We offer this Saints Novena in gratitude for the ways God lives and moves and has being in the lives of all the saints who are part of this online community. We give thanks for you and for the gift of God that you are to us and to the world. It is because of people like you that there is this awesome place of hospitality and gospel community. This novena is written by the A Nun’s Life Community.

6 Saints Novena – Latin American Martyrs – by Marla

Reflection: Wherever great evil thrives, great saints are made. Evil, as in Latin America from forever until today, kills and steals and destroys. It is horrific, but predictable.

Saints like Archbishop Oscar Romero learn great lessons and turn their lives around; Romero himself was martyred for repeatedly calling on the Salvadoran government to love the poor instead of killing them.

The six Jesuit priests along with their cook and her daughter were murdered in their home by US-backed Salvadoran forces in 1989 were guilty of preaching peace and caring for the poorest of the poor.

When the Salvadoran government killed people who spoke up against injustice and left them to rot on the streets, with the understanding that anyone who moved the bodies would be subject to the same treatment, the Four Churchwomen chose to honor the corporal works of mercy taught by the Catholic Church and buried the dead anyway. Just before the three nuns, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, Maryknoll Sister Ita Ford, and Maryknoll Sister Maura Clarke, along with lay missioner Jean Donovan were murdered and left in a shallow grave, Clarke wondered aloud to her friends, “I know death is coming. Will I be faithful?”

These and other saints from that evil time and place spoke truth to power—even to US power who gave money to the evil Salvadoran armies—and nothing is harder to do when death is chasing you down.

Prayer:  Dear Creator, may we, like the Latin American Martyrs, be willing to have our eyes opened and our lives changed. May we ask daily, as Maura Clarke asked on the eve of her murder, “Will I be faithful?” With the other churchwomen, may we be willing to live our faith without fear of reprisal. And with the spirit of all Latin American martyrs and saints, may we be bold enough to speak truth to power even when the truth will cost us. Bless us with your love of justice.

Suggested Reading:

• Companions of Jesus: The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador by Jon Sobrino
• Salvador by Joan Didion
• Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of Americas by James Hodge and Linda Cooper
• Salvador Witness: The Life and Calling of Jean Donovan by Ana Carrigan

Join A Nun’s Life Community for a day of events in honor of All Saints! See the schedule for the day’s events in the sidebar to the right. And please consider participating in A Nun’s Life fundraiser going on now through November 9. We need to raise $10,000 for much needed equipment and supplies. See our fundraiser page for more information. You may be eligible to win a brand-new iPad 2!

IGF004 In Good Faith with Father James Martin, SJ, recorded live on December 2, 2010. Produced by aNunsLife.org ministry. Our hosts talk with Father Jim about his vocation and life of prayer, faith in real life, Ignatian spirituality, the Examen and more.

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

Subscribe to A Nun’s Life Podcasts:

Guest: Father James Martin, SJ

Father James Martin, SJ, is author and culture editor of America magazine and author of the new book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. He writes for a number of publications and is a regular commentator on religion and spirituality for major media networks.

Topic: The sisters talk with Father Jim about faith in real life, Ignatian Spirituality, what it means to be a contemplative in action, incorporating prayer into the hecticness of daily life, and more!

Show Notes:

• Father Jim’s calling to become a Jesuit priest
• a vocation to be a writer
• signs we know we are where God wants us to be
• what is spirituality?
• Ignatian spirituality as distinct from other spiritualities
• finding God in all things
• being a contemplative in action
• freedom and detachment
• using the imagination to pray
• Saint Ignatius of Loyola
• The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything
• Father Jim’s “spiritual tool chest”
• the saints and their role in our lives
• living simply
• incorporating prayer and faith in a life already packed with activity and commitments

In Good Faith is a conversation exploring God’s call in everyday life hosted by A Nun’s Life Sisters Maxine and Julie. Our monthly program features guests who are nationally known for their ministry in spirituality, religious life, and discernment. We’ll look at how our guests understand their own life as a calling and discuss a variety of perspectives on living faith and call in everyday life. The program is broadcast live every first Thursday of the month from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Central Time. Tune in at www.aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

For more information, including upcoming guests on In Good Faith, please visit the program page of In Good Faith.

A favorite IHM custom of mine is the prayers of the faithful during Mass during which time we remember by name our sisters who have died on or near that day. The name of the sister is read along with the year that she died. This custom reflects a profound sense that are sisters who have died are still truly with us albeit in a new way. As an IHM community, we trust in their love and prayers as we continue God’s mission as IHM sisters.

I was thinking about this custom because today we have a long list of saints to celebrate. We celebrate not only the memory of them and how they lived the Gospel, but we also celebrate how they continue to be with us, encouraging us on our journey, praying with and for us.

We are blessed to have 6 new saints in our midst! On October 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI canonized the following women and men:

• Saint Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), an Australian religious and first Australian saint
• Saint André Bessette (1845-1937), a Canadian religious
• Saint Stanislao Soltys (1433- 1489), a Polish religious
• Saint Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola (1845- 1912), a Spanish religious
• Saint Giulia Salzano (1846- 1929), an Italian religious
• Saint Battisat da Varano (1458- 1524), an Italian religious

In addition to these newly minted saints, we celebrate today the feast day of the North American Martyrs, Jesuit missionaries who were martyred in the 17th century.

• Saint John de Brébeuf (1649)
• Saint Noël Chabanel (1649)
• Saint Antoine Daniel (1648)
• Saint Charles Garnier (1649)
• Saint René Goupil (1642)
• Saint Isaac Jogues (1646)
• Saint John de Lalande (1646)
• Saint Gabriel Lalemant (1649)

We give thanks for all those saints (canonized or not) who have gone before us and who continue to be with us on our journey.

