To Be[come] a Preacher

Our Monastery of Corpus Christi in Menlo Park, California was still wrapped in the stillness of night as we four sisters-in-formation made our way to the choir for a visit with Jesus, then slipped quietly to the kitchen. Our novice mistress and another sister were busy preparing sack lunches and a good breakfast of eggs and toast to send us on our way. Hugs and good-byes exchanged, we loaded up into the waiting van and headed to the San Francisco International Airport to catch a flight to Houston, Texas, where we would meet five other sisters-in-formation from across North America. Our ultimate destination was the Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin, Texas - a two-hour drive from Houston - to begin our first year of the Monastic Theological Program with a two-week session of classes in Philosophy and Theology.

Monastic study is not like studying for school or a career - we study God and the things of God to know Him better so we might love Him more, and more effectively share Him with others.

The Monastic Theological Program, or MTS, is offered by the North American Association of Dominican Monasteries (NAADM) for nuns who have professed, or will shortly profess, simple vows. It is a four-year program of philosophical and theological studies intended to introduce the nun-in-formation to more advanced study that we can then pursue for the rest of our monastic life. Each year begins with a two-week session of intensive classes taught by Dominican friars. This year, the first week was an introduction to philosophy taught by Father Brian Chrzastek, O.P. of the Province of Saint Joseph; the second week was an introduction to theology taught by Father Philip Neri Powell, O.P. of the Province of Saint Martin de Porres. After the two-week class session, we return to our own monasteries to “unpack” what we received, write topic papers, and prepare presentations to be given to our classmates at the following year’s two-week session. But MTS is more than just a program to sharpen our Dominican pillar of study. It also provides exciting opportunities for a nun to grow in the pillars of prayer, community and preaching.

Through the Monastic Theological Studies program, nuns-in-formation share a valuable experience of Dominican life in other monastic communities and begin building community with one another.

For this four-year cycle of MTS, four monasteries of NAADM sent sisters-in-formation to participate: one sister from the Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin, Texas, one sister from Queen of Peace Monastery in British Columbia, Canada, three sisters from the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersey, and four from Corpus Christi Monastery, in Menlo Park, California. Those of us who traveled from the other three monasteries, traveled an average of 1,960 miles, or 3,110 kilometers. That’s farther than driving from Rome to Moscow!

For most of us, this was the first time we’d visited another Dominican monastery other than the one we entered. And, because our homes and monasteries are situated in vastly different regions of North America, we also have different cultural experiences and ways of expressing the values of Dominican life. Some of our monasteries are older (for North America) and were built in in a more classic European monastic style, with stained glass windows, an enclosed cloister, Gothic arches and other architectural details. Other of our monasteries were built more recently, in a more modern architectural style, and have taken into account resources available and the contemporary needs of the local community. Our respective horaria and details in observances also reflect the needs of our respective communities. So it was an enriching experience to see Dominican values lived in another monastery and hear stories from one another about each other’s home monastery.

One of our first activities was to take a tour of the monastery and meet some of the sisters. We delighted to see and learn how many things were the same as “home” and intrigued by differences. It wasn’t uncommon to hear as we went, “oh, that’s a great idea!” or, “this is how we have this arrangement, etc.” We also grew eager for the opportunity to see another of our four monasteries – next year, the community at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersey will host the MTS classes.

But beyond architecture and the structure of the regular observances, the two weeks gave us a wonderful and unique opportunity to meet and begin to form bonds with each other. While our monasteries are autonomous, no monastery exists in a vacuum - we relate to one another and share with one another our time, talents and resources primarily through our association membership. Recently, the pope and our Master have emphasized the increasing importance of interdependence between monasteries and the developing role of Federations/Associations. Naturally, if we are to effectively share the fruits of our contemplation with each other and provide needed support and collegiality, we first need to know and begin to understand one another. Our MTS experience also gave us the opportunity to concretely realize “I am not alone.” That is, there are other sisters-in-formation who are experiencing the same difficulties, challenges and blessings that come with being formed as a Dominican nun.

When a young woman enters a monastery as a postulant, it is expected there will be a learning curve, especially at community prayer - when to bow, when to knee, sit, sing - everything is governed by certain rubrics that can vary from monastery to monastery. And so, our first time in choir for liturgical prayer was, in some ways, like returning to the postulancy. The content of the prayer, naturally, was the same, but the intonations, and the details of the way the prayer was expressed was different for most of us –the configuration of the choir, the procession flow for communion, using English versus Latin for some of the hymns and prayers, etc. The hosting community was exceedingly gracious in providing us the guidance we needed to participate more fully and soon we were, more or less, in the flow of things again.

