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News

Nun Run ’11

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I just received this invitation from the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Arizona. This is a worthy cause and hey, if you don’t live too far from Tempe, consider joining the fun!

Dear friends,

March 12th  is our 2nd Annual Nun Run!  It is hard to believe all that the Lord has accomplished since our 1st Annual Nun Run last year!  May He be praised!  In October 2010, we moved to Tonopah, and in May 2011 the new Chapel will be consecrated! 

The funds raised from NUN RUN 2011 will go into our Monastery Building Fund, which will be used to build our new cloistered monastery that will house 28 nuns!  So how can you be a part of turning this dream into a reality?

(1)  Please donate at  my newly created fundraising page.  The competition is on to see which Sister will raise the most funds for the cause!  (All in sisterly love, of course!)

(2)  Register to participate in the Nun Run.  You can join in the fun on March 12th in Tempe, AZ…or as a shadow participant you can run wherever you are.  Simply register as a shadow participant and a race shirt will be mailed to you!

(3)  Become a Nun Run Fundraiser.  This year we have an awesome incentive prize: All fundraisers who raise $150 or more will receive a beautiful fleece blanket with the Nun Run emblem embroidered on it.  Also, largest in-state fundraiser will win “Dinner With the Nuns” at Serranos Mexican Restaurant.  Largest out-of-state fundraiser will receive a nun-made Souvenir Gift Basket!  The race is on . . .

Thank you, in advance, for however you are able to participate in Nun Run 2011!  Above all, please keep this event’s success in your prayers.

With a promise of prayers in return,

Sr. Mary Fidelis

News

World Day for Consecrated Life 2011

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Today the Church is celebrating the World Day for Consecrated Life simultaneously with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. Pope Benedict XVI is observing the two celebrations by presiding over Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica this evening.

The World Day for Consecrated Life will be celebrated in U.S. parishes this weekend. This would be an apt occasion to walk up to a religious after Mass to say hello and to thank them for their service to the Church.

The World Day was inaugurated in 1997 by Pope John Paul II as an initiative for the entire Christian community to celebrate the mission of the consecrated life in the present and the future of the Church.
The Holy Father founded it for three reasons:

(1) to praise the Lord more solemnly and give thanks to Him for the gift of the consecrated life,

(2) to promote knowledge of and esteem for the consecrated life by the entire People of God, and

(3) to give consecrated persons an opportunity to return to the sources of their vocation.

It is no accident that the event coincides with the celebration of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.  This celebration, wrote Venerable John Paul II, is an “eloquent icon of the total offering of one’s life for all those who are called to show forth in the Church and in the world, by means of the evangelical counsels ‘the characteristic features of Jesus — the chaste, poor and obedient one.’ ”

At its inception as a World Day in 1997, the Pope entrusted it to the Virgin Mary in the hope that it will “bear abundant fruits for the holiness and the mission of the Church” and heighten the esteem in the Christian community for consecrated vocations. 

The Feast and World Day will be celebrated by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday evening with Vespers at the Basilica of St. Peter’s in the Vatican City.  A special invitation is made every year to members of the Institutes for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Reflection

Catholic Shadows . . . and Lights

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Fr. Dwight Longenecker

A reader sent me this trenchant analysis by Fr. Dwight Longenecker of the collapse of cultural Catholicism, which provides the context for the so-called “vocation crisis” we see in many parts of the world.

After all, when young people are presented an uninspiring version of “American Catholicism” rather than the real deal, it’s an uphill battle to keep them Catholic, let alone willing to dedicate their lives as a priest or religious.

Yet the problem also suggests the solution when it comes to vocations.

Now, of course we need “vocation awareness” programs and resources for those on the threshold of making life decisions. Fr. Longenecker’s piece, however, reminds us that we also need to back up the bus a little further.

Specifically, if we can do a better job of transmitting the faith in our parishes, schools, and above all in our families, then more young people will make the faith their own in adulthood. We all need to be laborers in the vineyard, even if we’re not around for the harvest (see Matthew 20:1-7; John 4:37-38; 1 Corinthians 3:6-9).

