In the Shadow of His Wings

Sponsa Christi August 30th, 2008

Want to learn more about our liturgy and our religious habit?

    I have updated the sub-pages under the page “Passionist Nuns”…I hope to eventually add some pictures of a vestition to the page entitled “Our Habit”. 

Let us worship the Lord in holy attire!

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• Passionist Life , Saint Paul of the Cross
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Sponsa Christi August 28th, 2008

    Here is a follow-up to a few questions I received regarding the post written on voting.

    Do they have driver’s licenses just for ID or do they need to drive?   Both- although the need for either is rare, especially before First Profession of vows.  In response to our driving (which involves our leaving the cloister for a short while, which is done only with the permission of the Superior) - gone are the days when laity took us to all our doctor’s appointments, did all the shopping for us and doctors made “house calls” (Interesting aside, when I entered religious life back at the old monastery in Owensboro, we still had a dentist’s room with the dental chair and other equipment – quite an interesting museum piece!) Also, one is required to get a new driver’s license within 30 days of an address change.  But the most essential reason for getting their driver’s licenses is so they could be registered to vote in Kentucky for the upcoming presidential elections, which is of crucial importance.

    Now to answer Miss Charlotte’s question (Shannon was thrilled to hear from you!) I’m wondering what sources of information, aside from the link in this post, you ladies use to decide how you will vote? do you discuss politics as a group at all? do you vote in local as well as national elections? what sort of connection/exposure do you have to local/national/global news?

    We certainly have enough resources to make informed decisions. Although the radio and tv are rarely heard by our Sisters we do pre-record the presidential debates and watch those. We also watched the Saddleback civil forum when Pastor Rick Warren interviewed both presidential candidates a couple weeks ago. Currently, we are watching segments of the major speeches of the Democratic National Convention.  We have various up-to-date Catholic and Protestant periodicals in our library and our Superior and Vicar will print various articles for us to read from the Internet (such as the statements being published by the Bishops in regard to our Speaker of the House’s misinformation regarding when life begins when she appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this past Sunday, which has provided prime-time opportunity to catechize our nation on the abortion issue!). And of course, we receive the daily newspaper – which certainly gives another perspective than what we read in our Christian periodicals.

   Yes, we vote at both local and national elections! Hope this answers your questions.  God bless you!

Quotes of the week:

   “Our faith should shape our lives, including our political choices…we don’t ‘invent’ our faith, and we don’t ‘own’ it. If we really want to be “Catholic”, then we’ll live by Catholic teaching. Otherwise we’re just fooling ourselves and abusing the belief of other Catholics who really do try to practice what the Church teaches.”   ~ Archbishop Chaput in interview last week with www.nationalreview.com

   “The right to life is foundational. Every other right depends on it…We should remember that one of the crucial things that set early Christians apart from the pagan culture around them was their rejection of abortion and infanticide. Yet for thirty-five years I’ve watched prominent ‘pro-choice’ Catholics justify themselves with the kind of moral and verbal gymnastics that should qualify as an Olympic event.”    ~ Archbishop Chaput at www.lifenews.com

    Do we want our nations leaders to be chosen from this category?   We’re at a serious crossroads…

   “Abortion is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it…”  ~ excerpt of statement posted by Archbishop Chaput in response Nancy Pelosi’s faux pas on “Meet the Press”.

   God save our nation!

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Sponsa Christi August 22nd, 2008

     Recently we came upon a thread on a vocation blog about the Passionist Nuns that had some erroneous statements. This is not the first time we have heard about this. In response Mother Catherine Marie, through the inflow of the Holy Spirit, wrote some articles to address these misunderstandings. She wrote these within just a few days! Amazing… Gradually, I am posting these here on the blog under the section on Monastic Musings. But until then I invite you to go to our website and read “Mother’s Notebook”. Leave a comment and let us know what you think! (Update January 2009 - All the articles have been posted here on the blog under Passionist Nuns in the Monastic Musings section.)

     I pray Mother’s little treatise on Passionist life will make known the truth about our rich – hidden – mysterious vocation, bring greater glory to God and an increase in number of courageous and magnanimous postulants to all our Passionist monasteries!  “May they become living flames of crucified love for a world grown cold toward God.” ~ St. Paul of the Cross speaking of his “daughters of the Passion”.

And I close with one of my favorite Words from the Desert Fathers….

     Abbot Lot came to Abbot Joseph and said: Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation and contemplative silence; and according as I am able I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts: now what more should I do?

     The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He said: Why not be totally changed into fire?

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Sponsa Christi August 22nd, 2008

     Do you feel a tug at your heart to learn more about Passionist contemplative life?

     Do you feel Jesus may be calling you to be totally consecrated to Him through Religious Life?

