Consecx:itedLife

Focus on the Sacred Heart

Propheti:c. Women -
QUARTERLY
70.3
2011
 Review for Religious fosters dialogue with God,
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today the way of dialogue.

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 ~ gournal of Ca~hohc Spiri~uali~y
Celebrating 70 Years

Editor Michael G. Harter SJ

Book Review Editor RosemaryJermann
Scripture Scope Eugene Hensell OSB
Editorial Staff Mary Ann Foppe
Tracy Gramm
Judy Sharp

Advisory Board Paul ,Coutinho SJ

Martin Erspamer OSB
Margaret Guider OSF
Kathleen Hughes RSCJ
Louis and Angela Menard QUARTERLY
Bishop Terry Steib SVD 70.3
2011
 contents

prisms
228 Prisms
230 Making the Gift of Death
David L. Fleming SJ reflects during his final illness
on the prayer "Take and Receive" by St. Ignatius Loyola
and comes to the understanding that the ultimate gift
we can make to God is the love-gift of our own death.

consecrated life 0
234 To Live Here Below from the Beyond:
Religious Vows and Apostolic Life
Sylvie Robert SA examines the relational and eschatological
aspects of the classic vows of poverty, chastity, and
obedience to determine their specific contribution to
apostolic religious life.

247 Religious Life in Asia Today

Inigo Joachim SSA reflects about the international
conference on the daeology of religious life sponsored by
the Union of Superiors General in Rome 7-12 February
2011. While consecrated life is being strongly challenged by
a climate of increasing cultural secularization, she perceives
the need for a certain discontinuity with preceding forms of
religious life while rediscovering and incorporating a deep
continuity with the radical spirit of our founders.

255 Religious Formation and the Integral Pyschosexual

Development of Candidates
Chinyeaka C. Ezeani MSHR writes from her perspective as
a woman religious from Africa about issues of psychosexual
226.] development pertinent for candidates and young persons in
formation, and explores some means toward healthy sexual
integration to help them live meaningful, loving, and happy
lives as celibate religious.

Review for Religious

 focus on the sacred heart
276 Pedro Arrupe and the Renewal of the
Society of Jesus: Thirty Years Later
Christopher S. Collins SJ describes how devotion to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus has been foundational for his own
prayer and has sustained him in his vocation. Integrating the
language of our hearts and the Heart of Christ in prayer and
our daily lives is a most effective kind of pastoral approach.

283 Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos SJ:

A New Model for Youth and Young at Heart
Hedwig Lewis SJ provides insights into the life and
spirituality of Bernard Francis de Hoyos, the most recent
Jesuit to be beatified. On the occasion of the tercentenary
of his birth, this article highlights his qualities as a
role-model for religious youth and the young at heart.

prophetic women
297 Women as Prophets--
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim
Patrick J. Ryan SJ writes about women who have taken
on prophetic roles in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim
religious traditions. He describes how they have spoken
on God’s behalf and where we might find them in our
more contemporary world.

311 A Journey of Risk: The Spirituality of Mother

AngelineTeresa McCrory OCarm
John E Russell OCarm writes of how Mother Angeline
Teresa McCrory OCarm incorporated Carmelite spirituality
in the community she founded to care for the elderly.

departments
323 Scripture Scope:
227
Why Read the Biblical Prophets Today?
329 Book Reviews

70.3 2011
 Te wind blows steadily out
on the prairies where I grew up, and we grew
accustomed unconsciously to leaning in the
direction the wind came from. We would fre-
quendy joke that on calm days when the wind
stopped blowing we had to make adjustments
or risk tipping over. It was a bit like that when,
on March 22, Dave Fleming died, following a
prisms two-year bout with pancreatic cancer. It was as
if a steady wind into which I had leaned a good
portion of my life had suddenly stopped blowing
and I found myself out of balance. For years I
had leaned in his direction more than I imagined.
As a young priest I worked with him before he
become my provincial; later we served together
on other provincials’ teams. Most recently, I
succeeded him as editor of this journal.
Ever youthful, always engaged, Dave’s ability
to live well was contagious. It was difficult to be
down in the face of his bright smile. He enjoyed
fine food and good wine, but he savored being
with friends. He loved to travel to reconnect
with long-time acquaintances in far-away places
or to welcome classmates or friends for a meal
in his community. He grew beyond his St.
228 Louis roots, nurtured his Ignatian heritage in
Kansas and in Wales, and shared it generously
from South Africa to Japan~and many points
between--through his workshops and writing.

