AS059 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on February 4, 2011. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Guest: Sister Hildegard Pleva. Topics include: becoming a parent, nun, or actress, am I worthy of God’s calling?, apostolic or contemplative life, and more!

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the topics we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• How did you decide between being an apostolic sister or a contemplative nun?
• I’m 23 and feel like something is missing, the sense of fulfillment and happiness. I feel God is calling me, but I wonder, “Why me? Am I worthy enough of God’s call?”
• I am attracted to both being a religious and being a parent. This tug-of-war makes it difficult to listen to God’s voice, and I wonder if you have any advice for me.
• My dream is to be an actress – acting makes me happy. But when I’m at church I feel at peace and hear a call to be a nun. Help!

Do you have a question for us? Call our toll-free Voicemail Hotline at 888-703-4732 and leave a voicemail for us with your question. Be sure to give us your first name and city from where you are calling. We’ll play your message and respond on the Ask Sister podcast. You can also send us an email or comment below. In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

AS058 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on January 28, 2011. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: pooh-poohing a vocation, a matter of conscience, original sin and sex, sudden conversion, female Doctors of the Church, and more!

Special Guest: Sister Sarah Foster, RSM

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

Subscribe to A Nun’s Life Podcasts:

Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the topics we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• How do you talk to people who do not understand your calling (e.g., to religious life) or who react in negative ways?
• Conscience. What is it? Is it formed by nature or nurture?
• Is original sin all about sex? Is sex really sinful?
• Why are there so few female Doctors of the Church?
• Is it possible to have a sudden conversion and have it “stick”?

Do you have a question for us? Call our toll-free Voicemail Hotline at 888-703-4732 and leave a voicemail for us with your question. Be sure to give us your first name and city from where you are calling. We’ll play your message and respond on the Ask Sister podcast. You can also send us an email or comment below. In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

Taking off your outer garment
by Sister Paula Cooney, IHM

I was recently privileged to share a reflection by Ron Rolheiser, OMI on “Creating Sabbath Space in Our Lives” with a group of elder women religious. His suggestion was a new and challenging insight into Jesus’ washing of the feet at the last supper.

The gospel of John tells us, “Jesus, knowing that he came from God and was going back to God, took off his outer garment…” Jesus was able to let go of all the stuff that wasn’t really essential – his outer garment – to minister to the other.

So we asked ourselves: “What are the “outer garments” that we think are essential that keep me from freely washing the feet of the “others” in my life? Democrat/Republican? Gay/Straight? Islamic/Christian? Pro-life/Pro-choice? Pro-immigration/Anti-immigration?

One of the sisters reflected, “It wouldn’t be so difficult if everyone would become vulnerable but it’s really hard if you are the only one doing it.” Another shared, “If I could only remember that “the other” is just like me – one who has come from God and is going back to God!”

I wonder what our world would be like if everyone “took off their outer garment?”

Paula Cooney, IHM, is an IHM Sister who is currently in ministry to the retirement community of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Orange, California.

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Check out a clip from a video of Ron Rolheiser, OMI, on
Creating Sabbath Space in Our Lives.

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone). Praying with the Sisters is a live podcast where we pray the scriptures together and our prayer requests via the chat room at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

My Greatest Peace Teachers
By Alice Baker, IHM

In reflecting on the question, who are my greatest peace teachers, I’ve come to a simple conclusion; they are all those persons in my life who are Risk-Takers for Peace. So many have touched and inspired me to “step out of the box.” Risk involves just that, and much more. For me, it implies one is grounded in a deep faith and trust in the One who calls — God. For me, Jesus is my prime example of a risk-taker: facing the powers of darkness all around Him with courage and compassionate love. There are many others, too, such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, John XXIII, Dorothy Day, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Catherine of Siena. Each one had to listen to that inner voice of Truth that called them to speak their truth to power, risking all. Facing misunderstanding, making mistakes, and suffering through consequences only made them stronger and more courageous workers for peace.

