LIVING THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN OUR CHANGING TIMES

 

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.  Therefore, be imitators of God, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  Eph 4:32-5:2 

This month marks our 8^th month anniversary of living with the Dominicans of Sparkill, NY.   We all realize what great changes have taken place in our community since we left our Carmelite Sisters in Beacon, NY and our own monastery in Beacon, 2012.   In our own way, we have been living the Paschal Mystery.

In the Introduction to our Constitutions we read that Redemptoristines, “By faith in the living Christ and by the prayer of praise and intercession which through Him rises up to the Father, (we) live out at a deep level the Paschal Mystery of Christ, dead and risen.” Const. 3

Sounds beautiful in the abstract but when faced with the reality of what that means it’s not that attractive. It involves dying.  For us, in our present situation, it means dying to self; dying to the traditions we hold dear; letting go of all that was familiar… We’ve had a lot of practice in humility lately, as well as learning and sharing customs and styles of prayer. But what is the purpose of all this dying?

Our Constitutions say it is “to be united to Christ and to be transformed by Him into a new creation.” Const. 55  “…both personally and as a community, a living Memorial of the Paschal Mystery of Christ the Redeemer.” Const. 14

But, we have not forgotten the other side of the Paschal Mystery: the rising, the new creation!  We are being given an opportunity to new life.  True, not the life we envisioned when we entered long ago but life lived in a new way, living with fidelity to prayer while responding to the call of the Gospel in our changing times by our joyful participation in various outreach projects the Dominican Sisters champion, much to the enrichment of both communities.  We are in a new phase of Christ’s life. Indeed, we have been transformed into a new creation. We are an Easter people!

We’ve moved into a larger community.  They offer us peace of mind for our bodies and minds.  What can we offer them?  As Redemptoristines we’ve added Devotions to Our Mother of perpetual Help to Wednesday Evening Prayer and serve as lectors or cantors at Mass. 

Our Constitutions encourage us to “... bring their own contribution…  At one and the same time (to) show a healthy openness to new situations in the Church and the world and a confident fidelity to the Gospel...”  Const. 112

We are being called to a new “conversion (which) is the normal attitude of all the baptized.  It is continual purification of the soul, a firm will to follow humbly the teaching of the Gospel and the invitations of the Spirit through the circumstances of life; in other words, it is an ardent desire to have that ‘new heart’ of which the Bible speaks.” Const. 51

Jesus came to set us free.  In following our Redeemer in his Paschal Mystery we are being called to death and a new rising; a life lived to its fullest in the light of the groundings, gifts and graces that have been given to us. So, let us then be imitators of Christ and offer our lives as a fragrant offering of love to God for the salvation of the world.

MARCH ~ THE SAINTS AND FLOWERS OF LENT

 

On March 7 we celebrate the feast of Perpetua, a Third Century North African noblewoman and her slave Felicity.  Together, with their shared faith in Christ, they courageously stepped into the arena to be attacked by wild animals and then felled by a gladiator.  Most sorrowing to them, was that both women were nursing mothers while anticipating their death. Yet, on the day of their martyrdom, they, with calm and rejoicing hearts, shone forth the glory of God in word and example by their love of Christ and their persecutors.   On their day of victory, their blood watered the seeds of the new faith sprouting throughout the Roman Empire. 

PERPETUA is like seeing the silvery little paws of the PUSSY WILLOW sprouting on a bush as a sure sign of faith: out of dry twigs the pussy willow suddenly bursts forth to life.  And FELICITY is like the FORSYTHIA, that blooms around the same time, as its yellow glow brings rejoicing to all hearts. Pussy willows and forsythia represent anticipation.  

This Polish legend encourages us to believe life will bloom again when all appears dead.

Jesus visited the forest of the Mount of Olives early one morning.  He found it to be barren, lifeless.  Winter had taken its toll: there were no buds, flowers or ground cover sprigs. The whole forest was gloomy and grey; the animals wistful and motionless; the birds, silent.  Jesus began to gather branches of pussy willows and forsythia.  At His touch the branches of pussy willows and forsythia began to bud.  In the warm morning sunlight, the forest was rejoicing to welcome Jesus, the Lord of all creation, as the earth began to shake off its Winter sleepiness and release its secret liveliness back up into the grasses, bushes and trees.  Little critters peeked out of their holes and birds began to chirp. Jesus smiled upon the awakening world. 

