Posts tagged ‘religious life’
Let Us Present Ourselves to God
Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Jesus, celebrating the day that Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple to present him to God. Many of our sisters made their first profession of vows on that day, so this feast is always special to the sisters, reminding them of that day.
Below is a picture of the motherhouse chapel in which the sisters professed their vows. Neither the chapel nor the motherhouse exist today because of a fire in 1990, but the sisters who professed their vows on that day, know that their vows and God’s faithfulness still stand.
The old motherhouse chapel of the Dominican Sisters in San Rafael
Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to be prersented to God. Let us pray:
Christ, be our light.
Jesus, light of the world, you revealed the love of God to us
- let our lives lead other to the truth of God’s mercy.
Jesus, longed for savior, you are presented with the gifts of the poor;
- help us to dedicate our lives to those in need.
Jesus, child of mystery, your mother’s heart was pierced by prophecy;
- strengthen all women whos dedication to you brings pain and sorrow.
Jesus, child of promise,Simeon had waited and prayed for your coming;
- give us patience and hope as we pray for the fulfillment of your gospel.
Jesus, joy of all who seek God, Anna had given you lifelong service;
- bless the elderly and teach us how to give them joy and encouragement.
Bountiful God, you are father and mother to us. You receive the dedication of the infant Son, Jesus, with two turtle doves. You inspire aged Simeon and Anna to bless and announce his mission. O gentle, strong God, we rejoice in your care for us. Help us to draw those who turn away from yo in fear. Let the saving light of Jesus bring truth and peace to our world. This we ask in his name. Amen.
- from People’s Companion to the Breviary, Carmelite Monastery, Indianapolis, IN
Come and You Will See
Today’s Gospel passage (John 1:35-42) tells of Jesus inviting the disciples to follow him by inviting them to “Come and See.” He’s not asking them to make a commitment. He’s not saying they should follow him. He’s not telling them how they should live their lives. He is simply inviting them to investigate . . . to observe . . . to see for themselves just who he is and what he is about.
We, the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, are hosting a Come and See Day on February 4th. We’re not asking for a commitment either, we are simply inviting single Catholic women, between the ages of 20 and 45 to come . . . to investigate . . . to observe . . . to ask questions . . . and to find out for themselves just what being a sister might be like.
Why don’t you come? Why don’t you encourage someone?
Come and You Will See
Joining Worthy Women – Reaching out their Hands to the Hungry
The first reading today, on the Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time talks about a worthy wife. Obviously sisters and nuns are not wives. And in the days that the Book of Proverbs there weren’t nuns or sisters, so our lives could not be imagined. So I’ve taken a little liberty here and changed a few of the words so that it relates to women, whether married or not.
Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31
When one finds a worthy [woman], her value is far beyond pearls.
[Those who] entrust their heart to her, have an unfailing prize.
She brings good, and not evil, all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax and works with loving hands.
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle.
She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward for her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.
- While this is a Christmas setting, Sister Anne Bertain, definitely a “Worthy Woman” reaches out her hand to the hungry every day at St. Dominic’s.
And if you happen to be a single woman, maybe you might think about joining us as we “reach out our hands to the poor, and extend our arms to the needy. Sister Anne Bertain, a Dominican Sister of San Rafael, does this every day in San Francisco at St. Dominic Catholic Church. To learn more about us, please go to our website. If you would like to pray with us, we invite you to San Rafael for an Advent Vespers service on December 1st. Please feel free to contact me to find out more.
St. Teresa of Avila
Today is the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). She was a Doctor of the Church, also a mystic and writer – and truly a practical, down-to-earth woman who saw into the heart of God, and truly made a difference in her world. Teresa reformed the Carmelite Order during the very difficult pass in the Catholic Church of the Spanish Inquisition.
Through it all, she kept her marvelous sense of humor. Once, after being thrown from a carriage into the mud, she said to God, “If this is how you treat your friends, it’s no wonder you have so few of them.” She was serious about her spiritual practices and being observant to, what we would call, strict religious practices. Nonetheless, she enjoyed life to the fullest, and encouraged her sisters to do the same. One wonderful story tells how Teresa danced on the table during recreation!
Perhaps it was the beauty of the Spanish countryside that gave her such a sense of passion and the joy of God.
Field of poppies in Spain. Might Teresa have feasted her eyes on these?
Teresa wrote:
Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing; God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
The one who possesses God lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.
Did she learn this from the poppies?
A Poem I Would Like to Make My Own
Rumi. How could you find a poet that could better express the movement of the soul . . . the stirrings of the heart . . . ?
Hospitality is one of those virtues that religious communities hope that they reflect. And sometimes we’re good at it, and sometimes . . . . . . Well, we fall into that place called human.
I found this poem today. And I would like to make it my own:
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
From:The Essential Rumi, p. 109, Translations by Comeman Barks, Harper: San Francisco, 1995.
5th Graders Visiting the Convent
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!
The Gift of Community Prayer
The time we have to pray together in the morning as sisters truly is a gift. It’s one of those regular things about religious life that is there for us day in and day out. (Though we do take a break from it on the weekends here at St. Rose Convent.) Its consistency is a gift. Knowing that my sisters are praying for me when I am not there (out of town, at a meeting, etc.) is a gift. And sometimes the sisters’ reflections on the day’s Scripture reading is also a gift.
Take today for example. Today’s reading was from Mark 7:24-30, and it’s about the Greek (Syrophoenician) woman who came to Jesus looking for healing for her daughter. Jesus was rather gruff with her. Since she was not Hebrew, and Jesus saw his mission as being to his people, the Hebrews, he said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Sounds a little off-putting, doesn’t it?
Because this Syrophoenician woman persisted and said, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps,” Jesus healed her daughter, and told the woman that when she went home she would find that her daughter would be just fine, and that the demon that tormented her would be gone.
Talk about good news for that family!
I wonder if over these 2000 plus years that Christians have been reading this passage, we’ve tried to sanitize it, by saying that Jesus was only trying to test her faith, and prove a point about faith to his disciples. Otherwise, how could Jesus possibly have acted so abruptly? Some might even suggest that he sounded rude. To top it off, the version of the Gospel that was read from the missal this morning said that Jesus dismissed her with the words, “Be off!”
Sister Cathryn’s brief reflection and prayer grasped all of the incongruity of the situation. Noting that Jesus sometimes got frustrated with his disciples and their obtuseness, she wondered whether or not he might be having an off day. Yet, in the midst of his frustration, and in spite of his sharp words to a woman desperate for her daughter’s well-being, Jesus mission of release to the captives and healing to the broken-hearted still was fulfilled. The demons were cast out of the woman’s daughter.
That can give all of us hope, can’t it? Even when we’re not having the best day . . . . even if we don’t choose the best words . . . . even when someone is standing on our last nerve . . . . God’s liberating and healing power can work through us. It never has been and never will be about us. It’s about GOD working through us, just the way we are.
Now that’s Good News!
