Deo Gratias! Our first Come and See: Virtual Retreat

Despite the difficult times in which we live, and in particular the radical changing of our interpersonal interactions due to COVID, all around us God is opening new windows of grace. This past weekend, we virtually hosted an energetic group of young women for our first Come and See: Virtual Retreat, and the weekend is a testament to God’s goodness.

From across the U.S., almost 20 young women responded to God’s invitation to spend the weekend in prayer and communion with Him, learning more about cloistered Dominican life, and interacting with our community and fellow discerners. The Virtual Retreat followed the flow our our regular day, so those attending were able to be with us virtually for Mass, the Divine Office and periods of adoration. Our retreat preacher was Father Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P., a friar of the Western Dominican Province currently assigned to Blessed Sacrament Church in Seattle, Washington. The conferences offered included two talks by Father Thomas Aquinas - one on Dominican Spirituality and a second on how to discern vocation with guidance from St. Thomas Aquinas, focusing on the virtues one needs to properly discern! And over the weekend, there was time for questions, vocation stories, and conversation with the community.

We are grateful for the young women who were with us for the Virtual Retreat and ask that you join us in continuing to keep them in prayer. We are also deeply grateful for Father Thomas Aquinas, our chaplain Father Reginald Martin, O.P., and all those who offered advice, support, and prayers as we hosted our first Come and See: Virtual Retreat. Thank you and God bless you!

And if you are (or someone you know is) a single, Catholic young woman who has been feeling a call to look closer at religious life, we invite you to check out our January Come and See: Virtual Retreat.

Praying the liturgy of the hours with the community.

Retreat speaker Father Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P., a friar of the Western Dominican Province.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; the celebrant and preacher was our chaplain, Father Reginald Martin, O.P., of the Western Dominican Province.

The Bride’s Love of God: The Response, Uniquely Dominican

Part Three of the Portrait of a Cloistered Dominican Nun Series.

A Dominican nun lives a contemplative life at the heart of the Church – something in common with all cloistered contemplative religious. But the full flowering of her contemplative vocation is uniquely Dominican: the liturgy and sacraments form the foundation of her prayer; her mind is renewed and enlightened through study, which guides her will and disciplines her heart; through Dominican common life, she becomes one in heart and mind with her sisters in God; and by living her vows as a cloistered nun, she preaches to others that God alone suffices.

Her life is liturgical and sacramental, that is, a life founded on liturgical prayer and the sacraments. As a cloistered religious, the Church entrusts to her the mission of praying for and on behalf of the Church and the world. Seven times a day, she is called to the choir by her Beloved, to make an offering of sacrifice and praise and call down His graces for His people and the world. This grace, like blood in a body, is sent out to all the Church’s members for their needs. She also cherishes the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. As the sacrament of unity, it is the sacrament of contemplation, the sacrament of eternal life. It is Christ Jesus Himself.

The life of a Dominican nun is doctrinal. Her love for her Beloved is nourished through her study. If we do not know our faith, we run a grave risk of falling into error or even heresy. Study submits us to Truth and the teaching authority of the Church. Study is also absolutely indispensable for apostles. For we cannot love what (or who) we do not know – a Dominican nun studies so as to know her Beloved all the more and to be able to express her affective knowledge of Him to others. God grants us knowledge of Him in our heart through love; but study gives us the words and concepts to share the fruits of our contemplation with others, and so to lead them into the mysteries of the faith.

A Dominican nun lives a fraternal life; she takes active part in her monastic community and in the Dominican Order. As love is at the heart of the Church, so too is love at the heart of the Dominican Order. All members of the Order are called to live a common life together, as the early Church lived, calling nothing one’s own, but sharing everything in common. A Dominican nun gladly gives up not only her possessions, but she puts her knowledge, talents, and skills, to common use of the community, as God, through the superiors, see fit. A Dominican nun also shares freely her spiritual riches of soul and mind. All she has, all she is, is put at the service of the Order. Through her community, she is exercised in the virtues, which leads her to greater contemplation. Her life of fraternal charity manifests the Holy Trinity.