All this gave us an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the essential values of Dominican life versus structures that can and should be adapted to time and culture. It was a beautiful experience to enter into the life of the hosting community, as much as our classes and studies would allow, and live Dominican prayer in that place. Ultimately, we can begin to see how much more we share in common than what we have in differences.

A Dominican nun’s first preaching is in her fidelity to the vows and Dominican life, which reveals the reconciliation of all things in Jesus.

We sisters-in-formation were the recipients of the most sublime preaching of our Order – the reconciliation of all in Christ. For we were welcomed with open arms, with hearts full of love (and as big as the Texas skies), and hands eager to serve and make us comfortable. We preached to each other with our common sharing and examples of preserving silence and prayer, despite our being out of our element. And we preached to all those we met along the way – the active Dominican sisters from Puerto Rico who were serving in the area and a Dominican friar from India who chanced to visit while we were there; the people in the airport and on the planes who couldn’t help but notice a group of nuns in full habit and who were eager to share their stories and ask for prayers, and many more along the way that we shall never know.

“We are preachers. It’s not what we do; it’s who we are.”

— fr. Gerard Timonell, O.P., Master of the Order of Preachers

Our newly elected Master of the Order, Father Gerard Timoner, O.P., recently emphasized that “we are preachers”. It is not what we do, it is who we are. The whole experience of MTS takes a vital step in forming the cloistered nuns of North America into the preachers Jesus is calling us to be for our generation and world today.

Harness Your Passion Power!

In a previous post, we talked about what our passions are and the purpose they serve us, that they are truly powerful (for good or evil). Our passions are gifts from God and He intended them to be subject to reason, but because of sin and its effects, we must cooperate with God’s grace to discipline them and harness our passion power.

Harness Your Power! 

“A person who governs their passions is master of the world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them.” - Saint Dominic

All our passions begin with love, even hate (for example: we hate sickness only because we love health).  Our passions are informed by what we’ve taken in with our senses, including our sense of imagination, our environment, our natural temperament and biology, our upbringing and past experiences, and so on.  This is easy to see with food examples: we generally like the foods we grew up with and dislike the foods that are foreign to our palate.  But what other things trigger our emotions?  What buttons or sensitive spots do we have as a result of our temperament or past experiences that trigger anger?  Sadness? Joy?  Why?  Each of these attitudes or way of seeing and perceiving the world around us is unique to each person.

When passions break away…

We each have one or two passions that cause us particular problems and, left undisciplined, will lead us into vice. Love and desire left unchecked can lead us into bad relationships, overeating, overspending, selfishness, and so on. Sadness can leave us depressed and immobile in life. Courage can disintegrate into recklessness. Fear can freeze us from taking risks with our talents so that we bury them. Anger can lead to harsh words or even violence. So how do we harness our power without squelching it? First, pray for God’s grace and guidance. Then, remember AIR.

1. Assess - where is the heart? When you start to feel your passions rise, or even as you go about the day, pause and ask yourself, “where is my heart?” We can’t harness our passion power until we know which passion is driving us at the moment.

2. Investigate - why? Once you’ve identified the passion of the moment, ask, Why am I experiencing this passion? What is my perception of the good and/or evil here? What is it that I really love which is at root of this passion I am experiencing at this moment? Remember our passions arise because we first perceive something as good or evil - that perception is inside us and we are ultimately responsible for it.

3. Respond. Only after steps 1 and 2 are we in a place to respond to the passion. If our passion is reasonable (appropriate for the time and circumstances and in the right measure), we can give thanks! If it’s not, then we need to take measures to keep them disciplined. Our responses will depend on the passion and each person, but here are three alternatives we can try.

   1. Remind ourselves of some aspect of Jesus, Mary or the saints that shows the words, actions or virtue we want to imitate and grow.

   2. Meditate on a mystery of the Rosary or a story from Scriptures that corresponds with the passion. Saint Teresa of Avila used to advise her sisters that if they were sad, particularly for selfish or worldly reasons, and couldn’t shake it, to meditate on Jesus’ agony in the garden and His sadness. The idea is that by giving your passion “new and better food”, it will lose it’s taste for any worldly food and will become more disciplined over time.

