Consecrated Life: Religious Men and Women tell their Story

All or Nothing - Sr Clare Crockett (Film)

A budding actress leaves her career and the open doors to fame behind to give her life to God. Some might see this as a total failure. But was it? Those who knew Sr. Clare speak in this film. After her tragic death in the 2016 earthquake in Ecuador, the failure might be seen as having reached its devastating end. Yet, many think that the story doesn’t end there . 

Thanks to the Servant Sisters’ archives with over 15 years of photos and videos of Sr. Clare’s life, HM Television presents this documentary to show you the real-life story of this Sister who gave her ALL to God, keeping NOTHING back.

February 2nd 2016 - Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life)

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace,

your word has been fulfilled:

My own eyes have seen the salvation,

which you have prepared in the sight of every people:

a light to reveal you to the nations

and the glory of your people Israel

February 2nd is the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, forty days after his birth when Mary and Joseph went up to Jerusalem to ransom him according to the Law of Moses.



The feast used to be known as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is more often known as Candlemass Day as tradition holds that all the candles to be used in the church for the coming year are blessed on this day.

Previous posts on Candlemass Day available HERE.

 

In the archives over at Blue Eyed Ennis, one of Phil's great posts on the day available here.

 


And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel."
 
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed."
 
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phan'u-el, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and as a widow till she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
 
And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him."

 

Candlemass is also the World Day for Consecrated Life and this weekend just passed marked the closing events of the Year for Consecrated Life and also the special jubilee event for religious in Rome.

 


(Vatican Radio) - Pope Francis has called on consecrated men and women to make courageous and prophetic choices, to not be afraid of getting their hands dirty and of walking the geographical and existential peripheries of mankind today. The Pope was speaking to consecrated men and women during Mass in St. Peter's Basilica marking the end of the Year of Consecrated Life.

Continue reading here.

(VIS) - Extensive extracts of the Holy Father's extemporaneous address to the participants in the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, which took place on 1st February 2016 in the Paul VI Hall are available here.

• Homily of Archbishop Michael Neary for the Day for Consecrated Life
• Homily of Bishop Leo O’Reilly for closing of Year of Consecrated Life
• The Blessing of Consecrated Life - Cardinal Donald Wurel

25-year high for women’s religious vocations in England, Wales - UPDATED

The number of women entering religious life in England and Wales rose from seven in 2004 to 45 in 2014, the highest number in 25 years. Eighteen of the 45 entered cloistered communities, according to The Independent, while the rest entered active orders.

Catholic Herald - Why women are flocking to religious orders in England and Wales
Catholic Herald - Women entering religious life in England and Wales at 25-year high
BBC -  Women becoming nuns hits 25-year high
The Independent - Dissatisfaction with modern life prompts surge in number of women entering convents
Catholic Ireland.net - Women entering UK convents hits 25 year high
 

*********************

 
UPDATE 1:

"Entering religious life as a nun, sister, brother or priest is ultimately a decision of love. Like any love, on one level it’s a bit mysterious, and hard to explain to someone who doesn’t share it. If you asked a married couple: “So what made you decide to get married?”, they might be able to list one another’s qualities, shared interests, and so on, but all that would not be enough to explain the simple fact that stands at the heart of their relationship: that they love one another. On another level, though, it’s quite straightforward. If you spend all your time with someone and rearrange your life around them, if you start to share friends and interests, then you might – eventually – think about marrying them. Entering religious life was, for me, an acknowledgement that I had met this kind of life-shaping love."

 Continue reading - Why I'm giving up my academic career to become a nun
 
UPDATE 2:

A couple of weeks back we did an interview with Br Conor OP on the programme. In this weeks Irish Catholic he reflects on how "A vocation brings real joy and adventure"

iCatholic - What is the future of religious life in Ireland?

Sr Phylis Moynihan rsm and Fr Ciaran Dougherty OP discuss the Year of Consecrated Life and their work for vocations.

Day for Consecrated Life: 2nd February 2015 - Sr Kathryn Williams PDDM

This is a cross post from Pilgrims Progress:

Sr. Muriel (left) and Sr. Kathryn
celebrating the Day for Consecrated Life 2015

This weekend, we celebrate the beginning of spring! Today we also celebrate the feast of St Brigid, a beautiful Irish woman who dedicated her life to God. Tomorrow we also celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple – and in 1997, Pope John Paul 2nd dedicated this day, 2nd February to be a time of thanksgiving for, and Celebration of the Consecrated Life. So springtime, St Brigid and Consecrated life are a good beginning for my sharing with you today.