And finally, through her religious profession and living of the vows, the life of a Dominican nun is sacrificial. At baptism, every Christian dies to self and the world and is reborn as a new creation in Christ Jesus. At profession, that death and rebirth is renewed in a profound way - she is consecrated to Almighty God. She has become a “house of prayer”, set aside as sacred for God alone. Her sacrifice is herself and she gives herself daily by living according to the Rule, Constitutions and laws of the Order. The religious observances and rubrics of the Order, such as silence, fasting, abstinence, wearing of the habit, prayers, and so forth, stand as one of the means to achieve the ends of the Order. When a Dominican nun fulfills her vows and lives the observances with fidelity, they daily immolate her – through them she joins her Beloved on Calvary as she dies to self and the world for love.

Bride of the Infinite Bridegroom: The Response

Part Two of the Portrait of a Cloistered Dominican Nun series. Click here for Part One.

The Dominican nun, having heard God call her to a vocation of love, longs to give herself completely to Him in love.

She has seen the things the world has to offer – many of them good things, created by God and which can lead people to knowledge and love of God. She has grown in knowledge and perhaps began exercising her talents and skills by means of her education, a career, in her parish and relationships with family and friends. Yet, her heart is not satisfied: she realizes that even these good things of life on earth are passing away. She desires to give herself completely to the eternal: Supreme Goodness in Truth and Love. And she burns with love for the souls around her who are wandering in darkness, without the light of Truth.

A Dominican nun sets herself to follow in the footsteps of our Holy Father Dominic, who first gave himself to God in a life of contemplation, and then was sent by God as a “useless servant” to preach the Gospel to those living in darkness.

The Dominican nun follows her Beloved into the desert and, in the example of Moses and Queen Esther, prays for God’s mercy and grace on behalf of lost souls. As her Beloved Jesus first expressed His thirst for souls while suffering on the cross, this desire burned in the heart of our Holy Father Dominic. A Dominican nun shares in this longing for souls and Dominic’s words continue to ring out toward heaven from the lips of his daughters and sons: “Lord, what will become of sinners?”

Look at a community of Dominican nuns and you will see all kinds of personalities, gifts and skills. Like a beautiful garden with a variety of flowers and plants, no two Dominican nuns are alike.

There is no one “type” of Dominican contemplative; you cannot look at a person and say he or she has a “natural disposition” for contemplation. Rather, the contemplative life is a calling to a life of love, of affective knowledge of God, that is, knowledge of the heart (as opposed to the intellect). God can impart knowledge of Himself through love to the heart, and it is this knowledge that forms the core of the contemplative life. It is aimed at eternal things, a supernatural life of grace and the living out of the theological virtues (faith, hope and love) in a radical way. In this way, it is a life at the heart of the Church, a lamp on a hill as a sign to all the faithful of the life to come.

The Dominican nun has an apostolic heart and participates intimately in the holy preaching of the Dominican Order.

There are many kinds of preaching: catechetical, apologetics, and so on. But holy preaching is the essential function of the contemplative life. Holy preaching unveils the mysteries that are the objects of the faith and presents them as nourishment to the faith; it is divine because God uses the preacher as His instrument. Holy preaching is a gift from God and as such, the preacher must content himself or herself to wait on God and be used at His pleasure, in His own way and time. Jesus’ life was one of holy preaching. But it was not until after Pentecost, when the disciples had experienced the silence of contemplation with the Blessed Virgin in the Cenacle, that the Spirit came upon them and sent them forth to preach.

A Dominican nun waits in silence and preaches as Mary – most often in her life of prayer and silence.

Sometimes she preaches through a word of encouragement to her brothers and sisters, and the faithful with whom she comes in contact. And always her example speaks volumes as it shows forth our dignity as children and spouses of the triune God.

