Renewal of Vows by Sisters of St. Joseph

August 15 is a big Feast Day for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston. Each year we renew our vows. Today there were special liturgies at our Motherhouse, Fontbonne Convent, and Bethany Health Care Center. I was asked to offer some reflections at the Fontbonne Convent celebration. Afterwards, several who were present asked if I would make the reflections available for all to read. I do have to credit Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, for most of the background about Mary. Chapter 10 of her book Truly Our Sister offers wonderful insights into the scripture passages about Mary. I've spent so much time reflecting on her words that I'm not sure exactly where her quotes and my writing begin and end. So here are my reflections with some help from Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ.

Today is a feast of relationships. Today the gospel speaks of the time-honored relationship between Mary and Elizabeth. The readings from Revelation and psalm 45 offer a vision of Mary’s cosmic relationship to our ever-expanding universe. Corinthians speaks of a community where relationships of power-over are shattered in favor of relationships of power-with -- where all experience belonging in Christ.

And what about us? We gather in on this otherwise ordinary Saturday morning as women of the church; rooted in the gospel. We gather because of our shared commitment to deepen our relationship with God, one another in community, and the Dear Neighbor without distinction.
Consider your memories of this feast throughout the years. I clearly recall this day…41 years ago…when I approached the altar in another Fontbonne Chapel…the chapel at Fontbonne Hall in Framingham. Just three days earlier, I had turned 20 years old. As I professed first vows as a Sister of St. Joseph, somewhere deep inside – deeper than any intellectual “knowing” I proclaimed an unqualified “yes” to God’s call – but the truth is – the rational “knowing” part of me was very uncertain about what I was doing – However, I did know I couldn’t turn back. I knew in that moment it was God’s desire praying within me. -- God’s desire that calling me forth to continue the uncertain journey into the future. – God’s desire that enflamed my soul and continues to live in me as each day presents new challenges.

I suspect each Sister of St. Joseph has her own story of living into the vows first professed years ago. I also suspect that when Mary set out on the journey to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, she wasn’t totally clear about the “Yes” she had spoken. As she made the dangerous 50 mile journey to be with her cousin, Elizabeth, she was looking for someone with whom she could share the stirrings that enflamed her heart. She was looking for a community where she could be in relationship with others who resonated with those stirrings and grow into the commitment she had made in proclaiming “Yes” to God’s desire.

We know very little of Mary – or Miriam of Nazareth as she was known to her Hebrew neighbors. In this “hiddenness” she stands in solidarity with multitudes of marginalized women and men through the centuries – whose lives are considered not worth recording.
Miriam of Nazareth is an ordinary Jewish village woman of extra-ordinary faith. Nazareth was a rural town populated mostly by peasants who worked the land and craftspeople who served their basic needs.

On the surface our lives may look different than those of Mary and her neighbors. She didn’t have an email address, a cell phone, cable TV, or even a favorite computer game. She didn’t wake up each day to news reports about universal health care, political unrest in countries on the other side of the world, climate change, or the economic stimulus package.

None the less, times were tough in Nazareth. The village was part of an occupied state. Revolution was in the air. The atmosphere was tense. Violence and poverty prevailed. Miriam of Nazareth – like us – did live in a conflicted and dangerous world. Her story -- in the midst of this world – stands out as a story of relationship. She is not only mother -- She is sister and dear neighbor, to suffering and marginalized women and men in oppressive situations – both in her day and ours.

And as I asked earlier: What about us? -- we who profess that we “see relationship at the heart of mission” – we who profess that we are enflamed with the compassion of God.
We don’t have to look very far to see how the vows we renew today are lived out in the relationships of our lives and the lives of those with whom we minister. We could site many examples right in this house and beyond. Anytime I stop by Fontbonne Convent, a welcoming spirit permeates – whether in friendly hellos or an offer of a cup of coffee -- there is a real sense that nurturing relationships is important.

Today, as we renew our vows, our lives proclaim that we see relationship at the heart of mission. Just as God heard Mary’s prayer – God also hears the prayer of our heart – as each in her own way, continues to live into the “yes” first professed many years ago.

On this otherwise ordinary Saturday morning we celebrate – not only Mary and her relationships. We celebrate the variety of ways in which connecting neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God spills over into the lives of those with whom we live and among whom we minister. This is what Sisters of St. Joseph and associates mean when we say in our Constitution, “we see relationship at the heart of mission.”

Today is a feast of relationships. Today we celebrate the ongoing process of being and becoming what Jean Pierre Médaille, called The Congregation of God’s Great Love. Today we celebrate that enflamed with the compassion of God we truly are women of the Church rooted in the gospel.