Pathways: Winter 2000
November/December 2001
They
Said Yes... Forever!
by Sister Maria Hill, CSJ
Vice-President, CSJ Medaille
based on the Scripture Readings: Isaiah 61:1-3; 10-11; Acts
4:32-35; John:20-26
A Reflection.
Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille: Juli Caron, Julie Kramer, and Leyla Cerda. To some, it seemed as though this day would never come. These three Sisters have been wanting to say "forever" to God since the day of their first vows- 5 years ago for Julie and Juli; 3 years ago for Leyla. The journey has seemed long, but the journey toward total transformation, to which we all are called, continues for a lifetime.
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Sister Julie Caron sings with the teen life choir. |
This is the occasion of a permanent commitment within an age of non-permanent commitment. Statistics tell us that fewer and fewer people make permanent commitments in our society and of those who do make them, fewer are kept. Sandra Schneiders says that "Vocational instability has reached epidemic proportions."
Like Isaiah in the first reading, Julie, Juli and Leyla can say "God has chosen me and sent me to bring good news..." What is it that moves a person to respond to a call and to make a commitment forever to God or to another person or to a particular life style? The answer is found in John's Gospel, which is part of Jesus' last words to his disciples and to us, his followers. This passage is particularly meaningful to us Sisters of St. Joseph. The core of it constitutes our mission-our reason for being, "that all may be one"... "that they may be completely one"... "that the world might know of God's love". When we are loved by another and when we love another, we are one with that person; being one is being complete, completely happy. It is what each of us is created for and what each of us desires. Jesus says this in a hundred different ways throughout scripture. In the short space of these seven Gospel verses that you heard read today, "one" is mentioned 4 times; "love" is mentioned 4 times; "I in them and you in me" is mentioned 6 times. It seems Jesus can't say it enough; he wants to be certain that we hear it.
When we know that a person is dying, we very carefully listen to his/her last words to us. Those words are significant. They constitute the wisdom gathered in a lifetime. They are like precious jewels to us. We treasure them. We remember them always, and they guide our lives. The word Jesus spoke all throughout his life and again at the end of his life, both verbally and non-verbally, was love. Jesus' last message stated that he desired that we become one with God and with each person (the dear neighbor, as our founder Father Medaille liked to put it); the way to do that is to love.
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Sisters Julie Kramer and Leyla Cerda during the final profession in New Orleans, LA. |
The word love has come to mean many different things in our society- some of them not so desirable. I don't have to paint the not-so-desirable scenarios for you. But I do want to paint some desirable scenarios-three different characteristics of the kind of love Jesus spoke about and lived, the kind of love that is promised by Julie, Juli and Leyla today.
Faithful: I paint it in shades of blue. Webster uses synonyms like loyal, steadfast, constant and resolute in describing the word faithful. If ever there is a wavering from our promise, we are grateful that we make our promises to a God who forgives. We express our sorrow; we receive God's forgiveness and the renewed commitment that follows becomes even more resolute than the first "yes". Faithful does not mean loving perfectly, but rather being vulnerable enough to acknowledge our imperfect love and then keep trying to love better.
The commitment is made forever, but as human beings we know we need to make it daily besides-every morning when we awake, when we spend time in prayer with our God who first loved us. As we grow to know Jesus more, we fall more deeply in love with him and it becomes easier to accept and embrace whatever life sends our way- the joys and the sorrows.
Juli has had many joys and sorrows in her life thus far. Perhaps the most recent one of her sorrows is the death of her mother, her last living parent. She was with her mother in her last months as often as she could be; learning still from her mother's wisdom, sharing her nursing and pastoral skills with the dying. Her experience deepened her love for her family, her community and her God, and enhanced her ministry to the patients she serves as chaplain, as well as their families. I have it on good authority that her ministry mirrors that of Jesus. Juli has been steadfast in her search for the best way to respond to God's call, faithful in her love.
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Sister Juli Caron pronouncing her final vows in Crookston, MN. |
Our faithful God is not only for us; God is with us in Jesus, Emmanuel. Faithful love is a defining characteristic of God. Having experienced God's love as faithful, Julie, Juli and Leyla each promise on this day of permanent commitment, to be a living sign of God's faithful presence among us.