Want to learn more about how to discover the gifts God has given you and about cloistered, contemplative life as a Dominican nun? Check out our resources for discernment on our website and contact Sister Joseph Marie with any questions or to arrange a visit to learn more.

Five Takeaways from our January Come-and-See

Did you miss our January Come and See Day? While we can’t share everything about the day in one blog post, here are five takeaway-points given to us by our speakers: Father John Marie Bingham, O.P., Sister Mary Isabel of the Angels, O.P. and Brother Athanasius Thompson, O.P.

Before we can say “yes” to God’s will, we must lay a foundation of trusting in Him. Father John Marie advised the young women present to pray frequently, “Jesus, I trust in you.” Only when we trust in God’s goodness and love toward us can we also have the courage to do His will when he calls us to act.

A few of our sisters sitting in on Father John Marie’s talk.

Before we can tell God, ‘yes, I will follow your will’,
we have to trust Him
and that His will is for us to be truly happy.
The fact that you are here, that you took the step of coming today,
is proof of your trust in Him and His goodness and love for you.

Father John Marie Bingham, O.P.

Saint Dominic modeled for his sons and daughters a life of Gospel simplicity and nobility. How do we live this in our own lives? Father John Marie offered and explained five steps: earnestly ask God for mercy; sit at His feet and listen to Him; live as He lived; do what He did - go to the cross; and then go and preach the Gospel.

God will sustain our efforts in our given vocation. Whatever vocation God is calling you to, only His grace and strength will make it possible for you to be fruitful in it. All we have to do is receive the grace and respond with our “yes” - He will take care of the rest.

Religious life is a school of perfection. In other words, perfection is not a requirement for entering religious life - it is by living religious life in cooperation with God’s grace that we are made perfect.

Brother speaks on Dominican life.

As Dominicans, we participate in a rich spiritual and intellectual tradition for the mission of salvation of souls as part of the Dominican family. Sister Mary Isabel and Brother Athanasius shared about Dominican contemplative life, including how and why Dominicans stress community/common life and study. Dominican intellectual life is aimed at knowing God so we may love Him more; Dominican community/common life mirrors the Church in that the Dominican Order is truly a body with many parts.

I felt a great connection to the community and sisters, the prayer,
and description of life here. I would love to be in touch more about “what next”
- what I can or should do to continue discerning and learning…

Come and See Day Participant

Our deepest gratitude to Father John Marie, Brother Athanasius, and to all those who kept us, and the young women in attendance, in prayer.  Please continue to offer your prayers for them (and us!) as they continue seeking God's will for their lives.

Our next Come and See Day is Saturday, July 18th and we already have young women registering. If you or someone you know has put off taking the next step in discerning God’s will, say a prayer of trust and make a commitment today to simply “Come and See!” For more information about our Come and Say Days, and our Janua Caeli Retreat Days, or to register for either event, visit Retreat Days on our website.

Is He Calling You?

Happy 2020!

At the beginning of the New Year, the Church also steps into the “Ordinary Time” of the Liturgical Year. In the Gospel of this first day of this Ordinary Time, we see our Lord began his ministry and gave his very first homily: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” (Mark. 1:15)

Jesus was not a lone ranger. No! To help him with the preaching mission, Jesus began calling the first disciples after spending days in prayer and being baptized for the mission. We are told that as Jesus passed by the Sea of Galilee, he called Simon and his brother Andrew. And Peter and Andrew “abandoned their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:18). Going a little further, Jesus called James and John and they “left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him” (Mark 1:20).

These men were busily engaged in their profession and helping their families at the prosperous trade of fishing. Yet when Jesus called, they immediately left everything and everyone behind to follow him. Why? They certainly were neither poor nor desperate. On the contrary, they seemed to have given up A LOT!

