September 7, 2019
A little over a week from now, I will make my final vows as a Sister of St. Joseph. With nearly a decade of formal formation behind me and many more years of informal discernment, it’s hard to believe that I’ve come to this point in my journey as a religious sister. Yet, through joys and sufferings, laughter and tears, I now find myself on the cusp of final commitment.
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By Gabrielle Stratford (Grafton, Ontario)
In our world today
Exercise has pride of place.
We understand
that as muscles are strengthened,
health improves.
Fitness is the universal goal.
Exercise is the key to spiritual health too.
It is the practice of putting others first,
by responding with respect and love
to all God puts in our way;
Not just people,
but the whole of creation.
Some years ago,
we were in a small French church,
on Ash Wednesday.
A young priest came to the lectern and announced:
“We are entering the season of hope,
when love conquered all.”
What a leitmotif that is!
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Our little apartment in Edmonton faces North and is very close to the North Saskatchewan River Valley which is home to many of our homeless sisters and brothers. We are surrounded by apartments and behind each apartment there is a commercial garbage bin. These bins have become for me an important symbol of what it means to engage in a “Culture of Vocation”. When this insight first came to me I was startled by it. My immediate response was, “This makes no sense”. However, as each day unfolds and Sr. Catherine and I see more and more women and men coming to the bins, I’m gradually discovering what a powerful image the bins provide. Let me explain. Every person who comes is searching and is full of hope that some treasures will be discovered in these bins. Some of these “seekers” readily engage in conversation; others are more reticent. As a relationship is built one discovers the hidden richness of the person and how his/her journey has brought them to this particular moment in life. Some are trusting enough to share a story of a very difficult family life; how abuse or alcohol and drug addictions have brought them to this moment in their lives. Frequently one hears of struggles with mental health.
This is certainly not the situation of everyone. There are others who have come from strong family backgrounds, who have been blessed with a good education, families of their own, a healthy pay cheque but who, for a variety of reasons, including the economic downturn, have fallen on hard times. As I listen I often discover individuals whose faith roots are very deep and who, in spite of many obstacles, continue to believe in God’s infinite love for them. There is a readiness to “put flesh on that love” in their relationships with those they encounter on the streets.
So, how do these experiences relate to fostering a “Culture of Vocation”? I began this reflection by referring to the spirit of hope that prompts our homeless sisters and brothers to come each day to the bins as they search for pop cans, bottles and other “treasures” that they can sell or which they can use to adorn their humble abode in the river valley. Even though it would appear that theirs is solely a physical hunger, one discovers that many of them have a profound hunger for our Creator God, a deep yearning to be in relationship with God, others, themselves and all of creation. Our young adults are seekers who, often without being able to identify it, have a profound hunger for God. They search for hope and meaning, a sense of purpose. Often they don’t understand that the “longing in their hearts…..O God”. In accompanying young adults one discovers that many of our youth today come from families that have not provided the love, the nurturing, the sense of belonging for which we all thirst. There is a hunger for relationships that endure, that help them discover their worth and dignity as human beings, and that nurture them in their efforts to contribute to society in a meaningful and positive manner.
The 2002 Montreal Congress presented a simple but challenging message to consecrated women and men. We were invited to risk journeying with our young adults, to build relationships of trust, to listen to their stories, to encourage them to hope for a better future, to find meaning in the midst of a world that feels, at times, like a garbage dump. Each one carries within him/herself hidden treasures but these treasures are often obscured by so much suffering. The Congress called us to be human, to open our hearts and our doors so our young adults can come to know us and to discover that we are people who are in love with God. Pope Francis, in his letter, “The Joy of the Gospel”, published thirteen years after the Congress, reiterates this same message: The Congress made it abundantly clear that we need to step out in faith and take the risk to be present to families as they try to live their vocation in the midst of the many challenges of our world today; to be willing to journey with, and to support those called to the single life, and to be a discerning presence with men and women who are trying to determine whether or not their desire to to spend their lives as disciples of Jesus, announcing The Joy of the Gospel, is genuine.
Too often, I believe, we get caught trapped by the reality of diminishing and aging membership, failing to let the Holy Spirit “fan into flame” the fire of love that inspired our founders and foundresses. Did they have great numbers? No! Was it clear to them what God was asking? Probably not. Yet, God worked wonders in and through them, and will do the same today if we are willing to learn from our sisters and brothers who, filled with hope, come daily to the garbage bins, searching to find the treasures that lie deep within.