Inclusive: I paint it all the colors of the rainbow. Jesus said, "It's easy to love those who love you. I ask you to love your enemies." And, in several other places Jesus said, "Love your neighbor" and we all know that means everyone-anyone with whom we come into contact. Who do you find difficult to love-your boss, a member of your family or your community, someone who has a different color skin from you, a person who has abused or ridiculedyou . . .? We are called to love everyone-the poor, those who have no status in society, those who are broken in some way. We are called to love them without expecting a return of love. It is so human to desire or expect a return for the love we give.
I am always deeply moved when Julie speaks of her students with such great love. She wants to teach them to know and love Jesus. To do so she lets them know of Jesus' great love and she herself spends time with them and loves them, especially the most needy among them. If I had a child, I would be happy for Julie to be his/her teacher.
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Sister Leyla Cerda receives her ring. |
We have plenty of opportunities daily in community, in our families and in our work settings, to live inclusive love, which is another defining characteristic of God.
Passionate: I paint it fire red. Webster defines passionate as "being capable of expressing and being affected by intense feeling." Without it, love is only a word. A celibate woman or man who is not warm and affectionate, is not believable as a person who has consecrated her life to God, whose name is love. A religious woman or man who does not allow herself/himself to feel deeply cannot be a good community member nor a good minister. She may say the right words and do the right thing, but there is no connection, no relationship, no spark.
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Sister Julie Kramer receives her ring. |
Both my parents were happy that I was entering the convent those many long years ago. Shortly before I entered, my father said to me, "Give it all you have and if you find you can't be a Sister with your whole heart, then come back home. Give it your all or give it nothing at all." I never forgot those wise words from my father and I played them back in my mind whenever I felt weary or discouraged.
Leyla does nothing with half a heart. She responds to life whole-heartedly. She has "fire in her belly" and every part of her being. You see it in her eyes; you hear it in her words. You know it by her actions. Her love is far from being bland, blah, lukewarm (and you know what Jesus said about those who are lukewarm!).
Jesus lived and loved passionately. He loved us so much he became one of us. He cried over Jerusalem. He looked on Peter with love. We even call his ultimate act of love, the passion. It was the defining moment of Christianity, together with the resurrection.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, way back in the 19th Century, wrote a sonnet whose first line was "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." We have all heard the poem. Juli, Julie and Leyla could write their own sonnet today, a hundred and fifty years later. If they did, they each might say to the God who calls them,
How
do I love you? Let me count the ways.
I love you faithfully, seeking forgiveness whenever I waver.
I love you inclusively, embracing all who enter my life.
I love you passionately, with the whole of my being.
And with the words I speak today,
and with the deeds I do tomorrow, and tomorrow,
I will be one and make one, as God desires.
And may the ring I receive today and wear forever
be the true symbol of the unity I seek.
Amen.>
Are you capable of saying to God "Yes" forever?
September/October 2000
Jubilee
Reflections
By Sister Julie Sheatzley,CSJ
Catching the message of Jubilee awakens understanding and recognition of daily miracles. Where I live, the miracle of resurrection is a common occurrence. I see resurrection in the smile of Lessie, a widowed octogenarian, who once told my sister and me, "I live to see you coming to visit me every week."I hear resurrection in the words of Bob, a death-row friend, who says, "I've been feeling down,lately. Your visit today really lifted me up."I sing resurrection in congratulating the summa-cum-laude achievement of Pam, a single parent supporting four growing sons. I feel resurrection quickening my own heartbeat when I watch George, the local undertaker, crying with the grieving and hugging hope and courage into their lives.
These signs of life renewed through release from loneliness and despair, through undaunted realization of human potential and through unfettered expressions of love are testimony to the fulfillment of Jubilee goals.
The Jubilee Year proclaimed in the book of Leviticus is a time for healing and rejuvenation prescribed by God, a time for trusting the abundance of God who always provides more than enough, a time for the restoration of right relationships with God, self, neighbors, all creation.
This year 2000, the first year of the third millennium A.D., is a Church-designated Jubilee Year. Each day is a summons to heed the Levitical requirement to make the year sacred with lives that proclaim liberty for ALL PEOPLE and for ALL CREATION. This year repeats the Jubilee message carried by the angel to shepherds at the dawn of the first millennium A.D. "You have nothing to fear! I come to proclaim good news to you-tidings of great joy to be shared by the WHOLE PEOPLE. This day in David's city a savior has been born to you, the Messiah and Lord."(Luke 2:9-11) In the person of Jesus the Christ, the Jubilee message becomes flesh. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Great Jubilee, the one who IS good news to the poor, who sets captives free, restores sight, releases prisoners. He embodies God's compassionate love and sets relationships right.