For me, peace work calls me out of myself, stretches my limits, and challenges my status-quo thinking. Never did I dream I would find myself marching for migrants’ rights in the Yale-Croswell-Lexington, Michigan, area in the late 60’s. Nor did I ever see myself driving overnight to a march in support of Daniel and Philip Berrigan and the “Harrisburg 7” in Pennsylvania in the early 70’s. Or did I ever think I would be involved in rallies to save our Catholic schools and parishes in the inner city of Detroit in the 70’s and 80’s. In the last two decades, I’ve found myself responding to peace demonstrations at the School of the Americas, in Ft. Benning, Georgia, and at the nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. And, one of my most recent challenges came when I found myself in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a member of the Michigan Peace Team in the summers of ’02 and ’04. In all of these peace experiences I find hope from the community of peace activists with whom I walk. Though some immediate effects may not be positive, I know, and believe, the long term effects will always be with me. I have been stretched, challenged, and changed, and have made long-lasting friends for peace.

In Webster’s thesaurus, the word “risk” as a verb or action word can mean: to run a risk, take a chance, lay oneself open to, gamble, do at one’s one peril, go beyond one’s depth, lay oneself open to, go through fire and water, skate on thin ice, fish in troubled waters, live in a glass house, or leap before one looks. Without exception, I am thankful for the many unnamed people in my life that fit these descriptions. They have been present with and touched me deeply. They are Risk-Takers for Peace. May I continue together with them to run the risk – for peace.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall – always! (from the movie “Gandhi”)

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Who are your greatest peace teachers and why?

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters”. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

Happy Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila! I went to bed last night all giddy because of today’s feast. It honestly felt like Christmas Eve morning! I don’t exactly know why I have been feeling so excited about this feast day. As you know, Teresa of Avila is near and dear to my heart. She is one of the few saints that I feel so present to me. And it’s not just Teresa herself. It’s everything she stands for, the way she lived her life, and encouraged her sisters and everyone to seek God through both the contemplative moments of life and the active moments of life.

So I guess for me to celebrate her feast day is also a celebration of my relationship with her and my relationship with God! It’s not a bad way to spend a day!

As part of this day, I invite you to join Sister Maxine and I as we welcome another of Teresa of Avila’s friends, Mirabai Starr. Mirabai will be joining us for a live podcast today at 7:00 p.m. Central Time (time zone converter). Mirabai has spent long hours with Teresa, reading her and getting to know her as she worked on translating The Book of My Life and The Interior Castle. I can’t wait to talk with her about Teresa. More info in yesterday’s blog post. Also visit Mirabai’s website at http://www.mirabaistarr.com/.

This podcast is free and easy to access. All you need to do is visit http://anunslife.org/live any time from about 6:45 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. We’ll start officially at 7:00 p.m. Central Time (time zone converter). Follow the instructions at http://anunslife.org/live. Throughout the podcast we’ll take your comments and questions via the chat room. Use the chat room also to connect with other listeners and with us!

If you want to do a test run, join Sister Maxine and me for prayer at 12 noon Central Time. We pray the reading of the day and take your prayer requests every Monday through Thursday.

Blessings and happy Feast!

Post-show Update: Here’s the recording of the podcast:

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

A Nun’s Life is hosting a live podcast on Saint Teresa of Avila tomorrow evening — Thursday, October 15, at 7 p.m. Central Time (time zone converter). Sister Maxine and I are delighted to announce that we will be joined by Mirabai Starr, author of a fresh translation of Saint Teresa’s writings, Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life and The Interior Castle.

Mirabai is a writer, translator, speaker, and teacher. She has also translated Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross. You can learn more about Mirabai and her work at her website.

We’ll talk with Mirabai and with our listeners about who Saint Teresa is, her writings, her thoughts on prayer, and who she is for us today. Since this will be a live broadcast, we can take your questions and comments throughout the show. Join us and invite your friends!

Celebrate the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila
Visit aNunsLife.org/live
October 15
7-8 p.m. Central Time

Information on how to listen to the podcast and how to participate can be found at aNunsLife.org/live. If you have any questions about logistics, please let me know.

To get us started, let us know what questions you’d like us to address. What would you like to know about Teresa or her writings?

Tomorrow, Tuesday at 1 p.m. CST (time zone converter), we have two special guests coming to our LIVE podcast — Brother Paul Bednarczyk, CSC, Executive Director of the National Religious Vocation Conference, and Patrice Tuohy, Executive Editor of VISION Vocation Guide.

