laudare, benedicere, praedicare TO PRAISE, TO BLESS, TO PREACH
April 2021
APRIL 2021
1 / Holy Thursday 2 / Good Friday 3 / Holy Saturday 4 / EASTER SUNDAY OF THE LORD'S RESURRECTION 5 / MONDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER 6 / TUESDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER 7 / WEDNESDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER 8 / THURSDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER 9 / FRIDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER 10 / SATURDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER 11 / DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY 12 / 13 / Bl. Margaret of Costello, St. Martin I 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / St. Agnes of Montepulciano 21 / St. Anselm 22 / 23 / St. George, St. Adalbert 24 / St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / St. Louis de Montfort, St. Peter Chanel Celebrations from the 29 / St. Catherine of Siena Dominican calendar 30 / St. Pius V appear in italics.
The Four Pillars of Dominican Life
Prayer
Apostolate
Study
Community
part i
You did it for Me BY SISTER ELIZABETH MARIE, O. P.
W
hen I entered the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia,
I was not thinking about my future students. I was thinking about Jesus. I was also thinking about the meaning of my life, the tearful farewells to my family and friends, wearing a black polyester skirt in the Nashville heat, and learning to rise at 5 a.m. each morning. So, to be more accurate, I was thinking a little about Jesus, but I was mostly thinking about myself. My future students were far from my mind! In fact, while discerning, I was more attracted to apostolates dedicated to the Corporal Works of Mercy, those works done for “the least of these” which give entrance to Christ’s Kingdom (Matthew 25:40). However, to my surprise, God was calling me to join a community dedicated to the Spiritual Works of Mercy. He was calling me to teach “the least of these” in the classroom, hoping to hear Him say, “you did it for me” (Matthew 25:40). As I grew into this call during my years
of initial formation and first years of teaching, God showed me the power of the Spiritual Works of Mercy done for love of Him and for my students. A few years ago, while I was chatting with some of my freshman students, they said something that brought this home in a new way. Always curious about religious life, they asked me what year I became a sister. When I shared that I entered in 2004, they gasped with glee: “That’s the year we were born!” One student added, “It’s like when you were doing all that, you were doing it for us.” Although expressed in the slightly giddy speech of a freshman girl, there was truth in what she said. Yes, even though I was not thinking about them at the time, God was. In fact, He called me in order to send me to them. The word “apostolate” comes from the Greek word for “one who is sent off” and that is indeed what has happened to me. My students realized, with a beautiful intuition, that even before I was “sent off” to teach, I was already “for them.” They grasped that my life as their teacher was connected to my life as a woman religious, such that when God was first calling me to belong to Him alone, He was also, mysteriously, calling me to belong to
them. They did not think of me as another teacher, whose earlier life and marriage were unrelated to them; no, my life before I was their teacher was consecrated, and so not only did I belong to them now, but even my past life was for them. Just as a child looks back at his parents’ love story and sees his beginnings, these students looked back at my calling from the Lord and saw themselves, intended and expected. I have experienced this mystery of God’s providence as I have gone from class to class and school to school, striving to live the Spiritual Works of Mercy to those “least of these” who stand in need spiritually. In fact, teaching enables the sisters to live all the Spiritual Works of Mercy, sometimes in unexpected ways. The education apostolate most obviously involves instructing the ignorant, and we Dominican Sisters rejoice in sharing the beauty of Truth, the same Truth Dominic preached as he walked the hills of France. However, some of my most precious memories as a teacher come from the other Spiritual Works of Mercy.
In the high school classroom, teaching sisters counsel the doubtful as students grapple with their faith in God. Admonishing the sinner is another name for the gentle exhortation a teaching sister offers to her student who has been unkind or dishonest. Seeing a student brave enough to admit his fault and ask forgiveness is beautiful to behold. We comfort the sorrowful when our students are sad—from the more ordinary sadness of not getting into a desired college to the tremendous sadness of the loss of a parent or a sick sibling. Because we belong to them, we are sad with them. This in itself is a comfort. When our students are difficult or rude, we have occasion to forgive injuries, and we have to ask their forgiveness when we fail to love as we should. A teaching sister, like a mother, must bear wrongs patiently— students rightly expect “their sister” to never lose her patience. Finally, being a teaching sister moves us to pray with our students for the living and the dead and to pray for our students as they journey to eternity. I often fail at the high call of the Spiritual Works of Mercy, but the daily invitation to “do it for Me” brings me to my knees begging for God’s help. No one enters the convent just to be a teacher—many lay people serve as excellent teachers! We enter in order to respond to God’s invitation to be His bride, now and in heaven. My own experience has taught me that, despite all our faults, He takes everything we give and turns it to a good beyond our reckoning, for ourselves and for the people to whom we are sent. Please God, one day Jesus will say to us, “You did it for me” (Matthew 25:40), and that is partly because our students can also say, “You did it for us.”
