So… I mentioned that I am applying to a religious community.
I have received the application and have been steadily going through it. There are A LOT of questions! Many of them are quite interesting and worth anyone thinking about, so I thought I would share a few for your own meditation:
What in your parent’s marriage do you find attractive?
What is the source of your greatest happiness? What is the source of your greatest unhappiness?
What relationships are the most important in your life?
In whom do you confide?
What do you think will be the greatest challenge in living the community life?
Anyways, I found them interesting. Some I thought would be easy and ended up being difficult. Please continue to pray for me.
Your sister in Christ,
~Kerry
Our Lady of Czestochowa, pray for us! (I entrusted my vocation to Our Lady of Czestochowa when I was on pilgrimage in Poland)
This phrase has permeated the Catholic world for a number of years. We heard Bl. John Paul II speak on it. Father Robert Barron is a great example of someone embracing the new evangelization on a large scale especially with his Word on Fire website and the Catholicism series (if you haven’t seen these, to quote a certain priest, do it tonight or before death; whichever comes first).
A thought struck me tonight though. What does the new evangelization look like for the rest of us? You know, us non-Pope and non-awesomeness-a-la-Fulton-Sheen people?
It seems that the media and technology are a big part of the new evangelization. We use things like blogs, Facebook, Twitter to share ideas and there are great resources on the internet like New Advent, Catholic Answers, and even the Vatican!
But… is that really it?
I don’t think so.
I think that the new evangelization, for us normal folk, is, well, to evangelize. Many of us (myself included) sit in our little Catholic bubbles and stay there. We know the faith, the apologetics, the morals, etc. We may even talk about controversial issues… with our equally devout Catholic friends and family. When do we actually get out there? Actually attempt to bring the Gospel, the Good News, to another person? And no, putting up Bible quotes on Facebook does not mean you are evangelizing.
Ok, ok, maybe it is not always so bleak. But what have YOU done to evangelize recently? What have I done? Unfortunately, I am confident that we all have family and friends who do not have the faith or who do not practice. How can we reach out to them? To be honest, I think trying to evangelize your family is probably harder than making the whole Catholicism series. Because we love them. We don’t want to hurt their feelings or have them be mad at us. But remember… we do love them! And, if you really believe, how can you not try to share this with your loved ones?
There is a lot to be said about prudence, evangelizing through actions/how you live your life, but there comes a time when conversation needs to happen. And maybe you need to be the one to bring it up.
In this world, among Catholics and non-Catholics alike, there is a great misunderstanding of the Church – who she is and what she teaches. A lot of people simply do not know anything substantial about Jesus. So, could this be part of the new evangelization – to actually evangelize? We all need to learn our faith more – and more importantly fall deeper and deeper in love each day with our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church he gave us. And with this love and knowledge as the foundation; preach the Good News.
“15 but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”
1 Peter 3:15-16
Your sister in Christ,
~Kerry
Update: Wow. Wrote this last night without realizing today is the Feast of Sts Philip and James – apostles! Certainly evangelizers. And as a penance this morning, I had to pray for the grace to be a bold witness. Well, I guess I have to follow my own words…
One of my dear blogging compatriots, over at Plowing Forward, has set up a feature for his (and now my) blog. Since we are Catholics who blog, it is inherent that we have opinions on almost everything. And while Mr. Plowing Forward may technically be a theologian (as he is in seminary studying theology), we are both ceratinly at the amateur level. Hence: AMATEUR HOUR!
This will be a spot for some us to share our thoughts, rants, opinions, faith/discernment happenings. Not surprisingly, I had an opinion about something, so I sent over a post on the public Catholic response (especially of business owners) when confronted with those who do not follow Church teaching. Check it out!
Keep checking back at Plowing Forward for more Amateur Hour posts – should be pretty neat to see what floods in.
Also, say a quick prayer for our dear seminarian and check out the rest of his blog.
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I had been pondering a discernment related question. Well… here’s the deal:
I have asked for an entrance application to a certain religious community.
Wow. This is real.
I sent a letter last week and Mother has already agreed to send me the application. It seems like I have a good chance of being accepted too. This is still the VERY beginning stages, but it is a real step.
Thank you all for your prayers and support and listening to all my rants. Please keep me and all those discerning in you prayers.
In a recent e-mail correspondence with a friend, we were discussing the oh-so-famous remark by Sr. Laurie Brink that religious communities should “move beyond Jesus”. Now, in fairness that is not exactly what she said. It seems that she mentioned that as a path that some religious might take (and, from what I have heard, she did not repudiate as a bad choice. To read her full address, as I plan to, go here). However, it was another part of the address that was the source of our conversation.
Apparently, Sr. Brink labels the more traditional religious communities as “Acquiescing to Other’s Expectations”. My friend mentioned that it was not only a false interpretation of these Sisters, but possibly a violation of charity. I agreed. With what I understood Sr. Brink to mean (and if I find differently from reading the response, I will update this post) was that the acquiescing was to the “hierarchy” or the traddies or some similar group instead of authentically responding to Jesus Christ. I do believe, that the wholesale categorization of traditional women religious as such, would be an offense against charity.
However, that phrase “violation of charity” has stuck with me. Aren’t I similarly uncharitable to the Sisters on the more liberal side of the spectrum? For example, when looking at videos of religious sisters, I came across this one for a group of Dominican Sisters:
The phrase “call to prayer” instantly sent up the red flags of something strange for me. As as I watched I was appalled, at first. My instinct was to laugh. But then I thought about charity. I continued to watch the Sister and she seemed very happy. And maybe she really is praising God in her dance. (I tend to believe that a lot of “liturgical dancing” is more about the dancer than God) Even if that is the case, I still don’t care for this as prayer and honestly think it looks silly.
Is that a violation of charity? I don’t think so. I think maybe my initial thoughts could be, especially if I went too far into judging someone’s intentions or their soul. So, is it bad to laugh at something you think looks silly (as long as you don’t judge them)?
Now, this is a mild example of liturgical wackiness. I’ve seen MUCH worse. And I think it is also ok to not like it. If something seems to take away from the reverence of liturgy (especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass) or move focus away from God then we should not approve. It is ok say that it is not right. And, honestly, I think that irreverence in liturgy can mean that the people are lacking in faith (in the Real Presence, in the fact that liturgy is to worship God, etc). But not always, maybe even not most of the time. It is important to remember that those involved may be just working with what they have, or be lacking in catechesis but willing to understand. And there is the fact that change is hard. If you have ALWAYS done something one way, it can be hard to accept that it may not be right. My hope is that when seeing things like the above video, or liturgical wackiness other places, I can acknowledge what is wrong or sad or silly about it, but not to judge the people.
Maybe this is where the charity lies? For it cannot be charitable to call something good when it is not, but it may be to call the action lacking but be open to seeing the good in the person.
Our Lady of Czestochowa, pray for us! (I entrusted my vocation to Our Lady of Czestochowa when I was on pilgrimage in Poland)