Jubilee values characterize all the activities of Jesus and set the standard for all of the activity of Jesus' disciples. This Jubilee 2000 will convey God's favor in the measure that disciples of Jesus embody the manner and activity of Jesus.
As a Sister of Saint Joseph, I will declare Jubilee when I love deeply and personally every Lessie, Bob, Pam and George; when every Lessie, Bob, Pam and George who encounters me knows that they are loved and welcomed and can call me sister; when I can enter the world of any other person and find that both of us have only one home and have been there together all along.
Sister Julie Sheatzley ministers in rural Louisiana doing evangelization for three local Parish Churches.
Formation
Week - What a Jubilee
-By S. Celeste Cotter,CSJ
At the end of June, all of our sisters in initial formation -those of us beginning the CSJ journey-and those who direct them gathered in St. Louis, MO for our annual week of prayer, study and sharing, in conjunction with the American Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph's celebration of our 350th anniversary of our Foundation. Since our jubilee coincided with the Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope John Paul II, the event was called, "Sound the Trumpets."
This "year of favor"that was proclaimed brought together 1400 Sisters of St. Joseph from the United States, Canada, Central and South America, France and Japan. At our banquet we celebrated our diversity and entertained ourselves during the meal by singing the anthems of our respective locations (including a love song from Japan). The impromptu talent show was rescued by a stunning video that captured our French origins and subsequent history in the United States.
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Terri Holman, Sister Mary Ann Farris, Sister Bert Lieux, Sister Pat Sullivan at Federation Event |
S. Patricia Byrne, in her keynote address, began by asking the question, "Are we capable of life?"While I appreciated the issues of viability and identity that she was inviting us to address, I could not help but look in awe at this "Little Institute"that filled the grand ballroom and the hotel to capacity. So many Sisters of St. Joseph in one place that we walked four to six abreast to the steps of the St. Louis Arch for a public witness in a procession that stretched over several blocks. So many of us that, even after a week in the same hotel and ballroom, there were some members of our congregation that I had not seen.
We were not invisible either. While it is not our usual custom to seek publicity for our actions, the time had come for public witness on several issues. S. Phyllis Manda filled us in on the Federation's consistent and determined position to dishonor our contract with the Adam's Mark Hotel, despite the penalties, if the issues of racist practices were not satisfactorily addressed. S.Ruth Kettman was interviewed on local television as the spokesperson for our gathering regarding our public statement against the death penalty, and the execution that took place during our visit. Other sisters joined the execution vigil that was held on the steps of the courthouse several blocks from the hotel. All the sisters assembled on the steps in front of the arch to listen to speakers and make a public witness against racism and violence.
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Novice Theresa Pitruzzello |
During our days there we broke off into smaller groups to listen to speakers and discuss our experiences in many areas, such as global issues of ecology and justice, immigration, homelessness, health care, education, child care and welfare reform, and theological language. In my smaller group, S. Ines Telles and Oscar Contreras, a former gang member, told how they help young people who are actively involved in gangs, and their parents, to learn ways of nonviolence and spirituality. At a luncheon round table discussion regarding prison ministry, no two of us were engaged in the same aspect. Some worked with women who were newly released, others with juveniles, one was a chaplain, another a prison nurse.
What I saw during my reflections on the many women gathered as Sisters of St. Joseph was the original vision of Fr. Medaille, of a Eucharistic community who would hold as their mission the inclusive, reconciling, unifying love of Jesus. Our diversity in response to that call seemed to me to be a sign of the Holy Spirit's direction to answer the many needs of our world in ways that help others not just to recognize the neighbors but also to value them. We shared a spirit, regardless of where we came from, that made us instantly at home with one another. I bless the occasion that brought us together, and pray that God's love will continue to light a fire in our hearts.
Note: More information on the Jubilee event is available at www.soundthetrumpets.org. To find more information about our history go to www.sistersofstjoseph.org. S. Celeste Cotter, CSJ is completing her first year novitiate.
Gracious God,
we celebrate your love
with glad cries of Jubilee.
As the Congregation of your great love, we pray:
Strengthen our union with the dear neighbor,
with the land,
and with you.
Trusting in your grace,
may we dare to be
passionate hope,
faithful justice,
and reconciling love.
Holy God, make us a Jubilee people.
AMEN