They’ll join us to discuss the newly released study on Catholic Vocations and Religious Life. This is a very important study, and if you haven’t done so already, read through the executive summary and other related resources (Mythbusters section is quite interesting).

We’ll ask them about the survey itself, its aim and who participated, and also some specifics about the survey such as what it means to create/have a “culture of vocations”. Since both guests have expertise in the field of vocations, we’ll ask them for their observations on and advice for vocation directors and people considering a vocation.

We’d like you to join us by listening and also by participating in the chat room during the live broadcast. The chat room is just for listeners of the show only and it is the place where you can interact with one another and with us. During the broadcast you can ask your questions and offer comments to our guests which Sister Maxine and I will read on the air.

How do you listen? Just come to ANunsLife.org tomorrow … there will be a post with all the info that you need.

For an email reminder tomorrow, please leave a comment below with your correct email in the box that asks for your email or email us directly (NOTE: your email address is never made public).

What do you think about the survey? What questions do you have for Patrice and Brother Paul about the survey or about vocations in general — e.g., discerning a vocation, attracting new members, the state of religious life, etc.? Let’s get a good list going!

Welcome to A Nun’s Life, and welcome to our online discussion with Sister Mary McDevitt, a Catholic Sister in my IHM Congregation and a spiritual director. Sister Mary will be joining Sister Maxine Kollasch and myself in order to listen to and respond to your questions about discernment and how to know God is calling you.

This discussion takes place right here on this page in the comment section (below). We begin at 7 p.m. EST and go until 9 p.m

I asked Sister Mary a few preliminary questions just to give us a glimpse of who she is. Read more on my original post introducing Sister Mary.

Sister Julie: Who are the IHM Sisters of Monroe, Michigan? What is your spirituality and mission/ministry?

Sister Mary: The IHM Sisters were founded in 1845 for the education of children in the area. Through the years we have expanded to broader and wider ministries. After a long history of classroom teaching, we have come to understand education in many forms through parishes, retreats, and other ministries. Some still are called to ministry within schools.

The spirituality of IHMs is to share in the work of Jesus to bring about the “dream of God” for this world and for even for the whole planet. Since our earliest history there is a predilection to minister to those who are in dire straits either directly or through education indirectly.

Sister Julie: What was it like for you when you discerned becoming a Catholic sister and entering the IHM community?

Sister Mary: In the 1950s when I considered my future, vowed religious life was the only way I could think of enjoying a life given within the Church for the building up of the Body of Christ. Lay ministry was not very much in vogue. The vowed life seemed to be as a way to give my life totally to the work of God.

Sister Julie: What kind of work do you do at Visitation Spirituality Center?

Sister Mary: Visitation North Spirituality center is a place of welcome for all those who seek some space and time for themselves. We offer spiritual direction, at home retreats, as well as thematic presentations such as Lent, grief, and creative space for artists.

Please extend a warm welcome to Sister Mary McDevitt, IHM.

Tonight, A Nun’s Life is hosting a blog discussion on discernment and decision making with Catholic nun and spiritual director Sister Mary McDevitt, IHM.

TONIGHT
7-9 p.m. EST

http://anunslife.org

The discussion is like other discussions we’ve had here (e.g. Doubt the Movie discussion) where the interaction is through comments back and forth on the blog. So all you need to do is visit around 7 p.m. EST. Go to the most recent post (which will be called Discernment and Decision-making Discussion), read and offer comments/questions. This is your conversation! You can email me or comment directly on the blog post. You’ll have to update/refresh your screen to see new comments/questions.

If you have any preliminary comments or questions please write them in the comment section below. If you can’t join us tonight from 7-9, check in anytime later and you’ll be able to see the discussion.

For more info on discernment and practical steps for decision-making, see Sister Mary’s earlier posts this week:

• A Spiritual Director comes to A Nun’s Life to discuss Discernment
• Decision-Making Using a Process of Discernment of Spirits
• 4 Steps for Discernment and Decision-Making
• The Discernment Chart

In yesterday’s post on 4 Steps for Discernment and Decision-Making, Sister Mary noted in Step 2 that you can create a kind of chart to help you figure out how you feel about a decision that you have to make.