   3. Use the passions against one another. This is where the passion of anger is particularly useful, because it is often not compatible with the other passions and can easily summon courage for action. If the passion we are experiencing is leading us to the point of yielding to temptation (perhaps we desire something that would not be healthy or even sinful, or we desire to do nothing when we should do something) or the passion is keeping us from peace and joy in truly good things (for example, we are weighed down by sadness or despair), then we can rouse anger to help dispel the “unruly passion” and spur us on to take any action we may need to take.

The struggle to discipline the passions is hard work, especially at first. But with grace, time and consistent practice, they begin to pull together and in line with reason. Passion Power!

Passion Power: Directing Us Toward The Good

It’s Friday night after a long week. You’re walking in the door from a long day of work.  Immediately, your nose picks up a smell: pizza!  Your mouth begins to salivate and your stomach growls.  You want a slice (or two or three), so you head to the kitchen.  Then you see an open tin on the counter and another smell hits you.  Anchovies.  It’s one of your roommate’s favorite pizza toppings, but you cannot stand them.  You quickly pipe up to your roommate, “none for me, thank you!” and shrugging, your roommate gobbles up “your share”.

Just then, your cell phone rings.  It’s your new boss and he is not happy about a project you finished today.  You begin to tremble and feel defensive.  You’ve been struggling at work and trying to make a good impression; as you listen to his words, your spirit sinks lower and lower - you feel powerless and immobilized and you’re mind goes numb.  Then you realize he’s not seen all of your report and your heart picks up a beat with a glimmer of hope.  Taking a deep breath, you gather your courage and leave the room with your phone as other friends begin to arrive.  A while later, you hang up the phone. The conversation took longer than you thought, but in the end, you worked everything out - your boss is happy and you feel peace to enjoy the weekend. 

Smiling with satisfaction, you remember your friends and the waiting pizza.  So you walk out into the kitchen only to find… empty pizza boxes!  A wave of sadness and disappointment sweeps over you, then irritation and anger begins to rise (how could they eat it all?!).  Your roommate enters the room, munching on a crust.  “Oh hey!  We weren’t sure how long you were going to be, so we saved you some slices.  They are in the oven keeping warm.”  As you settle in your favorite chair with your slices (anchovy-free!) and friends all around, you sigh deeply with joy.

---

 Our passions, or our emotions, are truly powerful - they can move us, or drag us down, like nothing else!  But what are our passions?  What purpose do they serve? Are they good? Should we just “follow our hearts” and let our passions lead us? Or are they so opposed to our intellect that we should try to deny and extinguish them? Can we harness our passion power for good and not evil?

Know Your Power!

As humans, we are flesh and spirit, body and soul.  Our passions, or emotions, are movements of our sensitive appetite and is something we have in common with all animals.  We perceive some object with our senses, we believe it to be either good or evil and a change in our physical bodies results.  In our above example, we smelled pizza, we believe pizza is good and our mouths began to water and our stomach growled.  When we thought our friends had eaten the pizza, thus depriving us of that good, we experienced sadness, and so on.

Thomas Aquinas describes eleven passions.  Six passions incline us to seek sensible and pleasurable goods and to flee harmful evil: love, hate, desire, aversion, joy, and sadness.  The remaining five passions incline us to resist obstacles and, in spite of them, to obtain a difficult good: hope, despair, courage, fear, and anger. Looking back at our story, can you spot all 11 passions?

Power For Good…Or Evil?

So are the passions good or bad?  Pleasure-seekers would say, “they are good!  Follow your passions!  Do what feels good!  That is a legitimate expression of our human nature!”  Stoics, recognizing unbridled passions can lead us to act contrary to our human reason, would argue that passions should be suppressed.  We, as Catholics, take the middle road: our passions are neither good nor bad – it’s what we do with them that matters.  What makes them good or bad is whether they are conformed to right reason.  Having one or two slices of pizza when we’re hungry is not bad!  Having a whole pizza or two likely is. 

Thomas Aquinas also goes further.  Our passions can actually increase or decrease the merits of our virtuous acts (and do the same for the demerits of our vicious ones)!  We instinctively recognize this when we watch someone doing something good, but say “his heart is not in it.”  God too loves a cheerful giver, which is why we should strive to have our passions in line with right reason.  So our passions should be disciplined, but not extinguished.  We can think of our passions as the “horsepower” of our soul.  Our passions are like a stallion, our body the chariot and our intellect the driver.  If the driver does not train and guide the stallion with a firm but gentle hand, the stallion will break away and cause a wreck.  Next time, we’ll talk more about how to harness this passion power!