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Teachers always love field trips! Especially field trips when the children and parents (chaperones) enjoy what they learn. Every year the Diocese of Oakland invites schools of the diocese to send their 5th grade students on a special field trip. The boys go to St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park and the girls go to a sisters’ motherhouse in the diocese.
Today students came from two diocesan schools to the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of San Jose. Three of us sisters, Sister Liz Schille, RGS (a Good Shepherd Sister), Sister
Sister Beth talking to the 5th graders
Beth Quire, OP (a Dominican Sister of Mission San Jose), and I (a Dominican Sister of San Rafael), taught them a little bit about what it’s like to be a sister, and the importance of answering God’s call in their life. It was a fun day, and the girls and their parents really enjoyed themselves.
Truly, all of us are called . . . from the time we are baptized, or even from the time we are born. God calls us to, as the apostle Luke wrote: “. . . to preach good news to the poor. . . to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) God calls us to do this whether we marry or not, whether we become a nun or a sister or not.
Today we talked about our way, as sisters, of living out this call. I always like talking about that, because I love being a sister!
When I read the Gospel reading for today, Mark 7:31-37, I was reminded of this poem that I wrote on April 30, 1995, when I was in the novitiate.
Who can hear what is not spoken,
the cry that never parts lips,
the secret, un-whispered desires
never uttered, never stammered?
Who, but one who listens deeply?
Listens deeply and hears.
Hears the hunger of the crowds for true bread,
the searching heart of Zaccheus atop a sycamore,
the desperation of a Canaanite mother, willing to be……
….dog.
Yes, one who listens deeply
hears the lonely heart of a woman at a well,
hears the trembling fear of one grown weak from loss of blood.
Yes, one who listens deeply
hears the cry of the poor,
hears one’s own voice deep within,
hears the very heartbeat of God.
Yes, there is one who…
but for me
It all takes too much time!
this listening business.
(bus-i-ness
a still, quiet kind of busy-ness)
Listen in prayer.
Listen in conversation.
Listen to the footsteps of birds in flight.
Take time. Pay attention.
Allow God’s voice to sift through a screen of distractions.
“I vow obedience means I promise to pray.” (Carrol)
Attend to the multiple faces,
the many voices,
the reaching hands of God.
What might happen?
…if I did.
Listen (on purpose) I mean. Pay attention.
Would hearing improve?
…ears be opened?
Ephphatha!
Have I, too, been deaf since birth?
…had ears to hear?
Could my heart be opened?
Ephphatha!
They want me to do what?
(don’t let them become they)
Ephphatha!
“It’ll take you and a good wrestling team
to get me to be open to that!”
EPHPHATHA!
Yes, be open.
(even if it takes wrestling with a god)
To allow myself to be surprised at
where, when, how
God’s voice is heard.
In the wisdom of creation,
in the inspired words of Scripture,
in the life and teachings of Jesus,
in the accumulated wisdom of the…tradition,
in the word and example of [others],
in the voices that speak to us of the needs of our world,
and in the directives of…legitimate authority.
(Constitutions of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael)
And then to
respond.
Whole heartedly, unreservedly,
(is that possible?) without measure.
Joyfully! (that too?)
Not looking back after putting hand to plow.
Without complaint (not me!),
Without longing for what could have been,
what once was (yet grieving the loss).
In Ecclesiastes it is said,
Whatever your hand finds to do,do it with all of your might. (Eccl. 9:10)
No cosmic scavenger hunt, this.
And Paul,
Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord alone and not for those you serve,
knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.
(Col. 3:23-24)
Listen (deeply)
Hear (openly)
Respond (generously)
The reading from Mark’s Gospel on Sunday, January 25th read, ” Jesus said to them (Simon and Andrew), “‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of people.’ Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.” (Mark 1:17-20)
What an auspicious reading, for a very special day for Kathy (Kat) Repass who came all the way from North Carolina to further discern God’s call in her life, by entering into religious life with the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. I think of Jesus calling Simon and Andrew, and then walking a little farther and calling James and John. In a way, that’s what we’ve seen happen. Jesus called Colleen, who was living in Athens, Georgia, to come to California and join us in August. And then Jesus walked a little farther to Cary, North Carolina, and called Kat. They may not have been mending any nets, but they certainly abandoned their lives as they knew them and followed.
There are four pillars on which we build our lives as Dominicans – four pillars that keep us balanced. On Sunday,
Kat entered into the community part of Dominican life. On Monday, Kat went to Berkeley to the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (DSPT), so that she could enter into the study part. Prayer is a part that gets woven through all of our days as Dominicans. I’m looking forward to hearing what she chooses to do for the service part.
We do have to give her a little time, though, to settle in a little.
