Author: Texas OP Nuns

 

Today is a special day for cloistered communities, because this memorial of the Presentation of Mary in the temple is also Pro Orantibus Day, a day of prayer for cloistered contemplatives. We feel a special bond with Mary, who (according to legend) was chosen to serve God in the temple in what might be called a cloistered life before her marriage to Joseph and becoming the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Although this story of the Presentation is not found in the Bible, it is a very old tradition and worthy of respect for what it tells us about Mary: that she was dedicated even as a child, like Samuel in the Old Testament. She came from God-fearing parents who loved their daughter enough to give her to God as His handmaiden when He requested this favor. Today we also thank all the parents of cloistered contemplatives, who like Mary\’s parents have given their children lovingly and unselfishly for the service of God in His temple. May they all be blessed like Joachim and Anna, the parents of Mary! May many young women feel the call of God today to serve Him as a cloistered contemplative nun–perhaps a Dominican nun?

As the year ends, the Church selects readings to call us to be more attentive to the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit who has spoken to us by both the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament writings. Today the first reading is from the book of the prophet Malachi. We read that \”The sun of justice with its healing rays\”  is coming. And in the Responsorial Psalm, we read, \”The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.\” These words can give us comfort, confidence in God\’s justice, and mercy, for St. John writes, \”God is love.\” Can we seriously understand the justice of God? And if we say that God is just, how can we also think of him as merciful or loveable? 

In an article in the Summa Theologiae St. Thomas Aquinas quotes St. Augustine: \”God\’s wisdom became man to give us an example in righteousness of living…\”  The word \”righteousness\” is like the word \”justice\”; they have the same meaning. In the Old and the New Testaments, we meet it a lot. Justice is one of the highest moral virtues because it pleases God and is inseparable from his love.

\”Learn to do good, search for justice.\” (Rm 13:18 and Is 1:17) St. Paul also mentions a gift of justification in his writings: it is from God through our Lord\’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross. God gave us a great example in our Lord Jesus Christ\’s loving, consecrated, humble acts. At the Last Supper, as the darkness fell, Christ showed his followers great love from his heart in giving them the wonderful gift of his own sacrifice–his body and blood–the wonderful sign of love being completed as he knelt and washed their feet. Then he dried their feet with a towel. In humility, Christ embraced the lowliness of his passion willingly in order to lead us back to the Father\’s love. That is, \”God\’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us back to life with Christ. It is by God\’s grace that you have been saved.\” (Eph 2:4-5)

The Day of the Lord draws near, we come closer to the mystery of God\’s infinite love as he is always showing justice and is just.  Christ is absolutely able to provide the goodness and love for all, because God has loved justice and offered us a chance to participate in his divinity, as his Divine Son became human. The Sun of Justice, who is God, shines within us.

This verse resounds throughout the readings for today. We call to mind the courageous woman and her sons in 2 Maccabees who faced death itself and became, instead, indelible witnesses to the power of the living God through the gift of their lives. We see this with clarity on the lips of the fourth son, when he says, \”It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him…\” (2 Maccabees 7:13)

We can see this concept even more deeply in the Gospel, where Luke presents to us the story of the Sadducees who pose a question to Jesus about an eternal life they themselves do not believe in. Jesus responds with a declaration from the dialogue of Moses and the burning bush in the book of Exodus. He says, \”Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.\” 

But what does this mean for us? Today\’s readings challenge us to grow in the virtue of hope. Hope is the \”theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ\’s promises and  relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.\” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1817) The primary way to grow in hope is through prayer. \”The prayer of the Church and personal prayer nourish hope in us.\” (CCC 2657) Hope leads us through the rocky crags that make up our life on earth. Hope strengthens us to stand upright in trial, because here we have no lasting city. Yes, God is the God of the living and has promised to be with us for good and for ill as we walk the path of faith. Our God is a living God who indeed loves us and will be there for us always.

Fr. Michael Demkovich, OP recently made a brief visit to our monastery as he drives around the United States trying to raise awareness (and financial support) for the International Dominican Foundation.

