Interreligious Dialogue by Sr. Kathy Smolik, OSB

“There’s a monastic way of listening that lets the other define itself without my inner commentary and yes, judgment. Dialogue itself is enough and the ‘other’ is the topic. The message has no content, only presence” (Sr. Meg Funk, Bulletin 70).

Have you ever spoken with someone of a different world religion? Have you really wanted to know what they believe? What kind of conversation would you have with a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or Jew? Could we possibly have anything in common?

I am in my fourth year of being a member of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue board that fosters dialogue between members of the major world religions. Established in 1978, the board itself is in its thirty-fourth year of existence.

“The success of (a meeting between Christian and non-Christian monastics in India in 1973) prompted Cardinal Pignedoli, who was then Prefect of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, to ask Abbot Primate Rembert Weakland to encourage Benedictines to become involved in interreligious dialogue because, as he put it, ‘monasticism is the bridge between religions’” (About MID).

Monasticism in the Christian tradition is ordered to cultivate a deep life of prayer and it is from this perspective that those following the Benedictine way of life were asked to dialogue with other religions.

My experience of dialogue has had a profound impact on my life. The first realization I came to early on is that to dialogue with another I must be firmly rooted in my own faith tradition. I must be grounded with both feet in my Catholic/ Benedictine tradition. Most importantly, Jesus Christ needs to be my center.

From this place of rootedness I can then sit at the table of dialogue with an honest and sincere desire to “listen” to another human being with very different and sometimes opposing beliefs. This need not shake us. These can be moments of profound respect for our diversity as creatures. As I practice listening with openness and (hopefully) transparency, I also share my own deeply held convictions as a vowed Catholic religious.

The particular event sponsored by the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue board that has been most meaningful to me and dear to my heart is an ongoing dialogue called “Nuns in the West.” This past Labor Day Weekend 2008 eight Benedictine nuns met with six Buddhist nuns from various lineages to discuss the inner life of training.

The meeting was the third in a series that began in with an inspiration in 2002. At this third meeting held at a Benedictine Monastery in Rock Island, Illinois, “Sister Meg explained how the first Nuns in the West began—the ‘genetic moment’ in her words. She and Ven. Yifa conceived the Nuns in the West project at the 2002 Gethsemani Encounter. They and the other women participants at Gethsemani II envisioned an event at which ‘just nuns’ would gather and dialogue in a more intense way and at a deeper level of personal relationships. There were to be no media, observers, or formal papers. This proposal was subsequently approved at an annual Monastic Interreligious Dialogue board meeting and the idea was on its way. The first gathering was so positive that another meeting was held two years later in 2005. According to Sister Meg, it has become ‘one of the most important events of interreligious dialogue that Monastic Interreligious Dialogue has ever sponsored’” (Bulletin 81).

In the next reflection I will share more about the content of our dialogue and the fruits of this dialogue, as I understand them. For now I would like to end as I began, with this quote that sums up for me the spirit of dialogue and how to be in the presence of another human being:
“There’s a monastic way of listening that lets the other define itself without my inner commentary and yes, judgment. Dialogue itself is enough and the ‘other’ is the topic. The message has no content, only presence” (Sr. Meg Funk)

Link:
http://monasticdialog.com/index.php

Fr. Matthias Neuman's Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent

1. The last topic we need to explore in this Lenten series on the effects of the sacrament of Baptism is how Baptism makes us sharers in the servant ministry of Jesus Christ. The actual image is of Christ fulfiling the Old testament offices of Priest, Prophet and King. We have looked at Priest and Prophet, but King seems to be more problematic. Until we remember that the function of the King of Israel was to be a servant of the people, to help the people in their obedience to and journey to their God. To speak of King is to speak of a servant-minister and it's that aspect that Jesus embodies. Again we turn to the Second Vatican Council to hear the Church's teaching: "The lay apostolate is a participation in the salvific ministry of the Church itself. Through their baptism and confirmation all are commissioned to that apostolate by the Lord himself." (L.G. # 33) And in the years since the council this vision has been grasped by many individuals in the Church's pastoral associates, directors of religious ed, catechists, youth ministers, and the list goes on.

2. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council we have seen an incredible growth in the number of people who are partaking in the ministries of the Church. And I think there is ample evidence that many of these people have found their ministry and spirituality well fulfilled in their ministering. A recent example is an article in America magazine by a Mary Foley. She has served as a Parish Life Coordinator in several dioceses. She writes: "This has been a ministry full of joy and one in which I felt most fully alive. In a word, it is a ministry for which I was made. Pastoring is my vocation. I deeply love my church and I am thankful for every ministry opportunity I have had." (March 9, 2009, p. 12) The same themes appeared in another collection of ministry accounts: Why We Serve. They give a lot of different reasons for the motives that urged them to this work of ministry: wanting to serve, wanting to help people on their spiritual journeys, etc. But I didn't find many mentions of today's topic: wanting to share in the servant ministry of Jesus. I think they are missing out on something here. Just think of how powerful an invitation and meaning it was for generations of priests to know and feel that they were sharing in the priesthood of Christ. That same powerful invitation and meaning should be there for any Christian minister: they are sharing in the servant-ministry of Jesus. What exactly is that?

3. The patterns of Jesus' ministry provide a guide for the ministry of Christians. First of all, notice Jesus' great concern for human suffering. How many Gospel stories capture the immediate attentiveness Jesus gives to people who are blind, lame, crippled, emotionally disturbed, epileptic, hemorrhaging, deaf or the grieving (widow of Naim). Jesus deals personally with each suffering individual. Embedded in these stories is the fact that Jesus participates in the suffering of people. His concern was so powerful that he identified with and shared in the suffering being endured. Reading Jesus-stories of healings, a principle emerges: the kindness and understanding of Jesus towards those whose pain was profound. That example is a mandate to all his followers: Recognize human suffering! See it, respond to it; realize it as a dominant fact in people's lives and their relationship with God. Jesus' ministry is a response to the suffering of this world.

4. Whenever any of us respond to the needs of someone who is suffering in any way we are sharing in the servant-ministry of Jesus. A teacher helping a teenager struggling with life choices, a therapist assisting an aged woman suffering with arthritis, a nurse comforting a suffering patients they should see themselves sharing in the servant-ministry of Jesus. They need to know and feel that. Let's all pray now for an increase in such an awareness.

A Commentary for the 5th Sunday of Lent by Sr. Mary Luke Jones, OSB

 It is obvious from the Gospel reading that Jesus knew and understood his mission. “I am troubled,” he says, “but what should I say? God, save me from this hour? It is the purpose for which I came.”  

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were so sure about our lives, our mission, our purpose in life? Truthfully, we pretty much flounder around…taking what comes…dealing with it as best we can…succeeding, failing, succeeding, failing…and learning all the while.  

Maybe I’m just talking about myself. You may have things more in line in your life. The truth of the matter is, however, we can make all the plans we want but if they are not God’s plans…well, you know how that goes. There is a saying, “If you want to make God laugh…tell God your plans.” We have so little control over what comes our way.  

What we can learn from Jesus’ comment is that there is no future in our saying No to God. God always wins! Would it do us any good to say, “God, save me from this illness, this situation, this relationship, this problem, this mess?” No. We’ve tried that and life just does not work that way.  

Unlike Jesus, we do not know exactly the purpose for which we have come. We do know what we are supposed to do while we are here. It’s spelled out very clearly…feed the poor, cloth the naked, bury the dead, visit the sick. Be people of faith...people of hope...people whose lives are guided by love.

It is in so doing that we find our purpose. So, as we go through life let us not ask God to save us from this, that or the other. This, that and the other may just be the purpose for which we came.

Joy is the Surest Sign of God's Presence in the Soul

Fr. Patrick Beidelman recently emailed this article to me by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.RR. I found it to be very helpful as I continue along this Lenten journey. I thought I would pass it on to you as well. Enjoy and may God bless our efforts to grow in holiness, with a joyful disposition, during this season of Lent.

