Second Sunday of Lent – 2015

 

All the runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize.  You must run in the same way, meaning to win.  All the fighters at the games go into strict training; they do this just to win a wreath that will wither away, but we do it for a wreath that will never wither.  (1 Cor.9:24-25).

 

 

Beginning with this passage from St. Paul where in effect he tells us that in the Christian contest we are all called to be winners not of an earthly but a heavenly wreath, I would like to reflect on the great hope for living our Christian life. which the mystery of the Transfiguration of our Lord, gives us.

In his commentary on last Sunday’s gospel where Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert, St. Augustine says “do you notice that Christ has been tempted and fail to notice that he overcame the temptation?  Recognise your own self tempted in him and conquering also in him”.  In today’s Gospel something similar is happening.  Notice where the Transfiguration is placed in all three synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke.  It comes between the first and second prediction of the Passion and of Peter’s Profession of faith in Jesus as Messiah, and in Matthew, as Son of the living God.

This is very significant.  It demonstrates that the Transfigured Christ, that is Jesus risen and glorified, is at the centre of the Cross i.e. of every form of suffering and of death itself; and secondly, that it is the crucified and risen Jesus that gives suffering and death its meaning as we sang at Lauds this morning – “Jesus Christ, our Lord, brought an end to death; he has proclaimed life and immortality through his gospel”.

How does all this affect our Christian life?  I think nowhere in our modern world is it seen so clearly as in the heroic witness of the 21 Coptic Egyptian young men who were martyred for their faith in Jesus.   And seen in the mother of the two brothers among them, who forgave their murderers and prays for their conversion as told by their brother who said he was proud of his martyred brothers, and that the whole village was not sad but rejoicing over the witness of so many of them who gave their lives confessing Christ.

Pope Francis in this year of Consecrated Life has called on Religious to wake up the world.  Where I ask, would any of us get a more inspiring wake-up call to match that of these martyred young men?

I will conclude with a verse from a hymn on the feast of the Transfiguration and will say it in union with these martyrs who have already won the prize, and with a prayer for ourselves that one day, we too, will be accounted among the blessed.

Transfigured Christ, believed and loved,

In you our only hope has been;

Grant us, in your unfathomed love,

Those things no eye has ever seen.

Light the Fire! St Patrick's Day 2015

A Candlelight Vigil is being organised on St Patrick's Day by the the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal. 
We'll be with you all in spirit - praying for a dry evening, as well as an outpouring of grace for everyone there, and for the country.

Lenten Retreat Day - Saturday 21st March

We're having a Retreat Day in March for young women (18+) with the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal. Good preparation for Lent / Holy Week / Easter - or being in the middle of Lent, good motivation maybe to persevere?!

A day of stillness and peace - might be just what you need!

Re-connect with the infinite love and mercy of God.

To book a place please contact Sr Niamh OP at
siena3@eircom.net or
Franciscan Sisters at 041 - 9830441.


Overnight accommodation available - please contact Sr Niamh OP at siena3@eircom.net

Vocation Story

During this Year for Consecrated Life Sr M Dominika who, last August, celebrated the Silver Jubilee of her  Profession as a Dominican Nun shares with us her vocation story:

There is no one among us who does not have a divine vocation. Vocation is about our deepest identity: it is the call to be utterly free, free to be fully who I am. Each call takes place concretely in ways that are always new and always different, always beautiful and wonderful, because God is always wonderful in all that He does.

 Who are Dominican nuns? What attracts them to a life of prayer and penance, a life seemingly useless to the eyes of the world?

 Every Dominican is called to be a preacher. Our particular mission is the Proclamation of the Word of God. This is true for us the Nuns as for all our Brothers and Sisters. We have been entrusted with God’s word for others, not a multiplicity of words, but the most basic and fundamental one- GOD IS LOVE.

