Pathways: Spring 2000
March/April 2001
Ministry at Xavier University of Louisiana
Sister Barbara Hughes, CSJ
February
11, 2000
These are exciting times to be teaching young people. Never before have I been more conscious that the future is in the hands of the young people of our world. Through them, with their dreams and hopes for the future, as well as their fears, I hear God say to all of us, "Behold, I create all things new."
These are particularly exciting times to be teaching young people at Xavier University of Louisiana. Xavier is unique in that it is both a Catholic university and a historically Black university. Of 102 historically Black colleges in the U.S., only one is Catholic. Of 253 Catholic colleges in the U.S., only one is historically Black. As Xavier celebrates the 75th anniversary of its founding this year there is added cause for rejoicing in the whole Church over the news of the pending canonization of its foundress and the foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, Katharine Drexel.
Sister Barbara Hughes with Jacqueline McGhee, a student from Xavier University, New Orleans. |
My ministry at Xavier, where I have taught in the History Department for over twenty years, has been a rich and deeply rewarding experience. My life has been touched and shaped by the many students and colleagues who have been part of that experience. While I have taught thousands of students through the years, many of whom have gone on to careers in education, medicine, business and law, I feel that I have learned far more from them than I have taught. I hope that they have learned from me far more than history. I have learned much about the beauty of the individual person and about respect for diversity. I have learned much about overcoming odds in an environment which is both challenging and supportive. I have learned that gifts are given to be shared, both my gifts and those of my students. I have learned in concrete ways what it means to live "so that all may be one." (Jn 17:21)
Through my ministry at Xavier I have come to a deeper appreciation of the complementarity of the mission of the University, which is to promote a more just and humane society, and that of the Sister of St. Joseph who "moves always toward profound love of God and love of neighbor, without distinction, from whom she does not separate her self and for whom, in the following of Christ, she works in order to achieve unity of both neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God…". My ministry at Xavier is directed toward a mission within a mission.
Spiritual Guidance and Retreats.
Sister Ily Fernandez, CSJ
In our last newsletter we shared with you some thoughts about how you discover God's will if you feel that God may be calling you to be a Sister. Today we want to share with you some thoughts about spiritual guidance and directed retreats.
Sister Ily Fernandez, CSJ and Giselle Maurer during a Busy Person's Retreat at TA&M. |
The process of working out where God is calling you is called "discernment". This word comes from the Latin word "discernere" which means to separate, to distinguish, to sort out what may be from God and what may come from other interests or pressures. A spiritual guide is someone who can help you in this discernment.
A spiritual guide is someone trained to guide others in their spiritual journey. The spiritual guide needs to hear from you about your fears, your desires, your consolations or suggestions that flow in and out of your heart, all the various movements that happen within you. This is how a spiritual guide can adapt the guidance to the way you are being led and responding to God.
Without this openness between yourself and the spiritual guide, it is not possible to sort out, i.e. discern, which lifestyle or focus would better lead to your growth. Interior reactions are made up of many feelings and thoughts. The most helpful arenas for discernment are precisely those feelings and thoughts that flow in and out of you. We may call them inspirations or Scripture calls these thoughts mixed with feelings "thoughts of one's heart".
During the course of a directed retreat or during on-going spiritual guidance, discernment takes place if one shares this arena of the heart with the spiritual guide. The interior reactions or movements that flow in and out of one during prayer time are the materials that need to be brought up to spiritual guidance.
In the case of discerning God's will or a religious vocation you bring to a spiritual guide all your impulses, attractions, fantasies, and desires related to responding freely to God's Spirit moving in you. Discernment is really a lifelong process. If you really believe that God loves you, you will want to respond to God's love freely, openly and generously.
Today there are many opportunities to receive spiritual guidance.
One of them offered all over the country is that of making a Directed Retreat or a "Busy Person's-Directed Retreat". Directed Retreats are offered by trained spiritual directors at Retreat Centers.
A "Busy Person's Retreat" is an opportunity to make a retreat in the midst of a busy schedule of work and/or study. It lasts for a week and during the retreat you take at least thirty minutes of daily personal prayer with the Scriptures, receive daily spiritual guidance and participate in evening prayer.
A Directed Retreat takes place in a quiet setting away from the hurried pace of life and work. During the days of retreat you are guided to pray with the Scriptures according to the movements of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Some of these retreats are listed in our calendar. Lent is a great time to make a retreat and grow closer to God.
"Here I am, Lord"
Reflections based on 1 Samuel 3:3-10 read during the liturgy of first profession of vows of our novice Joy Manthey, CSJ
Sister Marie Schwan, CSJ
Today we come together to celebrate the wondrous things that God has been doing, is doing in our friend and sister, Joy.
We are blessed as we gather as a community of friends. We are blessed also in the Scriptures we have just heard proclaimed. Shortly, Joy will make her commitments as a vowed member of the Sisters of St. Joseph. What strikes me is that the Word of God as we have heard it proclaimed and Joy's word of commitment are not two words, but deeply one.