In recent years, we have heard a lot of damaging and painful stories about religious and priests. I know that the failures on the part of these persons have caused many of you great sadness and anger. But today, if you will permit me, I would like to share with you another side to the story. And I hope that maybe, you will also have a glimpse of the beauty of the calling that we religious seek to respond to.

What is the consecrated life? I joined in 1976 and each day, I bless God for calling me and for giving me the grace to say, “Yes!” First and foremost, it is all about romance: a divine romance! It’s all about knowing how much we are loved by Jesus, it’s about falling in love with him and it’s about responding to love. Everyone loves stories of romance. Religious life is a divine and human romance! It is not only about a love story with God – it’s also about loving and serving God’s people.  … In particular the weak people, the broken ones, the people on the edges. All of us, through the beautiful gift of baptism, are called to be like Jesus. Religious however, because of our particular consecration, are called to be like Jesus in a single-minded way … The consecrated life is really the Christian life lived at high voltage. 

In today’s Gospel, we encounter some wonderful persons who show us the heart of what a life consecrated to God is about. This young couple, Joseph and Mary bring Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord. Upon arrival, they meet a man and a woman – Simeon and Anna.

•    They were present in the Temple,
•    They were people of prayer and praise,
•    They were people who wanted to share something very important - a prophetic message.

So perhaps we could sum up the consecrated life up in three simple words:

•    Presence, prayer and prophecy: I will briefly outline these 3 aspects:

Presence: Religious are called to be a particular presence in our world. We desire to be a presence that is welcoming and attractive. Pope Francis (who I am proud to say, is also a religious!) reminds us that the sort of witness that really attracts is associated with attitudes which are often uncommon: attitudes such as generosity, detachment, sacrifice, and self-forgetfulness. Those of you who are mothers and fathers can identify very much with these virtues. Religious are called to be a presence, sometimes a silent one, at other times a noisy one: but a presence which seeks to imitate Jesus – one that is healing and loving.

The second point is that of prayer:  We are also called to be a presence of prayer in the world. The 84 year old widow Anna and the elderly Simeon had time to pray, to stay with the Lord. And so they were attuned to recognize God’s beautiful presence in Mary, Joseph and the little child. As a sister, I am often approached by people who say, “Sister, will you please pray for me?” This is great request and also a big responsibility for us to intercede for you. It is also very humbling to receive this request. I always say, “let us pray together for two pray-ers are more powerful than one!” One of our sisters writes down the name of the person and carries it in her pocket … prayer is never time wasted and many of God’s gifts flow more freely when we pray.

Religious are also called to be a prophetic presence… This is a big ask for us and quite challenging! We are called, sister, brother, father … this is not simply a title: but it is a reminder to us and to you, that we are members of the same family. So to be prophetic today is to be a reminder of certain things, things which are not always easy to hear: just as Simeon reminded Mary that her soul will be pierced with sorrow.

Pope Francis reminds us in being prophetic; sometimes it is necessary to make a big noise. We should not be afraid to get caught in a mess, sometimes we will make mistakes and get it wrong! But he also reminds us of the following and I will use his own words!  “Life is complicated; it consists of grace and sin. Whoever does not sin is not human. We all make mistakes and we need to recognize our weakness. Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting of living!”

Perhaps we are also called to be like an alarm clock! It’s true that religious life is a life of sacrifice. We give up having a person we can claim for our own, we renounce the joys and often the suffering that having children and grandchildren can bring. No religious will be able to say the words that my mum said when dad died 18 years ago, “No one will ever love me as your father did!”

We renounce having our own homes, we seek to live a simple life style, and after some years in a place, we are called to move on. This perhaps is one of the hardest things, when we leave the people we have known, loved and served. This going forward is a reminder that we are a pilgrim people, and earth is not our final home. Our vow of obedience means that we can’t always fulfill our own plans, and we serve wherever there is the need. We commit ourselves to being stretched at times! But in spite of all this, there is something about a joyful 

Springtime and freedom in following Jesus so closely. It’s true we often fail; we are never quite as present, prayerful or prophetic as we would like to be. Perhaps it is the same for you too.  And the romance? I think I speak on behalf of all my fellow religious: the romance is still very much alive in our hearts even after many years. Perhaps it takes on different hues and colors … the heart never ages when one loves.

