World Vocation Day of Prayer ~ An Unexpected Vocation

Greetings,

Every sister's call to follow Christ to our community is unique. Some sisters felt their religious call from a young age while others were surprised by God after college or career. In honor of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we are sharing Sister Ann's vocation story.

My story is probably unique in that I joined the Benedictines to prove that I didn't have a vocation,  that God wasn't calling me, and that I would leave the community as soon as God and they were satisfied that I wasn't cut out to be a nun.

At the time I was sure that convent life was not for me.  It seems, however, that God had other plans.   Some of my former teachers, especially Sister Celestine Comeau, who taught me in fourth, fifth, and seventh grades,  kept counseling me even after I had graduated from eight years of elementary school where all my eight teachers were Yankton Benedictine nuns—insisting that she saw the nun in me.

She shared that feeling with  Mother Jerome Schmitt who, when she visited the Sisters teaching in Aberdeen,  would then call me to visit briefly with her while I was in high school—always encouraging me to consider life as a Benedictine.  She had been told, it seems, that I was also very interested in going to college to qualify for teacher certificate.

We talked, and I kept postponing a decision.  When I graduated in 1945 and had been offered a scholarship to a Minnesota Catholic college, I knew I had to try out life there, even if briefly—just to prove to others and myself that I didn't belong.   That was seventy years ago, and I’m still here.  God and they knew better I guess.  I know today that the choice was the right one for me.  I have no regrets that I made the choice to remain.

The community and the daily prayer and Mass schedule plus I did get that college and even higher education and spent forty-eight years teaching—the last forty at our college here.  I can’t picture my life being so fulfilling elsewhere. 

Sister Ann's unique story continued to draw her closer to Christ and our Benedictine traditions throughout her ministry as a teacher and professor of Church history and author of Benedictine history. Her perseverance in seeking God's call has been a blessing to us all.

Blessings to all as you discern God's call in your life...

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Greetings,

As the Universal Church celebrates a day of prayer for vocations, we invite you to reflect on the first part of Saint Benedict's instructions on "The Manner of Receiving Sisters"...

When anyone is newly come for the reformation of her life,
let her not be granted an easy entrance;
but, as the Apostle says,
"Test the spirits to see whether they are from God."
If the newcomer, therefore, perseveres in her knocking,
and if it is seen after four or five days
that she bears patiently the harsh treatment offered her
and the difficulty of admission,
and that she persists in her petition,
then let entrance be granted her,
and let her stay in the guest house for a few days.

After that let her live in the novitiate,
where the novices study, eat and sleep.
A senior shall be assigned to them who is skilled in winning souls,
to watch over them with the utmost care.
Let her examine whether the novice is truly seeking God,
and whether she is zealous
for the Work of God, for obedience and for trials.
Let the novice be told all the hard and rugged ways
by which the journey to God is made.

If she promises stability and perseverance,
then at the end of two months
let this rule be read through to her,
and let her be addressed thus:
"Here is the law under which you wish to fight.
If you can observe it, enter;
if you cannot, you are free to depart."
If she still stands firm,
let her be taken to the above-mentioned novitiate
and again tested in all patience.
And after the lapse of six months let the Rule be read to her,
that she may know on what she is entering.
And if she still remains firm,
after four months let the same Rule be read to her again.

Then, having deliberated with herself,
if she promises to keep it in its entirety
and to observe everything that is commanded,
let her be received into the community.
But let her understand that,
according to the law of the Rule,
from that day forward she may not leave the monastery
nor withdraw her neck from under the yoke of the Rule
which she was free to refuse or to accept
during that prolonged deliberation.

Rule of Benedict Chapter 58

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

Greetings,

On this 51st World Day of Prayer for Vocations, our Holy Father, Pope Francis has shared a message to all those disposed to being laborers for the harvest!

 ... "Many times we have prayed with the words of the Psalmist: "It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture"; or: "The Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession"... Hence the way of belonging to God is explained:  it comes about through a unique and personal relationship with Jesus, which Baptism confers on us from the beginning of our rebirth to new life.  It is Christ, therefore, who continually summons us by his word to place our trust in him, loving him "with all the heart, with all the understanding, and will all the strength".  Therefore every vocation, even within the variety of paths, always requires an exodus from oneself in order to center one's life on Christ and on his Gospel...Therefore, we are all called to adore Christ in our hearts in order to allow ourselves to be touched by the impulse of grace contained in the seed of the world, which must grow in us and be transformed into concrete service to our neighbour.  We need not be afraid:  God follows the world of his hands with passion and skill in every phase of life.  He never abandons us!  He has the fulfillment of his plan for us at heart, and yet he wishes to achieve it with our consent and cooperation.

Today too, Jesus lives and walks along the paths of ordinary life in order to draw near to everyone, beginning with the least, and to heal us of our infirmities and illnesses. I turn now to those who are well disposed to listen to the voice of Christ that rings out in the Church and to understand what their own vocation is.  I invite you to listen to and follow Jesus, and to allow yourselves to be transformed interiorly by his words, which "are spirit and life".  Mary, the Mother of Jesus and ours, also says to us:  "Do whatever he tells you".  It will help you to participate in a communal journey that is able to release the best energies in you and around you.  A vocation is a fruit that ripens in a well cultivated field of mutual love that becomes mutual service, in the context of an authentic ecclesial life.  No vocation is born of itself or lives for itself.  A vocation flows from the heart of God and blossoms in the good soil of faithful people, in the experience of fraternal love.  Did not Jesus say:  "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another"? ...

Are you considering a call to the consecrated life?  We invite you to learn more about our Benedictine Life and discern with us in an upcoming retreat May 24-26:  
Exploring Benedictine Life:  Listening in Context.

Blessings,