Saint
Catherine was one outrageous woman …a wonderfully holy human being who would
have sung our Psalm response with deep conviction: JUBILEE LITURGY
ROSARY
MANOR CHAPEL
April 26, 2008
Saint
Catherine was one outrageous woman …a wonderfully holy human being who would
have sung our Psalm response with deep conviction:
"O Lord, you are the center of my life: I will
always praise you,
I will always serve you, I will always keep you in my sight."
Catherine was so unique and yet ordinary. Some of the unique .. and what could be considered contradictory … qualities about Catherine are: she was a mystic and at the same time an activist; she was an ‘almost cloistered Dominican woman’ and she was not able to be contained within the traditional confines of the Mantellata; she was an Dominican from her childhood and yet she was called before the men of the Order to have her orthodoxy examined; she was uneducated but literate with a grasp of theology and Scripture. She was all of this and much more …and in her deepest core she was an eminently relational person … with God… with all whom she encountered. Her many missions focused on developing,, resolving or maintaining relationships. This is what is ordinary in Catherine …using qualities innately and humanly ordinary.
How do we compare to Catherine in what could be called our contradictions….our charism of contemplare contemplate alias tradere could be contradictory; … our lives…never quite cloistered, but having parameters. Our ministries always orthodox but often on the margins. Our claim that you meet one Domincan…you meet one Dominican and yet we proudly all claim to be bonded as Dominican.
Do our lives reflect Catherine in being relational in the ordinariness of our lives and ministries?
In living community and in ministering I believe we have been engaged in developing relations, maintaining relations, mending relations … first among ourselves and our Associates and always in our ministries. For SHOW AND TELL today we have Fr. Peter. Josepha was his teacher at St. Luke’s and I was his principal. And today we witness how these relationships developed.
Though I’m saying that being relational is an ordinary human quality, I’m clearly not saying that it is a quality that does not demand effort and often pain. Catherine devoted much of her life to trying to bring together whole populations of cities who were engaged in wars of greed and power … she spent long hours with a prisoner before his execution restoring his relationship with God. She ministered through developing relationships and struggling to restore relationships.
For me, a recent reality check of the quality and endurance of our relationships as St. Catharine Dominicans was the process leading up to the choice of the Union. And, it was not the first time that we tested our bondedness. After Vatican II when a greater diversity of ministries beckoned some of us … many of these ministries on the cutting edge of Church and society, …those who chose these ministries were sometimes held in distrust, their faithfulness to the Church and God questioned. We were stretched …and challenged both from within and from outside the congregation. The price was heavy, the losses many, but the bonds of relationship were strengthened and deepened.
This is many years later and we may have more wisdom, but the struggle to speak and listen to each other’s truth is just as challenging. And relationships are again being strained and tested. In local community, Local Chapter, regional meetings and at our General Chapter we spoke openly and passionately for and against the Union. The Web of Relationships was probed, bringing excitement to some and fear to others. We even were grouped facing each other as we engaged in speaking and listening and responding to each other’s Truth. Then, in authentic Dominican style, the decision was made by the vote of the Chapter. For many, there was delight and for many a disappointment which still lingers. But relationships again endured the challenge.
This bond of relatedness born of practice and resilience …pain and stubbornness … is a magnificent gift that we contribute to the new congregation. Our relationships as Kentucky Dominicans will not diminish, … but will expand to embrace Dominicans from 6 other congregations. Hopefully, we will develop new deep and special friendships/relationships with sisters and associates with whom to share life and ministry. Probably we will encounter obstacles in attempting to form these relationships. I don’t anticipate anything of the magnitude of most of Catherine’s missions, but the expectation of developing new relationships can be daunting for many. But, we arrive as veterans in this department having been tested and proven capable of developing and maintaining meaningful relationships … an ordinary human quality, but hard earned.
Today we celebrate Jubilees…important because this is a time to recognize women with whom we have fostered special relationships over 50 and 60 years.
Eileen Linehan developed and fostered many relationships in education…in ministry to the homeless and now in special bondedness with Joan as together they model a community of mutual support and love.
Josepha…long in education…and now faithful in St. Pat’s food pantry relating with dignity and concern to families in need. When I was at Maryknoll to visit my brother I met a woman whose children had been taught by Josepha in St. Luke’s. She praised Josepha’s energy and capability as a teacher. Add to that…her children loved Josepha as their teacher.
And Mary Costello has dedicated long years of ministry with the aged and infirm …relating as a caring presence and loving minister. Mary is also blessed by her deep friendship with Mary Daniel…a relationship that modeled stamina, faithfulness and love as Mary Daniel struggled with illness and dying.
And for me as I join Josepha and Bernadette Marie in celebrating 60 years … I am so very grateful and blessed by those who have invited me into their lives …have challenged me and have let me be me…and I struggled to be the same with others.
I started with the psalm response as a prayer that Catherine would sing with joy. I also think that we could reword the psalm and say to each other: "You are the source of my life…I will always keep you in my sight"
--Sister Elizabeth Miles, OP