Today, I invite you to not lose sight of the distinctive and radical way in which we religious seek to live our baptismal call. And in a special way, today I ask for your prayer for all religious. We want to be faithful, we want to serve you and be witnesses to God’s love. Your fidelity and your encouragement help us to do just this!  

Sr. Kathryn Williams pddm

Music Passport: From the Cloister - RTE

Kathryn Thomas meets members of religious orders, to see how much music means to them in their daily lives. Kathryn Thomas meets members of religious orders, to see how much music means to them in their daily lives.

RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday 30 December, 2pm - you can listen to the podcast HERE.

Trying to keep up with Pope Francis - 3 January 2014

Pope Francis embraces Father Adolfo Nicolas, superior general of the Society of Jesus,
at the conclusion of Mass at the Church of the Gesu in Rome Jan. 3. The Mass was celebrated
on the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in thanksgiving for the
 recent canonization of Jesuit St. Peter Faber. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Phil over at Blue Eyed Ennis has a great round up of things Roman today including:

The Feast Of The Holy Name of Jesus and More on the New Jesuit Saint, Peter Faber

Update Wake Up The World - The Call Of Pope Francis To Religious Life and The Challenges Facing The Church

Other links:

Francis tells religious to 'wake the world,' outlines modern struggles for church - NCR

Pope Francis: "The strength of the Church does not reside in herself, but is instead concealed in the deep waters of God" - Vatican News

Pope: the Gospel is not proclaimed "with inquisitorial beatings" but "gently, with fraternity and love" - Asia News

Pope Francis celebrates Mass at Jesuit mother church - Vatican Radio

Photos from Vatican Radio Facebook - Pope Francis on Friday morning celebrated Mass on the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus at the mother-church of the Jesuit order, the Gesù. He was greeted by Father Adolfo Nicolás, SJ, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).

Photos from Catholic News Service

From Irish Jesuits Facebook - "A smile and a rosary for every Jesuit at mass in the Gesu. Irish Jesuit Michael Paul Gallagher SJ was there: "I have just come back from Mass with the Pope at the Gesù Church, concelebrated by about 350 Jesuits. It was a truly joyful occasion, in a simple style. In fact the Pope entered the church in procession about 10 minutes earlier than the 9 am starting point. For the procession they had chosen to accompany him a large number of Jesuit deacons from many countries and the youngest of the recently ordained priests.

During his homily I was straight in front of him, about 15 feet away, and could relish his way of underlining certain points and also when he departed from his text with a smile to make some additional comment (for example, about not preaching the Gospel brandishing a stick but with sweetness). More than once he used the expression “we Jesuits”. His focus was on St Peter Faber and he spoke of him with great affection, as a traveller in mission to the frontiers, a man of dialogue, rooted always in the heart of Christ. One of the Pope’s asides about Faber was that they said he was born never to be at home but to be on the road. In fact the fine new statue of the Saint that the Pope consecrated at the end of Mass with incense shows him with a staff in hand and being guided by an angel. At the end of the Mass Pope Francis greeted each Jesuit individually(for a few seconds) in the sacristy, giving each a big smile (and a rosary). This was not expected in advance and must have added at least 30 minutes to the Mass which lasted about 75 minutes. All in all it was an occasion of real consolation and of companionship in the Lord. The Pope himself seemed relaxed, recollected and enjoyably at home with this moment of history. Thank God for such an occasion of confirmation and of hope."

Spiritual Maternity and Mother's Day! - Sr Louise O'Rourke PDDM

A cross post today from Pilgrims Progress where Sr Louise O'Rourke shares her thoughts on Mother's Day in the USA and Canada today and also the comments during the week from Pope Francis calling on women in religious life to be "spiritual mothers and not old maids".

Today in Northern America and in many other countries, we celebrate Mother’s Day! In Ireland we celebrated last March but prayers were said all the same for my own Mam and mothers all over the world. It really made my day when some of the priests here even wished me a ‘Happy Mother’s Day’. If you find that strange, well, keep reading!