Jesus did not “pitch His tent” among a perfect people. He chose to dwell among us in brokenness, vulnerability and fragility, frequently revealing Himself in the most unexpected people and places, even commercial garbage bins!
And Pitched His tent among us
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After our journey of faith during Lent and Holy Week, today we arrive at the great celebration of Easter and rightly it is a celebration of life over death, Divine Light in the shadows. We come into Easter with appropriate joy and hope; perhaps even some relief. Yet, paradoxically the Easter season that we begin today can be experienced sometimes as an ending, a party before our return to the “humdrumness” of ordinary time. But Easter is never an ending. It is always our call to embrace and embody new beginnings. It marks always a freshness for mission.
N.T. Wright, in his moving book, “Christians at the Cross: Finding Hope in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus”, reminds us that the whole point of Easter is that, “if God’s new creation has already begun, those of us who have been awakened in the middle of the night are put to work to make more bits of new creation happen within the world as it is. And that is why we need to leave behind, on the cross, all the bits and pieces of the old creation that have made us sad, that have depressed us and our communities, and start to pray for vision and wisdom to know where God can and will make new creation happen in our lives, in our hearts, in our homes and not least in our communities. That’s what ‘regeneration’ is all about.” That’s the meaning of Easter.
Whatever our vocational expression of God’s love and call together we walk the continuing journey of “regeneration”, praying for the graces we need to be new life in our world, to make present the hope and promise of Christ in the mission to which we are called as we celebrate this great feast of Easter. It is the celebration of the gift of God’s call to each of us in all the ordinary moments of life. It is the call to really believe in the possibilities that only God, working in us, can fulfill in our embrace of a new creation.
The Board and staff of NAVFD wish each of you, your families and communities all the joy, call, peace and promise of Easter.
Sisters Mary, Mary Clare, Joanne, Elaine, Nancy, Father Ray and our new project manager, Hector.
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I have just returned from a talk given by Dr. Nuala Kenny, a Sister of Charity of Halifax, a Medical Doctor, Bio-Ethicist and much sought after speaker. Each time I have had the opportunity to hear her speak, she has begun her talk by stating that she is blessed with three vocations beginning with her baptism as a Christian, her life as a Sister of Charity, and her profession as a medical doctor. Each time I hear her state this trinity of identity I am struck by her awareness of being called, and the diversity of vocations. That is a powerful statement to make today, in many ways she need not say anything else because there is enough food for reflection in that one sentence.
When we talk about vocation culture do we, do I, begin by thinking that my first vocation is my baptism, then my life commitment (in my case as a vowed religious), and then my “job”, whatever that may be? In many ways this helps me to find clarity in what my values are, what motivates me. I often think of my vocation as being whatever helps me to live my relationship with God and others to the fullest, to always strive to be in right relationship.
At our recent gathering in Winnipeg I was so struck by how much wisdom, prayer, and passion there was in the room to seek the best way to live in right relationship. For me, that begins by telling people how much I love this life! How grateful I am to be a member of my congregation, and to receive the opportunities to grow and develop my relationship with God and all Creation. When we break open the Word, we create space within ourselves to hear the voice of God echoing the words of our Baptism to go live the Gospel as a member of Body of Christ. If we can break open the Word of our lives, like Sr. Nuala, and proclaim our vocation as the best way we live our lives then we are truly living the Word courageously.
Joanne O’Regan, csm
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These are the words that greet the women who go to Jesus’ tomb at dawn to anoint His body. They find the stone rolled away and do not know what to do. How often we perhaps find ourselves not knowing quite what to do – all is empty! Yet for the women at the tomb something changes – in their loss, bewilderment and anxiety they encounter the heavenly messengers in brilliant light who proclaim to them Christ’s resurrection. Scripture tells us that the women were “terrified” and yet in that moment of mystery, in that instant of Divine Revelation, they become able to grasp that indeed the promise of Christ is true: “Remember what He told you when he was still in Galilee: that He had to be handed over, crucified and again rise on the third day. And they remembered His words.”
May we remember His words this Easter. Wherever we find ourselves may we hear again those words of hope and promise. May we experience in God’s Divine Plan in our lives that shift in consciousness that the women experienced; a shift that holds God’s promise.