Welcome, Kat!!
During the mid-20th century, all religious orders experienced a phenomenon of large groups of women entering the convent. (The same was true for men’s orders) Many look at today’s fewer numbers of entrants and say that something must be wrong with religious life. Yet if one looks at the entire history of religious life, it is clear that, in most times, religious life was a calling for fewer than that unusual time in the mid-20th century. I think Sister Julie unpacks this well in her blog, “Declining Numbers of Catholic Sisters and Nuns” at anunslife.org.
In those days of plenty, the groups of sisters who entered the convent called themselves groups, crowds, or sets. Sisters in my community still refer to sisters that they entered the convent and the novitiate with as their “set.” In more recent years, we have had sets of one. I entered 15 years ago, and the 6 sisters who have entered after me have all been a set of one, though we have enjoyed larger groupings of novices by our participation in the Dominican Collaborative Novitiate in St. Louis, where most of the congregations of Dominican Sisters in the U.S. send their novices for a year.
This year, we are celebrating a set!!! Colleen McDermott entered our congregation in August, and Kat Repass (though she has already arrived) will be celebrating her entrance on Sunday, January 25th. Colleen and Kat will be our two candidates, and thus a set. But since the ceremony is not until Sunday, they will have to be a “set-elect for a little while yet.”
What a joy to have them! We wish this set-elect the joy of Dominican Life as they embark on this wonderful journey together.
Don’t you think it would be great to be part of this set, or the next one for that matter? If so, please contact me or comment above.
I believe it was said by Karl Barth that one should “read the Bible with one hand and the newspaper in the other.” Dominicans have expanded his quote by saying, “Preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” I’m sure that it occurred neither Barth nor the early Dominican Theologians, that journalistic food for reflection would be found in something as light-hearted as “Public Eavesdropping.”
This morning there was another gem!
These are the words of a “man sharing with a waiter his reaction to his seafood risotto.” He said, “It’s not life-changing.”
Now who would ever think that a particular entree would be life-changing (unless of course the person eating it was on the brink of starvation, or the food was tainted, resulting in food poisoning)? Do people go to restaurants hoping that their lives will be changed by the event? Have we so truly bought into the lies sold to us on TV that we hope to have our lives changed by food, a new car, a new wardrobe, a trip to the Bahamas, the latest Wii, or by losing twenty pounds?
If we truly want our lives to change, we need to look around and see the needs around us. We need to find ways to change the lives of the poor and the forgotten. When we give ourselves in service to others, our lives change in ways that are beyond imagining!
So, if you want to have your life changed, just ask God. And remember, be careful what you ask for, you might get it!
As long as I have been in St. Dominic’s parish in San Francisco, about 13 years now, we have received Epiphany packets so that we can bless and chalk our doors. We write the letters C, M, B, suggesting the names of Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar – the names of the Magi, as well as the first letters of the words “Cristus Mansionem Bendicat” – “May Christ bless this dwelling.” I like to think that it is not only a blessing of our homes, but also a blessing upon our comings and our goings, since that is what a doorway symbolizes. It also is a symbol of hospitality, as it is the place at which we welcome our guests. And as we stand in the doorway of 2009, it is where we welcome this new year.
I am reminded of the Jewish practice of attaching a mezuzah to the doorpost. In doing this, the Jews remember God’s protection of their ancestors at the time of the great Exodus from the land of Egypt, as well as God’s protection and faithfulness on their long and difficult journey. Doorways hold much meaning.
Now our Epiphany blessing is a short liturgy in which we mark these doorways, as we ask God’s blessing upon those who live in the home within or visit throughout the coming year. So of course we would do this as we begin each New Year. I think it is especially fitting that we bless our homes in this way on the Feast of the Epiphany, or for that matter, anytime in January. For, do you know where we get the name, January? Well, we get it from the name of a Roman god, Janus.
Now Janus was the god of beginnings and endings – the god of gates, doors and doorways. Fitting, don’t you think? Who could have planned this little bit of serendipity? There is a bust of him in the Vatican Museum, and he has two faces, one is looking forward, and the other is looking backwards. So while he is gazing into the new – the future, at the same time he is looking back into the past.
And isn’t that exactly what we do at the beginning of a New Year? We look forward and backward . . . . with a mixture of emotions. We can look at the year behind us and remember the things that brought us joy as well as sadness. And we look forward into the unknown . . . with guesses and projections . . . . with hopes as well as fears. For we do not know what lies ahead.
I walk through this doorway into the New Year with the hope that my sisters and I will remain true to our vocation as Dominicans who preach through their lives as well as their words – and that our lives reflect the words we speak. Moreover, I hope to be faithful to this blog this year! May we have a peace-filled 2009.
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