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Our Spirituality

The special DLSF Sentinel based on the life
of the Holy Family

(spe = way of living in the Spirit on a daily basis, according to a characteristic).

The Holy Family, an atypical family presented by the Church as a model for all families.

Each Sentinel can feel part of the Holy Family, by taking Mary's place; by making Jesus grow spiritually in her own heart and in the lives of the people for whom she is responsible; by valuing the presence of the Josephs around her: a husband, or other male mediators, St. Joseph himself or other saints.

What characterizes it is love, and relationship; love IS relationship; this relationship, this love is the Holy Spirit, invisible and hyper-active. The Holy Spirit is the hyperactive Love. The Sentinel's speciality is relationship.

Everyone is very different, in their identity (even their nature: divine and/or human), their character, their function in daily life and their call to an earthly and divine mission; difference opens the way to the wonder of difference, to the admiration of difference, which in the world is frightening because it induces competition, comparison; the SDLSF knows how to be an integral and free part of God's puzzle in his global plan of love where each and every one has his or her place.

All three have an intimate relationship with the Father

Joseph receives instructions for guiding his family directly from him in a dream, Mary says her Fiat every day, and Jesus is at his Father's side, as he himself said in his adolescence. The SDLSF is open, relational, welcoming, giving.

In relationships, there's also listening: listening to the other's difference and to the mystery that fills us with wonder. The Holy Family Sentinel has ears to hear.

Mary keeps all these things in her heart

The SDLSF's speciality is memory for interpreting signs. The soul has the memory of paradise, it was conceived in paradise; original sin caused it to lose the fullness of this consciousness, but it knows how to find the trace of it like an Indian follows the trail; the Sentinel watches over the signs of the past, present and future.

A Sentinelle is vigilant

On the wall, she has all her senses alert, and knows how to interpret noises, smells, the movement of wind and ferns, the flight of nocturnal birds and the cry of insects, the sudden silences that speak louder than the noises; in the same way, the SDLSF knows how to interpret the signs of the times based on her experience, her meditation, her reading of the Word and the Pope's magisterium, her daily training, her readings, her friendships... To be a Sentinel is to be awake: excellent gymnastics for the psyche and soul, for an exciting life!

SDLSF prayer (the 5 tracks) is ecclesial

The 5 tracks were received in prayer by the group of foundresses and approved by Church authority (Mgr Léonard + friendly visit to Pope François); the Holy Spirit actualizes this by inspiring prayer for the Church, and becomes prayer of the Church for the world.

The SDLSF spe is charismatic: 4 outpourings of the Spirit in each "Rejoice" (see FDM catechesis retreat Banneux 2019 on the SDLSF website). SDLSFs know how to live out charisms and let themselves be inspired by the Spirit to live a prayer that's lively, dynamic and bears fruit.

The SDLSF specie is obedience

Here, everyone obeys the Father and everyone obeys everyone else; Francis of Assisi speaks of obedience to the Brother, and to events; one obeys the Father through the other and through events; Joseph obeys the angel, the event-Marie pregnant, Mary out of love for her by not abandoning her, his conscience by not letting her stone him, a just man ; to political events, moving to take the census, then to Egypt, then returning home after Herod's death; Mary says YES to Jesus for his mission, attentive like Joseph to the human and divine mystery unfolding in the life of the Son of God, like parents, educators who guide the unfolding of personality and accompany the vocation of a child, a young person, a retreatant, someone they are forming... while training themselves in this task. Jesus obeyed his two earthly parents: "He was subject to them". Obedience sets one free, and the SDLSF is a woman who is free to obey the Spirit rather than be subject to the fluctuations of feelings and the spirit of the world.