four Gospels written by Sts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Many are the references made by the writer of these one hundred adorations to the Epistles of St. Paul, as well as those of St. Peter and St. James. For Mother Raphael, the Bible was the fountain from which she could draw the pure water of which Jesus spoke when He said to the Samaritan woman, The water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up unto life everlasting (JOHN 4:14).