VITA CONSECRATA: CONSECRATED LIFE

VITA CONSECRATA: CONSECRATED LIFE

In a few weeks we, the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, will be celebrating many of our Sisters'  jubilees, similar to anniversaries when we speak of married men and women. In religious life, we call “anniversaries” “jubilees.”  This year the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother will be celebrating the jubilees of 20 Sisters, one of whom is celebrating 75 years of religious life, ten 60 years, eight 50 years and one 25 years.  What, you may ask, is it like to have given one’s life to the Lord for 75, 60, 50, and 25 years and having no children, no grandchildren  and having given up the joys of being a devoted wife, experiencing the gift of having a devoted husband and adoring children and grandchildren?  This is a woman religious speaking, of course.  Some husbands, children and grandchildren are not adoring or devoted while others are. Married life is not a bed of roses; it too comes with thorns!

So what are we celebrating? God’s faithfulness. The many times we have come through the turbulence of life and experienced Jesus sleeping in our boats and, at our invitation, calmed the churning waters. We are celebrating the times that Jesus walked through the “wheat fields” of our lives and quenched our hunger with “grains of wheat,” that others felt we had no right to glean.  We are celebrating the many times we sat at Jesus’ feet, as did Mary Magdala, listening to His every word, enjoying an intimacy that no one can take from us, and, “yes” being at the foot of the cross of other’s people’s lives, as Mary stood beneath the cross of Jesus. We have done so when we sat at the bedside of the sick and dying, caressed the handicapped, mentally or physically challenged, or bullied child in our schools; welcomed the drug or alcohol-addicted individual in our treatment centers.  We are celebrating the times we went to "empty tombs," looking for Jesus and when "the gardeners" of life whispered our names and we recognized Jesus and "yes," were sent out by Him to proclaim the resurrection.   We are celebrating the many children God sent us as gifts of His love, examples of courage, pillars of hope. The 75, 60, 50, and 25 years of consecrated life have been an awesome experience of a faithful, loving, caring, forgiving God, to whom we have given everything of ourselves and our lives. The joy of that giving has no bounds here or in eternity. That is why "jubilee" celebrations are so, so special.

Vita Consecrata--Consecrated Life

VITA CONSECRATA: CONSECRATED LIFE

 A significant dimension of religious life is involved in apostolic activities, also referred to in religious life as our ministries.  I would like to feature another member of my religious community, Sister Mary Ellen Joyce. Sister Mary Ellen is a certified long-term care chaplain endorsed by the National Association of Catholic Chaplains (N.A.C.C.). Her role as Chaplain is to be present to residents, their families and the staff at Franciscan Oaks Health Center in Denville, New Jersey.  Her ministry encompasses three levels of care: independent, assisted living and those who need around-the-clock nursing care.  She conducts weekly communion services, scripture study and prayer.  Her responsibilities also include preparing weekly faith-based reflections, holiday customs and trivia and the creation of a Christmas pageant.

Her creativity exudes all of her work. Here is a segment of one of her Scripture trivia games:

·         Who had the highest sodium level recorded in scripture?

·         What is the sign of God’s covenant?

·         What ritual meal is eaten just as it was in scripture?

·         What horse-drawn vehicle wheels clogged during the chase?

·         Who could have been on a biblical “Ricky Lake show”?

o   He was his father’s favorite.

o   His brothers hated him.

o   He was abused physically and emotionally.

o   He was seduced by his employer’s wife.

·         Whose name in scripture means “I drew you out of the water” (His mother could have been in Martha Stewarts basket class)?

·         The Queen of Sheba probably had the largest ____cabinet in the world.

·         Where in scripture do we read about a possible entry into the “Ripley’s Believe it Or Not” most incredible fish story?

·         Before Mr. Ed. We hear of a talking ______in the book of Numbers. Sorry Mr. Ed!

 If you love God above all, hunger to know, cherish and delve into the Scriptures, are creative, want to serve people where they are at, enjoy being involved in Church Ministry, in helping the poor and/or working for peace and justicve in our world,  strive to grow in intimacy with the Lord, want to dedicate your entire being to the Lord alone, hear a small inner voice inviting you to consider religious life, perhaps religious life is for you.  I invite you to browse our vocation website, www.becomingasister.org. and fill out the self-quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

