What’s In A Name?

By Scott Ferrier, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

Every institute of consecrated life at their founding has received, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, a particular gift or “charism” in order to address a particular need of the Church at the time. It ‘marks’ them with their unique identity. So, as members of Miles Jesu, is there a simple way to express this gift to people who ask, “What is your charism?” 

The spirit or charism which animates us is, in a certain way, both contained and revealed in our name—Sons and Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady of the Epiphany—Soldiers of Jesus. As one of the new forms of consecrated life which formed after the Second Vatican Council, we have a lay charism because as laity we are able to reach and penetrate areas of the secular order—particularly through the apostolate of our work—which priests and religious are unable to reach. 

We strive to more radically follow Christ according to the elements of this charism, sharing in His priestly, prophetic, and kingly office—by bringing the liberating effects of the Gospel to the temporal order. In everything— “in word or work, we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col. 3:17)

As an Ecclesial Family, we belong to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her unique name—Our Lady of the Epiphany—which was inspired from the heritage of our spiritual father, Saint Anthony Mary Claret. We serve as her soldiers in the company of her Son, Christ the King, whose flag we follow in the spiritual battle for the salvation of souls and for “the building up of the Church.” In the spirit of availability, we make our own the prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, said after receiving our daily Holy Communion, which begins, “Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous, to serve you as you deserve…” 

Our charism unites us as a family in a “communion of mission” and gives both form and dynamism to the way we live our spirituality. The essential elements of our charism reside in the mystery of the Epiphany. “We are each called to be a little part of the great Epiphany of the Lord, as a simple witness of the hope of His parousia and the world to come” (MJ Constitutions, 6).