Anyone who loves sports knows that in order to win, you need both a good offense and a good defense. One without the other isn't enough for victory. For example, in baseball you need good hitters to score a lot of runs; that's a good offense. But if you don't have good pitching and good fielding, the other team will score more runs and win. You can lose without a good defense. It's the same in football. You can have a team that plays good defense, keeping the other team from scoring too many points. That's critical for victory. But if the offense scores even fewer points, because the other team has a good defense, too, your team will lose for lack of scoring. Just as a good defense and a good offense go together in sports, so they must go together in the work of evangelization. In our last column, we looked at spiritual joy and its contribution to evangelism. But we focused on only one aspect of that contribution - namely, joy as a good defense, a help to the evangelist personally. In this regard, we saw how joy can help preserve the individual evangelist from various kinds of spiritual sadness, such as the sadness caused by discouragement, weariness, boredom, or criticism. Now just as a good defense without a good offense is not enough, so spiritual joy, if it's limited only to a supportive personal role for the evangelist, won't be enough to win others to Christ. We must put joy on the offense, because it's one of the most powerful tools for evangelizing. An important part of Mother Teresa's joyful-ness was her wonderful sense of humor. "If you want to make God laugh," she once said, "just tell Him your plans!" Spiritual joy affects not only the evangelizer, but also those being evangelized. Someone who understood the effectiveness of joy in dealing with others was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was certainly a persistently joyful person. I remember how, on my first visit to the Missionaries of Charity in the South Bronx, I was walking through a room near the chapel when a little poster caught my eye. It read, "Joy is the surest sign of God's presence in the soul." If we think of a person's face as the window of his soul, then a joyful look, a kind smile, unmistakably reflects God's presence within. For without God in the soul, we can't have love, joy, or peace within. This is why St. Paul can write: "For the kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). Mother Teresa was someone in whom we could see the joy of God's presence radiating out to others, even to the "poorest of the poor." This is why so many people of various social, cultural, ethnic, and even religious backgrounds were attracted to her. She valued joy so much that she actually designated "cheerfulness" as part of the charism or spirit of her religious community. I'd like to paraphrase two of Mother Teresa's sayings about joy. First: "A joyful servant of God is a net to catch souls for God." With so much drudgery and unhappiness in the world today, authentically joyful people stand out. Others stop and take notice of them - especially if it's a quality they lack and wish they could find for themselves. When they discover the joy they're looking for beaming at them from the face of another person, they're already caught like a fish in a net. A second saying of Mother Teresa's can be paraphrased this way: "A joyful servant of God preaches without preaching." If a picture is worth a thousand words, who can measure the effect of a joyful believer on others, believers and non-believers alike? I've experienced the powerful attraction of joy in my own life. When I was a young teenager, I was considering entering the seminary. I visited a friary one day where there were a number of young brothers in training, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. I remember coming home from my visit that day and thinking to myself, "I want that happiness for myself!" The best thing any salesperson can do to sell his or her product is to tell customers, "I use the product myself, and I like it!" The joyful attitude of an evangelist tells all that and more before he even utters a word. An important part of Mother Teresa's joyfulness was her wonderful sense of humor, often expressed in wry comments she would make to those around her. "If you want to make God laugh," she once said, "just tell Him your plans!" On another occasion, she said to me, "Father, I have a new prayer! I pray to God: "Use me! Do whatever You want with my life! Send me wherever You want! But don't consult me!" It's important for evangelists and apologists to have a good sense of humor and a sharp wit. When evangelizing, people more easily remember things said with some humor. After all, we're the only creatures God made in this world who can laugh. So humor must be an important aspect of what it means to be human. For apologists, wit can often make the difference between a fruitful discussion ending on a hopeful note and a harsh argument ending on a note of anger or hurt feelings. I recall, for example, how Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was on a train one day when he got into a discussion with an Episcopal priest about the validity of Anglican priestly ordination. (The Catholic Church concluded in the nineteenth century, after an extensive study of Anglican orders, that it could not accept the validity of those orders.) The archbishop was presenting the Catholic position, while the Episcopal priest was insisting that his orders were valid. A large crowd gathered around in the train. The discussion started to get a bit tense. Finally, when the train came to a certain stop, the Episcopal priest got off. But still continuing the discussion from the station platform, the priest said to the archbishop through the open window of the train, "Archbishop Sheen, my orders are as valid as yours! There's nothing you can do that I cannot do also!" Sheen wittily responded: "Well, I can kiss your wife, but you can't kiss mine!" I'm sure everyone got a good laugh out of that remark, including the Episcopal priest! We should be aware that people more often respond initially to how we relate to them, to our openness and acceptance of them, rather than to our message. Once they believe we accept them and respect them, they will be much more open to listening to what we have to say. This is where kindness and especially cheerfulness can do wonders! Where a frown or even an overly serious expression may scare potential inquirers off, a kind and easy smile will be welcoming. As another great evangelist in Church history, St. Francis de Sales, used to put it: "You will attract more bees with an ounce of honey than with a barrel of vinegar." Someone who understood the effectiveness of joy in dealing with others was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was certainly a persistently joyful person. At the Missionaries of Charity in the South Bronx, in a room near the chapel a little poster caught my eye. It read, "Joy is the surest sign of God's presence in the soul." If we think of a person's face as the window of his soul, then a joyful look, a kind smile, unmistakably reflects God's presence within. St. Teresa of Jesus (from Avila) used to pray: "From sour-faced saints, O Lord, deliver us!" We can echo that prayer in support of the Church's evangelization mission: "O Lord, from sour-faced evangelists, deliver us!" A bad impression, once made, can easily be a lasting impression, especially for those who already have a negative image or intense suspicion of the Catholic Church. As a popular saying puts it, "If you're happy, please remember to inform your face!" Besides, they say it takes more facial muscles to frown than to smile; so why would we want to overwork ourselves for the wrong results? Joy is our secret weapon in evangelization. Jesus gave us this promise at the Last Supper: "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11). The Holy Spirit produces joy in us as one of His fruits (see Gal. 5:22) When we have evangelists who are filled with the Lord's joy and communicate that joy to others, we have the total defense and offense together. Let's pray that the Lord will fill His Church with such evangelists!

Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.RR., is a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, St. Felix Friary, 15 Trinity Plaza, Yonkers, NY 10701; 914-476-7279; website: www.ministryalliance.com/youthevang/fortunaweb.htm .

Vocation Essay

Hearing God’s Call
God calls everyone to love him and to serve his people. Priests, Deacons, and religious brothers and sisters each help us do this in so many different ways.

First, priests and deacons probably help us the most by leading each and every mass with a strong devotion to God. They also teach us God’s call in every homily they preach. Another good thing about priests and deacons is that they are always willing to talk with you about anything. Another way they help us is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We confess our sins to the priest who gives them to God so that we can live a holy life and go on and follow God’s call.

Next we have religious brothers and sisters. They also play a big role in teaching us God’s call. A big portion of them help by going to schools and spreading the word of God. They spread the word of God by telling us what we, Catholics, are supposed to do in order to get into heaven. They teach us things about our religion like; what makes us different from other religions, all the religious holidays and what they really celebrate, how Jesus grew up and praised his Father, our Father, by doing all what is good, and much more. They also have prayer services where they pray for everyone. Praying for someone is also another way to love them which is part of God’s vocation. Religious brothers and sisters are the branches on God’s tree, and we are just the leaves. It is up to us to decide, with our God given free will, if our seeds will grow big and strong to be like God or if they will rot and turn away from God.

It is important that we remember these types of people. They teach us to listen, call us to service and witness to the God that calls each of us by name. Their vocation reminds us of the importance of discovering and living out our own. So we shall always remember to love God and serve God’s people.

Tommy B. 8th Grade

The "Little Way" of Therese of Lisieux Part V by Sr. Kathy Smolik, OSB

Surrender

Total surrender to God is a difficult place to come to; we try to surrender and then take ourselves back. “Some offer themselves at first, but later, beaten down by temptations, they go back to their old ways…” wrote Thomas a Kempis (p. 129). What can we learn from St. Therese in this lesson? “I choose all!” exclaimed Therese: she abandoned herself with her whole heart to God.

The following passage will help give us insight into the degree of surrender she came to by the end of her life:

“One day, Leonie, thinking she was too big to be playing any longer with dolls, came to us with a basket filled with dresses and pretty pieces for making others; her doll was resting on top. ‘Here, my little sisters, choose; I’m giving you all this.’ Celine stretched out her hand and took a little ball of wool that pleased her. After a moment’s reflection, I stretched out mine saying: ‘I choose all!’ and I took the basket without further ceremony. Those who witnessed the scene saw nothing wrong and even Celine herself didn’t dream of complaining (besides, she had all sorts of toys, her godfather gave her lots of presents, and Louise found ways of getting her everything she desired).

This little incident of my childhood is a summary of my whole life; later on when perfection was set before me, I understood that to become a saint one had to suffer much, seek out always the most perfect thing to do, and forget self. I understood, too, there were many degrees of perfection and each soul was free to respond to the advances of Our Lord, to do little or much for Him, in a word, to choose among the sacrifices He was asking. Then, as in the days of my childhood, I cried out: ‘My God, I choose all! I don’t want to be a saint by halves, I’m not afraid to suffer for You, I fear only one thing: to keep my own will; so take it, for I choose all that you will!’” (Therese, p. 27)

Lest we see just a childhood story here, we must realize that Therese was not only spiritually graced but also a very responsible young woman. At age 20 the Mother Superior involved her in the spiritual formation of the novices. At age 23 she was given complete charge of the novices (including some who were older than her) without keeping the title of novice mistress.

