Happy Halloween!

Thanks!

This weekend we had a yard day where we cleaned up the leaves, trimmed plants and planted the bulbs that were sent for the 25th anniversary celebration.  The Geranium was planted earlier and is doing well and the seeds will be planted in spring.  Thanks for the gifts!

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one [most] traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” 

We like to think that we are unique and special, in some cultures more than others, and while we are each created in God’s image and with a diversity of gifts that testifies to God’s abundant love and mercy, we are finite beings that need to be reminded of our humanity not just of our divine heritage.  In the end, we all share a longing…

A few years ago I embarked on a beautiful, challenging journey that is both unique and ordinary.  I joined a wonderful religious community, and that has made all the difference.

Whatever path we take, someone else has already walked that road, and yet by the very fact that we make this choice at this particular time and place, we shape the path in a new way.  But in order to be able to choose, one needs to have the freedom to make that choice. Unfortunately, freedom can be mistaken for obedience to society, or cultural norms, so what is freedom?

Growing up on another continent I never thought I would be entering religious life in a foreign land, and yet, here I am.  But isn’t this a path that so many women and men have taken?

A question I often get is, “Why would someone who experienced an oppressive government join a religious congregation?”  The shorter answer I give is, “Why not?”  The longer answer is a statement on the rights and responsibilities of a free person.  People who take freedom for granted forget that in a free society one has the right to make his/her choices in accordance to one’s conscience, and following our informed conscience is a responsibility we have as free individuals. 

At the time of my reception into the novitiate, on April 17, 2011, I stated, “Continuing my discernment with the Adrian Dominican Sisters is a walk into freedom.  With each choice I am my own individual and at the same time part of a community of women who walk side by side with women and men across centuries and continents.  We are indeed members of one body, diverse by our very existence, and yet united.” 

Today I continue to stand by that statement. My sisters have been witnesses to the commitment it takes to stay faithful to the choice they made many decades ago, and their faithfulness has always been rooted in their love for God and God’s people. I am inspired by their life-long faithfulness to our Catholic identity, and with them I never have to be anything else than be who I am.  I treasure the support and love they so freely give because they know that once you have experienced God’s love, you cannot exist but by loving God’s people. 

There is much to be said about respecting people’s freedom to make their own life choices, and maybe from time to time we all need a course on the rights and responsibilities of a free person. I wonder if we realize the tremendous gift we have to be able to freely choose our path, and the responsibility we have to use that freedom not as a weapon against those who make choices different than ours but rather as a tool to dig deeper in our own identity and foster respect for all life.  

~Adela

I Have A Dream

You might have read the title and thought this post would be about Martin Luther King, Jr.  However, these words were spoken to us by Bruno Cadore, OP the Master of the Order of Preachers last Saturday.  We traveled to the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield upon the invitation of the Springfield Leadership Team.  The cloistered nuns were gathered for a conference and Brian Pierce, OP (Southern Province and liaison to the Dominican Nuns), as well as Bruno were attending the meeting.

Following Morning Prayer and Mass with the group, we had a chance to visit with Bruno, who asked how vocation promotion was going.  We explained that although we do some things collaboratively, each Congregation has their own vocation promoter, so there is not any consistency across the board.

Bruno then began his, "I have a dream" speech, sharing his hopes that one day nuns, sisters and friars will all work on vocations together for each other.  What if the friars who served in campus ministry encouraged women to join the various apostolic or cloistered communities?  What if the nuns, who often learn of interest of vocations through the internet could help send men and women to appropriate places for discernment?  What if sisters encouraged young men and women to consider all forms of Dominican religious life?

Bruno Cadore has a dream -- and so do we -- how do we make it a reality?

Jenn Schaaf

CDN Group with Brian Pierce, OP and Bruno Cadore, OP

Birthday and Balloons

Last night we celebrated Joye's birthday by attending the Balloon Glow in nearby Forest Park.  Here are a few pictures from the event:

 

Novitiate Follow-Up

Last Saturday, Sr. Christine De Anna, one of the novices at the CDN last year, made her first profession with the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill.

Sr. Joye Gros shared her reflections on the readings:



To read more about Sr. Chris's profession, visit this link:  http://www.domlife.org/2012Stories/sparkill_profession.html

Short Story & Update

Our schedule at the CDN is beginning to have a rhythm with ministry mondays, Aquinas classes on Preaching and the Vows on tuesday, joining with other orders for ICN speakers on wednesday, History of Religious Life and Dominican Life on thursday, with days of reflection bridging the weekends often filled with events. We were especially fortunate this friday to be graced with Don Goergen, OP leading the friday of reflection examining prayer and contemplation.

Despite the packed and exciting schedule, we have also been finding ways to join together as a community for some fun. The following short story relates a harrowing escape of friday evening as narrated in 1930s pulp fiction style. This is what happens when a novelist is asked to post on the blog.

- Sr. Alexa

The Narrow Escape

This would be trouble—I knew it from the first moment we hit the pavement. An unearthly wind blew its solemn melodies down the grey shadowed street sending leaves trundling like helpless fairies into a flooded creek. Our intrepid trio rounded a looming edifice to face black clouds darker than a dungeon in the dead of night after its inhabitant had spilled ink on the ebony stone floor. The dames put on a brave face, but we knew it was only a bus ride and taxi away from real trouble. We pushed through the bristling blasts of wind and dust racing the oncoming monster of a storm. What foolish thought had sent us out? Distant snarling threatened us standing helpless in the deserted street surrounded only by candy wrappers blown by and that guy in a suit with a nefarious air. We were in a heap of trouble as sure as a tree casts shadows on a saturday afternoon. 

Wheels screeched the pavement as I felt the first drop on my hand, blown from miles away by the forceful gale. "Ya need a lift?" A strong New York lullaby rent through the stormy air by now thicker than molasses in January. She'd come through alright, as she always did. Giving her fedora a roguish tilt, she opened the doors. My boot had barely crossed the threshold when the rain came louder than the engine as we floored it for safety. Relentless water flung itself at our metal auto faster than greyhounds run to Fourth of July BBQs. Skidding to a stop, we poised for the sprint to our door. As I stood dripping on the grey-studded mat, I knew we'd had a narrow escape. Those St. Louis skies were not to be trusted. They were trouble alright, and we'd been caught square by them.