And many of these convinced, young adult Catholics will generously respond to vocations to the priesthood and religious life–including the many men and women featured on this blog!

It’s all about laying the foundation, as the Catechism teaches in its challenging presentation on the duty of parents to provide for the Catholic formation and education of their children:

“A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one’s life” (no. 2225).

Cloistered life, News

New Norbertine Community

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Norbertine Sisters of the Bethlehem Priory in Tehachapi

The late Most Rev. John Steinbock, in one of his final acts as Bishop of Fresno, approved the foundation of the Norbertine Sisters of the Bethlehem Priory in Tehachapi.

The cloistered sisters, who now are 20 in number, began in 1996 as a group of lay women who wanted to become Norbertine canonesses. This past Saturday, they were officially erected as a part of the worldwide Norbertine family.

They rented a house in Portola Hills across from the abbey, and began living an apostolic life of prayer together. In 1998, the five original members received their habit in St. Michael’s Abbey church and moved to a temporary house–the former convent at the parish of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Santa Ana, where they were warmly welcomed.

After a piece of land was procured for them in Tehachapi, a group of helpers, both Norbertine and lay, helped prepare the housing on the new property, situated in the low Sierra–a stunning setting. The sisters grew rapidly in this secluded site, living a cloistered life of prayer and manual labor.

Nine of the twenty made solemn vows in the Cathedral of St. John on Saturday. The Norbertine Abbot General, Thomas Handgretinger, was on hand from Rome to officiate at the Mass, and the sisters gave their vows to Fr. Eugene Hayes, Abbot of St. Michael’s and founding prelate.

What a great day for the Catholic Church in California and for the Norbertines throughout the world!

Reflection

Aquinas on the Vow of Obedience

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Here’s what St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast the universal Church celebrates today,  had to say on the excellence of the vow of obedience:

The vow of obedience is the chief of the three religious vows, and this for three reasons.

First, because by the vow of obedience man offers God something greater, namely his own will; for this is of more account than his own body, which he offers God by continence, and than external things, which he offers God by the vow of poverty. Wherefore that which is done out of obedience is more acceptable to God than that which is done of one’s own will, according to the saying of Jerome (Ep. cxxv ad Rustic Monach.): “My words are intended to teach you not to rely on your own judgment”: and a little further on he says: “You may not do what you will; you must eat what you are bidden to eat, you may possess as much as you receive, clothe yourself with what is given to you.” Hence fasting is not acceptable to God if it is done of one’s own will, according to Is. 58:3, “Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found.”

Secondly, because the vow of obedience includes the other vows, but not vice versa: for a religious, though bound by vow to observe continence and poverty, yet these also come under obedience, as well as many other things besides the keeping of continence and poverty.

Thirdly, because the vow of obedience extends properly to those acts that are closely connected with the end of religion; and the more closely a thing is connected with the end, the better it is.

Taken from the Summa Theologiae, IIa IIae, q. 186, a. 8.

Resources

Signs of a Priestly Vocation

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In To Save a Thousand Souls: Discerning a Vocation to Diocesan Priesthood (Vianney Vocations, 2010), Fr. Brett Bannon devotes an entire chapter to the characteristics of a good candidate for priesthood. He identifies 20 “signs” of a possible vocation to diocesan priesthood, since that is the focus of the book. However, I think these particular signs could also point to a vocation to the priesthood as a member of a religious community.

Fr. Brannen, an experienced vocation director and vice-rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, gives two important caveats before diving into his list of signs.

First, the Lord can call anyone to serve as a priest. A potential candidate may not initially have all the qualities listed here, and that’s okay.

Second, the discernment of a priestly vocation should be a deliberate process involving one’s spiritual director, vocation director, and other sound spiritual guides. 

According to Fr. Brannen, a good candidate for priesthood should . . .

(1) Know and love Jesus Christ and experience a thirst to bring Jesus and His teachings to the world.

