The average person could only guess at the daily activities of a Consecrated Woman – that is, until last Wednesday, when Maria Knuth “took over” the Regnum Christi English Instagram page, @regnumchristi_english.
Maria chronicled her day through pictures and videos, from first thing in the morning until the end of the evening. Hashtagged #adayinthelifeofrc and #iamrc, the takeover was the second time a Regnum Christi member chronicled how they live their mission. (You can also look at the first time, with Fr Stephen Dyas, LC.).
Takeovers by other Regnum Christi members — Legionaries, Consecrated and lay members — are planned for the future, to give people an opportunity to see what the call to Regnum Christi means in daily life.
Thousands of people, some familiar with the life and others curious about it, tuned in all day to get glimpses into the life of this Consecrated Woman, who lives in suburban Cincinnati and was directing a Challenge Camp in Kentucky at the time of the takeover.
Beginning and ending the day in prayer with her viewers, Maria Knuth chronicled various “Regnum Christi moments” from prayer, from her own apostolate, and from others who were helping to form girls in a Challenge camp.
Maria Knuth began by: introducing herself as a consecrated woman for 18 years. She explained that Regnum Christi is not about what we do – because that changes – but how we do it. Then she invited viewers to join her for prayer.
She talked about where she prayed:
“Here is where I prayed this morning! I am on an ECYD Challenge Camp, and this is our little temporary chapel here to help the girls build their friendship with Jesus and experience one of the loves of ECYD and Regnum Christi — Love for Christ. You can see it is still set up from a time of prayer last night with the girls. So, this morning in my prayer, I was just trying to open my heart to Jesus. I have this thing for the Sacred Heart. I am not a very devotional-type person, and I actually don’t consider it a devotion to the Sacred Heart. I guess you could call it a passion for the person of Jesus Christ ‘condensed’ in his heart. During this month of June, the month of the Sacred Heart, in my prayer I have been asking [for] the grace to penetrate more into different characteristics of his heart and asking him to hide me there and to make my heart like his.”
Maria doesn’t just pray on her own: but shows other young women how to pray. Here she is praying the ECYD prayer with them in the morning.
She continued the theme of prayer by taking an artistic shot of her rosary for her “Mary time.”
While Maria prayed, the young women engaged in messy Olympics. She notes how they show the joy characteristic of ECYD and Regnum Christi.
Regnum Christi is lived in a team, so Maria shows her team meeting for a “work lunch” and organizing some other parts of the camp.
Regnum Christi carries its mission person to person, so a lot of effort is put into personal dialogue. Maria Knuth spent much of the afternoon mentoring teens one-on-one, then conducted a Q & A panel to meet young women where they are.
Later in the day, Maria and all the girls at camp attended Mass. She shared how beautifully all of them sang during Mass.
All Consecrated Women live as part of a community. Maria had dinner with her community and explained, “I was happy to go up for dinner to have a brief reconnect with some of the members of my community of consecrated women.”
“I think, for me personally, one of the things I most appreciate about community life is sharing the mission together — each one of my sisters in Christ giving of themselves in their unique way to love Jesus and become an expression of his love. There’s something powerful in the witness of a community of apostles. Happy to be serving alongside these women.”
In the evening, there was a festival, and Maria showed one of her special skills: making balloon animals. Each one of us in the movement has unique gifts we can share.
Maria ends her day where she started: in Jesus’ heart in the Eucharist. She prays for all of us, and thanks us all for these posts.
