The Story of One Redemptoristine

Her True Colors

Sister Angelina Celeste, member of the Redemptoristine Community in Legazpi, Philippines popped up in my "Google Alerts" this morning. Her story recently appeared in a newpaper there and provides inspirational reading. It details her life work dedicated to ministering to the poorest of the poor, a work which has, at times, been unacceptable to those in power wishing to maintain absolute control over the people.  Sister paid the price for being a community organizer at a time when to do so was to be labeled a Communist. After 30 years in that work she heeded the call to become a contemplative nun; to offer her contemplation and intense intercessory prayer for the needs of the poor and cause of justice in our world.

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view/20101106-301796/Her-True-Colorshttp://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view/20101106-301796/Her-True-Colors

Comfort in the Monastic Horarium

Joy in the Morning!

It is always good to get back home. How many vacationers, however much their time away was enjoyed, will say with gusto, "It is so good to be home"? As much as we may beg for respite from routine, there is something we find comforting in the familiar.

In the last month or so we have enjoyed some time for community recreation in which the regular monastic horarium or daily schedule was somewhat abbreviated. We also experienced our annual ten-day community retreat. This year the time was given to five days of hermit retreat within the monastery for all the sisters, followed by five days of directed retreat with a Jesuit priest. Those ten days were a special time. My mother always asks why contemplative nuns should need a retreat. "Aren't you always in retreat?" The monastic tradition encourages times of withdrawal from ordinary community life. The customs of our house provide for one day of retreat per month for each sister. Each of us also has an annual ten-day personal retreat. And then there is the community retreat. The abbreviated community schedule and fewer work hours provide opportunity for more and deeper silence and solitude. Every sister would say that these times of retreat are most welcome.

Yet, as special as these times are, we all agree that returning to regular community life feels so good and right - a sort of grand reunion with each other and as a community before our Loving God. Time apart is a blessing but our time together is a blessing too, especially as we pray the Divine Office and share in the Eucharistic banquet. There is a dignity in fulfilling our vocation to be a prayerful presence before God for the needs of the world. There is always joy in the morning when we come together again.

Seekers Visit the Monastery

  

The Baltimore and Denver Provinces of the Redemptorist Congregation combine their efforts in both vocation development and the formation of new members. These two provinces include all of the USA and the Caribbean Islands. The dedication of the Redemptorists to these efforts is an inspiration. Last weekend here at Mount St. Alphonsus Retreat Center they offered the second in a series of "Come and See" weekends for men discerning a vocational call to religious life. The Redemptorists are a religious congregation so men pursuing a vocation with them first take the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and perseverance within the Congregation. From that point on they may choose to be a brother or a priest. But always they consider themselves first as Redemptorists following in the footsteps of their founder St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Doctor of the Church. Their charism or spiritual motivation is to serve the poor and the most abandoned.

We always enjoy visits from our Redemptorist 'brothers' and are grateful that they believe it is important to introduce potential and new members to their Redemptoristine 'sisters'. We are especially grateful to Fr. Tat for introducing us to this group. They enjoyed praying in our chapel and talking to the sisters. They particularly enjoyed hearing our vocation stories. May they be blessed in their effort to hear and act upon God's call.

Upper left: Srs. Maria Linda, Maria Paz, Paula and Teresa with Fr. Tat Upper right: Sr. Mary joined by Srs. Paula and Maria Paz Below right: Sr. Maria Paz with visitors Lower left: Sr. Moira autographing her book, a novel about John the Baptist



New Redemptorist Archbishop

On Saturday, October 9, former Redemptorist Father General Joseph Tobin was ordained as an archbishop at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Our community was thrilled to watch the entire Mass via live streaming from the Vatican. A slide show of that event can be seen at http://www.redemptorist.info/ .

On August 6, 2010 our dear friend, Father Joe, was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, colloquially known as the "Congregation for Religious." This Vatican office has responsibility for some 190,000 religious priests and brothers, and roughly 750,000 sisters, worldwide. It is also the office from which its chair, Cardinal Rode, launched the on-going Apostolic Visitation of active congregations of sisters in the United States.

Our monastery is on the grounds of the former Redemptorist major seminary where Fr. Joe was ordained. Some of the sisters here remember him as a student, especially his fall from a horse and his recuperation from broken bones. But all of us have enjoyed the pleasure of his company in our monastery. In the picture above he seems to be enjoying conversation at table with our sisters, especially our prioress, Sr. Paula Schmidt. This brilliant and modest man would share news of the entire congregation; its missionary work, its successes and its needs. In addition he would bring news of Redemptoristine monasteries around the world. And there would always be lots of stories about Rome.

We congratulate Archbishop Tobin and offer the sincere promise of our prayers for his new responsibilities as he follows in the footsteps of St. Alphonsus de Liguori.

Feast of St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church

Saint Teresa in Ecstacy by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

1652

The original Italian title of this famed work is also translated as "The Transverberation of Saint Teresa". While the word is a strange one, it suggests the pulsation of energy between God and Teresa which must have been present in the mystical relationship between this strong-willed and dynamic woman and the God who so desires to be in intimate relationship with us. This was a woman of her time and place. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was born in Renaissance Spain, a country reeling like the rest of Europe from the consequences of the Protestant Reformation. She began a reform of her Carmelite Order at the same time that the Council of Trent ws shoring up the frayed edges of the Roman Catholic Church. She embodied paradox. After a mid-life conversion experience she was drawn to a more contemplative and solitary expression of contemplative life within community than was the usual Carmelite practice of her experience. Yet, she could not escape the natural responses of her extroverted, expressive, and highly personable way of being. In spite of great physical pain and illness she went from place to place in the crudest and most uncomfortable of conveyances to establish monastery after monastery. And in a time when women did not think of writing books she wrote many. Eagerly read today, her words (Autobiography, The Interior Castle, The Way of Perfection) continue to resonate with truth as she describes the spiritual journey of the soul searching for God and what that journey demands. These works earned her the title "Doctor of the Church". She is a doctor of souls who knows human weakness and human nature and counsels in favor of the necessity of self knowledge and interior honesty. She is funny, self-deprecating, intensely female and much in love with God. She lived in the "freedom of the children of God".