(2) Be a believing, practicing Catholic.

(3) Be striving to live a life of prayer.

(4) Live and desire a life of service to others.

(5) Have a desire to be a priest.

(6) In many cases, have his call validated by other people.

(7) Find his calling validated in Sacred Scripture.

(8) Be striving to live a virtuous life.

(9) Have good people skills.

(10) Have above-average intelligence (but those who struggle academically should not lose heart!).

(11) Be physically, emotionally, and psychologically stable.

(12) Be joyful and have a good sense of humor.

(13) Have a “priest’s heart.”

(14) Have self-possession and self-mastery.

(15) Show stability in lifestyle.

(16) Be a Christian gentleman.

(17) Have life experiences that point toward priesthood.

(18) Be able to accept both success and failure peacefully.

(19) Have a healthy psycho-sexual development and orientation. 

(20) Be truly open to the will of God for his life.

For an explanation of each of these possible signs, see pages 77-108 of Fr. Brannen’s excellent vocation resource.

Cloistered life

Psalmody to Love

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Trivia question (answer at end): What would you have if Billie Holliday came back to life and prayed the Liturgy of the Hours?

I still vividly recall entering a religious community in the mid-1980s. A native of Los Angeles and a fairly recent law school graduate, I knew I was stepping into a very different environment. As I settled into this life, I realized that I was doing many of the same things I had been doing before entering this community. I had already become accustomed to daily Mass and Holy Hours. The studies (I was preparing for the priesthood) likewise came naturally to a “professional student” like me. And of course the meals and recreation times were very enjoyably spent with the great guys we had in the community.

The one thing that was markedly different for me was praying the Liturgy of the Hours (aka “Divine Office”) at set times each day with the other seminarians and religious. I had owned and used a breviary (a prayer book containing the Liturgy of the Hours) before entering seminary, but the regularity and fervor of this prayer of the Church was the most distinctive–and in many ways the most enriching–aspect of my seminary journey. This attraction to the Liturgy of the Hours has stayed with me ever since.

Today I want to direct our readers’ attention to a fine article  entitled “On the Psalmody of the Divine Office” from the Vultus Christi blog. Author Dom Mark Daniel Kirby (“Father Mark”), a Benedictine prior from Tulsa, is a sound, learned guide when it comes to the Liturgy of the Hours.

Father Mark makes some fascinating points throughout  the piece. I had never considered the connection between the choral recitation of the office and the evangelical counsels.  His treatment of the Thomistic concept of “tranquility of order” (tranquilitas ordinis) as it applies to liturgical discipline beautifully highlights the peaceful and contemplative qualities of the Divine Office. 

While everyone may participate in the Liturgy of the Hours, it’s part and parcel of the daily life of consecrated men and women. As such, Father concludes his article by affirming three fundamental principles regarding the Liturgy of the Hours for religious:

1. The choral celebration of the Divine Office is for all apostolic religious a path to contemplative prayer .

2. The choral celebration of the Divine Office is, according to the teaching of Pope Benedict XVI, your primary service to the world.

3. The choral celebration of the Divine Office assures the supernatural fruitfulness of your apostolic works.

Okay, here’s the answer to the trivia question: Psalm Sung Blue (Yes, my wife didn’t laugh either.)

Cloistered life

Carmelite Nuns of Mobile

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Photo courtesy of Mobile Press-Register correspondent/Lyle Ratliff

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. We all recall the familiar story in which the Lord came powerfully upon Saul while on the road to Damascus, forever changing his life–and world history!

It was a moment that marked a new beginning, a new mission. In the world he was known as Saul. Now as an apostle he is known to the Church as Paul.

I thought it would be fitting on this feast to invite readers to check out “Beyond the Convent Walls: Carmelite nuns of Mobile tell their story.” This story, from the Mobile Press-Register, with accompanying video, tells the moving story of a community of cloistered Carmelites who have remained ever faithful to their vocation despite age and shrinking numbers.