Love is our primary work. Love for God Himself because He is Love. We bear witness to the fact that there is God who loves all people, who loves them as individual persons, intimately precious in His eyes. This is our message, our word spoken not with our lips but with our lives. We give witness to the reality of God, to His Absolute Being, proclaiming with our every breath that HE IS, and that in Him Alone ultimately do our hearts find rest. We are completely focused on God but by that fact speak a word to our world, a world in which God’s Presence is often either denied, forgotten or completely ignored. From that world God called us and to that world He sends us. The Lord is using us He is doing so in our brokenness and weakness; in our efforts; in time of falling and rising. He is speaking through our humanness.

 I was born in Belarus, when it was part of the Soviet Union. My parents kept the faith during the persecution of Christians and they had me baptized in a village church 40 kilometres from their own town. Our family went to Mass every Sunday to that Church travelling by train. Ten years later I received here my First Holy Communion at night in secret. My parents themselves prepared me for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist. My father taught me the Catechism and prayer, but my mother gave me a brilliant example of mercy and compassion for the poor and sick.

   In 1977 I went to school, but there we were always told that God did not exist, and that there was no Resurrection, and we never learned a true History. Maybe that emptiness of Truth was a motivation for searching for it more seriously and deeply - but where?? Truth is not an idea, Truth is a Person – the Living God, and He found me before I realised that I was searching for Him.

    One Sunday when I was in my teens, with my mother in church, a young lady asked me in a whisper if I would like to come for Adoration. I had never heard that word before, and I asking my mother to explain what this lady was asking me. My mother didn’t explain, but nodded approval. This person was apparently a Dominican nun, but she didn’t wear a habit, as that was forbidden. When I asked her what I had to do, she answered: Nothing - you only have to Be. I though that would be easy-it is for me and it really was and still is for me. I’m not sure what I was doing at my first Adoration –but He was present and He was looking at me tenderly. The Fathers of the Church translated the word’ Adoration’ – as mouth to mouth – or kiss.  Yes, it was my first Kiss, and every 1^st Sunday of the month, I came for another kiss, and met my new friends, but I didn’t know who this young lades was for a long time.

  After two years the sister who was the first to invite me to Adoration asked me if I wanted to give my life to God as a nun. I was very surprised. Sometimes we spoke about Faith and Prayer, but that question I never expected. But how would this be possible because there wasn’t any monastery in Belarus and no Sisters? She explained it is possible – you will be the first …One thing the kisses but contemplative monastic life, about which I knew nothing and never even heard of such. It was beyond my capacity to understand or imagine. It was pure gift, I never merited it but I accepted it and joined the Dominicans in 1988 in Lithuania. How great was my joy when I realised later that the Order of Preachers was the answer to my deep desire for Truth and the Salvation of souls.

 On the occasion of my Reception Ceremony into Order, the first question the Prioress asked me was-‘What do you seek? ‘I was very  moved by that question- one which is not frequently asked .In the culture in which I lived at the time mostly we accepted what otter was given to us to do or to think. As I gave my answer to the question-‘God mercy and yours’ as prescribed in our Dominican Ritual, I felt as at home as a fish would feel in water.

In Hebrew ‘Mercy’ is translated by three words: promise, grace and womb. I feel that our Order is this ‘merciful womb’ in which we are born to a new life, a new way of thinking, and a new way of looking at the world and ourselves. St. Dominic’s God, is God of mercy. If we take from our Bible all that is written about ‘mercy’ there will be nothing left! To be formed by the Word of God means to be formed by His merciful love. Our monastery is a school of mercy. Nothing can make my heart so gentle and understanding as receiving forgiveness and mercy for my sin and the sins of our world. Truth and Mercy do not know diversity. In our Dominican spirituality we do not first gaze on God but WITH HIM as friends. God invites us to look on the world through His merciful eyes and this is the way of Dominican contemplation.

  In Vilnius in Lithuania 1938 a Dominican nun from Krakow began a new foundation, but in 1939 War stopped it.  Some Sisters came back to Poland - -some were living in Lithuania with their families and in secret. When I entered in that Community in 1988 Sisters were still living underground, meeting together once o month, for prayer and Conference. There was 17 Sisters in Community between Lithuania and Belarus. After receiving the habit I had to hide it and continue my life with my family for 2 years, so as not to arouse suspicion. Only at Weekends could I go to Minsk to pray with other 4 nuns. In 1989 I made my 1^st Profession in hands of Sr. Teresa- Prioress of Vilnius.