Review for Religious

 As provincial, he trusted people with tasks and
expected them to rise to the occasion. As a spiritual
director he unobtrusively allowed us to work through
personal difficulties without mapping out a solution. His
experience-based wisdom became an invaluable resource
for the provincials who succeeded him. When he directed
a retreat, gave a workshop, or presented a paper at a con-
ference, he would make important matters understand-
able without oversimplifying them. He taught so many
of us respect for the Spiritual Exercises, and stepped us
through the practicalities of directing them.
Dave’s illness provided one last opportunity for him
to perfect his skills of finding God in all things. Recently
he wrote: "Today my way to God is through this experi-
ence of cancer. As a result I do not want to avoid it or get
around it. I just want to seek and find God where God is
drawing me to find him." Dave was, indeed, at home in
God’s wonderful world and helped others find their place
in it--and God’s place in their lives.
It is difficult to let go of one’s mentor. There is
always another question to ask and so much more to
learn. But wise mentors know when it is time to step
back and allow others to come forward. We who remain
desire to lean a little longer on his wisdom, but we grate-
fully acknowledge how much he has left of himself--and
God’s Spirit--with us. May that mighty Spirit continue.
Gerard Manley Hopkins concludes his poem In the
Valley of the Ehvy with a prayer. Let it be our prayer today.
God, lover of souls, swaying considerate scales,
Complete thy creature dear 0 where it fails,
Being mighty a maste~; being a father and fond. 229
Farewell, fond father, gentle master.
Michael G. Harter SJ

70.3 2011
 DAVID L. FLEMING

Making the Gift of Death

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
--invocation at time of imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday

IF t may seem strange to speak of the gift of death.

or anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ,
there is the attempt, every time we celebrate the real-
ity of the Eucharist, to live the reality of making to God
a gift of death. Living this reality does not come easy
because of both traditional understandings of death and
present cultural denials of death.
From a biblical perspective, death is seen in the
book of Genesis as a punishment for the sin of the first
human beings. Death, even for a people acknowledg-
ing a God of life, seemed to bring an end to all things.
It took long centuries for the Israelite faith to begin
thinking in terms of a human life beyond death. Even
at the time of Christ and the apostle Paul, there was
still a major difference between the Pharisees and the
Sadducees about the possibility of resurrection of the
dead. Although we Christians believe in the resurrec-
tion of Jesus as the "first fruits," and so the promise of
our own bodily resurrection, our theological context
230 has still tended to emphasize the punishment aspect of
dying.
Much of our attempt to explain the Passion and
Death of Jesus continues to focus on his own having

Review for Review for Religious

to suffer the punishment of death, though he was sin-
less. Death, in all its darkness, becomes focused in Jesus’
quoting the opening words of the psalm, "My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?" As many biblical
scholars have pointed out, the psalm is not an abandon-
ment psalm, but a psalm emphasizing the giving-over of
one’s being into God’s hands.
The meaning of death as a gift takes on a special
emphasis when we consider Ignatian spirituality. In his
famous Suscipe ("Take
and Receive") prayer in
the final prayer exercise
outlined in the Fourth When we try to name what
Week of the Spiritual we can share with God
Exercises, Ignatius has
us enter into a prayer of what we have, we realize
of lovers. The lovers that everything we have
are God and ourselves.
As he has indicated in is gift from God.
a pre-note to the exer-
cise, lovers share what
they have with the
beloved. When we then try to name what we can share
with God of what we have, we realize that everything
we have is gift from God. Do we have anything of "our
own" that we could give God?
The Ignatian prayer is expressed as follows:
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory,
My understanding, and my entire will--
All that I have and call my own.
You have given it all to me.
To You, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what You will.
i231
Give me only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me. (SpEx 234)