We live in times in which much has been said about woman, her dignity and her role in the family and the world. This week Pope Francis raised eyebrows around the world when he told a group of 800 visiting nuns they must be spiritual mothers and not 'old maids.' The sisters, who came from 76 countries, were in Rome for the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General. He asked them; "What would the church be without you? It would be missing maternity, affection, tenderness and a mother's intuition." In his talk to the women, Pope Francis said their vow of chastity expands their ability to give themselves to God and to others "with the tenderness, mercy and closeness of Christ." However, "please, let it be a fruitful chastity, a chastity that generates sons and daughters in the church. The consecrated woman is a mother, must be a mother and not a spinster," he said. While the sisters were laughing at his use of a very colloquial Italian word for "spinster" or "old maid," he added: "Forgive me for speaking this way, but the motherhood of consecrated life, its fertility, is important."

When I got to this part of the Pope’s talk, I was blown away. I had been waiting a long time to hear this said and was a beautiful confirmation of my vocation. As a disciple of the Divine Master, the vocation of spiritual maternity is very strong in our lives. We are called in a special way to be mothers to priests, walking alongside them as Mary our Mother walked with Jesus. Pope Francis said that just as Mary could not be understood without recognizing her role as being Jesus' mother, the church cannot be understood without recognizing its role as being the mother of all believers. "And you are an icon of Mary and the church," he said. Often people don’t associate sisters or nuns as being mothers, unless they happen to have the title ‘Mother Superior’. In many circles, even this title is dying out as for many it has connotations with subordination and not maternity.

One of the saddest things I sometimes hear a sister say is that they enter religious life because they don’t feel called or have the vocation to be a mother. This just doesn’t make sense. Every religious sister should be able to say: ‘I would have been a good mother or a good spouse’. The same can be said of every priest or brother. First of all, a vocation is a call that the Lord places in the heart of the human person. This vocation, this calling, can and should be answered with the totality of the human heart because our hearts are capable of giving an answer of love, of making an act of self-giving. A vocation will always imply the total surrender of self for the greatest cause of love. The human person, created to love, will find its fulfillment in the generous giving of self. A vocation is a human reality, since only the human person was created for love, and only the human heart can experience a call to love and respond to it with love (MD, 29). Women realize this call to self-donation, which is engraved in their feminine nature, by being spouses and mothers. These are the two interconnected channels by which a woman expresses her call to a generous and sacrificial love, a love that is capable of giving life. The heart and body of a woman, and all of her being, is created to manifest her self-donation in two ways: being a spouse and a mother. Whether a woman embraces the vocation to married life or to consecrated virginity, she lives her spousal and maternal dimensions, but in different forms.

Spousal love always involves a special readiness to be poured out for the sake of those who come within one’s range of activity. In marriage this readiness, even though open to all, consists mainly in the love that parents give to their spouse and to their children. In virginity this readiness is open to all people who are embraced by the love of Christ the Spouse. In this way a consecrated woman finds her Spouse, different and the same in each and every person, according to his very words: ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’(Mt 25:40).” The call to motherhood is universal among women and consecrated women are no exception. It doesn’t matter if you are married, single, have children or not, consecrated religious, a housewife or professional; we each possess the innate gift to nurture, which is the defining characteristic of being a mother. We have an undeniable softness to our nature; all of which are founded on the inclination to cultivate love in others by showing love ourselves. As women, we shouldn’t have to apologise for this or strive to alter it for fear of being seen as weak or vulnerable because of these characteristics. Taking this gift beyond its basic implication of encouraging growth or development, Catholic women especially have the ability to foster holiness both in themselves and in others, which St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross called “spiritual maternity.” The whole object of spiritual maternity is to grow in holiness by performing our day-to-day actions out of love for God over our own gratification. Of course, how to go about this varies according to the situation in which we find ourselves. It could be just offering a patient ear to those who need a sacred space to be listened to, being present without distraction to loved ones.

John Paul II was convinced of and affirmed that the vocation of woman is one, and it is her greatest calling: to love with the genius of her feminine heart. Woman, in her feminine being (body, soul and psychology), has inscribed in her heart a special calling of self giving, of self-donation. Men also have the vocation to love, proper to the manly characteristics of their hearts. But it is woman who, in a certain sense, has the vocation and mission to teach men to discover, understand and put into practice the vocation to love. Some people may see this as being very sexist but it is the beauty of the complimentarity of relationships of which we have the model going back to the Book of Genesis. In Mulieris Dignitatum we are told, “In God’s eternal plan, woman is the one in whom the order of love in the created world of persons takes first root” (29). The loving plan of God and His communication of love in the heart of woman is able to firmly take first root, thus making her heart a special place where love can grow, be manifested and become fruitful.
The Second Vatican Council declared in its Closing Message, “The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of woman is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which woman acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is under-going so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling” (cf. Proposition 2, as quoted in MD, 1).

