Mother Seton

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Catholic Church, education, example, faith, ordinary life, religious community, sanctity, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1774-1821) was the first American-born saint canonized in the Roman Catholic Church. We celebrate her today as a woman who, it is often said, “lived an ordinary life in an extraordinary way.” Her life was a bit like a seesaw with serious ups and downs by turns. She was born into a solid, well-to-do family in the high society of New York but her mother died when she was 3 years old. She was married at age 19 to a wealthy businessman and had 5 children, but his business failed and he died of tuberculosis when Elizabeth was 30 years old. Necessity led her to open a school in Baltimore in order to support her children and grace moved her to found a religious community which grew out of the spiritual nature of how she ran her school. She died at age 46. Franciscan Media says the following about the woman who has become an example of faith to generations of Catholics and is revered as “Mother Seton.”

Elizabeth Seton had no extraordinary gifts. She was not a mystic or stigmatic. She did not prophesy or speak in tongues…The thousand or more letters of Mother Seton reveal the development of her spiritual life from ordinary goodness to heroic sanctity. She suffered great trials of sickness, misunderstanding, the death of loved ones (her husband and two young daughters) and the heartache of a wayward son…She wrote to a friend that she would prefer to exchange the world for a “cave or a desert. But God has given me a great deal to do, and I have always and hope always to prefer his will to every wish of my own.” Her brand of sanctity is open to everyone…(www.franciscanmedia.org)

How can we refuse the offer?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Works of Which Women Are Capable

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capable, Congregation of the Great Love of God, discernment, diverse, needs, religious community, Sisters of St. Joseph, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, strong women, teaching, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, visiting, voices, women, women religious

INTRO: As I opened to the Catholic Bishops’ website this morning to find the lectionary readings for today I began to sing because the heading was “The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas.” I expect that you, too, are immediately singing now: “…my true love gave to me five golden rings.” That may be a little hokey but even a little more far-fetched perhaps is my follow-on thought that five golden rings might signify a 50th anniversary, the year that I have just completed as a Sister of St. Joseph. (Sorry, it’s actually how my mind works!) I was recently asked to talk about what that means so at the risk of posting the longest message you will ever have from me, see what follows here if you are interested.

Women religious have been living for hundreds of years by looking deeply into the eyes of the dear neighbor and seeing the radiance and love of Christ reflected there. To be that love in the world is the reason the Sisters of St. Joseph came to be.

It began with six women sitting in a kitchen discussing the world situation – the immediate world of 17^th century France, that is. They saw the poverty and tension visible in the lives of the people of their town, Le Puy en Velay, and decided they had to act. They chose to divide the city up according to need and then went out to meet those needs, visiting prisons and teaching young women to make lace so they would have a way other than prostitution of earning money to feed their children. The Holy Spirit was surely guiding these ministries and continued to do so when the first call came from the United States for Sisters.

In 1836, another small group of six women sailed for St. Louis to teach the deaf and the Native Americans in the surrounding area. In the 180 years since then that the Sisters of St. Joseph have ministered in the United States, times have changed significantly as have the needs of the world. After nearly two centuries of ministry in this country, first building and serving in schools and hospitals, Sisters have now returned to the Spirit of our founding mothers whose vision was to do all the works of which women are capable and which will benefit the dear neighbor. “All the works of which women are capable”…That’s everything, right? We now still serve in schools on every level from daycare/pre-school to universities. We are nurses and healthcare providers of every kind but also artists and spiritual directors, house parents for the disabled or the homeless, musicians, lawyers, officers of organizations, and those whose primary ministry is prayer. We are strong women, not bowed by adversity, who make their voices heard for justice. We are also kind women, peaceful and caring of the poor, and caring as well for this beautiful world in which we live.

We are diverse lovers of God. Oh, yes! We are diverse! In becoming the Congregation of the Great Love of God, (a moniker that we often call on to define ourselves at our best), we have come to understand that diversity does not mean division but rather gives the possibility for growth at every turn so that we can grow together for the good of the world. Religious life is an awesome call, but it is just that: a call. And it is a mystery.

Most Sisters today would be able to speak about their call to some extent, but at the heart of things, definition is impossible. Why, for example, of the 45 young women in 1966 who were discerning their role in life, did five of us who entered the Sisters of St. Joseph move to the novitiate, take temporary vows, all the while continuing to discern the rightness of the call, and then take the step of professing lifelong dedication to God. Why us? If asked we might have to say: “It’s a mystery.” And it is God’s grace that has allowed it to unfold.

Today the life of a woman religious seems not so dissimilar from that of other women and in some ways that is quite true. We are indistinguishable these days from other women in our dress, our activities – and we work alongside other women and men in any number of professional roles. There are also many women I know who are not Consecrated Religious whom I consider much holier than I, although it is useless to judge that. Though the outer framework of our lives seems much like that of others, however, there is a significant difference. There are many women and men who cherish their faith and our religious rituals and whose love of God and prayer life are extraordinary, and yet the fullness of their lives does not abide in a religious community. Some of us, however, after an extended period of discernment come to the conclusion that religious life is, as one writer has expressed it, “the native country of their soul and nothing else can finally satisfy them.” I believe I can say with certainty that after fifty years of living the life, we would most assuredly agree with that statement.