70.3 2011
 Fleming ¯ Making the Gi3~ of Death

Ignatius suggests in his prayer "all my liberty, my

memory, my intellect, and all my will." Some people
have heard these words as a negative way of praying.
Rather, what Ignatius highlights are the gifts that I can
claim as uniquely my own personal qualities, and which
I can give to God.
What are these gifts? Liberty for Ignatius points to
that potential I have to make choices. That potential
belongs to me. God waits on my freedom. Only I can
exercise it. By saying liberty, I identify that potential
which is mine and offer it to God as a lover’s gift. When
I next name memory, I point to all the memories that
are rightly identified with my life’s experience. They
are truly my memories; no one else has them in the way
that I possess them, not even people who may have gone
through some of the same experiences with me. These
memories are what I want to make a gift of to God
because they are mine. Intellect is the third gift Ignatius
names. Intellect includes all the understandings I have
come to in my life; it is my way of understanding, just
as some may ask me "how do you understand that?" My
way of understanding may be right or wrong, wise or
foolish, but it is truly my way of understanding. That is
what I offer as a love-gift to God. And finally there is
the word freedom. Freedom indicates those choices I have
made in life. For the actual decisions and choices that
I have made, I can say, "I have only myself to blame"
(or to approve). In Ignatius’s prayer, this freedom is one
more gift that I can give in my loving response to God.
It is apparent to me that there is another gift I can
232 make to God as a lover. It is the gift of my own death.
My death is mine. God cannot know death. He must
become incarnate in Jesus; it is in and through Jesus
that God has the first experience of sharing in the gift

Revie~ for Religio~s

of lovers, the gift that Jesus gives to God in his dying
moment. Jesus has opened up that gift of death for all
of us. We, too, can make a gift of our death--a love-gift
that God would not have unless we as a loving gesture
give our death over to God.
I am saying little new here for we realize that in
offering ourselves with Jesus in every Eucharist, we are
always trying to say that we are giving over the whole
of ourselves with his Son to God. Since the Eucharist
captures the moment of Christ’s total gift to God and
to us in his dying, we are always fixed on that special
moment of our life called our "dying." It stands as the
summation moment of a whole lifetime of returning
ourselves to the God who created us and from whom we
came. This moment can truly become the moment of
our greatest gift shared with God--our making to God
a love-gift of our death.

In Memoriam
Father David L. Fleming SJ, editor of
Review for Religious for the past 23 years,
died on March 22, 2011, after a long and
courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.
We the staff are grateful for having the
opportunity to have worked with Father
Dave. We were blessed by his gentle care,
humility, and generosity. We carry in our hearts memories of
shared accomplishments and trials, and of many celebrations,
great and small, of the blessings in our life and work. For him
all was sacrament--a visible sign of God’s grace.
To read more, type the following link in your Internet browser:
http://www.jesuitsmissouri.org/iden/fleming.cfm

70.3 2011
 SYLVIE ROBERT

To Live Here Below

from the Beyond:
Religious Vows and Apostolic Life

Editor’s Note: This article was originally a paper written

in French and presented at the Theological Seminar on

consecrated Consecrated Life in Rome February 7-11, 2011. William

P. O’Brien Sy and Rosemary Jermann provided assistance
life in translating the text.

Vghat is the specific contribution of the vows

of poverty, chastity, and obedience to apos-
tolic religious life? That is the question reli-
gious sometimes ask, accustomed as they are
to focusing the understanding of religious life
on the three traditional vows. Certainly, if
our profession involves these three vows, how
could they not imprint our mission? However,
before trying to elaborate a response, we need
to give a broader background to the question
by indicating briefly some points essential for

234
Sylvie Robert SA teaches courses in spirituality and
religious life at Centre Shvres in Paris. Her address is 14
rue St JeanoBaptiste de la Salle F, 75006 Paris, France.
<s.robert@ fr.oleane.com>

Review for Religious

any theology of religious life. These points will form
the framework of what follows.
First of all, discourse on religious life--in this
case, discourse on the vows--cannot be satisfied with
exhortations or repetitions. We have to reflect more
on the meaning, but also the place, of the three vows
in a theology of religious life. Second, as indicated by
the expression "celibate for the kingdom," the theol-
ogy of religious life must adopt an explicitly eschato-
logical perspective--the proclamation, the presence,
and the perspective of the kingdom. That perspective
is in fact key for getting a clear picture of the rela-
tionship of religious to the world and therefore to their
mission. Finally, theological reflection on religious life
must resolutely set aside a hierarchical understanding
of Christian vocations, avoiding at all costs views of
religious life as "more" or as having "objective excel-
lence." Such a hierarchical understanding is not evan-
gelical. I am convinced that today we cannot understand
the specific nature of religious life without at the same
time understanding the specific nature of the vocation
of Christian marriage.
In this context, to reflect on the contribution of the
"evangelical counsels" to apostolic consecrated life sup-
poses that we first specify the place of the three vows
in a theology of religious !ife, and then situate the vows
in relation to the apostolic character of all religious life
in order, finally, to sketch out how we understand their
particular apostolic dimension.

