Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia LAUDARE, BENEDICERE, PRAEDICARE “TO PRAISE, TO BLESS, TO PREACH” Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia 801 Dominican Drive Nashville, TN 37228 www.nashvilledominican.org vocation@op-tn.org
“As a way of overcoming indifference and our pretensions to selfsufficiency, I would invite everyone to live this Lent as an opportunity for engaging in what Benedict XVI called a formation of the heart (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 31). A merciful heart does not mean a weak heart. Anyone who wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart, closed to the tempter but open to God. A heart which lets itself be pierced by the Spirit so as to bring love along the roads that lead to our brothers and sisters. And, ultimately, a poor heart, one which realizes its own poverty and gives itself freely for others.” Pope Francis Message for Lent 2015
Lent 2015 Dear Friends, As we continue our Lenten journey in the footsteps of our Savior, may we rely on his strength to sustain our desire and our efforts to be transformed into his image through prayer, penance, and works of mercy. In Christ, The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia
Holiness Highlight
A Professed Sister’s Reflection “I will offer within his tent a sacrifice of joy.” Psalm 27:6
Mary and Child with Saints Perpetua and Felicity (c. 1520), National Museum in Warsaw
STS. PERPETUA AND FELICITY “Stand firm in faith, love one another and do not be tempted to do anything wrong because of our sufferings.” Died: March 7, 203 Feast Day: March 7 Known for: embracing the name of Christian amidst threats and bribes; encouraging fellow prisoners in the face of danger; offering up her suffering for her brother in purgatory (St. Perpetua) How to imitate these saints: pray for those persecuted for bearing the name of Christian; send notes of encouragement to friends who are struggling: pray and sacrifice for the souls in purgatory.
“The day of the martyrs’ victory dawned. They marched from their cells into the amphitheatre, as if into heaven, with cheerful looks and graceful bearing. If they trembled it was for joy and not for fear. …Bravest and happiest martyrs! You were called and chosen for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” --from The story of the death of the holy martyrs of Carthage, Office of Readings for the Feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
The joy of the martyrs reveals the paradox of the Gospel experienced during Lent: “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Mt 16:25). Lent is a time of loss, of giving up, but only as a means of finding and receiving something greater: the love of God which surpasses all worldly pleasures as well as all understanding (cf. Eph 3:19). Focusing on this goal, we will foretaste the joy that martyrs such as Sts. Perpetua and Felicity possessed in the midst of their torments. It was written of these martyrs and their companions that they went to meet their deaths “with cheerful looks and graceful bearing,” for they were convinced that nothing could separate them from the love of Christ (cf. side bar; Rom 8:35-39). Only grace could enable the martyrs to embrace agony and death with such serenity and joy. Yet Christ himself does not hesitate to offer examples of life-giving sacrifice found on the natural level. We find in nature that death is often necessary for life to be renewed: “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12:24). And it is a common human experience that joy is the fruit of sacrifice borne for love: “when [a woman in labor] has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world” (Jn 16:21). Even human love makes joy powerful enough to ease the memory of pain. It was a similar example in my own life that encouraged me to say “Yes” to my vocation when the fear of sacrifice had hitherto paralyzed me. After college I was working with a friend who was newly married. At some point she began graciously declining certain foods and beverages and excusing herself from adventurous outings. Each time she said, “No, thank you,” to these legitimate pleasures in life, she did so with a knowing smile and a radiant glow. Our suspicions were confirmed when, soon after, she and her husband announced they were expecting their first child. Her example showed me that love makes sacrifice joyful. This enabled me to look at the Love, Who was inviting me to be his Bride, rather than at the sacrifices I had so long feared to make. And that indeed brought me joy. Throughout this Lent, may we keep our eyes fixed on the face of Love so that we may say “No, thank you” to false offers of pleasure and ease and say “Yes” to the Lord’s invitation to follow Him along the royal road of the Cross that leads to Easter joy.
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Redemptionis Donum To Men and Women Religious on their Consecration in Light of the Mystery of Redemption
In this Apostolic Exhortation, Pope St. John Paul II calls religious to rediscover the root of their vocation within the Paschal Mystery so as to participate more fully in Christ’s life-giving love.
“We know that the economy of the Redemption finds its culminating point in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ, in whom there are joined selfemptying through death and birth to a new life through the resurrection. The practice of the evangelical counsels contains a deep reflection of this paschal duality: the inevitable destruction of what in each of us is sin and its inheritance, and the possibility of being reborn each day to a more profound good hidden in the human soul.” #10
THE SACRIFICE OF SAINT CECILIA “With suffering paternal eyes Urban looked at her, stretched upon the floor like a lamb ready for sacrifice. He knelt beside her in wonderment at the glory of it all. As a priest of God he blessed her, but it was the hand of God Himself resting upon her, twice upholding her by the power of a miracle, until the consummation, the ultimate miracle of martyrdom. Cecilia raised her eyes toward the Bishop. Like a dying light the sweetness, the fervor, the firmness of spirit still shone in them. ‘Father,’ she made the effort to say, ‘I have asked this delay of three days of Our Lord, that I might commit into your hands these poor for whom I have provided, and this house to be consecrated as a church for all time.’” --from Who Are You? The Life of St. Cecilia by Marie Buehrle © Prow 1971 (pg. 59-61)
To celebrate this Year of Consecrated Life declared by Pope Francis, the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia joined religious communities around the country in hosting an Open House on Sunday, February 8. "We were blessed to welcome over 450 guests to tour the St. Cecilia Motherhouse in Nashville, and 950 guests to visit our other convents around the country."
“The opportunity to come into the Motherhouse is a wonderful gift that God has given us through the guidance of Pope Francis, getting to see ‘behind the veil’ in a sense, of what Sisters do beyond the Chapel. It’s a great gift and we are very honored to be able to go into parts of the cloister today.” -Olivia, student at Aquinas College in Nashville, TN
“I learned here that a lot of the sisters work together. They ring a bell to call them to prayer…they take turns doing things so that one person doesn’t just have to do it. It’s like a big house for a big family.”
-Zoe, 4th grade student at St. Henry Catholic School, Nashville, TN
During the Open House, guests were able to meet with sisters and to visit cloistered parts of the convent including a cell, the courtyard, and the refectory. In each location, sisters explained how the space enables us to live our consecrated life as Dominicans, who are called “to contemplate and to give to others the fruits of our contemplation.” In the chapel, the sisters provided a concert of sacred music and gave tours of the sacred space, including the stained glass windows depicting the life of our patroness, St. Cecilia.
“I learned how you live in communion together. You live together, work together, pray together, and that’s such a wonderful thing for us lay people to witness and to remind us of how we should live our lives: living and eating together as a family, praying together as a family, having sacred images and crucifixes everywhere… it is such a good reminder to us.”
-Visitor from a local parish
During tours of the refectory, sisters explained to guests some of our monastic customs. Before meals, the sisters gather in the de Profundis hall to pray Psalm 130 for the deceased sisters, relatives and benefactors of the Order. In the Refectory, the sisters eat in silence while a spiritual book is read them, and they are served youngest to oldest in memory of a miracle from the time of St. Dominic in which angels served bread to the brethren, youngest to oldest, when they had no food.
Winter Wonderland
So far this winter, the Motherhouse grounds have seen more ice and snow than usual. It provided the sisters beautiful sights and many opportunities for sledding and snow ball “tosses�!