These disciples were able to (immediately) give up all the good things in life because their deepest desire was for God and God alone. When Jesus called them, the disciples sincerely and humbly acknowledged their thirst for God and accepted Jesus’ invitation. By doing so, they allowed God to fill them more than they could ever imagine…His very self. Peter affirmed this happiness later on when Jesus gave his disciples a chance to leave him: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

Is He calling you? Have courage and respond! There are still rooms available and time to register for our Come and See Day this Saturday, January 18th; visit our Upcoming Events page for more information and to register.

Rev. John Marie Bingham, O.P.

Our participants will be given tools to help them discerning vocations, and opportunities to meet the nuns and those who are also discerning their vocations. Our guest speakers are Rev. John Marie Bingham, O.P., vocation director of the Western Dominican Province and Brother Athanasius Thompson, O.P. of the Western Dominican Province.

Please pray for our speakers and the young women who will be coming to our monastery discernment day this Saturday, January 18th and for all those who are called to share more intimately in the preaching mission of Jesus Christ.

Bride of the Infinite Bridegroom: The Call

Part One of the Portrait of a Cloistered Dominican Nun series.

Throughout the Christmas season, we are lavished with reminders of God’s love and compassion for us. Every person is loved into existence. Even those that, from an earthly perspective may seem unwanted, uncared for, the fact remains that before their flesh took form in their mother’s womb, they were thought of by God, down to the number of the hairs on their head, and God loved the idea of that person so much, He gave that person existence.

You, who once did not exist, now live and breathe because God wants you to be. He loved, and still loves you, into being.

And He does not simply sit back and watch the world unfold. He does not casually watch us as we would watch a movie, rooting for the good, booing the bad, crying with separated lovers and rejoicing when things end happily ever after. No, it is a great mystery how He works in human history, for our history is truly His story, and still He still respects our freewill to either cooperate with His graces or not, to love Him or spurn Him. Saint Catherine of Siena called Him a “mad lover,” because He does everything with precision to woo us and show us the infinite good that He is and offers us.

This is the Christian vocation – to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him, He who is infinite good. In that sense, every single Christian is called to contemplation.

But there are some people He chooses to woo most directly. From the beginning of time, He saw these souls and was enamored by them, and chose them to be set aside, consecrated, just for Him. He would make them His Spouse while they were yet on earth. Within this calling to a contemplative life as the Spouse of Christ, He further invites them to share in His heart, in His love, in a particular way – that is, the charism of the Order to which He calls them.

The Dominican Order was founded by Our Holy Father Dominic with the mission of preaching for the salvation of souls. During his days, Dominic joyfully gave himself freely to his brothers and sisters, encouraging and teaching them in holiness, and to his neighbors preaching the Gospel. He studied and contemplated God’s Word and sacred truth so that he might share with others the fruits of his contemplation. During the night, he spent himself in prayer, giving God praise and adoration, and interceding for the people. Periodically, he could be overheard crying out in prayer: “Lord, what will happen to sinners?” In the example and instruction of our Holy Father Dominic, Dominican life is based on the four pillars of Prayer, Study, Community, and Preaching; its mission has two intertwining parts: to give praise and glory to God and for the salvation of souls. A Dominican nun shares in this priestly and apostolic heart.

As Mary watched over the Church in the upper room at Pentecost, praying with and for them, and then the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and went out to preach to the people, a Dominican nun spends her life in praise, prayer and sacrifice for the preaching work of the Dominican Order and the salvation of souls.

A cloistered Dominican nun is inseparably joined to the entire Dominican family and continually offers praise, prayer and sacrifices on their behalf. As the ground must be softened by water so that the seeds sown in it will grow, a Dominican nun remains at the feet of her Beloved, Jesus, contemplating Him; she does this so that the Gospel preached throughout the world would not return to God empty, but may accomplish those things for which it was sent. If we do not first pray for the Holy Spirit to rain down on hearts hardened by sin and self-love, how can the seeds of the Gospel sown by the preacher take root, grow, and bear fruit?