The Place of the Three Vows in a

Theological Understanding of Religious Life
It is still relatively common to define religious life,
following Thomas Aquinas,1 by the three traditional

70.3 2011
 Robert ¯ To Live Here Below from the Beyond

vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. This defini-

tion, however, gives rise to several major difficulties.
We now know, especially since the work of J.M.R.
Tillard, that this triad did not exist at the beginning of
religious life. It appeared long after religious life had
been well established and had already diversified.2 Nor
does this triad figure as such in all religious profession.
Thus the vows cannot define religioug life.
Furthermore, such a definition rests on the prob-
lematic distinction between "counsels" and "precepts."
__ This distinction,
which is not bib-
lical, has led, over
In an ecclesiology of communion, time, to a differ-
entiation between
no vocation has meaning a "common way"
in isolation. and a "way of
perfection," thus
creating "classes"
of baptized people
in a sort of "two-track Christianity"--as if receiving the
Gospel did not require the same radicality in all states
of life. Religious life then appears inevitably as a "more"
in relation to baptism.3
Yet every Christian is called to the perfection of
charity,4 to put Christ at the center of his or her exis-
tence, to declare to him "You alone are the Lord."
And in an ecclesiology of communion, no vocation has
meaning in isolation. So the baptized who have a voca-
tion to marriage make the radical choice of Christ by
236 receiving their spouse and, if they have them, their chil-
dren. The "You alone" that they address to Christ can-
not be actualized without a "you alone" addressed to the
spouse. Such is the spiritual experience that is proper

Review for Religious

to them. Those who are called to the religious life,
on the other hand, make the radical choice of Christ
without spouse or descendants. They say to Christ a
"You alone" without any other "you alone"; but it is
not a commitment without relationships, for by their
"You alone" they enter into a way of life as brothers and
sisters. The origins of the religious life in monasticism
remind us, in fact, that the choice of the celibate was the
choice to unify one’s life by concern for God so as to
love most broadly. Celibacy and the two dimensions of
a life unified by concern for God and by a non-conjugal
but brotherly and sisterly love of humanity are the dis-
tinctive marks of religious life.
This fundamental premiss (propositum) of religious
5
life is the background upon which the three classic
vows must be understood and situated. If the vows have
been retained and made the focus of religious life, it
is because they are anthropologically sound: they can
indicate how the whole human being in its fundamental
dynamisms incarnates the offering to God alone--with-
out any other "you alone"--that religious live.6
But how do the vows relate to the mission?

The Vows and the Apostolic Nature of

Religious Life
Resituated in this way, the three vows are neither
the principle nor the heart of the apostolic dimension of
religious life. Rather, mission in r.eligious life is rooted
in and springs from the original "You alone"--the spiri-
tual experience that is particular to religious life --with
all that is implied by that declaration. 237
This "You alone" without any other "you alone" is,
for religious, the place where they open themselves and
respond to the love of God within the very movement

70.3 2011
 Robert ¯ To Live Here Below from the Beyond

of God’s love toward humanity. In Christianity, in virtue

of the unity between the two commandments to love
God and to love neighbor, there is no genuine openness
to the love of God that is not open to loving others.
Christ’s gift without reservation to the Father is gift for
the life of humanity. For the Christian, as an image of
Christ, to authentically welcome the love of God is to
turn toward one’s brothers and sisters. When there is no
human "you alone," this movement, which receives its
impetus from the love of God for humanity, goes out to
everyone and everything--in principle, out to infinity.
Christ’s identity as beloved Son is at the same time
that of the One Sent by the Father. The Christian, as
an image of Christ,
also has identity in
a relationship with
Religious life, God that sends him
even the most apostolic, or her into the world:
receiving with the
does not consist primarily in Son and in the Spirit
the movement of love
fulfilling an ecclesial function.
of the Father, we are
sent forth. Herein lies
the link between con-
templation and mission. Contemplation is not separate
from the apostolic life, whether preceding it or follow-
ing it. Religious life lives this sending in its own way.
In distinction from the presbyteral ministry, religious
life, even the most apostolic, does not consist primarily
in fulfilling an ecclesial function. Apostolic work is the
238 work of God in the religious. The apostolic instrument
of the religious is his or her person wrought by God;7
and a religious who, when old age or sickness comes,
can no longer do anything but live, remains no less