As I have reflected on the readings, I was especially touched by the spontaneous and generous response of the youthful Samuel when he heard his name called.
"Here I am, Lord" (1 Sam. 3: 3-10)
Surely we can understand that Joy can identify with Samuel today. But if we look deeply within, we know that they are words that are at the heart of life itself.
We are each of us called to a life of prayer and a life of service. Let us reflect briefly to see how the words, "Here I am" stand at the center of both prayer and service.
It is at the heart of prayer. Sometimes in prayer we find beautiful and even eloquent words that carry our hearts to God; sometimes we are drawn into dramatic gestures. But each of us knows of those other times when we stand empty and have no words, when it is as if we are naked before the mystery of God. Then it is, from our deepest center, there come those words, "Here I am, Lord." Perhaps that is when prayer is most real, most authentic in the simple openness before the mystery of God that is infinitely tender and faithful and compassionate. "Here I am." And it is enough.
"Here I am." These words are at the heart of ministry, the meaning of service. Whatever professional title or role we carry, it is simply to give us access to people who are in need. In the presence of those to whom we minister we say with our actions, our listening, sometimes with our words, "here I am," becoming transparent, empty of all that is not God, so that God's love can become incarnate, made real in ways that others need. It may be the "here I am" of a Helen Prejean attending to a prisoner, or a Julie Kraemer bending over a child learning to read, or a Gladys Joubert whose life is circumscribed by crippling M.S. – perhaps the ultimate "Here I am."
Sister Joy pronounces her vows. Left to right: Sister Anne Meridier, Novice Director, Sister Joy Manthey, Sister Lucy Silvio, President of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille. |
I invite each of us to reflect on his/her own surrender to God. How are you being called? What is your response?
Is it the trusting "Here I am" of Samuel's childlike heart?
Is it the attitude of Moses before the burning bush, "Here I am," ready to be sent?
Is it the graciousness of Mary's "fiat" in her annunciation, open to receive the Word?
Is it the hunger of the disciples to "come and see"?
Is it the prayer of Jesus on the cross, self-emptied, embracing our human condition, even death as an entry into the fullness of life?
"Here I am." It is the prayer that comes spontaneously to our lips when we are most in touch with the call of God as it comes to each of us. It is a prayer that opens us up to the whole world, to the "dear neighbor" whoever they may be, wherever people are in need.
"Here I am." It is as simple, as unpretentious, as honest and real as prayer, as life can be.
At this moment, let each of us close our eyes. Let us drop down to the place within us where we are most who we are, to that place deep within us where our God dwells, where our God is creating us, holding us, cherishing us, to that deep place where our God is calling each of us to the fullness of love and life…And let your own heart respond with the word, "Here I am."
And now from that center, send your love, your support to Joy as she comes forward to make her commitment and surrender.
January/February 2000
My Vocation Story
Sister Elaine Beimesche, CSJ
I believe God has something in mind for every person from the moment of conception. As I look back over my life, I find that fact more and more evident. I was born Elaine Marie Beimesche as the second daughter to Ethel and Edward. Later there were five boys born into our family. I was born in the early 30's at a time when being Catholic was the center of life - at least in my family. I'm pretty sure that religion was central to most people in those days. For my family, Mass was not just a Sunday event. It was an every day event as far as possible. So at a very early age, I realized that apart from God, life had very little meaning. Dad had cousins who were priests and Mom had aunts who were Religious Sisters. We visited them often and knew they were as human as we were, full of joy and knowing how to have fun.
Of course being educated in a Catholic atmosphere was primary in our upbringing. Many times I realized how much Mom and Dad sacrificed to give us this education. Daily prayer and helping others was part of life. How could one not pay attention to God and help our neighbor who God created?
As I look back, I believe I didn't appreciate all this much as I was going through it. In my high school years, I felt God calling me. In the sixth grade, I had already thought religious life would be a positive way of life for me. During missionary activities at school, I found a strong urge to consider religious life seriously. I asked God to lead me and to give me a sign to know this was truly what I was called to do. Bishop Sheen was very popular in those days and he encouraged us to ask for a sign.
The example he gave was a girl who asked as her sign for her brother who was missing in action to be found and brought home safely. He did return home and she became a Sister. My sign was much simpler - to win a popularity contest which was sponsored by our parish in connection with a summer festival. I did win and I knew from that moment what my life choice would be. I had more difficulty in deciding which order to enter. God led me to enter the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille. I have never regretted that decision.
Entering religious life and adjusting to community living held lots of challenges, but I have grown so much spiritually and have fallen deeper and deeper in love with God. I've been challenged to do many activities that I never dreamed possible - teaching second graders through high school students - leading religious education programs in parishes - even leading a region of our Congregation for a period of time shortly after Vatican II.
I'm so hopeful for the future. My growing up days were unique to the time. Today's time has its own gifts. Perhaps daily attendance at Mass doesn't seem so central to young people today, but loving God and neighbor does. Deepening spirituality and joining others in a caring community is drawing the young to the point of looking God straight in the eye and saying "yes" to all God asks. I pray that Jubilee 2000 will bring the joy of Religious Life into the hearts of many strong young people today, so that they will become apostles of God's love in a peace-filled world.