   In 1990 the Soviet Union began to break down .Between Lithuania and Belarus the border began to be built. Freedom for the Church slowly arrived. We found an opportunity for the young Sisters from Belarus to live together in Minsk. The granny of one of the Sisters was very kind and she shared her only one room with us. For us it was ‘heaven on earth’! Our life was very regular, prayerful and lived very much in common, joy and forgiveness. When in 1991 our Master General – Fr. Damien Byrne OP visited us he was very impressed of our way living as Dominican nuns. In 1992 we began to live in a larger house. We had a little chapel with Blessed Sacrament and 3 more rooms to live in and we wore our ‘hidden habits’…

   Sr. Miriam op from Poland became the new Prioress in Vilnius. She decided that the tree young Sisters from our Community would study theology in Cracow. I went to Poland and began my studies in 1993. I made my final vows in the hands of Sr. Miriam in 1994 in Minsk. The Sisters in Lithuania decided to restore the foundation in Vilnius, and for that reason to close our small house in Minsk. After my studies were completed I continued to remain in the monastery in Cracow.

    The desire for a foundation in Belarus never left my heart and prayer. The need of monastic- contemplative life in Belarus was very clear to me. Thank God we now have many Apostolic Communities, but they need to be steeped in prayer, many new Churches have opened and people need the witness of our prayerful lives. A Church without contemplative Communities is like a Church without a heart. In response to that desire and need, God sent me to Ireland on the other side of the earth! Only He can do it like this and only Himself I can trust, that is the best way for me today ’’to BE’’ in the heart of the Church. Future in His hands.

 My first few years in Ireland were difficult for me- not only by learning English, but also learning how to live with one mind and one heart. It was very valuable for me to live with 8 different nationalities but it was demanding .I had never imagined that it would possible to accept one another as I found in this community. Another thing is that brings me great joy is the atmosphere of silence and daily Eucharistic Adoration. St. Thomas Aquinas says that the reason we expose Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is not so that He can become more present to us but so that we can become more present to Him. Now the Lord every day reminds me of His first kiss…but not the last!

There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel.

 God is still calling ‘Come! Follow me…’  His Word is alive, pronounced by Somebody who looks at us – it is desire passed on from heart to heart.

Vocation is a continuing inner journey, each step the first.

                                                      

A Reflection on the Sunday Readings

“Come: follow me”, said the LORD.

“I will make you fishers of men.”

(Benedictus antiphon for the 3^rd Sunday of the Year)

“At once, they left their nets and followed Him.” (Mk 1:18)

That was Peter and Andrew.  A little later, He called James and John the sons of Zebedee, “…and leaving their father Zebedee in the boat … they went after Him” (Mk 1:20).

Jesus hadn’t worked any miracles when He called these young men – they had been disciples of John the Baptist, at least James, John and Andrew were; and they had heard John [the Baptist] say wonderful things about Jesus.

“He will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Mt 3:11).  So, when He called them, they jumped to answer.  Their time with John the Baptist was a preparation – a Novitiate of sorts – and they were ready.

‘Readiness is everything.’

Jesus’ call is imperative!  Think of Matthew the tax collector.  He would have heard Jesus preaching to the people on the seashore and seen His miracles.  He must have longed to follow Him, but felt utterly unworthy as a despised tax collector. 

Jesus passes by and says, ‘Follow me’ and Matthew straightaway jumps to follow Him.

Today we also have the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul.

Here was Saul – a highly educated Pharisee, determined to put an end to this movement which seemed to him heretical.  He had encouraged the killers of Stephen and had gone on to imprison men and women “followers of the Way” (cf Acts 9:1-3).  And now he was on the way to Damascus to catch the frightened followers there.

Ah!  But wait, Saul!