What struck me most about the accompanying video was having each of the nuns introduce themselves by saying, “In the world I was known as _________, in religious life my name is ___________.”

While these holy women weren’t knocked off their horse or blinded by light, they cherish their new name, their religious name, that carries with it the special mission of living a cloistered life devoted to Christ as a Carmelite nun.

Today’s feast gives consecrated religious a special opportunity to reflect on the mission associated with their religious name. It also gives all the faithful an opportunity to reflect on our conversion to Christ, and in our particular our baptismal name, which represents our new life consecrated to Christ.

News

Fit for Eternal Life?

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Jack LaLanne

Yesterday fitness guru Jack LaLanne died at the age of 96 in California. He committed himself to healthy living early in life, and he persevered in that lifestyle until the day he died.

LaLanne hosted the longest running fitness show in television history, and he skillfully developed and marketed a range of products, from health foods and juice machines to exercise books and fitness spas.

Of course what most people remember are his incredible feats of strength, which seemed part Schwarzenegger and part Houdini. The guy once did well over 1,000 pushups in 23 minutes.

At the age of 60, LaLanne swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman’s Wharf, while handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat!

But why all this talk about Jack LaLanne on a blog about vocations?  It’s because LaLanne knew what it meant to have a “plan of life.” He had one, and he stuck to it to a remarkable degree. Even more, he received the natural benefits of his orderly, disciplined life, as he enjoyed a long, healthy life on this earth.

Yet, even LaLanne’s earthly life had to come to an end, and we pray that he may now rest in peace.

We may be working on a LaLanne-like (say that five times fast) “plan of life” as we feebly try to lose a few pounds and get in shape in fulfillment of our New Year’s resolutions.

But even more, how is our “plan of life” from a spiritual perspective? How is our life ordered? Are our priorities straight? Is prayer, family, work, and recreation balanced appropriately? Am I reading books or viewing programs of a spiritual or at least edifying nature? Do I receive guidance from my pastor, spiritual advisor, or perhaps trusted friends?

Am I as committed to my spiritual plan of life as LaLanne was to his dietary and exercise regimen?

Jack LaLanne once said that we wouldn’t give our dog a cigarette and donut for breakfast, so why should these harmful things be part of our daily routine? Similarly, if we know certain activities aren’t good for us spiritually (and that’s what matters most, after all!), why do we allow them to become part of our lives?

I was that chubby kid in front of the TV trying to do the various exercises that Jack LaLanne was teaching his viewers. I’m sure it wasn’t pretty, but he did help instill an appreciation for exercise that has been integrated into my adult life.

May we who are committed to the Lord and His Church encourage others to do their “spiritual exercises” and to develop a plan of life, so that all that we do is ordered to our ultimate Good.

News

Vocations Are Habit-Forming!

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Religious habits are making something of a comeback these days. Check out this recent article entitled, “Younger Catholic Women Get into the Habit,” which discusses how the Nashville Dominicans have been able to attract new members under the age of 30.

They were also featured last December in this NPR story, which connected their traditional habit to their appeal to young women today.

Similarly, last week the online edition of Catholic San Francisco published “‘Oprah nuns,’ a fast-growing teaching order, expanding to California.” This piece, profiling the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, also highlights the significance of the religious habit in the new wave of religious vocations.

The religious habit is a topic to which we will return often in this blog. Today, I would like to share this brief reflection on the religious habit from Sr. Maria Pacis of the Dominican Sisters of Mary:

“Each day, as I don the Dominican habit, I am struck by the symbolism associated with each part of the habit. Each piece has ‘attached’ to it a virtue in which I daily strive to grow: charity; purity of heart, mind, and intention; obedience; perseverence; and finally devotion to Jesus, Mary, and St. Dominic. It is an ever-present reminder to me and to my dear Sisters that we are all Brides of Christ.” 

Sister’s uplifting comments bring to mind St. Paul’s description in Ephesians 6:10-17 of the holy attire that all Christians must put on as they prepare for spiritual  battle.