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 8th 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.