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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!
I always enjoy attending the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress! And fortunately the calendar smiled at me again this year and I was able to attend.
To be sure this is the largest annual gathering of Roman Catholics in the U.S. There are workshops for catechists, teachers, musicians, liturgists, lectors, and anyone looking for spiritual growth. Sessions are available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
This year I didn’t attend any of the workshops; I was busy distributing materials at the Dominican Family Booth. The Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, Mission San Jose, and Adrian, Michigan, have been staffing this booth for many years. And it is a wonderful experience!
As I handed luggage tags with our logo and website (www.sanrafaelop.org), I said, “We’re Dominican Sisters.” The responses were great! Were we the sisters that taught them at such and so school, or from Dominican University? Maybe they had a question about religious life. Sometimes they wrote a note to a sister that they remembered from childhood. Even if we weren’t the Dominican Sisters that had educated them in Chicago or New York, the wonderful memories from their school years was attached to us.
I loved the liturgies, and always wish our regular liturgies in our home parishes were more like these. But I remind myself that this is special, and there is a lot of work and preparation put into these liturgical events. I also remind myself that it is our response to the daily, lack-luster parts of our lives that makes us. And that’s what makes the special and celebratory . . . well, exactly that. Special and celebratory!
This year’s theme was “Love Unfolding…Igniting Our Yes! Our “yes” lived out may feel daily and lack-luster. The sessions and liturgies delivered what we hoped for. They ignited our yes and revitalized us.
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!
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 had to laugh this morning when I looked at the paper. Every morning I look for this little box inside the Datebook section, entitled: “Public Eavesdropping.” Readers send amusing remarks to Leah Garchik, who makes them part of her daily column.
Today it reads: One woman was heard saying to another,
“I can’t commit to anything except tattoos.”
We live in a society where the “C” word is frightening to many. We live in a culture where there are so many choices . . . and sometimes making a choice shuts out other ones, and that’s . . .that’s . . . that’s . . . a commitment. It feels safer to keep one’s options open.
Strangely enough, I live in a culture – the convent – where we have uttered the “C” word, and have made vows that will hold us, and that we will hold, for the rest of our lives. That final commitment – perpetual or solemn vows – keeps us from making other choices. But it also frees us to give ourselves in ways we couldn’t otherwise. It also means I have sisters that I share this commitment with. I’m not going it alone!
The gift of this life is that one can try it for a time and see if it fits. Sometimes it’s not clear how God is calling us. And our answers are often found in our living of our lives. So before sisters, brothers, and priests say the “C” word, we get to try the life on for size – for five to nine years.
Most of the nuns I know are okay with the concept of 
commitment of their lives. But they are a bit squeamish about the commitment of a tattoo! (except for the really brave ones, of course!)
This evening I am preparing a prayer service for the women’s pod at the Marin County Jail. I will be joined by another one of our sisters there, Sister Billie. I have included the readings for Sunday in the prayer; tomorrow we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. We will share our reflections with one another. We don’t have answers, but we listen. I think you could call listening preaching at times like this.
Baptism signifies a new beginning. Whenever we think of January and a New Year, we think of new beginnings. My experience of listening to the stories of the women in jail is that on the inside they are not so different from me. But for some different circumstances or different choices that were made by my parents or by me, they are there, and I am not. And that, like me, they long for new beginnings.
My hope is that our hour with them will give them some hope that there is the possibility of new beginnings. We will bring these women back with us in our hearts, and our sisters at home will pray for them too.
A group of over 20 nuns ( well, sisters actually) and priests – vocation directors – gathered in San Rafael yesterday to
Sister Julie's presentation
attend a workshop entitled, “Two Practical Strategies for Engaging Young People Online about Vocations.” Our presenter was Sister Julie Vieira, IHM, who is well known among nun bloggers through her blog anunslife.org. She gave all of us a better understanding about how young adults and youth are using the internet. Sister Julie also helped most of us to gain a better understanding of blogging and Facebook. Some who didn’t already have a Facebook page, signed up then and there!
I think that one of the best things that Sister Julie offered us was her enthusiasm and encouragement, not only about ways to reach young adults through good use of technology, but through her genuine love of religious life. She is grounded in theology and love of the Lord.
I am glad to call her my sister and friend!
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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