VITA CONSECRATA--CONSECRATED LIFE

VITA CONSECRATA—CONSECRATED LIFE

Religious life is about serving the Church in a variety of ways.  The chapter on “Apostolic Service” in the Constitution of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother opens with a quote from Micah 6: 8: “…and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  That statement applies to so many of my senior sisters, women religious who did great things for the Lord without recognition of their efforts. Nor did they ever toot their own horns, so to speak.  These were and are humble women, women who gave their lives for the poor and oppressed, who did whatever was asked of them by their superiors.  One such woman was Sister Kiliana Jakubowski, a woman from Germany, an orphan, in  fact.  She was principal of the convent high school and president of the junior college in Milwaukee, WI,  when I entered the community back in the 50’s.  In the 60’s she was asked to lay the groundwork for our missions in the Caribbean and in Brazil, traveling to those countries and, for Brazil, learning Portuguese in her advanced years.  She was passionate about preserving the history of our community. That passion led her to writing the first community history book as well as translating five volumes of meditations given by the first spiritual director of our community, Msgr. George Jacquemin.  As an aspirant, postulant, novice and three years into temporary vows I was the one who typed and mimeographed those five books: the one history book and the four volumes of meditations.  Her motto that she passed on to me was: All for the glory and honor of God. Truly, that was the passion that drove her to say “yes” to all God asked of her. It is that motto that underlies the humility of so many of the Sisters that have gone before me. It is also the motivation that prompted their obedience to their superiors and ultimately to their God.

Vita Consecrata--Consecrated Life: Reflection VI

  

If religious life of women were pictured as a flower garden, I believe that we would see the likes of which never existed. The beauty of the work done by women religious, I believe has no equal. Catholic colleges, high schools and grades schools pepper the U.S. as the result of the work of the Founders and Foundresses of our religious communities and our pioneer Sisters, many of whom came to the U.S. as missionaries, not even knowing English.  The ministries they began in teaching and in healthcare took root in the soil of extreme poverty and, in some cases, the ultimate gift of giving their lives for the sake of the other. My own religious community began hospitals in abandoned saloons with little or no money and very few material possessions.  Patients paid for medical attention by sometimes giving produce or farm animals. The Sisters of my community collected $5.00 from the lumberjacks of northern Wisconsin as insurance for medical assistance for one year.

Many of the healthcare institutions begun by my community in the early 1800’s are flourishing healthcare systems to this very day. As of 2002 there are  625 catholic healthcare systems in the U.S.--all because of the sacrifices of women who would do anything for their Bridegroom. Nothing was beyond their willingness to help others in need.    The same is true women religious of other congregations. Many began educational institutions  that are thriving to this very day.  As of 2014,  there are 244 Catholic Universities; 6,594 Catholic schools: 5,399 elementary; 1,195 secondary. Hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and orphanages in the early days of our Foundations also blanketed the U.S. because of the sacrifices of women religious.  

As in the past, today the Lord continues to call young women to consecrate their lives to Him and continue the incredible work of healing, teaching and aiding the poor of this day and age in whatever way the Spirit directs.

Vita Consecrata: Consecrated Life, Reflection V

VITA CONSECRATA: CONSECRATED LIFE

Reflection V

Religious life, since the mid 1960’s to the present has undergone many changes that promote health and well-being, that favor a contemplative way of life that is not possible if the day is cramped with work and obligatory schedule-keeping.  The horarium has changed. We used to gather for communal meditation at 5:30 every morning, followed by praying  the Office (in Latin) and then Mass.  Before noon and right after dinner we would gather again in the Chapel for “Visitation,”—a visit to the Blessed Sacrament,  the Stabat Mater (a prayer to and with the Sorrowful Mother) and Litany to the Blessed Mother, and a part of the Office.  Toward evening, before Supper, we would assemble for another part of the Office, the prayer of the Church. Right before retiring in the evening, we would come together to pray Compline and/or evening prayer and conscience examen.  Somewhere was public recitation of the rosary.  If Sisters, because of ministry missed communal prayer, they had to make it up, even to the point of depriving themselves of needed rest (our hospital sisters worked seven days a week, 365 days a year) and were on call day and night.  Missing scheduled prayers was not allowed except in an emergency in the hospital.

Change was inevitable and necessary!  The essence of religious life has not changed, however.  That essence is “the radical gift of self for love of the Lord Jesus and, in him, of every member of the human family.”

 

Vita Consecrata--Consecrated Life

Men and women religious strive for oneness with Christ. Jesus’ prayer: “Lord, may they be one as you and I are one,” is a passion for all religious. Growing aware of and fostering that union is essential in living out one’s vocation as a “Spouse of Christ.”   Every Christian is called to realize his/her oneness with the Lord.  As a Bride of Christ, men and women religious devote their lives to becoming acutely aware of the union that exists between him/herself and God. The Church is the Bride of Christ. Union between Bride and Bridegroom is what any marriage is all about.  This is not less true for the Church and, certainly, no less true of those who dedicate themselves to the Lord by a special consecration, who give themselves totally to the Lord as women/men religious. Consecrated life, therefore, is a “reality which affects the whole church,….In effect,…is at the heart of the church as a decisive element for her mission, since it ‘manifests the inner nature of the Christian calling’ and the striving of the whole church as bride toward union with her one Spouse” (Vita Consecrata, #3).

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