Last Thursday, about 25,000 people came to Ottawa to join the March for Life and give a message to the world that life should be respected from its natural beginning to its natural end. It was a powerful witness to the sacredness of life. Abortion attacks and kills children in the womb but it also attacks motherhood in detaching the woman from her child in the womb by convincing her that it is okay because it is not yet a child. A mother is a mother from the moment of the conception and the father is a father. This year’s theme: “It’s a girl’, should not be a death sentence”, focused on the issue of female gendercide. If we continue to abort female babies simply because they are female, then we are aborting potential mothers, sisters, grandmothers, religious sisters, nieces, aunts etc. We deprive society not just of children but of the natural gift which contributes to the natural harmony of the world and its relational dynamics.

So today we celebrate Mother’s Day and I am celebrating too! We can say that motherhood is essential in building a new civilization where love and life must be the good news presented to contemporary man and religious women should and must be part of this. Life must be welcomed as the greatest gift of God to humanity. There is a strong invitation for women that their hearts be totally disposed to serve the God of love and life. Women must discover first that their wombs are the sanctuaries of love in which every human life must be welcomed, valued and loved. They can build in their hearts a new culture in which unconditional love conquers the temptation of selfishness and in which self-oblation becomes the most powerful tool of self-realization.

To those of you who have managed to make it to the end, apologies for this post being so long but it has been something which has been on my mind and heart for a long time. I have had ample opportunity to reflect upon this over the past few months. Many of the readers of this blog know that since last August I have not been living in one of our religious communities but am here in Ottawa living in the student residence of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Our community is a predominantly male community, about 6 women and 45 men! It is a huge change not living in a female religious community but it has been a challenge to embrace the journey of discovering the gift that my presence as a woman and a religious can bring to this reality. It is an experience of discovering that mutual complimentarity that I spoke about earlier and for that I feel I am more blessed in my vocation and receive much insight that allows me to be selfless for the Kingdom of God! Happy Mother’s Day to you all!

“Do not fall in with the prophets of doom who proclaim the end or the non-sense of consecrated life in the Church in our days,”

From VIS:

"'A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel', thus Simeon defines the Messiah of the Lord at the end of his song of blessing. The theme of light, … is strongly present in this liturgy. In fact, the liturgy opens with a … procession in which the general superiors of the institutes for consecrated life represented here carried lit candles. This sign, specific to the liturgical tradition of this Feast, is very expressive. It shows the beauty and the value of consecrated life as the reflection of Christ's light and recalls Mary's entrance into the Temple: the Virgin Mary, consecrated woman par excellence, carried Light itself in her arms, the incarnate Word who had come to dispel the darkness of the world with God's love."

"You are all represented in that symbolic pilgrimage, which in the Year of Faith expresses even more strongly your own assembly in the Church, to be confirmed in the faith and to renew the offering of yourselves to God. … In the light of Christ, with the many charisms of contemplative and apostolic life, you cooperated in the Church's life and mission in the world. In this spirit of gratitude and communion, I would like to offer you three invitations so that you might fully enter through that 'door of faith' that is always open to us."

"Firstly, I invite you to nourish a faith that is capable of illuminating your vocation. In this regard I urge you to remember, in an interior pilgrimage, of the 'first love' with which the Lord Jesus Christ warmed your heart, not out of nostalgia, but to nourish its flame. This is why it is necessary to be with Him, in the silence of adoration, and thus to reawaken the desire and the joy of sharing one's life and choices, of the obedience of the faith, the blessedness of the poor, and the fundamental nature of love."

Secondly, I invite you to a faith that knows how to recognize the wisdom of weakness. In today's joys and afflictions, when the harshness and weight of the cross make themselves felt, do not doubt that Christ's 'kenosis' is already a paschal victory. In societies of efficiency and success, your life, marked by its 'minority' and by the weakness of the small, by its empathy with those who have no voice, becomes an evangelic sign of contradiction."

"Finally, I invite you to renew the faith that makes you pilgrims toward the future. By its nature consecrated life is a pilgrimage of the spirit, in search of a Face that sometimes shows itself and sometimes hides itself: 'Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram'. May this be your heart's constant desire, the fundamental criterion that guides your path, both in its small daily steps as well as in its more important decisions. Do not fall in with the prophets of doom who proclaim the end or the non-sense of consecrated life in the Church in our days. Rather, 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ', 'put on the armour of light' … and remain wakeful and vigilant."

