Vocation Office E-Newsletter March 2019

laudare, benedicere, praedicare TO PRAISE, TO BLESS, TO PREACH

March 2019

Create in me a clean heart, O God

- Psalm 51:10

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Recent Travels and Visitors Reflection on the Sixth Beatitude Create in me a Clean Heart, O God Recommended Reading: Classic Catholic Meditations Crucifixion with the Virgin, Mary Magdalene and St. Dominic (Fra Angelico, 1441-42)

Blessed are the Pure of Heart For They Shall See God A Reflection on the Sixth Beatitude In Biblical terms, the number forty marks a time of purification and preparation. Forty days of flooding purged a world that had lost sight of God. Forty days of fasting marked Moses’ mountain-top encounter with God. And it took forty years to detach the Israelites from their idols before they were prepared to behold the Promised Land.

The sixth beatitude, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God,” provides a fitting meditation for Lent because it reminds us of the goal of all this season’s efforts at purification: “to see God.” This beatitude also reveals a profound connection among fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Fasting empties us of the false idols-pleasure, possessions, self--in which we place our security and enables us to turn to God in prayer and see Him as the source of all good.

Fasting also purifies our hearts of the self-indulgence that blinds us to seeing God in our neighbor’s needs, lest at the final judgment we plead in vain, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty ... and not minister to your needs?” (Matthew 25:44).

But it is also seeing God in prayer and in our neighbor that purifies our hearts. In his book on the eight beatitudes, Jacques Philippe suggests that the sixth beatitude “could be turned the other way around. ...The most powerful safeguard of a pure heart is the spirit of faith by which we see God’s hand in everything that comes to us.” 1 We could even exclaim with the psalmist that only God could grant us the purity of heart so necessary to behold Him: “Create in me a clean heart, O God...” (Psalm 51:10).

May God be both the beginning and the end of our Lenten journey. May He be the source of our strength to persevere in our purifying practices so that we can say with St. Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18).

1

Jacques Philippe, Eight Doors of the Kingdom: Meditations on the Beatitudes, (NY: Scepter Publishers, Inc, 2018), 180.

Pan Y Vino Retreat February 22-24 | Auburn University

Sister Maria Ivana and Sister Bernadette Marie joined the Auburn University Catholic Center for its annual Pan y Vino Retreat. The weekend was filled with talks, times for prayer, discussion with small groups, and community.

Visitors to the Motherhouse During the month of March, we welcomed young women from two of the high schools where our sisters serve.

Guerin Catholic High School | Noblesville, IN

Above Right: Sister Ann Thomas and Sister Rose Dominic, graduate of Guerin Catholic, visit with some women on the trip.

Right: Sister Clare Dominic also enjoyed a visit from her sister who is a student at Guerin Catholic.

Left: The students were also able to visit with some of our retired sisters.

St. Benedict High School | Cordova, TN While the students we teach get a glimpse of our religious life as we serve them in the apostolate, it is always a gift to welcome them to the Motherhouse so that they can experience the fullness of our life. During their visits, the young women enjoyed time with the sisters at the motherhouse for prayer, recreation and informal visiting.

Lake Charles, Louisiana March 12-14 Sister Bernadette Marie and Sister Anastasia traveled to Lake Charles recently. While in Louisiana, the sisters joined Father Alan Piper, O.P. and Father Luke Hoyt, O.P. for several events at McNeese State University. The friars and sisters also visited the students at St. Louis Catholic High School and Immaculate Conception Cathedral School which Fr. Alan Piper, attended while growing up in Lake Charles.

Above: Sister Bernadette Marie, Sister Anastasia, Father Alan Piper, and Father Luke Hoyt, enjoyed meeting the principal of Saint Louis Catholic High School, Mr. Andrew Bradley, after speaking to several religion classes.

University of Mary March 19-21 | Vocation Jamboree Sister Grace Mary and Sister Amata Christi traveled to Bismarck, North Dakota for the Vocation Jamboree hosted by the University of Mary. While in Bismarck, the sisters enjoyed visiting with many students.

"Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God" - Psalm 51:10 During the Season of Lent, our community takes time each day to pray the seven Penitential Psalms.

Praying these psalms helps one to recognize his sinfulness and ask for God’s forgiveness.The fourth of these psalms, Psalm 51, is often attributed to David after he repents of a serious sin. May the following reflections and words of the psalm aid you in your Lenten observance.

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offense.

O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.

My offenses truly I know them; my sin is always before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done...

Indeed you love truth in the heart; then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.

O purify me, then I shall be clean; O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me hear rejoicing and gladness, that the bones you have crushed may thrill.

From my sins turn away your face and blot out all my guilt.

A pure heart create for me, O God, put a steadfast spirit within me....

Give me again the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervor sustain me, That I may teach transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you.

O rescue me, God, my helper, and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.

O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.

For in sacri ice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse,

When the psalmist was burning with the desire to receive the Spirit, he providently sought first [to have] the guest chamber of a clean heart in which he could receive him,and so at length [he] sought the entry of so great a guest."Create a clean heart in me, O God," he said, "renew an upright spirit in my inmost parts."' -St. Bede the Venerable

My sacri ice, a contrite spirit, a humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.

In your goodness, show favor to Zion: rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Then you will be pleased with lawful sacri ice, burnt offerings wholly consumed then you will be offered young bulls on your altar.

"If I had committed all the sins which can be committed, I would go, my broken heart, to repent and throw myself into the arms of Jesus, for I know how much he cherishes the prodigal child who return to him." - St.Therese of Lisieux

Recommended Reading

Classic Catholic Meditations To Enrich Your Faith and Help You Pray

By: Father Bede Jarrett, O.P. Without regular reminders of God and a sure routine of prayer and meditation, your inner life shrivels up, your prayers grow listless, the sacraments become habits, and even the Mass seems routine. Daily meditation is a proven remedy for such dangerous spiritual lethargy, and in our day it’s more important than ever before. That’s why the wise Dominican priest Bede Jarrett penned for busy Catholics like you the more than 120 meditations collected here — none longer than 1,000 words — to ensure that each of your days contains at least one brief, thoughtful encounter with God. Each meditation calls to your attention some truth of revelation to help you keep in mind that God wants you to be a saint and to help you attain that lofty goal, no matter how secular your circumstances may be or how dry your spirits.

- From the back of the book

The work, then, of the Holy Spirit is twofold: to inflame the love and to enlighten the mind. Let me wait patiently for this illumination of my spirit by the Holy Spirit, putting no obstacle in the way, praying daily for that illumination which shall light, as by a vision, my view of life. (p. 55) CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR A LINK TO BUY THIS BOOK.