What a glorious sign that will be!
Elaine Beimesche is currently Vocation Minister, living in Cincinnati, Ohio.
How do you know God is calling?
When Jesus visited his hometown of Nazareth after being away and teaching in other areas, he was asked to lead the reading at the Synagogue. He took the Scriptures and found a passage from Isaiah. He read: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God". Then he said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing".
Jesus used this passage as a statement to all believers of his mission here on earth. He kept his mind alert to this goal throughout his life. He calls his followers to do this same ministry among his people. Every baptized person is called to follow Jesus in this ministry of bringing "good news" to all the people. The apostles went forth after Jesus' Resurrection and brought this news to people everywhere.
So how do we know if we are specially called like the apostles? First of all the idea has to come to mind. We have to feel that being a dedicated religious might be a real possibility for us. Perhaps the thought comes to us through prayer, through listening to God in the daily activities of our life or having other people tell us we seem to have the gifts needed. Perhaps, we laugh to ourselves and wonder where this thought comes from. God does have ways of calling the people he wants. St. Paul is a perfect example. He fought the Christian movement, yet when God called, he became one of the most powerful disciples in the infant Church. As in any decision making process, we first must gather information by talking to people, reading, thinking and praying a lot in order to make a wise choice.
We have to remember that discerning a vocational call is a process in which we sift through all of the available information in order to find, as best we can, where the spirit of God, the spirit of truth, may be leading us.
God does not whisper in our ear. He does communicate with us through all the events that happen to us, the movements of our minds, our feelings and our hearts. We must take the time to become sensitive to what is happening in our inner and outer worlds and to find what is significant for our own journey.
There are some helps in the process of deciding. As I mentioned above, we must pray. Daily contact with our God is essential.
Another help is journaling. This gives us a record of the movement of the Spirit. It's written, so we can go back over the ideas we've experienced and see the pattern over a period of time.
Have a spiritual guide. This can be a spiritual director or a true friend whom we trust enough to share our inner thoughts. The person must be one who we believe is wise and in touch with God and who will tell us the truth about what we share, even when it might be difficult to hear.
Will we know "for sure"? If we expect the clarity that comes from a direct line phone call, we will never have that. But if our call is a true call, we will find a certain inner peace somewhere along the line. That peace may come only after we have actually spent a long time looking into our own heart and looking into the eyes of our loving God. It may only come after visiting the religious order to which we are drawn and trying out the first steps of entering. When God is truly calling, we will find peace and much joy. The Church will also rejoice with us!
Theresa Pitruzzello tells us her story.
I think that the first thing I would say about a vocation is that a vocation is a way of life. It's not just what I do or my prayer or even the people I live with. My vocation encompasses all of these, but even more it is (or it is supposed to be) the focus from which I do all of these things and from which I can "be" with people and with God. Specifically as a Sister of St. Joseph, this means that I try to be a unifier and reconciler no matter where I am or whom I'm with, and that I live in such a way that God's great love is known. (This is our "charism.") All of this may sound very good and wonderful (and it is) but, like anything worthwhile, it has its challenges, too!
The first thoughts of a vocation were probably when I was in the first grade. I had S. Joan as a teacher and one day one of the little boys asked why nuns don't marry. She replied that in a way nuns do marry; it's kind of like you marry Jesus and the Church. I thought that this was very beautiful, and whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I replied, "a nurse, a teacher, a nun, or a mom." Well, I'm not a nurse, a teacher, or a mom, but I am in the process of becoming a Sister. Over the years the answer to this question changed many times, and when I was in high school I really did not want people to know that "nun" had ever been in the back of my mind. But, the thought was still there and when I went to Loyola University, I really had the chance to check things out. I went out with friends to the French Quarter on Friday or Saturday nights, studied and had reasonably good grades the rest of the week, and also began attending Mass on weekdays because I had a hunger or craving like you might have for ice cream or chocolate. I also had the opportunity to meet several different religious communities because many of their members also attended Mass at the campus chapel.
S. Beth was one of these and we began having coffee together (hot chocolate or tea for me) about once a week before classes. We would chat about anything - school, her work as a nurse in the campus health center, places I'd gone, missing home, etc. As we visited, she shared tidbits about her life, her family, the "charism retreat" that she was looking forward to (and later, when she came back, how renewing it had been for her), and other happenings that gave me a picture of her life and a sense of the charism (gift or focus) of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
Before actually affiliating with this community, I considered and was invited to get to know many other communities. I had the privilege of meeting many wonderful women and coming to appreciate the charism or gift that each religious community brings to the church and to the world. One is not better than the others; they complement each other. The community of the Sisters of St. Joseph is where I believe I can make the best use of my gifts and talents and grow as a whole person in loving God and other people. If you are curious, come and investigate. It's worth the challenge!
Theresa Pitruzzello is currently a pre-novice with the Sisters of St. Joseph. She ministers as a Music Therapist at Chateau de Notre Dame in New Orleans, Louisiana.