We gather here today with
great joy as we celebrate the Welcoming of Genie, Laura, and Linda into the Maryknoll Sisters' community as Sister
Candidates,where they'll enter a new phase of their
discernment to a life of service in
community and mission with the
Maryknoll Sisters.
We also celebrate this
special occasion of Abby's Reception into her Canonical Year as she continues to deepen the
journey she began with Maryknoll as a Sister Candidate just last
year.
Each of these women have come
to Maryknoll from the professional world, where they had careers and were already serving God and living their faith before finding their way to the Maryknoll Sisters' community.
Each one of these women has a
unique vocation story to tell of how God led them to the Maryknoll Sisters through their desire to give themselves more fully to the service of God through a deeper
experience of community and a call to
cross-cultural mission.
And so our hearts ring out
with joy today, as the words of the psalmist echo through this gathered
assembly: "I
will play for God on my harp,with
my lute and ten-stringed lyre. I
will greet the Lord with my song. I
will sing of the ways of my God."
How fitting is this joy of
ours, Abby, Genie, Laura, Linda, as we celebrate with you this great call from God, to which you have opened your hearts and responded
with "yes!" But I'm sure that you still have
moments of hesitation, when you ask yourself, "what am I getting myself
into?" or "Just what exactly am I saying yes
to?"
Who isn't taken aback by the
words from the prophet Jeremiah, where he says: Now the
word of God came to me saying, "Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you, And
before you were born I consecrated you; I
have appointed you a prophet (a prophettess) to the nations. . . . I have appointed you . . . to pluck up and
to break down,to
destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
What an order this is, the
job description of a prophet and prophetess, to denounce the injustices of this world, so many they truly are, and to anounce the Good News of God's Kin-dom, where we commit ourselves to being
co-creators of a world where
dignity, equality, and respect are the
primary values by which we live as
brothers and sisters in Christ. Wow!
I can remember back to when I
was studying Philosophy, before coming into Maryknoll. As I had more time for reflection, I started experiencing some anxiety and
began reconsidering.
I remember speaking with a
wise and humble 80-year old Monsignor, who had decided to go back to seminary and finish his
M.Div. degree, since that wasn't required at the time he was
ordained. I really admired this in him and so I asked if we could
talk. I shared with Bill that I felt called to be a
missioner, but that I really had a low
self-confidence. I didn't think that I had what
it took, to be a great
missioner, like so many I knew.
I still remember how Bill
looked at me with so much love and understanding in that smile of his, and he said to me, "I don't see that as a
liability." He said, I think it's good that you
don't have a lot of confidence, because then you will have to
depend upon God instead of relying on
yourself. Then he
said with a grin, "That's a gift!"
This is the same response
that God gave to the prophet Jeremiah when he responded to God's call saying, But
I don't know how to speak. I'm too
young!
And God responded, Don't
worry! I'm leading you. Don't
be scared! You don't have to do it
alone. I will give you the words and I 'll send you the
strength you'll need. Just
listen to my will. Stay connected to me. We
will be partners in this project. Co-creators
of a more just and loving world.
O.K. that's better. Maybe I can handle that.
Well, you know us
humans. We give it over to God and then we take it back again. So often, we're tempted to believe that so much of
it depends upon us. We want to take control and make sure it
gets done, our way. That's where prayer comes
in. And if we forget to pray, some thing or somebody will
humble us and remind us that we can't do it alone. We need to be connected to God at all
times. When we get involved in
ministry, we can so easily fall into the "Martha-mode." Working and expending all of our energy on so many good and admirable things and forget about the importance
of prayer. Actually, Martha, in the
Gospel, was only doing what was expected of a woman in those days, to wait on the visitor and offer
hospitality. She was justified in her anger that Mary wasn't
helping out.
Really though, this story is
about something much more radical than that. Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to him speak. Disciples sat at their Master's feet to study and
learn from them. So Mary was assuming the role of a
disciple of Jesus. What's so radical about that? In those days, a woman was prohibited from reading and
studying the Torah, the law.
This was something reserved only for men. And so when Martha protested
that Mary was doing something that was only allowed for men, Jesus responded, "Mary has chosen the better
part and it will not be taken from her."So, not only was Jesus
affirming Mary's desire to study and learn, but he said that this will not be taken from her! Jesus was making a very radical feminist
statement, saying that women had an equal right to study and learn the Torah, and to be his
disciples. Now that's even prophetic still, in our day and age,
unfortunately.
I think the words of Mother
Mary Joseph, found on the inside back cover of the program, speak so well of the importance of balance and harmony in our lives as
missioners. She says: "We soon learned that a missioner must be a
contemplative in action: that
our hearts must be on fire with the love of God, [people
and all creation] faithfulness
to times of prayer and trying
to be constantly mindful of God's
presence in our hearts."
Abby, Genie, Laura, Linda, you have chosen the symbol of the Chi Rho for the front cover of the program for this
ceremony. But there's something different about
this Chi Rho that we so often see as the symbol of Maryknoll's
commitment. This Chi Rho you have chosen is made of
bamboo, which for many Asian cultures
is a powerful symbol of both strength and
flexibility. Our prayer for you today is that you will grow to be as sturdy and flexible as the bamboo plant. May you become firmly rooted in the Word
of God, as you sit at the feet of
Jesus, listening to the
gentle whisper within your heart on your
journey of discipleship.
And may you blossom in
flexibility and adaptability as you encounter challenges that will call upon you to love in even deeper ways than you may have ever imagined
possible. May God bless you as you
respond to the call to mission!
August 11, 2007
Fr. Dennis Moorman, MM
Fr. Dennis Moorman, MM
