In this Random Nun Clip, a listener what are the specific words sisters use when they profess vows. Hear the full Ask Sister episode AS223 at aNunsLife.org. Hosts: Sister Maxine and Sister Shannon.
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Sister Shannon Schrein is a Sylvania Franciscan and currently serves on the Leadership Team. She has a PhD in Systematic Theology and is the former president of the College Theology Society. She has shared her Franciscan way of life and her love of Jesus and the Scriptures with her students for more than forty years.
Sister Shanon is the author of Quilting and Braiding: The Feminist Christologies of Sallie McFague and Elizabeth A. Johnson in Conversation, published by the Liturgical Press, 1998. Sister Shannon is also the editor of God Has Begun a Great Work in Us: Embodied Love in Consecrated Life and Ecclesial Movements, The 2014 Annual Volume of the College Theology Society. She is a contributor to The Saint Mary’s College Study Bible, 2007.
Sister Maxine
This Random Nun Clip is brought to you by A Nun's Life Ministry. I'm Sister Maxine, and with me today is Sister Shannon Schrein, a Sister of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio. So Sister Shannon, we have one more question. And this question comes in from Logan in Pennsylvania. And Logan writes, "When you become a nun, you vow to live a life of obedience, chastity and poverty. Is there a specific script for this commitment? Like 'I, and then whatever your name is, do solemnly swear to...'?" Thank you for the question, Logan. For our vows, it's celibacy, poverty and obedience. Some may have chastity. Some other congregations have an additional vow: stability, hospitality, instruction.
Sister Shannon
Care for the very poor. I was thinking about the Sisters of Charity--Mother Teresa's community. The Sylvania Franciscan Sisters vow poverty, consecrated chastity, and obedience. And so that's how we call it.
Sister Maxine
Like for us, when we make first vows, we have a vow formula. And it changes just a little bit for the final vows. But Logan, it's not like an oath of office.
Sister Shannon
No.
Sister Maxine
We don't like place our hand upon the Bible in swear to do this. We do have a vow formula, and I can read it really quickly here. It says, "Most Gracious and loving God, I-- and then we give our name--in a free and deliberate act desire to consecrate myself entirely to Jesus Christ, whom I love, and in whom I believe, intend by this profession to be united in community with the Sisters of this congregation, and with them to share in the redeeming mission of Jesus Christ. Therefore, in union with Mary, the mother of Jesus, I vow to God in your presence--and that's usually the president of our congregation--celibacy, obedience, and poverty, for the rest of my life." And if that were first profession, it would be for three years. That's the period of time, according to the Constitution of the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Sister Shannon
We also have a vow formula, and I referenced earlier in the podcast that we have a constitution, and that that's where we draw our life rule. And so our vow formula appears in our constitution as is true, I think, for you. I want to point out, however, before I share with you ours, that with the permission of the congregational minister, a sister making profession is allowed to personalize their religious consecration by adding a brief introduction or conclusion to the congregational vow formula. So we don't do it with only the words that appear in our Constitution, or you may; it's entirely up to each sister. It's kind of similar to the way I suppose husband and wife either take the traditional formulaic vows that are a part of the ceremony, or they personalize their vows for one another. Our vow commitment says, "In the presence of Sister--who is our congregational minister, or her delegate--and the sisters of this congregation, I, Sister Shannon, vow to the Triune God to live in obedience, poverty and consecrated chastity according to the Constitutions of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes, for the years or for the remainder of my life"--depending again, as Max said, whether this is temporary vow or final vow--"I desire to live this evangelical life in the spirit of the rule, and the life of the brothers and sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis."
Sister Maxine
What are some things that you have heard added?
Sister Shannon
So I, in fact, added to my own vow formula, my deep desire to engage in a relationship with Jesus. It came out of my study of the Scripture and my desire to live that out faithfully and so I prettied up the words in a few places in the beginning of my formula and at the end, so that it really was a reflection of me and how I saw my religious life evolving.
Sister Maxine
For Logan, I think it's important to understand that these vows that we make, while they are deeply personal, they're also congregational. For example, we just had a first profession this past Sunday, our own sister Jane Aseltyne who used to be here at A Nun's Life. She professed her first vows. And to be at that profession ceremony was such a powerful experience, because you hear that echo of "Yes" from the whole congregation in support of Sister Jane. And it is a tremendously powerful experience.
Sister Shannon
Let me add also that when we gather as a religious congregation for special celebrations, we often have the opportunity to renew our vows publicly. So every year when we have a jubilee celebration, for example, Sister celebrating 25, 50, 60, 75 years, they each stand up before us in order to renew their vows. But as a community, we stand and join them. And together, we share that vow formula, and we recommit ourselves to what we promised God originally.
Sister Maxine
We do that as well. And we had our Jubilee just the other week, and one of our jubilarians was celebrating her 85th Jubilee. That's probably a mark I'm not going to reach! But when you hear that, among women who have served for years and years, the power of that does not escape you.
Sister Shannon
When we celebrated Jubilee, it was in June, and we had a sister celebrating 50, and several celebrating 60 and one celebrating 75 years. And the priest who was presiding at the liturgy totaled up the years, I think it was 485 years, or something similar to that, of dedication and commitment just from these few women that were standing before us. And that never fails to move me, and to think about a life lived well, on behalf of our good God.
Sister Maxine
When we think about all of this stuff, we think about the importance of what does it mean to make a commitment in this world, and to truly make a commitment with your whole self and maybe it's to religious life, maybe it's in the context of marriage, parenthood. These kinds of occasions, these kinds of ceremonies, these kinds of vows, remind us of the greatness that we can be called to.
Sister Shannon
It's really important also to keep in mind that these commitments, continued day to day in our lives, that we make the choice every day to live in obedience and poverty and chastity; that we live committed to our Triune God and make that choice. And sometimes life is hard. And sometimes life is difficult. And you don't say those vows once and away you go. It's a commitment that you live toward, that you make active choices to support, that sometimes cause adjustment in our lives, or transition. We look at them again, when our community asks us to move and to serve somewhere else, or we are transitioning ourselves from active ministry into retirement. What does this mean for the commitment I've made? And so this is not a one and done kind of experience. This is something we celebrate every day of our lives.
Sister Maxine
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