Want to learn more about how to discover the gifts God has given you and about cloistered, contemplative life as a Dominican nun? Then you don’t want to miss our “Come-and-See” Day - Saturday, January 18th! Visit our Retreat Days page or email our vocations directress, Sister Joseph Marie, O.P. for more information and to register.

Young Women Gather at the Monastery for our July Come and See Day

Last Saturday, our monastery received a group of young women traveling from different parts of the country to attend our July Come-and-See Day as part of their vocation discernment. The day began with Mass and Terce (Midmorning Prayer of the Divine Office). The celebrant, homilist and guest speaker for the day was Father David Schunk, STL of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Father David Schunk, STL diocesan priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco

Brother Patrick Rooney, O.P. of the Western Dominican Province

During his conference following Mass, he spoke about every Christian’s baptismal call to holiness and how religious life deepens that call in a special way. He stressed that discernment begins in relationship with God. “To know your mission, you must know your identity, who you truly are, and you can only know that in relationship with God.” He went on to offer reassurance for those who may not feel “good enough” for a particular calling. “He doesn’t call the qualified - He qualifies the called.” Father Schunk is currently serving as Assistant Vice-Rector and Formation Advisor at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

The second guest speaker was Brother Patrick Rooney, O.P., student brother of the Western Dominican Province, who spoke on aspects of Dominican spirituality. “Contemplation is a union of mind with God, made possible only by His grace.” He went on, “true happiness is in giving yourself away to another as a gift and holding nothing back.”

Sister Mary Isabel, O.P., our subprioress, spoke to the group about the monastic vocation. “If you remember nothing else from my talk, remember that the monastic life is, at its heart, a calling to profound friendship with God.”

Our Come and See Days offer young women an opportunity to taste a bit of Dominican monastic life. They are planned around the community’s regular schedule of prayer, work/class and recreation. Thus, the young women in attendance experience the ebb and flow of the Divine Office, personal prayer and adoration, as well as recreation with the community and hearing a few of the nuns’ vocation stories.

Our deepest gratitude to Father David Schunk, Brother Patrick Rooney, and to all those who kept us, and the young women in attendance, in prayer.  Please continue to offer your prayers for them (and us!) as they continue seeking God's will for their lives.    Deo gratias!

Come Spouse of Christ! Sister André Marie Professes First Vows

June 29th, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, was warm and bright as our chapel filled with friends and family, here to celebrate Mass and witness Sister André Marie of Divine Mercy make her first profession of vows. The principal celebrant and homilist was Very Rev. Christopher Fadok, O.P., prior provincial of the Western Dominican Province. The main concelebrants were Rev. Johnpeter Pragasam, Rev. Thuong Nguyen, Rev. Tri Pham, and Rev. Reginald Martin, O.P.

During his homily, Father Christopher tied together the balance and beauty of the life of the Church exemplified in Saints Peter and Paul, with the balance and beauty of discerning and living the contemplative vocation.

“Bishop and missionary. Integrity and creativity. Responsibility and freedom.” Father Christopher said. He went on to say that the Church needs both to strike the right balance and thrive, as do each of us individually. “What does it take to make us stand upright and proclaim the Gospel without falling over? It is a balancing act and creates a sense of tension, but good tension. A tension that brings us joy because we know we are making progress on the way.”

Sister André Marie professed vows in the hands of our prioress Sister Maria Christine of the Cross, O.P. After Father Christopher presented Sister André Marie with the black veil of a professed nun, Sister Maria Christine was assisted by our novice mistress, Sister Joseph Marie of the Child Jesus, O.P. in changing sister’s veil from the novice white to professed black.

Following the Mass, Sister André Marie greeted family and friends in parlor for a joyful and bountiful reception. Deo gratias!

Celebrating the vocation of Saint Francis...

Take a coffee break with Sister Joseph Marie! Happy feast of Saint Francis!