When the women heard these words suddenly they knew what to do! Embracing their own hope they were called to leave the tomb, the emptiness of their own lives to go tell others the story of resurrection, of hope and of new life. So they leave the place of death trusting in the promises of Christ and return to the living. We too are called to proclaim God’s hope and new life in this living world of ours.
Easter calls us to proclaim with gratitude, trust, joy, passion and commitment the message of God’s promise; a promise of new life. So, in our broken and struggling world today may Easter give each of us in our varied vocations the courage once again to tell the story of new life; the sacredness of all life, life found in the journey from darkness to light, life abundant. In this great Year of Mercy may we be life for others.
NAVFD wishes all our visitors to this Website a Happy, Blessed and Hope-Filled Easter. For he is risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!
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Fifty years ago on April 24th in St. Anthony’s Parish (fondly known as Tony’s Roundhouse), I began novitiate, receiving the habit as an Ursuline of Jesus. Even though I had a boyfriend who was very special to me, and who I know loved me, I could not ignore the promptings of the Spirit that were drawing me to live out my Baptismal commitment within the context of consecrated Religious Life.
The time of my entry into Religious Life is very significant: Vatican Council Two ended in November of that year, which meant I had one foot in the pre-Vatican Church and the other in post-Vatican Two times. I found a sense of belonging in the post-Vatican Two Church that I had not experienced before Pope St. John XX111 “threw open the windows and let in some much-needed fresh air”! I felt at home with the language of the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity. I knew I was called to be part of an apostolic congregation, inserted in the midst of the “People of God”: to be immersed in a Church that honoured the Baptismal call of every Christian seemed so right. I was called to be in the midst of, rather than above, my sisters and brothers. As an apostolic religious I was to take to heart the words of our founder: “You must leave the sweet solitude of your monasteries in order to give a Christian education to young girls of every class of society, not just from your cloister; but in the midst of the world, so you must satisfy these needs by a poor, hardworking life that is completely apostolic”. (Memoirs, M. St. Laurent) God was inviting me “to a life of adoration of the Word made flesh in the midst of the world”. (Covenant #32)
The changes that have occurred in the Church and society during the past 50 years are mind-boggling! Certainly in the Western world there has been a significant decline in the number of women and men entering Religious congregations. I won’t attempt to answer “why” (I leave that to your prayerful pondering) but I do recognize that the lack of vocations is a cause of concern and speculation for many. Some would say, “God is no longer calling people to consecrated life; others explain this phenomenon by saying, “It’s the era of the laity; let them provide the leadership that is rightfully theirs’ as baptized Christians”; others ask, “What have we done wrong?”. I would argue that these explanations do not go to the heart of the matter. Instead of asking “why”, I believe the question we should be asking ourselves and one another is, “how?”
How do we as consecrated women and men live this “in between” time- a time that in many ways resembles Holy Saturday? Ours is a reality very similar to that of Mary, the faithful women, John: much of what we have known and loved about consecrated Religious Life no longer exists, and Religious Life of the future is an unknown. It is as though the Risen Christ is saying to us, “Do not cling” [to what has been]. Ours, needs to be the attitude of those who waited in hope at the foot of the cross, hearing the One in whom “they had believed” surrender His very self and His entire mission into the hands of His God- “It is accomplished”. (Jn. 19:30) Although darkness covered the earth, they remained with Him who “had always loved those who were His own in the world, [and who] now showed them how perfect His love was”. (Jn. 13:1) As we live this poignant moment, with the help of the prayer style of guided imagery, we become part of these Gospel scenes. We hear Jesus say, “Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time’”. (Mt.28:20); “Tell no one about the vision until the Son of Man is risen from the dead” (Mt. 17:9). Perhaps we experience ourselves as those who wander away in fear and disillusionment and go to the upper room “where the doors are closed…for fear of the Jews”. (Jn. 20:19)
Going to the “upper room” might be viewed by some as an escape from the painful reality of aging membership, fewer people entering, having to make the difficult choice to not welcome new members, to embrace as some would say, “the death of consecrated Religious Life”. However, it can also be seen as an entering into the solitude of one’s heart to listen, to contemplate, to embrace the pain that comes from letting go and from surrendering to an unknown future. One can live it as an invitation from God to enter into dialogue with others; an opportunity to share faith at a profound level; it can be a time of entrusting to others the uncertainty and fear that can take hold of one’s heart. It is a time of waiting in hope, of living with the questions, a Kairos moment of surrender. It can be lived as a call to re-member, a time to gaze again with a renewed love at the One “who is without beauty, without majesty…. whom God was pleased to crush with suffering”. (Is. 53:10)
The “upper room” is that space within where we can hear the cry of the poor and the marginalized with “a new heart, a new soul”; where we can, as “Le Petit Prince” discovered, “see what is invisible to the eye”, and hear with the ears of our heart how we are called to help quench the thirst for compassion, justice, mercy, forgiveness and love in our world.
