About us

Our Charism

To bring Jesus’ prayer for unity at the Last Supper (John 17: 20-23) to fruition is our charism (gift from God). This means to be about reconciling humanity to the Father and making his desire for union in and with the Blessed Trinity a living reality in our time and culture.

By following the example of Jesus, we also strive to become a living prayer of unity— a saint. Jesus’ prayer for unity is supremely realized through the Paschal Mystery, which is his redemptive work of salvation that is actualized through his life, death, resurrection and ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit.

Our Spiritual Life

From our charism flows our spirituality and how we live the spiritual life. The development of the spiritual life for a Servant and Handmaid begins with the desire to respond to an intimate call by God to know, love and serve Him.

We invite the Holy Spirit to fill us and surrender the totality of our being to the divine life of our Triune God of Love, just as the Holy Family did in their family life together. It is through this union in and with the Trinity that the Holy Family became one in heart. We seek to develop the same Spirit filled life through prayer, doing penance, study, fasting and by practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Our common way of life is to be united in the Blessed Trinity as reflected by the Holy Family of Nazareth. The family life of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is the perfect human model of Trinitarian love, knowledge and service to and for each other. Thus, we strive to imitate their relationship and example. Our charism is manifested through our apostolate and spiritual life. The founder of our charism and spirituality is Fr. Luke Zimmer, SS.CC., who entered eternal life in 1997.

Our Spiritual Focus

Our spiritual focus is the Eucharistic Liturgy— the highest form of prayer and union with God, where heaven and earth are united as one throughout the world, throughout all time. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass the Church (People of God) is vivified and this gift of the Holy Spirit extends to all creation. Thus, whenever we pray, we invite all of the angels, saints, holy souls in purgatory and the whole family of God on earth to unite mystically with us and for us in each act of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, sorrow for sins and intercessory prayer in union with each mass celebrated throughout all time.

By this offering of self, our prayers become one prayer with Christ the High Priest who has offered himself once for all, for all time. In brief, a Servant and Handmaid intentionally offers all that they are and all that they do in union with every Eucharistic Liturgy celebrated throughout all time.
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The Mystical Mass Prayer

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The Mystical Mass Rosary

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Prayer of Consecration to the United Heart of the Holy Family

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A man in a white robe is talking to a woman
President Jerrie Castro at the Vatican presenting How to Save the Family, a book she authored, to St. John Paul II when he was still alive.
A group of church leaders posed in front of a portrait of the pope.

L to R: Mary Ann Armstrong, Admin. Sec., Msgr. Patrick McCormick, Chaplain, Jerrie Castro, President, Bishop Joseph Brennan, Diocese of Fresno and Anna Marie Maagdenberg, Vice President conferring on the development of the Center of Healing Prayer

Our History

The Servants and Handmaids, SHJMJ is a Private Lay Association of the Christian Faithful, with our corporate headquarters currently located in Santa Maria, California. We were founded in 1971 in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In 1973, our Articles of Incorporation were filed in the state of California establishing our association as the “Apostolate of Christian Renewal”. In 1990, our name officially became the Servants and Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We continue to serve as an “Apostolate of Christian Renewal”.


In 2009, The Servants and Handmaids established, as part of our apostolate, The West Coast Center of Healing Prayer located in Clovis, CA, in the Diocese of Fresno. The Ordinary of the of the Diocese of Fresno has officially appointed our Chaplain.


Our Association is listed in the Official Catholic Directory of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Official Catholic Directory (OCD) of the United States. We serve in union with and in conformity to the authentic Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.


Our governing directors and participants of our lay apostolate teams are Safe Environment Certified. We have been fingerprinted and all have Letters of Good Standing that verify the same to our Local Ordinary and to any other Diocese upon request.


Those who participate in our apostolate may come from all walks of life and parts of the world. We are men and women, younger and older; lay, religious and ordained who are seeking to deepen our relationship with God and fulfill the universal call to holiness. 


The Servants and Handmaids, SHJMJ is a 501 (c)3, tax exempt, nonprofit corporation.

Executive Officers

Directors

Chaplain

Counsel

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