I thought I’d give you an example of what that chart might look like for the question, Should I go to graduate school or not?

The pros and cons don’t have to seem like significant reasons, they just have to be important to us. I remember when I had to choose a high school, I ended up going to one because their basketball uniforms looked more cool than the other school’s. Now it wasn’t my only reason, but that desire encapsulated for me all that I felt about the school and that I could envision myself in that school, with those people, and, of course, in that uniform!

Try making a chart for yourself. Consider something in your life that requires you to make a decision. It might be big, it might be small. Try it out and be attentive to the guidance that Sister Mary gives on discernment. Let us know how it goes.

What questions or observations do you have for Sister Mary McDevitt, IHM, in preparation for our online discussion with Sister Mary this Sunday, February 15, from 7-9 p.m. EST?

In Decision-Making Using a Process of Discernment of Spirits, Sister Mary McDevitt, IHM, led us through understanding discernment, consolations, and desolations. When discerning and having to make a significant decision, it’s important to be aware your own inner spirit which is where God dwells within you. Today, Sister Mary takes us through concrete steps to help us figure out how God is calling us. She uses the discernment question example from the previous post, “Should I go to graduate school or not?”

Now, let’s get practical.

Are there steps I can take once I am more aware of my inner spirit?

1. Pray

• I pray and stay in the presence of God often.
• I ask God to give me freedom of spirit.
• I try to say to God, “Whatever choice is your will, it’s ok with me.”
• When I lift up each choice to God — e.g., about going to graduate school — I notice what my heart says. I check out my thoughts, too, and the long-range consequences of this action.

2. Write down two columns for each choice

• I line up the pros and cons of the situations. Two columns on why I would not go to graduate school — the good side (pro), and the not-so-good side (con).
• Then I do the same with the reverse: the pros and cons of going to grad school.
• I pray over the list and see which reasons are most moving, most serious and which affect my relationships with other people.
• One expert suggests: Be on your death-bed and ask which choice you would be glad you made.
• For Christians: Bring the decision and kneel under the Cross of Christ. How does it make sense there? Will this decision bring me closer to Jesus Christ in my living the Gospel?

3. Time for confirmation

• Once I have made a tentative decision, I talk it over with those who know me.
• I wait awhile and see if I feel peaceful in this decision as it becomes clearer.

4. Choose, act and be grateful

• One or many of these steps may guide me. I may wish to do these steps with a spiritual companion.

Sister Mary has given us a lot to think and pray on. In preparation for our live discussion with Sister Mary this Sunday, February 15, from 7-9 p.m. EST, please offer your comments and questions below.

The following reflection is from Sister Mary McDevitt, IHM, a spiritual director and sister in my community. Sister Mary will be joining us this Sunday, February 15, from 7-9 p.m. EST to have a live discussion with you around discernment and decision-making.

What is “Discernment of Spirits”?

Why spirits in the plural? From many holy writings we can say that not every personal impulse and not every attraction is necessarily from God. For example, “I feel called to be on a beach in Hawaii.” The attraction may be something rather shallow that is from our own non-reflective spirit’s prompting.

For those of us who believe in a spirit world, some decisions may be the tempting of an evil spirit. This is tricky because evil never looks like evil, but instead looks like good. On the other hand, the inspiration may be truly from the Holy Spirit of God. So there are at least three kinds of spirits: holy, not-so-holy, and evil.

How do I figure out which spirit is prompting me?

Saints in both Hebrew and Christian scriptures and during the history of spirituality have searched to find, “What is the will of God for me?” or, “What is the dream of God for the part of the world that I inhabit?” (Think of the “dream of God” as Martin Luther King’s, “I have a dream”.) Let’s say the question is, “Should I go to graduate school or not?”

Here are two steps that might help me figure it out:

1) Self-Awareness

I must search my heart. I need to habitually analyze what I am thinking, and feeling, asking if this inspiration comes from God and and where is it leading? This takes time, habitual prayer, and profound honesty.

2) Awareness of my affective states

This means recognizing certain good feelings known as consolations. These feelings lead me closer to God. Other feelings identified as desolations are also states of affectivity which may indicate an increasing distance from God.