Review for Religious

apostolic for that. One does not retire from the apos-
tolic life!
It is here that the three vows come in. They cer-
tainly are not the only elements of religious life that
give it its apostolic dimension,8 which [dimension], inci-
dentally, does not say everything about the vows either.
The vows do not have primarily an apostolic aim, but
they cannot not have an apostolic purview.
Indeed, the vows, focusing on what is most keenly
alive in our flesh--the fundamental appetites for free-
dom, goods, and love--offer the whole of our flesh to
Christ who was sent into this world to become flesh.
Each vow speaks in its own way of a birth from
on high: placing oneself under obedience in order to
receive one’s freedom from God alone; expanding in
chastity one’s capacity to give oneself to the other,
to receive the other, and to give life; and, in poverty,
receiving every good as coming from God and belong-
ing in principle to all. This does not come from the
movement of people left to themselves. Only a birth
in God--a birth of God in us--can be the origin of it.
Thus the three vows powerfully manifest the escha-
tological dimension proper to religious life.9 In distinc-
tion from marriage which, through descendants, opens
the present to an earthly, future--c.hastity in celibacy
anticipates and proclaims a world made, not of genera-
tion but by universal communion, the very same com-
munion that is promised in the afterlife, when "God will
be all in all." Obedience and poverty for the kingdom
are renunciation of ensuring oneself an earthly future
through works or possessions. The sacrament of mar- 239
riage affixes the seal of eternity on earthly realities and
makes them the way of common and mutual holiness for
the two spouses; the Christian spouses are thus called

70.3 2011
 Robert ¯ To Live Here Below from the Beyond

to turn, while living in the flesh, toward the beyond;

this is their own manner of announcing the kingdom.
In an inverse and complementary movement, religious
life, for its part, has the vocation to live here below
from the beyond--to announce the promise and the
already-anticipated realization of the beyond. Turned
toward the beyond, marked by the overabundance of
God that relativizes all that happens, religious life can-
not turn away from the here below, where it is sent by
the Spirit. Religious life is in this way invited to live in
the flesh what does not come from the flesh--this could
be a definition of the vows; and it is sent into the world
by a Word that has come from beyond--this could
be a definition of the mission.*° From this perspective
we can consider the apostolic dimension of the three
traditional vows.

The Apostolic Dimension of the Vows

Discussion on the vows has for a long time taken an
ascetical approach--presenting them as a "holocaust,"
a way of personal holiness, and a means of struggling
against obstacles to the perfection of charity~*-and/or a
juridical approach, understanding them as law and obli-
gation.12 More recently, the approach has been strongly
anthropological. The tendency today is to be more
attentive to the challenges of the contexts in which
the vows are lived out. This has given the discussion
a "militant," indeed a "countercultural" tone, with an
understanding of religious life in terms of prophecy:~3
the vows "proclaim and denounce"; they represent an
240 alternative way of life.
None of these dimensions can be omitted without
the risk of dissociating them--of making one more
prominent or of passing one or the other over in silence,

Review for Reli~ous

and thus losing the coherence of religious life. If the
ascetical approach had the tendency to overlook the
Thomistic baseline of charity, today the perspective
of commitment can make it more difficult to integrate
conversion as gift of God with the personal dimension
of conversion. Resituating the vows more modestly in
the theology of religious life allows us to take the dif-
ferent dimensions into
account and not focus
on them in terms of
the apostolate. The Just as ,there is no gap between
secondary and rela- contemplation and action,
tive place of the three
vows allows for a vari- neither is there a gap between
ety of interpretations conversion and mission.
that come from the
spiritual experience
of those who discuss
or write about the vows and from everything that has
contributed to the context of those interpretations. But
beyond those interpretations and what grounds them,
four points need to be emphasized in every discussion
of the apostolic dimension of the vows.
In the first place, the vows, as an offering to God,
inextricably link personal conversion and mission.~4 If
they incarnate in the whole of our being the original
"You alone" that we say to God, they help us to receive
fully the love of God that opens in service to our broth-
ers and sisters. Just as there is no gap between con-
templation and action, neither is there a gap between
conversion and mission. 241
Moreover, the three vows engage the capabilities
and challenges we have in relating to others. In effect
they put before us a great variety of models for relating