The Church in Jerusalem, gathered around Mary, is praying. 

I can imagine the disciples saying, ‘Let’s ask God to remove that Saul, before he destroys us all,’ and Mary saying, ‘No.  Let’s ask God to change his heart from hatred to love.’

As Saul reached Damascus, Jesus appears in a great light.

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

“Who are you, Lord?”

“I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.”

And what a change of heart came to Saul!  He became one of the greatest lovers of Christ.

‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?’ (Rom 8:35)

No!  We come through all these things triumphantly victorious by the power of Him who loves us, he tells us in his letter to the Romans.

It was the prayer of Mary and those first Christians gathered around her that brought about the change in “Saul, to Paul the greatest apostle of them all.”

Let us gather around her now

and pray for a change of heart in our leaders

who are trying to undermine the teaching of Jesus.

Feast of Epiphany - 2015

 

My memories of Epiphany as a child are of a big party, the last one of the Christmas season and back to school on the 07^th January, next day. The story of the three wise men, the carols, the colourful clothes of the three kings and their loads on the back of the animals were all a part of that day but I am afraid the spirituality of the feast and its depth never reached us.

Of course in reality Epiphany is one of the greatest feasts of the Church year.

In fact in many places and especially in the Eastern Church this glorious feast of Epiphany holds an even higher place than the Birth of Christ.  It is announced and celebrated with very great Solemnity.

The readings at Mass and Office for the day throw a lot of light on its depth and meaning. Isaiah begins by telling us “your light has come, the glory of the Lord is rising on you”. Saint Paul tells us of the manifestation of Christ to the peoples and the nations and of course St Matthew too gives all the details we want to know .We can learn so much from this text.

A sentence from today’s Preface sums up perfectly the feast “For today you have revealed the mystery of our salvation in Christ as a light for the nations, and when He appeared in our mortal nature, you made us new by the glory of his immortal nature.”

As St Leo said on Christmas Day “Let us then be quit of the old self and the habits that went with it. Sharers now in the birth of Christ, let us break with the deeds of the flesh. O Christian, be aware of your nobility- it is God’s own nature that you share”.

Epiphany means “to shine upon” or made “known”. When the three wise men saw the star they recognised it as the star of the infant Jesus and because they were wise they followed the star, they were searching for someone, they were rewarded for their unwearied search, the long tiresome journey, they never deviated but stood by their resolve to find him.

And going into the house they found the child with his mother Mary. I wonder were they taken aback at the very ordinary scene they encountered. After all they were looking for an “infant king”, no palace, no servants, no security gates or door. Yet the wise men had enough insight to recognise that they were in the presence of something very special. They immediately fell down and worshipped the Divine Infant.

Christ made himself known first to these Gentiles and they were the first to do homage. These men represent all the peoples outside Israel to whom the Gospel will be preached, a great missionary feast.

 

Today as Pope Francis says “God is not afraid of new things that is why He is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways”.

The wise men offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They knew by a revelation who they were worshipping.

 We may no have such gifts, but as Christina Rossetti says in her poem:

“What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a Shepherd

I would bring a lamb,

If I were a Wise Man

I would do my part

Yet what can I give Him,

Give my heart.”

                                                                      -Christina Rossetti

 

The wise men were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, a duplicitous and seductive voice of the evil one and returned to their own country by a different way.

Jesus is The Way for us. Are we willing to go a different way this coming year, a year specially for consecrated people, can we learn from today’s feast to let the star of faith lead and guide us, on maybe a different path, a new way and be willing to radiate the light which is Christ to all who pass our path and depend more on God’s grace and strength.

Arise, shine out, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord is resting on you.

        

 

 

We are on "Christmas with Miriam"

Miriam with the Community

We were on the Radio yesterday morning. It was an hour long show and Miriam interviewed five of us - we talked about our vocation as Dominican Nuns, our own personal vocation stories and, of course, Christmas. There is also some music, and you can hear us singing parts of the Divine Office.

Click the link below to listen in RTEPlayer.
Listen.