     If you are a single, Catholic woman between the ages of 17 and 30 I invite you to contact me about attending our vocation day Saturday, October 4th, 2008.  We can provide overnight accommodations to those coming in from out-of-town.

     Just click here  and fill out this questionnaire. Please note in the comment box at the bottom of the questionnaire that you are interested in making the vocation retreat. Registration deadline is September 28.

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Sponsa Christi August 21st, 2008

You better believe it! We take this civil duty seriously.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph #2240 “Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country…”

When I was young (not too long ago!) and before entering the monastery I was very confused on this issue. I felt that the candidate had to have the right position on all moral principles and if he did not then I could not, in good conscience, vote for him. (I was really looking for a political messiah!) Since then I have come to understand the concept that if there is not a “perfect” candidate then I must vote for the person who will most likely limit evil. Please see Fr. Frank Pavone’s website to learn more about voting with Catholic Christian principles.

I have a feeling that many of you might also be unsure of what to do in this year’s upcoming election. I encourage you to get registered and vote! Again, see Fr. Pavone’s site to find the registration deadline in your state.  Going to college out-of-state? Make sure you get an absentee ballot.

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• Novitiate news , Passionist Life
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Sponsa Christi August 16th, 2008

      As we headed towards our ping-pong match last evening I could hear the same joy and awe in Sharon’s voice that I had when I first experienced our monastic life centered around the Liturgical Year. How good it is and how privileged we are to live under the same roof as our Sacramental Spouse! What a blessing to be totally consecrated to Him and to fulfill our duty as Christians of worshiping the Most Blessed Trinity through the perfect prayer of Jesus in the Heavenly Liturgy. 

      Yesterday was the Solemnity of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven. We prepared with a solemn 9-day novena which included a special prayer and daily reading at Vespers, a couple of solitude afternoons and fasting. By First Vespers the altar was covered with the beautiful antipendium and Marian panels, the flowers were in place and we heralded our Lady with the Office of Gregorian Chant from Gethsemani Abbey (whose chant we use on Sundays and Solemnities).

     Our Lady, Gate of Heaven, opened the doors of the Sacred Liturgy for us and throughout the day we relished her presence, received her love and were renewed in our fidelity and charity as we spent the morning with her Son during Solemn Exposition and the afternoon in recreation, rest, private and liturgical prayer, festive meal, optional recreation and then entered back into the Silence of our Lady as the Great Silence bell tolled at 9 p.m. 

     What a day…

     By the way, Sharon respectfully beat me in every game of ping-pong.  Any ping-pong champs out there? Sharon needs some competition. And our Lady would love to have more daughters in this monastery to worship her Son.

     O Mary, Assumed into Heaven, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!

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• Blessed Mother , Novitiate news , Passionist Life
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Sponsa Christi August 8th, 2008

     Here is an update to what I shared below ~ I answered the question out of my personal experience – my family and friends live close enough that my visits take place in the time span of a Sunday afternoon. For those whose families and friends are at a distance the visits might be longer and therefore worked out on an individual basis with our Mother Superior.

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     Friends are certainly welcome to come during family visits and there are no limitations on our part regarding this arrangement. It would depend on the family and how much they are willing to share their precious time with you.

     As far as friends coming apart from a family visit this is not encouraged but exceptions are made, especially if it would never be possible for them to come with the family and they are traveling through the vicinity and would like to drop by for an hour or so. There is no hard and fast rule and various circumstances would have to be taken into account.

     Having limited contact with one’s friends is certainly one of the sacrificial aspects of monastic life but God only asks us to give up a “good” for a “greater good” ~ that more souls come to know Jesus and enter into a deeper relationship with Him.

     The Holy Trinity gives each woman who is called the strength and the desire to “leave all things” to follow Him…all the way to the Foot of the Cross with Mary.  This is first and foremost to be Laudem Gloriae - ” to be a praise of His glory” as Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity would say. Overflowing from this self-gift are the graces of redemption that flow through the nun’s oblation upon the whole world.

     Before I entered the monastery I told the novice directress that I was afraid I would not be able to live this cloistered contemplative life…it’s so Radical! 

     She gave me some wise words…”If God is calling you to this life He will give you the grace to live it.”

     I am a living testimony to the truth of that statement.

     All is grace.  

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Sponsa Christi August 1st, 2008

     Recently I received a request to answer the following questions and thought you would enjoy reading the answers.

Dear Sponsa Christi,

     My name is Teresa and I am 9 years old. I go to St. Paul school and, as you can tell, it is a Catholic school. I have some questions that I want to ask you about being a nun.

     Firstly, do you think that being a nun is fun? At times we have a lot of fun at during our recreation periods. I would rather say that doing God’s will brings one an inner joy and peace, even if a person is going through a difficult trial. There are ups and downs, good days and hard days in the monastery just as there are “in the world”.