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

Fellow blogger Father James Martin, SJ, posted a beautiful tribute to a sister who died recently. Sister Louise French, BVM, died last week. She was a member of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Dubuque, Iowa.

Sister Louise was a sister for 69 years and a lifelong educator who taught philosophy taught philosophy at Clarke College in Dubuque and Mundelein College and Loyola University in Chicago. Father Martin first met Sister Louise when he was sent to Loyola to learn philosophy with other Jesuit scholastics. Father Martin writes that she is “one of the best people I’ve ever known.”

Father Martin writes,

“At this point in my life I had scant experience with any real-life nuns, or, to use a more contemporary term, “women religious.” In my childhood I had run into a few at our local parish during C.C.D. classes (a sort of Catholic Sunday School). But apart from seeing “The Nun’s Story” and “The Sound of Music,” and bumping into a very few during my novitiate years, I remained completely ignorant about religious life for women. As a result, I arrived in Chicago carrying the same stereotypes about women religious that many Americans hold: sisters compassionate, of course, but they were also a little clueless, rather uneducated, somewhat naïve and perhaps even silly.

Sister French was none of those things–except compassionate. She had completed her Ph.D. in philosophy at Saint Louis University, and by the time I met her had enjoyed a long and distinguished teaching career…. Her intellect, memory and grasp of even the most mind-bending philosophical proofs were nothing short of astonishing. As all great teachers do, Sister French could make even the most difficult concepts seem easy: this was one reason why she was so valued by the Jesuit seminarians….

The other reason we valued Sister French was Sister French herself: she was a patient, gentle and caring woman.

Be sure to read all of Father Martin’s blog post about Sister Louise on the website of America Magazine (10/21/09).

Our condolences to the BVM Sisters and to Sister Louise’s family and friends, and all those whom she touched with her life and spirit.

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Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer today at noon Central Time at http://anunslife.org/live.

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.

This is a powerful video … click play and check it out.

I’m proud to say that Loyola Press, my place of ministry, is publishing A Persistent Peace, the newest book by John Dear, SJ. Father Dear is am amazing guy and has done so much to reach out to people, to work for nonviolence and peace, and to truly live the Good News of Christ Jesus.

There are some great quotes in support of John Dear including quotes from Joan Baez, Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, Desmond Tutu, and my childhood hero Fred (Mr.) Rogers.

I encourage you to spend some time on Father Dear’s web site, A Persistent Peace. You’ll definitely find some inspiration there.

Well I’ve been on the road traveling yet again. I had the pleasure of presenting at the Archdiocese of New York’s Teacher Institute. I went as a representative of Loyola Press, my place of ministry. My topic was “Navigating the Wilderness of Prayer: Insights from Saint Teresa of Avila.” It was especially fitting since we just celebrated the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila (does that explain why I’ve been blogging so much about Teresa?!). I hadn’t read Teresa in a while so it was like coming home when I picked up The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila again. The Life is Teresa’s account of her experiences of God and includes a teaching on prayer as well as the foundation of a Carmelite monastery. Reading Teresa of Avila is like being with one of my nuns and just chatting about life, God, and prayer. I think I’m going to read her other stuff again (Interior Castle and Way of Perfection). I also just ordered her Letters which I’ve not yet read. Looking forward to it.Right now I’m sitting in the airport writing this in Word because I can’t for the life of my stay connected to the wireless connection. So this’ll be uploaded when I get back. Due to the lovely tornado conditions in the Midwest, I’m stuck here for a little while. For fun I’m reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996). The San Francisco Chronicle says about this book:

“Powerful … Father Emilio Sandoz [is] the only survivor of a Jesuit mission to the planet Rakhat, ‘a soul … looking for God.’ We first meet him in Italy … sullen and bitter … But he was not always this way, as we learn through flashbacks that tell the story of the ill-fated trip … The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence.”

Should be interesting. Odd, yet interesting. I need something right now that is truly “out of this world”. Have you read the book? Don’t give anything away!What are you reading now?

Argentine Jesuit Jose Funes has been appointed the new director of the Vatican Observatory. Funes is an astronomer and expert on disk galaxies. In searching the Internet for info on Funes, I came across Alan Elsner’s Weblog and his June 2, 2006, entry “My Story About the Vatican Observatory in Arizona.” Elsner says this about Funes:

Like all the priest-scientists, Funes said he kept his astronomy and religion separate. “When I teach at the University of Arizona, I tell students, ‘I am a priest, a Jesuit, but my class is a science class … and Science is about natural, not supernatural causes,’” he said. Funes, who heard a call from God when he was studying astronomy in college in his native Argentina, is mapping the formation and evolution of galaxies within 100 million light years of Earth. By the time the project is completed, he will have observed about 400 galaxies.

What I like about Funes and other religious men and women is the fact that ministry is wide-open. There are many different ways to serve God and the world. I think it is very cool that Funes is an astronomer. In my own congregation, we have sisters who are or have been city administrators, scientists, computer technicians, physicians, etc., in addition to the many in Church, pastoral care, and education related ministries.

Read the Catholic News Service article “Pope appoints Argentine Jesuit to head Vatican Observatory” by Cindy Wooden (August 21, 2006).

Today is the 450th anniversary of the death of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The company I work for — Loyola Press — is named after him and all that we do emerges out of his vision. Many religious communities of women have been founded out of the vision of Saint Ignatius. Countless sisters, lay people, brothers, and priests have been formed by the vision of Saint Ignatius through retreats, discernment experiences, Ignatian prayers, Jesuit Volunteers, Christian Life Communities, and so many other ways.

Check out this selection from Loyola Kids Book of Saints on Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Great piece!