Our charism is modeled after the simple life and spirituality of Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez who served as a Porter to a Jesuit college on the Spanish island of Majorca in the 17th century.
We open the door to all who knock at the gate.
1. As soon as ever the bell rang, he raised his heart to God and said to Him, ‘Lord, I must open the door to Thee, for love of Thee,’ and then he opened it.
2. Another practice of his, when he heard the door bell, was to make acts of joy in his heart, as if he were going to open the door to His God, as if God himself had rung the bell, saying, as he went, ‘I am coming, my Lord.’
3. A third practice was interior mortification; for when anyone rang violently, or in a hurry, though he felt some natural irritation rise in his breast, he stoutly repressed it, and calmed himself so thoroughly that no annoyance was left. Thus when he (Alonso) reached the door he was quite calm, and. opened it as if the bell had only been rung once, and that quite gently. Very often he was exceedingly exhausted, and found it a great trouble to get about, still in his soul he enjoyed a wondrous repose.
4. His fourth point and practice was, that as he had so deeply rooted a habit of opening the door as if to Our Blessed Lord, he attained to the privilege of finding himself in an instant in converse with Him, for whose sake he was acting. And just as when someone arrives whom we expect, we receive him with much delight and joy, so, as he never thought of anyone but of God, it many times happened to him, though without any previous thought of such a thing, that he actually saw Our Lord arrive accompanied by Our Lady and by Choirs of Angels.
Our work is a reflection of the Catholic Church and its relationship to the world. At the heart of our organization, lie both the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy that the Church invites us to live out as faithful Christians. In this, we are happy.
Image: Detail. The Venerable Alphonse Rodriguez, 1617-1624. Artist/maker unknown Copy after an engraving of c. 1624 by Antonius III Wierix (Flemish, 1596–1624) Published by Johannes van Mechelen (Flemish, 1587–1623). The Philadelphia Museum of Art.