So, how did Therese abandon herself to so completely, especially in the midst of her suffering? Therese refused to insist on her own will, she begged Jesus to take it from her. Instead, she chose to let another be her “compass” (Therese, p. 218-19). In Christianity we have mediators between God and us. As children, we obey our parents; married couples, each other; in school, our teachers; at work, our employers; in civil life our elected officials, and finally in the Church, our Superiors. As a religious, the Superior holds the place of Christ. Therese always carried out the will of her Superior, without rationalizing, and in a spirit of love and gratitude.

Sometimes Therese would disagree, and respectfully express her opinion or insight, but in the end she always obeyed out of love, offering this as a sacrifice to God. We must form our conscience, but obeying is essential in loving God.

This is no small thing. To obey takes great faith – faith and trust in Jesus who, we know, wants only our good. To obey another and give up our will allows God to work and bring His will, not ours, to fruition. Every day when reciting the “Our Father” we pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We can only give up our will by being accountable to another; otherwise, whose voice are we listening to – God’s voice, our own, or the voice of evil? God’s glory shines through when we surrender in faith, but concretely in time.

Therese practiced giving up her will by:

* not imposing her will on others
* holding back a reply
* in rendering little services without recognition
* not defending herself
* instead of answering back, giving a smile
* allowing others to take what belonged to her
* anticipating other’s needs

It was through these “nothings” that Therese prepared herself for her union with Jesus (p.143-4). Therese spent her life offering up these flowers of love and sacrifice. Her heart was purified and she became a channel of love. We can learn from her to be love for each other.

Bibliography:

Lisieux, Therese of. Story of a Soul: the autobiography of St Therese of Lisieux. A new translation by John Clark. ICS Publications, Washington, D.C.: Third Edition Published, 1996.

A Kempis, Thomas. The Imitation of Christ. Translated by William C. Creasy. Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1989.

Fr. Matthias Neuman's homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent

1. Last week we explored how Baptism gave us a share in the priestly office of Christ. Today we see how that sacrament also gives us a share in the prophetic ministry of Jesus Christ. "The holy People of God shares also in Christ’s prophetic office. It spread abroad a living witness to him, especially by means of a life of faith and charity and by offering to God a sacrifice of praise, the tribute of lips which give praise to his name." (LG #12) Jesus is a prophet in many ways, and we share in all of them. But we want to see which way is most important.

2. I think sometimes today we have very skewed notions of the prophetic role. For example, we can think of the prophet as one who rather glamourously stands up against the institution and the powers that be. The prophet is the one who has the courage "to tell it like it is." In the heady post-Vatican II years the prophet was the rebel who called for new ways of doing things. With that image we all can have a little feeling of pride when someone calls us a prophet.

3. But the ministry of Jesus shows us that the heart of the prophetic task is far different from all that. The prophet is one who speaks a comforting word to the neglected, forgotten and downtrodden members of society. The prophet says to these marginal individuals: "God still cares for you." The word prophet means literally, "to speak for." The prophet speaks for God and brings the word of God to those who are usually overlooked. In speaking a comforting and healing word to the lepers, the blind, the lame, the possessed, the prostitutes and tax collectors Jesus was carrying out his prophetic role. And it’s THAT prophetic role that is most important in what we have received in baptism.

4. There are certainly other aspects to the traditional prophetic office in Israel and Jesus does participate in these. He does make known the "signs of the times" (Mt 16:2f). His attitude towards accepted (but unreflected) customs is a critical one. He is often severe to those who are authorities, especially when they are guilty of religious hypocrisy (Mt 15:7) and ignore the lowlier members of society. But these are all subservient to the main characteristic of the prophetic office, to speak a comforting word to the neglected, forgotten and downtrodden members of society and the church, to say to these individuals "God still cares for you." It is very possible to be prophetic without all the public fanfare of standing up to the authorities.

5. In fact, most of you carry out that central prophetic role in very quiet and unassuming ways. In speaking a kind word to people at the food pantry, in going out of your way to speak a reassuring word to one of your students facing a difficult family situation, in a welcoming word spoken to guests here at the monastery, in taking the time to speak an encouraging word to a co-worker who is facing hard decisions. This is where you carry on the prophetic office of Jesus. You say to all of these people: "God still cares for you." Let’s take some time now to reflect on that and reaffirm our commitment to it.