Our founder, Louis-Marie Baudouin, and foundress, Charlotte-Gabrielle Ranfray, lived many hours in silent contemplation of the Word of God in order to know how God was calling them to respond to the poverty and injustice, the faithlessness that surrounded them. Today, like them we must spend time pondering the Word of God, entering into the “upper room” of our hearts in order to know how to “contemplate, celebrate, live and announce” the good news in contemporary society. As an Ursuline of Jesus I ask myself, Am I prepared to “give an answer to those who ask a reason for my hope”? Have I surrendered to the silence, the stillness, the pain and emptiness of Holy Saturday? Or do I understand Holy Saturday as a source of great expectation in the Christian hope of the Gospels? Have I, as a consecrated woman Religious, really embraced the message of Pope Francis- “to live the past with gratitude, the present with passion and the future with hope”? Am I prepared to keep trying to build, with my sisters, resilient community life, to, in the words of Dr. Samuel F. Mikail, commit to “creating and nurturing communities that allow for risk-taking, without fear of shame or humiliation…to think beyond conventional ways to meet changing conditions with an agility, responsiveness and willingness to adapt”? (Horizon, Winter, 2014, vol. 35) This, I believe, is what it means to live into the Easter of consecrated Religious Life. It is living with hope, even in the midst of darkness and uncertainty; it means opening our hearts and our homes in welcome; it is breaking open the Word of God, and our lives, in faith sharing; it means announcing with our lives that “He goes before us into Galilee [and it] is there that we will see Him”. Living the joy of Easter is visible in our readiness to invite women and men to discern the possibility of a call to consecrated Religious Life. Being an Easter people shows itself in an attitude of loving confidence that Christ, our Risen Lord, continues today to say to us, as he did on the first Easter morn: “Peace be with you…. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you”. (Jn. 20:21) Alleluia!
Sr. Mary Clare Stack, u.j.
mctstack@gmail.com
www.incarnationweb.org
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Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a 40-day interior journey of the heart open to the Lord. Lent comes from an old English word meaning to ‘lengthen’. It is observed in spring, when the days begin to get longer.
Lent is a beautiful time of intense renewal for the Church and for all of us. The Church invites all to ‘stretch’ wider our gaze towards Jesus’ saving love that conquered sin and varied forms of indifference (Pope Francis’ Lenten message 2015).
Longing for more before God’s presence, we realize how short-sighted we are in following His voice because of our “busyness”, and repeated evasions to reach out to others!
What are our pitfalls? We cannot pray, fast and do works of love when we forget to lengthen our quality time for prayer, source of our strength and inspiration. We cannot ‘spread wide’ our tent when we allow our hardness of heart to steal our capacity to be merciful. We cannot ‘widen our horizon’ towards others if we constantly cling to our ego and selfish interests. When spiritual blindness and numbness befall on us, let us slow down, take time, be still by the waters of grace.
Let us reflect on a modern version of Ps. 23 which touches our hearts during Lent:
The Lord is my pace-setter. I shall not rush, he makes me stop for quiet intervals. He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity. He leads me in ways of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here; his timelessness, his all-importance will keep me in balance, as he prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity.
When he anoints my mind with his oil of tranquility, my cup of joyous energy overflows. Truly, harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours, for I shall walk in the pace of my Lord and dwell in his house forever.
(Tokio Megashia)
Lent is a period that ushers a spring of grace and new life within us. We need to stop, get a new rhythm to hear more the voice of the Shepherd. He will introduce us to a different pace of believing, hoping, loving.