Here are some examples:

1) C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis, while riding on the upper layer of a bus in England, felt he was touched by God. He described it like someone asking him to let go. He knew it was from God. When he surrendered to the good Spirit he wrote that it was as if he was a “man of snow” beginning to melt and what was rigid became flexible. (Read more about C.S. Lewis)

2) Angela of Foligno

Angela of Foligno experienced desolation and only dryness of spirit, feeling abandoned by God. She could not pray as usual and only felt absence. (Read more about Angela of Foligno)

3) Immaculée Ilibagiza

Immaculée Ilibagiza, having endured 3 months of hiding with 7 others in a crowded bathroom during the Rwandan genocide, wrote later in Left to Tell, “A wave of despair washed over me and I was overwhelmed by fear. I squeezed my eyes shut as tightly as I could to resist negative thoughts… I prayed as intensely as I ever have. The struggle between the evil whispers raged in my mind.” (Read more about Immaculée Ilibagiza)

Think about a situation in which you have a decision to make. Given what Sister Mary outlined about discernment, consider what consolations you experienced, and what desolations you experienced. Keep in mind that just because something is uncomfortable or difficult doesn’t mean that it is automatically desolation. We can feel consolation and profound peace, even in the most difficult situations. Correspondingly, just because something is easy and pleasurable doesn’t mean it is automatically consolation.

Write down, either here or for yourself, an experience of consolation and/or an experience of desolation. What did you do with the experience? What did you learn from it? (“I don’t know” is a perfectly acceptable answer!)

P.S. Tomorrow’s post will deal with getting practical with discernment and decision-making. And please plan to join us on Sunday from 7-9 p.m. to chat with Sister Mary.

Discernment is a topic that regularly comes up on A Nun’s Life. Last month I wrote a post called How is God calling you? and a few of you asked about continuing the conversation with a spiritual director. Well, I’ve been working on that and am pleased to announce that one of my IHM Sisters who is a spiritual director will be joining us this Sunday evening from 7-9 p.m. EST for a discussion on discernment and decision-making from a faith perspective.

Sister Mary McDevitt is an Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Sister from Monroe, Michigan. For many years, she worked in areas of spiritual formation within the IHM congregation and engaged in retreat work. Sister Mary taught history of spirituality and spiritual direction at a local seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan. There she assisted seminarians and lay men and women to complete their Master of Divinity degrees before they served as pastors, associates and staff in parishes. Sister Mary is now director of Visitation North Spirituality Center in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

In preparation for Sister Mary’s visit, I asked her to provide us with an overview of what discernment is and some concrete steps to help us figure out how God is calling us. Over the next few days, I’ll post her reflections on discernment and we can chat about it. Then on Sunday, Sister Mary will join us on the blog for a live discussion (like how we did the Doubt movie discussion).

Stay tuned for more on discernment and details about Sunday’s live discussion with Sister Mary. Feel free to offer any preliminary thoughts, questions, etc. on discernment or ideas of what you’d like to see Sister Mary address within the realm of discernment. And please spread the word about this event!

The Sisters of Charity of New York are joining us at A Nun’s Life this Thursday to talk about the movie Doubt. We’ll chat about the making of Doubt, which they served as consultants for (the Sisters of Charity are the ones portrayed in Doubt) as well as their impressions of the movie as a whole.

This “live discussion” is happening from 2 – 4 p.m. (EST) on Thursday here on A Nun’s Life. The discussion is like other discussions we’ve had here (e.g. Jim Martin, SJ, and Joan Wester Anderson) where the interaction is through comments back and forth on the blog. So all you need to do is visit around 2 p.m., read and offer comments/questions on that day. This is your conversation! You can email me or comment directly on the blog post of that day. You’ll have to update/refresh your screen to see new comments/questions.

If you have any preliminary comments or questions about the movie please write them in the comment section below. If you can’t join us on Thursday from 2-4, check in anytime later and you’ll be able to see the discussion.

Tomorrow I’ll post my review of the movie and my preliminary questions for the sisters and for you!

A Nun’s Life is pleased to welcome Sister Margaret Brennan, IHM, as a guest blogger today. Sister Margaret is the first IHM Sister that I ever met, and it is through her that I recognized my call to religious life.