His followers arrived with the colt Jesus and festooned the docile donkey with the budding branches which Jesus had picked. And then he sat on the colt and began the journey into Jerusalem.  The crowds, upon seeing him and filled with anticipation, cut their own branches of palm and sang out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”

The Brazilian PASSION FLOWER grows on a vine and looks like something out of Carnival with its colors and frills but the Portuguese missionaries, just like St Patrick and the shamrock before, used the Passion Flower to help the native understand Christ’s Crucifixion.  The frilly filaments symbolize the Crown of Thorns, the top stigma is the Three Nails used to crucify the Lord and the five lower anthers are the wounds in Christ’s hands and feet and side. The blood of Christ is the red stain from the plant.  The fragrance of the flower represents the spices prepared by the Holy Women at the tomb.  Tea made from the dried Passion Flower induces sleep symbolizing the three days in the tomb and the sweet fruit symbolizes the resurrection and salvation of all peoples.

Brazilian SAINT DULCE died March 13, 1992. 
At the time of her death she was the most well-known women in Brazil.  Coming from an upper-class family, Dulce, her name means ‘sweet,’ entered the Franciscan sisters and began giving beggars haircuts and treating their wounds outside the convent door.  She found housing for them in abandoned houses in an area called Rat Island.  Evicted from there, she housed the sick in an abandoned fish market.  Evicted again, she convinced the mother superior to let her use the chicken coop to shelter her patients.  The Superior permitted it, as long as Dulce took care of the chickens – she did – by feeding them to the sick and poor!  That chicken coop later became San Antonio Hospital. Eighteen years after Dulce’s death her body, and clothing, were found to be incorrupt.  Canonized in 2019, St. Dulce’s passion for the salvation of souls flowered in her sweet deeds as she became known as the patron saint of the poor.   

March 15 is the feast of a humble and courageous Redemptorist, ST CLEMENT HOFBAUER. St Clement is known for bringing the Redemptorists from Italy across the Alps to Austria and into Poland.   His generosity is legendary:

In his younger years, Clement was a baker of bread who worked day and night to feed the poor.   Once, while collecting money for orphans he stopped to beg at a bar.  There he was ridiculed, spat upon and generally mistreated.  In response he said, “All Right.  That was for me.  But what can you give for my boys?”  The men were so astounded by his humility they generously opened their pockets and gave all they could. 

Because Clement was a baker of bread and harvester of souls, we could associate him with WINTER WHEAT. It symbolizes hardiness, abundance and generosity. Winter Wheat is planted in in the Autumn so it is ready to harvest late Spring.

In the 5^th century, it is said that SAINT PATRICK used a SHAMROCK as a metaphor to convert the Irish to Christianity.   But the Celtic ancients already believed in the triune nature of everything such as the three stages of womanhood: maid, mother, crone; the three elements: earth, water and fire.  The shamrock is not the only sign of the Trinity:  the Celtic knot also symbolizes the Trinity and that God is intertwined in everything. Legend has it that Patrick Christianized the pagan Sun Wheel - the symbol of the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth when he overlay the Cross of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.  In seeing the Celtic Cross, our faith leads us to union with the risen Christ, and our hope in the life to come.  

The most common flower associated with ST JOSEPH on March 19^th and the ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD, on March 25^th , is the LILY.  It is a symbol of innocence, purity and beauty, peace.  

Joseph is depicted as holding the infant Jesus and a lily signifying his purity,

righteousness and joy. Likewise, in paintings of the Annunciation, Gabriel is featured offering a lily to Mary symbolizing the hope to be fulfilled in the new life she will carry: the Promised One, the Messiah.

When Mary visits Elizabeth, she sings her Magnificat. 
Perhaps she also sang the song from the prophet Sirach, “Listen to me, faithful ones: open up your petals; Send up the sweet odor like incense; break forth in blossoms like the lily.  Raise your voices in a chorus of praise; bless the Lord for all God’s works!” Sirach 39:13-14

Lilies represent purity of heart, love, rebirth and hope.  At funerals they symbolize restored innocence to the soul of the one who died.   By Jesus’ death and resurrection, our souls become innocent like Joseph and Mary’s, who were righteous and pure from the beginning, and gives us hope in the life to come. 

SAINT OSCAR ROMERO was just canonized in 2018. He is remembered for his humanitarian efforts in El Salvador.  

Hear how Jesus’ compassion overflows toward his people as he weeps:  “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling!  I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”      Matthew 23:37, 39

BLEEDING HEART FLOWER,
with its heart shaped flowersborne on arching stems, beautifully describes the arc of Romero’s life rise from being a scrupulous priest to becoming an outspoken critic of the government and champion of the poor and oppressed.  This led to his martyrdom while celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980.