     How old do you have to be to be a nun? To enter our monastery one has to be at least 18 years old

     Can you tell me what an aspirant is? An aspirant is a woman who is living in the monastery for up to 3 months to live the life and discern if this is what God is calling her to do.

     Do you have parties for holidays like Christmas parties? We have wonderful celebrations for different feast days throughout the year…which includes more time for prayer and then also more times for recreating together. On Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day we have a Gaudeamus day. On these days we can recreate all day! These days kind of have the spirit of a family reunion – festive meals, all helping out in the kitchen, doing various activities together and so on. But we are always happy to get back to our regular monastic routine.

     Are you really married to Jesus? Do you wear a wedding ring for Jesus? Yes, we are really married to Jesus (although by civil law we are single). I refer to myself as being a “spouse of Christ”. In fact, that is the Latin translation of “Sponsa Christi”. and yes, we do wear a wedding ring. This reminds me that I must nurture my intimate relationship with Christ…as Psalm 42 says “as the deer longs for running streams so my soul is yearning for you my God.”

     How long can someone stay with you before they decide to become a nun? Does that person get a room and a bed? The aspirancy is up to 3 months. Then if one feels this is God’s will they enter the monastery and become a postulant which last from 1 year and can go as long as 18 months. Then one receives the holy habit and her new name and becomes a novice. This lasts 2 years. Then she professes her vows. These are renewed 6 years. Then she makes perpetual profession of the vows. So all in all it is a 9 year process. But to become a postulant the young woman is very serious about seeking to become a Passionist Nun. Yes, she always gets a private room and bed – she doesn’t have to sleep on the floor .

     Do you have a room? What is it like? Yes, each Sister has her own room. We call it a cell. We don’t go in each other’s cells because these are our private rooms for prayer, study and rest the place where the nun dwells in a special way with Jesus, her Divine Bridegroom. I like to think of the similarity between the word cell and the Latin word caelum which means “little heaven”.

     Do you get to study about the Church? Are there classes of any kind? Oh yes! You better believe we study about the Church. When a woman enters the monastery there are classes on an almost daily basis for the first 3 years. We study church history, catechism, spirituality, liturgy, prayer, decorum (good manners!), Scripture, religious life and the vows, etc.

     Is there a priest or priests there? We have a chaplain who lives in a modular home just outside our front gate. He has daily Mass for us in our monastery chapel. He is a diocesan priest and has many other ministries.

     Do you have television and watch movies or shows? We do watch certain movies on dvd or video and record programs off of EWTN. We are very selective.

     Do you have board games and other games? YES! We have recreation 2 times a day. The time in the evening is when we usually do activities together, i.e. play cards, go for a walk, work on a puzzle, play piano, guitar and sing, etc.

     What are the biggest rooms in the monastery and what are the smallest? Biggest – Chapel obviously. Then our recreation room and refectory (where we eat). Smallest – I guess those would be the phone rooms. Our phones are in small rooms the size of a closet so that a Sister can have privacy and also so that her voice does not echo down the hallway and disturb the prayerful silence of the other Sisters who might be working, rest, studying or reading in that area.

     How often do you get to see your family? Ordinarily three times per year visit with family in here at the monastery in the parlor. We can also have a private visit with our parents

     What is contact like with your friends. Our contact with friends is limited. We can write them at Christmas and a few at Easter. Beyond that one has to have permission to write to their friends. This is to help us really focus on our mission of being prayer warriors in the Church. I recently came across a great quote from St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein). She wrote this to her Jewish friend when she entered the monastery. “Whoever enters the monastery is not lost to her own, but is theirs fully for the first time; it is our vocation to stand before God for all.” We are a close community. We have lots of time in prayer, solitude and silence but we are also together as true friends in the Lord.

     Do you remember the time you first became a nun? Yes, I was on “cloud nine” with joy when I realized Jesus was calling me to be a Passionist Nuns yet it was very difficult to leave my family and friends. I was homesick but Jesus gave me the grace to persevere and it has been 13 grace-filled years. One has to leave home at some point. Perhaps there is a special poignancy to it because I am the oldest child in my family and was the first to leave home – and enterd a cloistered monastery!

     What do you do during the day? Here is a quick summary ~ pray, eat, spiritual reading, class, work, pray, eat, recreate, rest, study, work, pray, eat, recreate, pray, sleep!

     How often does a nun go to confession? about once every 2 weeks

     Do you have a pet? We have one cat – “Danny Boy”

     I’m asking these questions because Mom asked me if I would like to be a nun in the world or in a cloister and I am thinking I would like the cloister because I want to be closer like a family with other nuns. If you tell me the answers to these questions I can share them with the kids at St. Paul school. I know my teacher will let me. Thank you very much for reading my questions and for praying for me and my family.

Love,

Teresa

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