“… the lily of my heart”

The date was the eighth of December, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Dressed in white uniforms, white stockings, white gloves, and a light blue chiffon shoulder sash, the whole student body processed with lilies which were placed before the altar of Mary in the Sacred Heart Convent Chapel. “Oh Mary, I give thee the lily of my heart. Be thou its guardian forever.” Each year for all my twelve years at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, I, along with my three sisters and all of our classmates knelt to place our lilies, symbols of our dedication and innocence, to Mary. Later as a student at IHM Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan, vested now in academic cap and gown but still with lily in hand, I once again placed a flower at Mary’s altar.

On July 1, 1945 I entered the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters in Monroe Michigan. Once again I knelt before Mary’s altar as a postulant – but alas! with no lily in hand..

The Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary took root in 1845. It was co-founded by Louis Florent Gillet, a Redemptorist missionary, and Theresa Maxis Duchemin a former Oblate Sister of Providence. On May 12, 1846, the bishops of the United States formally decreed the Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived without sin, as Patroness of the United States. A year later, on December 8th, 1847, the title of the IHM Community was changed from Sisters of Providence to Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the original habit from black to “sky blue.”

Each year on this Feast of Mary, IHM Sisters, now having grown into three religious congregations, solemnly renew their vows. For many years best habits and veils were worn (the scent of the cedar closets mingled with that of the lilies!).  Today, while the blue habit for the most part has disappeared, the dedication to Mary as model and type of the Church remains strong and vibrant. Commitment to the meaning and message of her liberating song on behalf of the poor and oppressed fuels a dynamic integration of prayer and commitment.

O Mary, I give you the lily of my heart. Be thou its guardian forever.

Sister Margaret Brennan, IHM, is a theologian and travels the country giving talks and retreats on a variety of topics and persons in Catholic theology and spirituality.

I am pleased to announce that I will be hosting author and speaker
Joan Wester Anderson for a day-long visit at ANunsLife.org!

This Thursday, October 2 — which happens to be the Feast of the Guardian Angels in the Catholic tradition – Joan will visit this blog and discuss her new book Angels and Wonders: True Stories of Heaven on Earth. Joan is the author of numerous books on angels. You can learn more at her website JoanWAnderson.com.

How this works is that Joan will be checking in at my blog from around 8 a.m. Central Time to about 8 p.m. in the evening. Both she and I will be in and out but will try to get to all your questions and comments throughout the day. I’ll create a special post for that day and start the conversation off with Joan by asking a few questions. She’ll respond via the comment section which is open for anyone to write in any questions/comments for Joan. She’s here to engage with you so please come and visit throughout the day. I am so looking forward to getting to know Joan and coming to a deeper understanding of “heaven on earth”.

Read the Introduction of Angels and Wonders courtesy of Loyola Press.

Loyola Press is also raffling an autographed copy of Angels and Wonders. Everyone who joins the Thursday online discussion by writing in (via the comments section) is automatically entered into the raffle. Readers of ANunsLife.org will also be given a special discount code to order the book. Thanks, Loyola Press!

Please join the conversation this Thursday, October 2, and bring your questions and ideas for Joan Wester Anderson.

Following is a post from guest blogger, Jackie Walker. Visit her Web site at www.religiontranscends.com. And watch for an upcoming post on her site from Sister Julie.

On August 15, Catholics will celebrate the feast day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast is a celebration of the Catholic dogma that Mary was “assumed into heaven body and soul.” As one of the principal Marian feasts and one of the 12 great feasts of the Catholic year, August 15 is a holy day of obligation.

Since the early days of the church, Christians have celebrated the “Memory of Mary” at both the place where Orthodox Christians believe she died (the Place of Dormition in Ephesus) and the place where she was buried (the Tomb of Mary in Israel).

In the 5th century, the Roman emperor Marcian requested Mary’s relics be enshrined in Constantinople; it was then that bishops explained that, aside from her burial shroud, there were no existing relics of Mary. Rather, when the disciples opened her tomb after she had been buried three days, they found no traces of her. This led them to believe she had been taken up (or assumed) into heaven. At that point, the celebration became less about death and more about her assumption into heaven, dead or alive.

By the 13th century, most Catholic leaders accepted that she had been assumed into heaven. But while the belief as accepted, it did not become official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church until 1950.