MISSION SPOTLIGHT
Bethany Retreat House DICKSON, TN
(L to R): Sr. Ann Marie, Sr. Maria Cecilia, Sr. Theresa Joseph, Sr. Andrea Marie, Sr. Mary Evelyn, Sr. Christine, and Sr. Marie Caritas run Bethany Retreat House, located about an hour outside of Nashville. The sisters at Bethany uniquely combine the Dominican apostolate of preaching for the good of souls with exquisite Southern hospitality.
OUR LITURGICAL LIFE
S Regina Caeli While the Dominicans are best known for their unique Salve Regina chant melody, sung after Compline each night, we don't neglect Our Lady's other antiphons! During the Paschal season, in place of the Inviolata on Saturday evenings, the sisters sing the Regina Caeli. You may already be familiar with the text: Rejoice, Queen of Heaven, alleluia, for He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia, has risen as He said, alleluia. Pray for us to God, alleluia.
From one of our finally professed sisters
Sr. Regina Ann Tonn, O.P. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good - for His mercy endures forever! (Psalm 118:1) The occasion of making my final profession of vows this past year has brought with it the wonderful opportunity to reflect and give thanks for the many graces the Lord has granted in bringing me, a native New Yorker, to live as His bride as a Dominican Sister of St. Cecilia. I grew up on Long Island with my parents and two siblings, who taught me the joy of living a virtuous life, striving for truth, and giving of myself in community. These lessons were taken with me to my high school, where I encountered the Lord personally through prayer and the sacraments, and to my years at The Catholic University of America, where I encountered Him through Christian friendship and visits to the Dominican friars and sisters, who live close to Photo: Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.
His mercy endures
forever! campus. These formative years led me to embrace Dominican life myself in 2013! Jesus has shown his abundant mercy to me over the past seven years by teaching, healing, and drawing me and those around me into personal and daily relationship with Him. He wants so much to show us His love each day! I thank him for the gift of my vocation, for by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes (Psalm 118:23).
Go and tell
PREACHING THE GOSPEL LIKE ST. MARY MAGDALENE Dominicans have always claimed St. Mary Magdalene as a special patroness, even though she preceded the Order of Preachers by 1200 years. Why? She is the first in the Gospel accounts to meet the risen Jesus, and he tells her to announce the good news of the Resurrection to his disciples. She is the Apostola Apostolorum, the Apostle to the Apostles, the first to proclaim Jesus' victory over sin and death. Here are some ways you can imitate her virtues and follow in her footsteps this Easter season.
listen.
be bold.
pray.
At the tomb, St. Mary Magdalene was frantic with anxiety until she listened to the Lord call her name. Be attentive to the voice of the Lord and the little promptings of the Holy Spirit throughout the day. Often He shows us where a smile, a simple word of encouragement, or a "God bless you" can bring the joy of the Gospel to someone's day.
Just as Jesus had commanded, St. Mary Magdalene told the Apostles that she had seen the Lord, even though they did not believe her. Do not let the disbelief or pessimism of those around you steal your Christian joy. Accept with love and faith whatever slights come your way. Boldly bring the truth of Christ wherever you go.
Praying deeply and constantly is absolutely essential to preaching. Ask St. Mary Magdalene to help guide you while prayerfully reading the Song of Songs. A good commentary, such as Father Arminjon's The Cantata of Love or St. Bernard's Sermons on the Song of Songs, can also help you unpack this beautiful book at the heart of the Bible.
TRIPS & EVENTS
1
2
3 1/ Hiking in Arizona
2/ University Catholic graduate student retreat in Nashville, TN
3/ Discernment Retreat at Benedictine College, Kansas
Religious profession is a new burial in the death of Christ: new, because it is made with awareness and by choice; new, because of love and vocation; new, by reason of unceasing conversion. This burial in death causes the person buried together with Christ to
walk like Christ in newness of life. ST. JOHN PAUL II, REDEMPTIONIS DONUM N. 7
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