 

Jubilee

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celebration, gratitude, Jubilee, kindness, Leviticus, mercy, milestone, religious community, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One of my favorite biblical concepts comes from the Book of Leviticus where the practice of “Jubilee” is defined. It speaks of a time – every 50 years – when slaves are freed, land that has been taken is given back to the rightful owners and all remember the kindness and mercy of God. Even the land is given consideration as the fields are allowed to lie fallow, so that they can rest and be restored. All of this was done not only in reparation on a human level but to heal relationship with God. The resulting celebration was one of great rejoicing.

Adaptations of this ancient custom are many depending on culture and religious practice, the most common of which being wedding anniversaries of 25, 50 and nowadays occasionally 75-year celebrations of marriage. In my religious community, we celebrate on the Saturday closest to the feast of St. Joseph, our patron saint whose feast is March 19th. Thus, today there are 25 Sisters celebrating anniversaries in increments spanning from 50 to 80 (yes, 80) years in religious life. In an amazing burst of longevity, we have 3 Sisters who are 98 years old who will be present with us in our chapel this morning in Latham, New York.

I am one of five on the younger end of the celebratory group, celebrating 50 years of God’s grace. It is, as was mentioned above, not just a day but a whole year of recognition, of reflection on how we have lived our lives so far, and a time to make a determination of how we want to proceed in the adventure of growing older physically and stronger spiritually. It is a time of great gratitude for the blessings of our lives and a recommitment to God and the community that has enabled our growth to maturity.

I invite everyone who has come to a milestone moment of any kind in life to join us today in remembering what brought you to that moment and to give thanks. And if, in this year, you celebrate a special birthday or anniversary of some kind, please remember us and join us in our prayer of gratitude today.

 

 

 

 

 

A Covenant Forever

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Abraham, Christ, covenant, Emmanuel, family, Jesus, King David, Lord, love, promise, psalm 89, religious community, Scripture, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today all the Scripture readings highlight the God’s relationship with King David, his ancestors and his descendants – a secure, unbreakable covenant of unfailing love for all time. Although I have never borne children and cannot trace my ancestry back many generations, I feel the fullness of the concept of covenant in the family stories that I do know and in the larger “family” that I inhabit in my religious community and in the “family” of the eastern part of the USA. It is not an easy time for us; destruction and unrest seem the order of the day. Underneath it all, however, I have a hope that we will survive because of the promise that God made to Abraham, renewed in Christ and manifest in ways seen and unseen in all of us. As we anticipate the blossoming forth of Emmanuel this night we might reflect on the words of Psalm 89 from today’s liturgy.

Your love, O Lord, I will forever sing, your faithful friendship shall be the subject of my song. For I have come to know your love as fountainhead, it’s ceaseless source not here, but in your high abode. And you yourself have made this oath of faithfulness to us and all of David’s line, a covenant  proclaimed to all you chose, a promise made to us that never ends. The heavens are the witness, Lord, to what you say and do, your steadfast love to us is clear. (Ps. 89:1-5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lily of the Mohawks

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Catholic Church, Christian Algonquin, conversion, Great Spirit, Jesuit, Native Americans, prayer, religious community, sacrifice, st. kateri tekakwitha, storytellers, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In 2012 Americans – especially Catholics and Native Americans living in upstate New York – celebrated the canonization of two women – one a Franciscan Sister, Marianne Kope, and the other a 17th century Mohawk maiden named Kateri Tekakwitha. Today is the designated feast day in the Church for Kateri.

So many streams of thought run through my mind as I ponder Kateri’s life and destiny. I read that “her mother, a Christian Algonquin, was taken captive by the Iroquois and given as wife to the chief of the Mohawk clan, the boldest and fiercest of the Five Nations.” (This reminds me that I know little about the natives that have inhabited my state since long before my ancestors came to America.) Kateri lost her parents and her younger brother to a smallpox epidemic at age four; she herself was left disfigured and half blind by the disease. (Blessed with health and loving family including long-lived parents, I cannot imagine her desolation as a child.) God, her mother’s spirit and the Jesuit missionaries influenced her life such that she converted to Christianity at age 19 although that meant she would be treated as a slave by her village. (Her courage in conversion was monumental.) Fearing for her life, she stole away in the night and walked 200 miles to a Christian village near Montreal where she would be safe. (Amazing!) There she desired to start a religious community but was dissuaded by a priest and so lived out her life in prayer and sacrifice for the conversion of her nation to peace and to God. (How sad that this opportunity was missed for the Catholic Church! How graced was Kateri to know that God meets us in whatever life circumstances we find ourselves!)

Today I am grateful for storytellers who have kept the record of Kateri’s life alive until now. She is a model, not only for native peoples but for New Yorkers like me and others who have come to appreciate the wonderful spirituality of Native Americans and to regret the injustices done to them when others came to this land. May the Great Spirit open our hearts to love the land and all creatures and to reverence one another as members of one family.