Around 1946, Pope Pius XII had asked the bishops whether they felt Mary’s assumption should become dogma. When they replied with a resounding yes, he issued the following summary in his encyclical Munificentissimus Deus on November 1, 1950:

The revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same degree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, was finally granted, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the ages. (Concord Encyclopedia of World Religions, 2006)

Such speech exemplifies the idea that God would not allow a corrupt death after a pure birth and that, since Mary was so close to Jesus in life, she must be near him (body and soul) in heaven.

Today, Catholics commemorate this event with a feast. This commemoration is not meant solely to remember the past, but is also intended as a look to the future. It is hoped that by leading a life as Mary did, with obedience and faith, will lead to the same outcome – being taken into heaven with the Blessed Virgin upon death.

Today, a church at Gethsemane sits at the site of Mary’s tomb. According to oca.org, that church holds one of the most solemn ceremonies to celebrate the Assumption. They remember her burial by lifting up what is believed to be her burial shroud, then participating in a procession to the Gethsemane church a few days later.

Links:
For more information about the Assumption of Mary, visit http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/assumption.html.

For information about other Marian feasts, visit www.wf-f.org/MarianFeast.html.

On the same day that Roman Catholics celebrate the Assumption of Mary, Orthodox Christians commemorate her death or dormition. Read about this similar (yet quite different) remembrance at religiontranscends.com/category/christianity.

Jackie Walker is a freelance religion writer in Chicago, Illinois. She is a regular contributor to Relate magazine and has worked for a number of religion publishers in the past, including Guideposts, Relevant Media Group, and World Wisdom.

Religion Transcends is a Web site devoted to providing news about world religions – without prejudice. It includes commentary, reporting, and education to eliminate misconceptions about religions and to give context and meaning to stories in the news. Visit Religion Transcends today at religiontranscends.com.

Augustine: This is a really wonderful resource to all discerning Christians. Had I known better about religious life in my youth, I’d probably have become a friar myself.

But given that God has not abandoned me and has blessed me with a wife and a family, I’m grateful to Him, although I carry a certain remorse for not having pursuing further His calling before.

Anyways, I’m now in the novitiate of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. It’s been wonderful to grow in the charisms of this religious order as a secular member. I still pause in awe at the wisdom of the Church for providing so many ways for the faithful to strengthen their relationship with the Lord.

However, even though the Jesuits don’t have a third order, it seems to me that secular orders are often overlooked if not downright dismissed at the parish and diocesan level. Evidently, vocation to the priesthood and to the religious life should be a priority, but I think that vocations to religious orders as seculars should also be fostered. What are Fr. Martin’s views on third orders?

Father Martin: Yes, the Jesuits don’t have a third order, or a women’s religious community attached to it. The latter decision was a result of a few unfortunate experiences that St. Ignatius Loyola had early on with a few women who actually joined the order and took vows. But these days there are many women’s communities who base their spirituality and “way of proceeding” on St. Ignatius. Of course I should point out that we have always had Jesuit brothers (technically lay men) who are full-fledged Jesuits (and who also are among our greatest saints). And happily today we have several lay groups that are closely associated with us. For example, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (for recent college grads working with the poor), Ignatian Lay Volunteers (retired persons working with the poor) as well as the thousands of Jesuit associates who participate (and often run!) our colleges, universities, high schools and retreat centers. And of course the Spiritual Exercises, the foundation of Jesuit life, are available to everyone. So though we don’t have lay associates, we are very closely related to millions of lay people who are part of the Jesuit family.

Sister Florence Vales OSC: Hi, Father Martin. Peace and all good wishes. I am a Poor Clare in Chesterfield, NJ and am delighted to be able to ask you a question.

Why is it that young women are not entering Religious life? We all know the typical answers: more choices for women, etc., but in the Franciscan Friars they receive young men, late 20’s to early 30’s. We have a woman in her 50’s, married before, etc., and a young woman from Nigeria, 19, and so much too young to enter, so she is an affiliate. So what are your views? We know there are vocations out there. Most of our vocations come from a Friar suggesting us, but that is far and between.

Is there anything we can do to foster vocations? We do pray everyday for vocations to our way of life and to the Church.

