Women of Strength

In a special way I would like to express my esteem and my gratitude to the religious women of the United States. What would the Church be without you? Women of strength, fighters, with that spirit of courage which puts you in the front lines in the proclamation of the Gospel. To you, religious women, sisters and mothers of this people, I wish to say “thank you”, a big thank you… and to tell you that I love you very much. (Pope Francis Sept 24, 2015)

The Pope has expressed his support for women religious several times in the last few weeks. The message helps me to focus on the central call of our lives, to live and proclaim the Gospel. To be women of faith, who live a particular call within the community of faith and for the community of faith. We have the gift and the responsibility to live lives deeply committed to the Gospel, to spirituality and to the mission of Jesus.
What a joy to see crowds of people taken up with the enthusiasm of the Pope's visit and his simple but profound message of faith and joy. I hope to take time in the coming days and weeks, to read and reflect on the messages that he has brought in his various messages. If you want join me in reflecting on the messages, check the Vatican website here.

Sisters 2.0 - St. Louis

Twelve sisters from six congregations in the Saint Louis area gathered yesterday for an evening of prayer, potluck and conversation. The average age of our group was 40 years of age. We laughed, told stories, share common experiences. We even took a trip to a nearby convent to sing a carol to two novices from another congregation who weren't able to join us. The youngest were in their twenties, the oldest were in their fifties. Some had been in religious life just a few years, some had been in for a few decades. And we all shared a common enthusiasm for religious life, and a conviction that God had called us to our communities, and continues to call us to live the Gospel with joy, and with the restlessness of love which urges us to continue to commit ourselves day after day to lives of prayer, community and service.
Juliet led us in prayer and we reflected on words of Pope Francis about religious life, as we move toward the year celebrating consecrated life. We were reminded of the joy of the Gospel, of the call to renew our commitment regularly, and of the need to rekindle our zeal.
I have been in religious life for decades myself, and I can say that the enthusiasm of those who have been in for just a few years continues to give me life, energy and hope. Religious life is a work of God. It is a work of the God of love who can imagine a world of peace, of harmony and of vibrancy. Our world is broken in many ways, and many of the sisters who gathered talked about their ministries, as teacher, nurse, counselor, social worker, attorney, pastoral worker, etc. Each of the sisters brings God's love to a part of the world that needs that love and she shares it freely. We each feel blessed in the giving and receiving, and the blessing was multiplied as we gathered for this time together.
This gathering focused on welcoming sisters and novices to St. Louis. Many have joined us here in this local area, for study, ministry or for novitiate. We welcomed the novices to St. Louis, and also welcomed them to the adventure of religious life. They shared their stories of vocation, stories that remind us that the Spirit is very much alive and is continuing to call individuals to join us in religious communities.
Looking forward to more gatherings....

On Leadership in the Church

Only when the Church becomes what Jesus had envisaged it to be, namely, a servant Church, a Church of the poor, the leaders becoming truly servants and ceasing to be Lords, etc., then the Church regains its authority to speak for God and in God’s name. It is true that Vatican II spoke of the Church as a people of God, but we all know how it has been effectively negated in the Church since Vatican II. That concept has been buried and the presumed hierarchical nature gained predominance.... 

This is a great piece by Joseph Mattam S. J. on the historical sources of some of the styles of leadership in the church and the call to follow Jesus' style of leadership, published on the website of the International Union of Superiors General.

Miracle on a Lonely Road

I heard a little phrase quoted by Pope Francis, quoting Manzoni:

I never saw God start a miracle without finishing it. 

He was talking about Christian unity, but I heard it as referring to the miracle of religious vocation, and the rebirthing of the religious life in our own times. A great and welcome miracle, and I want to put my trust in God's miracle, and God's gift of leading this remnant through the challenging desert into a new era of religious life.

This can be a lonely road, trying to articulate a new hope and a new future for religious life. It is in continuity with the history of religious life, yet as in every era, it is also in discontinuity. Religious life faces new challenges today as much that we knew of religious life in recent decades declines and passes away. Yet there is also a fierce hope as the newer generations set out on the journey of religious life. In dynamic fidelity to generations of men and women radically committed to the gospel, we accept the call into relationship with the many communities of justice, of peace and of sustainability.

I want to trust in the God of Miracles as I walk this road.
--Amy

See video of pope's presentation here.

Wake Up!!

I would like to invite Pope Francis as a guest blogger.... For this post, I take just a few quotes from Pope Francis' words to the Union of Superiors General of Men's Religious Institutes. Links to articles below. 

Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living! It is possible to live differently in this world. We are speaking of an eschatological outlook, of the values of the Kingdom incarnated here, on this earth. It is a question of leaving everything to follow the Lord. No, I do not want to say “radical.” Evangelical radicalness is not only for religious: it is demanded of all. But religious follow the Lord in a special way, in a prophetic way. It is this witness that I expect of you. Religious should be men and women who are able to wake the world up.

Thank you!!! It is so difficult to talk about religious life and maintain a high theology of Baptism, which call everyone to radical discipleship. Religious men and women have the privilege of living this radical gospel living in a particular way, "in a prophetic way," in a way framed by vowed life in community.

I am convinced of one thing: the great changes in history were realized when reality was seen not from the center but rather from the periphery.

This reminds me of the mark of New Monasticism - Relocate to the abandoned places of Empire. This is the deliberate choice to move out of positions and places of power, downward mobility, the choice to live with and for the lowest and the least.

Introduce persons of various cultures into the central governance of the Orders and Congregations, who express divers ways of living the charism.

This is an invitation for the central governance to represent not just the dominant culture, even the dominant age cohort. It should also represent all the view points, even the younger cohorts who have distinct perspectives and abilities to meet the culture of today.

Asked about the balance between community and ministry, the Pope pointed to the experience of Taizé. Despite their ecumenical diversity, they live a parable of community. Their community is itself their witness, their ministry:

They all live a real life of community together. They are an impressive apostolic role model for young people. The religious community has an enormous power to call people together.

Regarding formation, the Pope said that

Formation is a work of art, not a police action.... To avoid problems, in some houses of formation, young people grit their teeth, try not to make mistakes, follow the rules smiling a lot, just waiting for the day when they are told: ‘Good. You have finished formation.’ This is hypocrisy that is the result of clericalism, which is one of the worst evils.

The whole issue of formation is in need of some serious re-imagination. Too often, we are still forming for the 1990s or earlier. We have to ask what religious life is today, and what do we need to bring new members into religious life in a way that is life-giving. I have seen too many young people come to religious life with joy and enthusiasm, then after 5 or 10 years, the light goes out of their eyes. They still believe in their vocation and in religious life, but too often we are not able to "fan into flame" the gift of God within them. This is what I see as clericalism in women's communities as well as in men's. The Pope's words ring true.

The charism is not a bottle of distilled water. It needs to be lived energetically as well as reinterpreted culturally. But in this way there is the danger of making a mistake, you say, of committing errors. It is risky. Certainly, certainly: we will always make mistakes, no doubt about it. But this should not stop us, because there is the chance of making worse mistakes. In fact we should always ask for forgiveness and look shamefully upon apostolic failures due to a lack of courage. 

I re-commit to this risky business of living religious life, of daring to live simply, contemplatively, prophetically. And I invite others to wake up! and join the adventure!

Peace,
Amy

PS: Treat yourself: read the whole article:
ITALIANO: «Svegliate il mondo!». Colloquio di Papa Francesco con i Superiori Generali 
ENGLISH: «Wake up the World!». Conversation with Pope Francis about the Religious Life 
ESPAÑOL: «¡Despierten al mundo!». Diálogo del Papa Francisco con los Superiores Generales