 Fr. Michael Demkovich, President of the International Dominican Foundation

The International Dominican Foundation was created to promote and support three great Dominican institutions of learning: the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, the Angelicum in Rome, and the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies in Cairo. Father was delighted to learn that we have a graduate of the Angelicum in our midst–Sr. Mary Jeremiah!

Father explains the International Dominican Foundation and his ideas for the future

The International Dominican Foundation furthers Biblical research, advances theological study, and helps promote inter-religious dialogue, among other things! We encourage you to check out their website and maybe start to receive their great online newsletter here.

We are so grateful to Fr. Michael for including us in his busy itinerary. It\’s always a pleasure to see you, Father, and we are praying hard for the success of your work here and abroad!

Fr. Demkovich (behind the gate) with Sr. Mary Christine, Sr. Mary Rose, Sr. Bernadette Marie, Sr. Mary John, Sr. Mary Margaret, Sr. Mary Gabriel, Sr. Mary Lucy, and Sr. Mary Jeremiah 

    I see that we will be hearing your story again this Sunday, how you wanted to see Jesus and so climbed a tree when he passed by and how he told everyone there that salvation was coming to your house that day. Did you know that the salvation he was talking about was he himself and that the house he meant was not your dwelling place but you yourself? What a day that was–himself coming to yourself!

    I wonder if you remember all the others who had the same desire as you did that day?–to see Jesus, and not just with their bodily eyes, but with their hearts and understanding? 

    Remember the Magi and the shepherds who also desired to see Jesus, though they did not know his name then? But seeing him brought them joy and they went on their way glorifying and praising God for what they had seen. 

    John the Baptist saw him too at his baptism and saw the Spirit come upon him in the form of a dove. Later Jesus would confirm John\’s witness when he told John\’s disciples to tell him all they had seen and heard Jesus do as proof of Jesus\’ mission.

    And then John encouraged some of his own disciples to follow Jesus, and when they asked him where he was staying, he told them, \”Come, and you will see.\” (John 1:39)

    Later in Jesus\’ ministry, some Greeks came to Philip asking to see Jesus. Philip himself would one day ask Jesus to show him the Father and Jesus would tell him that seeing Jesus was to see the Father, that he and the Father were one. What a powerful revelation that was for Philip to absorb!

    You know Mary Magdalene saw Jesus after his resurrection but did not recognize him at first. But when she did, he told her to \”Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.\”

     Of course, we can\’t forget St. Stephen who, as he was being stoned to death, looked up to heaven and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 

    There are other occasions which I could mention, but these are enough to see what great company you have kept!

    As for us, we pray that when we hear your story again Sunday, our own desire to really see Jesus will be greatly increased, so that salvation might come to our house, for when we see him as he is we shall then be like him. 

     Signed: A fellow seeker

We\’d like to offer you some thoughts from St. Catherine of Genoa on this All Souls Day, when we remember our beloved dead:

\”There is no joy save that in Paradise

to be compared with the joy of the souls in Purgatory.

As the rust of sin is consumed

the soul is more and more open to God\’s love.

Just as a covered object left out in the sun

cannot be penetrated by the sun\’s rays, 

in the same way,

once the covering of the soul is removed,

the soul opens itself fully to the rays of the sun.

Having become one with God\’s will,

these souls, to the extent that he grants it to them, 

see into God.

Joy in God, oneness with Him, is the end of these souls,

an instinct planted in them at their creation…

The overwhelming love of God 

gives the soul a joy beyond words.

In Purgatory great joy and great suffering

do not exclude one another.\”

 Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon them!

What do you think heaven will be like? Some of us may have a rather static notion of heaven–a place where you sit still forever, \”being good\”. Pretty boring! In this picture Fra Angelico (a Dominican blessed, in addition to being a great artist!) depicts heaven as a kind of dance, where saints and angels join in both movement and conversation, always inviting the newcomers to come along and enjoy themselves. Heaven is perhaps more dynamic, what the Fathers of the Church referred to often as \”our true homeland\”, the place where we can most be ourselves because we will be perfectly attuned to the will of God. Today we celebrate all the saints–that is, all our beloved departed who have reached heaven, the ones we remember in Church and the ones known only to ourselves, like family and friends, and the ones known only to God. May they all intercede for us today, so that we will eventually join them in the great dance of heaven!