"The joy of consecrated life necessarily goes through participation in Christ's cross. That is how it was for Mary, Most Holy. Hers is the suffering of a heart that is wholly one with the Heart of the Son of God, pierced by love. God's light springs forth from that wound, and from the suffering, sacrifice, and gift of self that consecrated persons live out of love for God and others shines forth that same light, which evangelises the nations. On this Feast, I wish particularly for you consecrated persons, that your lives might always have the flavour of evangelic 'parrhesia', so that, in you, the Good News might be lived, witnessed to, announced, and shine forth as the Word of truth."
Listen to report from Vatican Radio HERE.

Presentation of the Lord - Feb 2nd

The old man carried the child, but the child was the old man's Lord. The Virgin gave birth to the child yet remained a virgin for ever. She knelt in worship before her child

 

- Magnificat Antiphon Vespers I, Presentation of the Lord

(reflection here)

From For All Saints with further reflection:

"Everyone should be eager to joint the procession and to carry a light. Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendor of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ…So let us all hasten together to meet our God."

In his New Book of Festivals and Commemorations (pp. 70-71), Philip Pfatteicher writes:

The Gospels do not permit a bland and sentimental interpretation of the arrival of Christ. Simeon, with the infant Messiah in his arms and filled with the prophetic spirit, acknowledges not only the light to the nations but also the shadows that this light must necessarily cast. The long-awaited Messiah will achieve no easy triumph. He will be the center of storm and controversy that will reveal the secret disposition of many hearts and will bring piercing grief to his own mother. The Messiah, who comes to lead Israel to glory, mus go by the path of suffering, and his people must go with him along that same path.

Other posts from  the blog on Candlemass HERE

 

Young religious in Ireland at a gathering in Dublin

In 1997, John Paul II called for consecrated life to be promoted throughout the universal Church. He declared February 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, to be observed as World Day for Consecrated Life (WDCL).

The celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life invites all the Church to reflect on the role of Consecrated Life within the Christian community. Those who choose to live a consecrated life do so for the sake of the gospel.

Some Christian women and men respond to God’s call to become followers of Jesus through profession of vows and a life dedicated to prayer and service. They live out the consecrated life in different ways. Religious sisters, nuns, brothers, religious priests, and monks consecrate their lives through their profession of the evangelical vows and live as part of a community. Single lay people may choose to be consecrated virgins and make private vows to the local bishop as they live out their vocation in various walks of life. Secular institutes are another form of living the consecrated life as single people. Those who become followers of Jesus through the consecrated life bless the Church.

February 2nd - Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas Day)

Simeon the Just
Andre Durand

Lord, now you let your servant go in peace,

your word has been fulfilled:

My own eyes have seen the salvation,

which you have prepared in the sight of every people:

a light to reveal you to the nations

and the glory of your people Israel

Febuary 2nd is the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, forty days after his birth when Mary and Joseph went up to Jerusalem to ransom him according to the Law of Moses. The feast used to be known as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is more often known as Candlemas Day as tradition holds that all the candles to be used in the church for the coming year are blessed on this day.

You can read up on the history of the feast and other reflections on previous blog posts here and here.

Over at Blue Eyed Ennis, Phil has a wonderful round up of her own previous reflections on this feast and also some excellent links as well.

The feast day is also set aside as the Day for Consecrated Life celebrating all the men and women who faithfully live out their vowed lives consecrated to the Lord. Given the bad press that Irish religious have had over the last twenty years, perhaps days like this are a reminder to us how much we in Ireland owe to the many silent and now increasingly forgotten contributors who ran our hospitals, schools and social institutions where the State was unable or unwilling to do the same.

