"Jesus said, "Amen, amen I say to you. Whoever keeps my word will never see death." 
        And the listeners said , "Now we know you are possessed. Abraham died, and the prophets.
        Yet you say, ‘whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ 
        Who do you make yourself out to be?" John 8 51-59

When I first saw that this was the gospel for today, I said, "O great." but then I said, "Teresa look deeper."  Then I realized it is a very good passage for us tonight. We listen deeply as Jesus teaches us that death is not the end, but rather the first moment of new life. We die to one form and are born into a new form of life.  If we are true to the Word.

We have come to this sacred space, as we have so many times before, just think of the life these walls have seen. Sometimes when I come in here alone and everything is quiet and I am in semi-darkness, I can feel and hear the life pulsating and see the sisters who have gone before us. They are praying for us and loving us into new life.

We gather around this sacred table and the Word
            to hear the Word
                            to eat the bread
                                that we might live forever.

So it is with this gospel passage in mind that I wish you a Happy Founder’s Day!

It seems strange that on this particular Founders’ Day
    which is only a novena’s length away
    from the Founders Day of the Dominican Sisters of Peace
we are not celebrating on the actual date, which is April 7^th. This year that date falls during Holy Week so somehow celebrating during the most sacred week of the year did not seem appropriate ... perhaps a little sacrifice we are asked to make.

However, what seems very appropriate is that we do not celebrate this Founders’ Day alone. We are joined by our Dominican brother, by our Dominican Sisters – the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic, by employees, friends, family and co-workers. We are told that when Angela received the habit on April 7^th, she too was surrounded by her Dominican brothers, friends and family.

It also seems appropriate that as part of our celebrating we review a bit of our story. I think that you will find similar threads are being used to weave the next part of the tapestry that we call our Dominican life.

The Dominicans had been at St. Rose since 1806. Fr. Fenwick had been named the prior but managed to resign after only a few months and Fr. Wilson was named prior and pastor of what was then St. Anne Parish later to be called St. Rose.  In February of 1822 Fr. Samuel Wilson gave a pulpit call for women of the parish to come forward to live the life of a Dominican and teach the children of the early settlers. Nine women responded.  We can only assume that between February and April he explained to them what it meant to be a Dominican and for reasons unknown to us four were chosen to become the first novices. Easter Sunday, April 7, 1822 was chosen to be the first reception day.

Mariah Sansbury (given the name of Sister Angela) received the habit in the morning and again for some reasons unknown to us the other three would wait until the afternoon.

Fr. Wilson wanted the group named a pontifical group as soon as possible but there were no professed sisters. So right from the beginning we needed to appeal to Rome for a dispensation. Fr. Wilson asked that a dispensation be given allowing Angela to make profession after only nine months as a novice. This was granted and on January 6, 1823 she made profession.  What an Epiphany!

Think of it a call was issued by Fr. Wilson in February of 1822 and by January of 1823– that is less than a year ---the first congregation of Dominican women in the United States was birthed.

God took ordinary women, simple, good pioneer women and trusted them with the holy preaching. With a mixture of courage and ignorance; deep faith and enthusiasm for the mission, they began to build this first foundation of Dominican women in the United States amidst the rolling hills of Kentucky.

For women in the rolling hills of Kentucky there were no feminine models of religious life to shape and mold these pioneer women as the first active Dominicans in the New World. There were no roots. They were planting a new tree from a new seed.

As I reflected upon and prayed with our common story I used it as a backdrop for the story we are right to write.

We heard a call to consider joining with six other Dominican congregations ... we spent not 2 months but a few years considering what this might look like.

We, too, had a problem before we could become a new congregation we had to appeal to Rome. Rome granted that permission.

God again has taken ordinary women – simple, good women and has trusted them with the holy preaching. We, too, with a mixture of courage and ignorance; deep faith and enthusiasm for the mission, will begin to build this first foundation of the Dominican Sisters of Peace.   In ten days not nine but 681 women will answer the call to continue our lives as Dominicans. Not on Easter Sunday, April 7, 2009 but on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009.

Our founding sisters were planting a new tree from a new seed.  We are taking seven seeds – tried and true for a cumulative 841 years.  
And we desire what we desired on our reception day: the mercy of God and the mercy of each other to bring these seeds –seeds that have been cared for, nurtured and saved in Kansas, Ohio, Louisiana, Michigan and our beloved Kentucky– to new life. To let each die so new life will burst through and grow into a strong and mighty tree, that will praise God and serve the needs of God’s people and God’s creation.

Something else slipped into my heart as I was reflecting, they were words that, for me that pulled the two stories ... the story of our Kentucky roots and the new story that is beginning to be written by us. Those were the words of a woman, whom I consider to be one of the great Dominican preacher, Mary Louise Edwards, OP. Preaching from this very ambo on the feast of Fra Angelico, Mary Louise spoke words that have never left me. She said:

"Like a great fresco,
whose bold colors endure through the years and tests of time,
we stand ready, in this our day and time,
to respond to the strength of God within us.
Once again with no clear models to guide us,
we draw from the roots of our pioneer charism
to join with six other congregations
to paint boldly upon the fresco of Dominican life
in the United States.

Spiritual growth requires far more relinquishment than acquisition.
We rely on the Word of God and the Eucharist
to be our strength and our guide." Mary Louise Edwards, OP

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