Let us follow ‘the Lamb that was slain’ for our sake. (CBFma)
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By Elizabeth M. Davis, RSM
In proclaiming the Year of Consecrated Life (the Year of Religious Life), Pope Francis cried, “Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living!” Steve Werner, composing the hymn for the Year, challenges us to wake up the world with “abiding words of faith, uplifting words of hope, prophetic words of love and unending words of joy.” The sense of waking up the world with a word is deeply embedded in our call to holiness as Christians. In the first story of creation in Genesis 1, “God said . . . And it was so.” John’s Gospel begins (Jn 1:1, 14), “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”
More and more, we are coming to realize that we are called to be co-creators with our Creator God, transforming our torn and fractured world one moment at a time. Our Jewish sisters and brothers have given us the powerful Hebrew phrase, tikkun olam, “repairing and healing the world.” In Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor (1997), Leonardo Boff writes:
Human beings must feel that they are sons and daughters of the rainbow, those who translate this divine covenant with all the beings existing and living, with new relationships of kindness, compassion, cosmic solidarity, and deep reverence for the mystery that each one bears and reveals. Only then will there be integral liberation, of the human being and of Earth, and rather than the cry of the poor and the cry of the Earth there will be common celebration of the redeemed and the freed, human beings in our own house, on our good, great, and bountiful Mother Earth.
In To Weavers Everywhere, Marchiene Rienstra poetically expresses this invitation to be co-creators:
And God invites us
Not only to keep offering her the
Shreds and rags of our suffering
And our work
But even more -
To take our place beside Her
At the Jubilee Loom,
And weave with her
The tapestry of the New Creation.
We women and men religious are profoundly privileged, not in being the only ones called to be co-creators because that is certainly not so, but in being among the very few who know that we are called to be co-creators. Through our personal and communal contemplation, through our access to wise teachers and mentors and time for study, and through opportunities to share wisdom in our communities, we have grown in our awareness that God wants us to be co-creators, trusts us to do so and strengthens to do so.
In the Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis challenged each one of us, not matter what our position in the Church or our level of instruction in the faith, to be missionary disciples (EG #119-121). In a letter written to the Canadian church in 2003, the Christian Ecological Imperative, our Bishops give us a contemporary blueprint to help us in our response to this challenge in faith. They invite us to live contemplatively, ascetically and prophetically – (i) contemplatively: each one of us is personally called to deepen our capacity to understand and appreciate the world around us as an act of faith and love through meditation, prayer, participation in liturgy, study and reflection; (ii) ascetically: we adjust our lifestyle choices and daily actions in awareness of and sensitivity to the realities of the world around us; and (ii) prophetically: we work with each other through community action to make our world more inclusive, more socially and ecologically just, and more rooted in right relationships.
On the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Mary and Cleopas found joy and hope when they were in the midst of despair. They found that joy and hope in walking with a stranger, sharing Scripture with him, inviting him into their home and breaking bread with him. Each one of us has that very same experience every single day. Yet how rarely do we exclaim in joy-filled delight as Mary and Cleopas did, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Lk 24:32)
This Year of Religious Life is a blessed moment for us to renew our faith journey with energized steps, to re-read with new eyes our Scriptures and our newspapers, to welcome once again strangers to our tables, and to re-ignite our burning hearts.
Because we choose to celebrate this Year of Consecrated Life with “abiding words of faith, uplifting words of hope, prophetic words of love and unending words of joy,” will Earth be repaired and healed? Will our global village become healthier? Will our communities become more daring places of welcome? Will our Church become more radically inclusive? Will our hearts burn more brightly within us? Will we wake up the world? Let us dare to say “Yes!” Let us dare to live “Yes!”
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In her beautiful book of meditations, “Fragments of Your Ancient Name”, Joyce Rupp writes:
Come, Spirit of Joy, come!
Be reborn in us. Birth enthusiasm.
Leap into our minds with gladness.
Dance away dismal discouragement.
Toss out griping and antipathies.
Topple old fortifications of blame.
Chase away what creates sadness.
Loosen all that keeps out your joy.
Hasten our footsteps to happiness.
Fulfill the designs of your heart.
God indeed has plans for each of us and God desires our happiness that in our lives we might fulfill the designs God’s heart. It is through living out our particular vocation that we are called over and over again to fulfill God’s designs in the world.
At the beginning of this Advent, 2014 we also begin the celebration of the “Year of Consecrated Life”. During this special Year, women and men who are vowed members of religious communities are asked to re-examine and renew the commitments of their vocation. But Advent provides an invitation to all of us to “take stock” of our lives; to re-examine and renew our commitments in light of our personal and varied vocations. In this special liturgical time of waiting anew for the coming of Christ in our hearts and in our world will we receive that invitation and pray, “Come, Spirit of Joy, come! Be reborn in us?”