A documentary about three Irish Missionaries will be screened on RTE at 10.15pm on Thursday, 31st January. Film-maker Ruan Magan travels to some of the world's remotest regions to meet three missionaries who carry out their duties in some of the toughest circumstances on the planet. John Glynn, who carries out his work for We Care Foundation in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Pat Murray, a Loreto sister who was employed in education in Ireland and is now in charge of Solidarity with South Sudan, and Pat Brennan, a Divine Word Missionary living in the Amazonian rain forest in Brazil, all tell their stories of endurance and faith in the face of extreme adversity

Archbishop Martin homily for World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life

DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE 2012

Homily Notes of Archbishop Martin at the Church of Our Lady of the Wayside,

Bluebell,

2nd February 2012

Source

One of the themes that run through this evening's readings on the Feast of the Purification is that of expectation. Ezekielspeaks of “the Lord who is coming” and of the appearance of “the covenant that you are longing for” As Jesus enters into the Temple he is greeted first of all by Simeon, one “who looked forward” to Israel’s comforting one on whom the Spirit rested and who watched and waited for the restoration of Israel. The second encounter is with the elderly woman Anna who appears almost just in passing and yet understands that this child was the one who realised the hopes of all who “looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem”. Both are presented to us in terms of prophecy. Prophecy is the gift not so much of foreseeing the future as if by some magical powers. No, the gift of prophecy is a gift for the present; it is the gift which enables us to recognise and understand and interpret the true the meaning of the present.

Like Simeon and Anna, the religious must be so focused on what expectation means in life, that they are in the forefront in recognising what, through Jesus, fulfillment and happiness mean in the present.

We celebrate the Day of Consecrated Life. We come to thank God for the gift to the Church of the prophetic witness of religious men and women. We come to pray that each of us will be so steeped in the hope we are called to, that we will be able to interpret what that call requires today and where it should be guiding our lives. We pray that individual religious and their communities will witness to what expectation and consolation and renewal mean today for God’s holy people and for the world in which we live.

We celebrate the Day of Consecrated life in 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the convocation of the Second Vatican Council. I entered the seminary just one week before the opening of the Council. As a seventeen year old I was not sure what the Council would mean. Even the good Pope John XXII was obviously not sure: at the opening of the Council he spoke of possibly not completing its work in the few months of the opening session and even having to come back for a second session. In fact, the Council’s debate was to endure for four sessions.

I often say to people that I entered into Clonliffe in 1962 and that in 1969 I went back out into a different Ireland and a different Church. Certainly the Council changed the Church and perhaps very few other aspects of Church life changed in its externalities as religious life. I am sure that the more elderly among us would have some great stories of what it was like to live as a religious in those days before the Council and the great change and breath of fresh, renewing air that the Council brought with it.

But it would be important not to link the Council just with external change, just as it would be insufficient to identify renewal in the Church today just with external change in structures, no matter how necessary such change might be.

I read an article in these days which spoke about the various theological tensions that emerged during the Council. It said quite strikingly that the media categories of progressive and traditionalist actually got it wrong. The progressives, it said, were really the true traditionalists; they were the ones who want back deeply into the traditions of the Church and purified the Church from many empty practices which self-proclaimed traditionalists had canonised as tradition but which were not.

Pro Orantibus Day - November 21st 2011

Reminder comes from the Domican Nuns of Summit New Jersey:

Pro Orantibus Day Recalls Cloistered Communities as the “Heart” of the Church
Catholics throughout the world are encouraged to honor the cloistered and monastic life on Pro Orantibus Day, which is Monday, Nov. 21, 2011.

“The primary purpose of Pro Orantibus Day (“For Those Who Pray”) is to thank God for the tremendous gift of the cloistered and monastic vocation in the Church’s life,” noted Fr. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem., National Director of the Institute on Religious Life (USA). “Since the lives of these women and men religious dedicated to prayer and sacrifice is often hidden, this annual celebration reminds us of the need to support their unique mission within the Body of Christ,” he added.

In 1997 Bl. Pope John Paul II asked that this ecclesial event be observed worldwide on November 21, the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple. It is a special day to thank those in the cloistered and monastic life for serving as “a leaven of renewal and of the presence of the spirit of Christ in the world.” It is also intended to remind others of the need to provide spiritual and material support “for those who pray.”

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken often of the tremendous value of the cloistered, contemplative life. Speaking to a group of cloistered Dominican nuns in Rome, the Holy Father referred to such religious as “the heart” which provides blood to the rest of the Body of Christ. He noted that in their work and prayer, together with Christ, they are the “heart” of the Church and in their desire for God’s love they approach the ultimate goal.

Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul - 60th Jubilee of Ordination for Pope Benedict XVI

From Catholic Culture - Veneration of the two great Apostles, Peter and Paul, has its roots in the very foundations of the Church. They are the solid rock on which the Church is built. They are at the origin of her faith and will forever remain her protectors and her guides. To them Rome owes her true greatness, for it was under God's providential guidance that they were led to make the capital of the Empire, sanctified by their martyrdom, the center of the Christian world whence should radiate the preaching of the Gospel.

