Jesus was not a hypnotist

We celebrated the Feast of St. Matthew on this past Saturday.  The gospel reading was of course, that wonderful story where Matthew is sitting at the Customs Post and Jesus walks up and says, "Follow me."  I'm always intrigued by the 'call' stories in Holy Scripture.  They seem to take place so quickly.  Jesus looks at you, says a few words to you and boom…the next thing you know you are wandering around the country preaching the coming of the kingdom.  Nowhere is the word 'discernment' mentioned anywhere.  There are no Come and See weekends for these people, no psychological testing, no interviews with a vocation director to see if they are 'fit'…they just go.  

Now I realize that in reality perhaps some of these encounters with Jesus were not actually the first time they ever saw or heard of Jesus.  Our evangelists were making the point that following Jesus is primary to anything else so dropping everything to follow him is a worthy image to portray.

Pope Francis gave a homily on Saturday that talks about the gaze of Jesus in relation to the Call.

When Jesus looked at Matthew, “that gaze overtook him completely, it changed his life,” said the Pope to the congregation at Casa Santa Marta on Sept. 21.

“The gaze of Jesus always makes us worthy, gives us dignity.  It is a generous look.”

He explained that the an encounter with Jesus “gives the courage to follow Him.”

“Jesus’ gaze always lifts us up,” continued Pope Francis. “It is a look that always lifts us up, and never leaves you in your place, never lets us down, never humiliates. It invites you to get up – a look that brings you to grow, to move forward, that encourages you.”

The gaze of Jesus is incredibly powerful, said the Pope, but it is not “magical.”

“Jesus was not a specialist in hypnosis,” he quipped.

Rather, Christ’s gaze is one that “makes you feel that he loves you.”

Jesus does not hypnotize us to get us to answer a call to religious life.  But sometimes we have a hard time believing that his gaze is one of love when he calls us.   We can think that a call means suffering and hardship and something we wouldn't choose to do.  But God does not purposely call us to misery. 

Another image our chaplain used in his homily on Saturday was that of "Christ passing by."  Jesus passes by us even if we are a 'sinner' sitting at a customs post.   Who knows he may be passing by right now...are you going to ignore him or take a chance?

'Wine' a little, it will make you feel better.

September 14th marked the 20th anniversary of my entering the postulancy of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, MO.   I remember the day well, excited, but also thinking to myself, "What in heaven's name have you done, Ruth?!"  Something took though...I'm still here...

So what did I do to celebrate?  I went grape picking at a local winery named Holy Field.  
What a great name for a winery for nuns to go pick grapes at.  Don't ask me what makes that field holy.  I cajoled our three women in formation to join me.  Actually, I didn't have to cajole them, any outing is a nice break when you are in formation!   

Postulant Rosa 

 A cousin of one of our sisters has the winery outside of Kansas City.  I've been there a few times over the years to pick grapes.    A few years ago our Sr. Gladys, a wine guru, agreed to teach me how to make wine.   So I dutifully brought back 100 pounds and we used about 75 lbs for our project.  It seemed at the time that we had a river of wine with all those grapes.  We ended up with 75 bottles of varying sizes with inflated balloons on top during the fermentation process down in our basement.   

Watch your fingers, Ruth, you still have to play the organ
for vespers this evening.

We still have not finished drinking it and I am proud to say that no one has died from it!
We probably brought back around 140 lbs this time, seven 5 gallon buckets full.  Since we have not finished the last batch of wine I made, we will use these grapes for grape jelly.   

the Haul

St. Benedict in his Rule absolutely 
despises murmuring in community members.  I suppose he wouldn't like whining either...none of us do unless perhaps we are the 'whinee.'   Do we not feel justified in the righteousness of our whining?  But I was amused by a saying on some napkins that the winery sold in their gift store:

"Wine a little, it will make you feel better."

Our Lord is not against feasting or he would not have changed water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana.

Benedict lets his monks have wine in chapter 40 of his Rule but wants them to drink moderately.   He phrased it this way (he knew his monks well) -

"We read that monks should not drink wine at all, but since the monks of our day cannot be convinced of this, let us at least agree to drink moderately and not to the point of excess."

This is good advice...even for the eating of grape jelly!
  

Wedding day of a nun

  

This past weekend was a time for celebration in our community as Sr. Nancy Rose Gucwa made Final Profession at Eucharist on Saturday.  (I was especially happy to see one of my first 'vocations', after becoming vocation director, make it to the big day!)  It is the closest thing we nuns get to a wedding day.   And just as brides 'glow', so was Sr. Nancy Rose glowing as seen in the picture to the right.  The light happened to be streaming through the windows at just the right time...or maybe it really is her natural glow!

Final Profession is THE commitment...no more messing around with temporary vows.   It's time to stop sitting on the fence...are you in or are you out?  We all hark back to our own Final Profession day whenever we celebrate someone else.   I remember it being one of the happiest days of my life.  I was rather chicken to make the commitment, however.  It took me six years in temporary vows to decide that 'yes, this will be forever.'  (Temporary vows can be anywhere from 3 - 6 years long.)   I suppose I suffered from wanting to keep my options open AND a fear of commitment.   But God gave me the grace at the right time.

When we make Final Profession we get THE RING.   People often ask if they notice it, "What does the IHS stand for?"  It's a Greek shortcut for the name of Jesus.  It is NOT as some may joke, "I have suffered."  (although there is suffering involved in lasting long enough to get the privilege of wearing one! :)

The ceremony is rich in symbolism.   The sister prostrates herself before the altar and the whole assembly prays Psalm 51 over her.   Psalm 51 asks God to create a pure heart and steadfast spirit, the monastic ideal.   The thing I remember about prostrating there is feeling an energy pass through me during the recitation.  I can only assume it was the Holy Spirit!

 Another part of the ceremony involves the singing of the Suscipe.  This can often be the scariest part of the ceremony for those women who don't sing confidently.   Nancy Rose did just fine.

Receive me Lord,
according to your promise
and I shall live;
and disappoint me not in my hope.
(Ps 119:116)



In today's hook-up culture it is easy to be cynical about 'forever.'  With over 50% of marriages failing, we can easily get cynical and say - "Nothing is forever."  But in this northwest corner of Missouri we celebrate the fact that yes, there are people who really do mean it when they say " forever"!