By the way, I am reading “A Jesuit Off-Broadway,” and some of the answers to our culture are there. Good stuff.

Father Martin: Dear Sister, Thanks for your question – I love the Poor Clares! Please do pray for me, and ask your community to do the same! (And thanks for the kind words about “A Jesuit Off-Broadway.”)

I think that young woman are choosing not to enter religious life in the way they did in past decades for a few reasons. First, there are more choices available to women these days who wish to contribute to the life of the church. In the past, many women felt that they could only do this as nuns or sisters. Today they can exercise both service and leadership roles in new ways, in both the single and married lives. Second, both young men and young women seem to have a more difficult time making life-long commitments today. Third, after the Second Vatican Council religious life was no longer seen as “better” than the married life, which may have diminished its appeal. Fourth, the vow of chastity is a particular barrier for many young people who, I think, don’t understand it. (That’s one reason I have a lengthy discussion of it in “My Life with the Saints.”) Finally, there is a simple decline in religiosity, or general interest in the church overall. So those are just a few reasons.

But your question of how to foster vocations is a terrific one. Certainly prayer is the number one thing to do: asking God for vocations. Second, I think it is more important than ever frequently to ask women who you think might be interested in joining whether they have ever considered this. Now I know your sisters must do this already, but I think these days we have be much more assertive in our asking. (For myself, I ask young men regularly about the Jesuits!) Third, perhaps by being creative in the ways that you introduce young women to your congregation: for example, “Come and See” evenings or weekends, visiting local parishes, and so on. And finally, I think it is important, particularly for contemplative communities, to use every possible means of modern technology to reach people who might not have heard of religious life, or, more specifically, may not know much about the Poor Clares. So, for example, besides having pamphlets, writing magazine articles, taking out advertisements, responding to media requests for interviews, etc., it’s also important to use the Internet, YouTube, and every other means of contemporary media to reach young people. The reason for that is because those types of new media are the primary places where young people get their information these days.

But the best answer to that question is one that I heard from the former Superior General of the Jesuits, Peter- Hans Kolvenbach, who visited our novitiate in Boston when I was a first-year novice. I asked Fr. General, “What’s the best way to increase vocation?” And he said something totally unexpected. (I imagined he would say, “We need to advertise more, etc.) He said, “Live you own vocation joyfully!” By that doing that, you naturally attract people to your way of life, the way that early Christians did 2000 years ago.

I am pleased to announce that my blog will be hosting Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, for one day during his whirlwind blog tour!

On Tuesday, June 3, Fr. Martin will visit ANunsLife.org and discuss the saints and the role of the saints in our lives, especially in discerning one’s vocation. Fr. Martin is a Jesuit priest and the author of the book My Life with the Saints. Check out my post from a while back on My Life with the Saints.

How this works is that Fr. Martin will be checking in all day on my blog. I’ll create a special post for that day and start the conversation off with Fr. Martin by asking a few questions. He’ll respond via the comment section which is open for anyone to write in any questions/comments for Fr. Martin. He’s here to engage with you so please come and visit throughout the day. I’ve met Fr. Martin, heard him speak, and read his books and can tell you he is a delight! He’s someone who truly lives the Ignatian way of finding God in all things.

Since this is a blog about being a nun, religious life, and discerning God’s call, I’m going to ask my Brother Jesuit to begin with a reflection on his call to religious life and how the saints were part of his recognizing God’s call. I invite you to read a chapter of his book which deals one saint in particular who was instrumental in helping Fr. Martin discern his own call. Courtesy of Loyola Press, here is a PDF of My Life with the Saints: Chapter 4 called “The True Self: Thomas Merton.”

Loyola Press is also raffling an autographed copy of My Life with the Saints — everyone who joins the June 3 online discussion by writing in (via the comments section) is automatically entered into the raffle. Readers of ANunsLife.org will also be given a special discount code to order the book. Thanks, Loyola Press!

Please join the conversation on Tuesday, June 3, and bring your questions and ideas for Fr. Martin.

Fr. Martin will also be on blog tour at the following blogs …

• June 2: Some Have Hats
• June 3: A Nun’s Life
• June 4: The Dawn Patrol
• June 5: The Anchoress
• June 6: Happy Catholic