St. Peter suffered martyrdom under Nero, in A.D. 66 or 67. He was buried on the hill of the Vatican where recent excavations have revealed his tomb on the very site of the basilica of St. Peter's. St. Paul was beheaded in the via Ostia on the spot where now stands the basilica bearing his name. Down the centuries Christian people in their thousands have gone on pilgrimage to the tombs of these Apostles. In the second and third centuries the Roman Church already stood pre-eminent by reason of her apostolicity, the infallible truth of her teaching and her two great figures, Sts. Peter and Paul.

Continue reading about the feast over at Catholic Culture.

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On the same day, Pope Benedict will celebrate Mass at St Peter's and impose the pallium on the newly created metropolitan archbishops gathered in Rome for the occassion. The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Pope on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. The pallium is a narrow band, "three fingers broad", woven of white lamb's wool from sheep raised by Trappist monks, with a loop in the centre resting on the shoulders over the vestments of an archbishop and two dependent lappets, before and behind; so that when seen from front or back the ornament resembles the letter Y

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Pope Benedict will also celebrate (with his older brother Georg) the occassion of his 60th anniversary of priestly ordination.

Over at News.Va, a reflection on the occassion taken from this weeks edition of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano about the celebration for the Ratzinger brothers who were ordained together - The most important moment of my life - Sixty years ago, 29 June 1951, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained a priest



From USCCB - As part of the celebrations Catholics worldwide are asked to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s ordination to the priesthood with sixty hours of Eucharistic prayer for vocations.

The pope will celebrate his anniversary June 29, the Solemnity of St. Peter and Paul. In honor of his anniversary, the Vatican Congregation for Clergy suggested Catholic clergy and faithful be invited to participate in Eucharistic Adoration with the intention of praying for the sanctification of the clergy and for the gift of new and holy priestly vocations.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, highlighted the importance of this celebration.

“An increase in number and sanctity of the priests in service to our dioceses is a sign of health and vitality in the Church,” he said. Prayer for vocations is “a worthy intention” and an appropriate spiritual sacrifice “in gratitude for the example and service of Pope Benedict XVI,” he wrote in a May 17 letter to bishops.

For this occasion, the USCCB Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations has designed a prayer card that can be downloaded from www.foryourvocation.org. The prayer card can be linked to diocesan or parish websites, printed in parish bulletins, and used for dioceses or parishes.

Here I am Lord, to do your will

On a sunny June Sunday afternoon (June 19th) on the banks of the majestic Shannon river, in the parish church dedicated to Ss Peter and Paul, Sr Louise O'Rourke made final perpetual profession as a Sister Disciple of the Divine Master in the presence of Bishop Christopher 'Christy' Jones, her family, sisters in religion, members of her home parish as well as many friends and well wishers. 

On the liturgical feast dedicated to Divine Love expressed in the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, in a liturgy full of symbolism and simplicity culminating with the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of the saints, Sr Louise made her final public step on a journey culminating in her professing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Her journey to religious life has been a journey of exploration of love and the call to service. Previously we posted an article written by Sr Louise about her journey  - Wasted Life? - A reflection on religious profession - and in advance of the profession, the Westmeath Independent carried an interview with Sr Louise about her vocation experience. 

Regular listeners will know Sr Louise as our former Rome Correspondent who kept us informed of things roman during her time in the Eternal City.

In praise and glory of the Most Holy Trinity,

who consecrated me in Baptism and now calls me

to follow more closely Jesus Master,
Way, Truth and Life as his disciple,

I offer myself totally to God.

In your hands, Sr. Kathryn Mary Williams,

delegate of the Superior General,

before you, sisters and brothers,
I Sr. Mary Louise O’ Rourke, in full liberty,

make my vows of chastity, poverty and obedience

for my entire life according to the Rule of Life

of the Disciples of the Divine Master.

In communion with my sisters,

I commit myself to live in the Church, the charism of Fr. James Alberione

at the service of the Eucharist, the Priesthood and the Liturgy

for the coming of the Kingdom of God in the world.

I entrust myself to the intercession of Mary, Queen of Apostles,

of Saint Paul the Apostle and to the prayer of my sisters.

May God bring to fulfilment the work he has begun in me.
Amen

Ad multos annos Sr Mary Louise O'Rourke PDDM