70.3 2011
Robert ¯ To Live Here Below from the Beyond

to the other. In obedience, we face the other as elder

or "parent";is with chastity, we stand before the other
as peer, face to face, as relational partner; and poverty
presents the other as "neighbor," the one with whom to
share, the one whois nothing to us except by the grace
and desire of God. Which of our relationships does not
come under one or the other of these models? The vows
thus enable us to allow the love of God to reveal itself
and convert each and every one of our relationships.
They send us to live out every relation--and does mis-
sion exist otherwise than in relationships?--on the basis
of our "You alone."
The vows also commit us to a certain way of look-
ing at every human being, others as well as ourselves.
Poverty involves looking at people as they are, without
bank account, without finery, without calling card--
bare, "naked," as they came from the hands of God
and as they will return on the last day. Celibate chas-
tity makes us consider others simply for God and for
themselves or for others, rather than in a spontaneous
movement of self-reference. Obedience places us in a
position of dialogue and reveals the other as a human
being capable of speaking and of listening. So the vows
ought to make us sensitive to situations in which human
beings, so loved by the Creator, are despised, and they
ought to bring us close to those who endure such cir-
cumstances. They also commit us to recognize the radical
beauty of humanity and to give thanks for everything
that respects and values it. They do not lead us only to
renounce, but also to contemplate.
Finally, the three traditional vows manifest the
eschatological dimension of our vocation. They imprint
on our flesh the beyond that calls us. They can be
understood as a dynamic of waiting, as the opening,

Review for Religious

at the heart of time, of a window looking toward that
which will not pass away. For they ceaselessly challenge
our longing to be sure of what is available to us, to be
sure of our work, and to be sure we can provide for
our future. They keep alive in us the desire for a world
where all bread, including the bread of affection, will be
shared with all. They mark every commitment with this
dimension, uprooting us from whatever, in our way of
looking at the world, and even with the best apostolic
intentions or justifications, may still remain "worldly."
Through this space, they can point out, in the heart of
the world, the place of God.
"Love comes down from above."ltThe three vows
have meaning only if they enable us to constantly read-
just our life by welcoming this love that sends us forth.
They remind us that we cannot shirk our diaconal role,
but that we cannot for all that reduce mission to service
alone. Our mission is to understand and to receive not
primarily from the world and its cries--which our rela-
tion to God gives us and certainly commands us to
hear--but from the One who sends us into the world
with the Son and in the Spirit. As Paul reminds the
Christians of Corinth, "Though I should give away to
the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to
be burned, if I am without love, it will do me no good
whatever," 17
Notes
~ "The three essential vows of religious life pertain to religious
observance as the principal elements to which everything else is
reduced," according to Thomas Aquinas (ST IIa-IIae q.188 a.1 obj.2).
2 See J.M.R. Tillard, Devant Dieu etpour le monde (Paris: Cerf, 1977): 243
"The classical triad does not seem to appear, and then only tentatively,
until the middle of the twelfth century.... The formula does not
seem to find its definitive authority until 1405 under the authority of

70.3 2011
 Robert ¯ To Live Here Below from the Beyond

Innocent VII. The formula then spread rapidly, but without being seen
as essential in the formulas of profession. The Benedictine tradition
will remain attached to the triad: stability---conversio morum~bedienee.
The Dominican tradition continues to confine itself to a profession of
obedience. The Orthodox East does not have the triad" (121).
3 The Exhortation ¼"ta consecrata attempts to avoid this shortcoming
by speaking of a "special," "particular," "specific" call, but it does not
completely manage to do so; a certain number of expressions manifest
the "more," the superiority, the "objective excellence of the consecrated
life" (n. 18). The problem seems to me to come in particular from use of
the term "consecration" in an attempt to express what is specific about
religious life. Actually, the term is applied to the common condition of
Christians, since the fundamental consecration is that of baptism. If all
are consecrated, and if religious life is consecration, then we are led to
express the difference by assigning a "more" to religious life: to follow
Christ more closely, to live the fullness of baptism, etc.
4 This is very clear in Thomas Aquinas: "Of itself and essentially,
perfection of the Christian life consists in charity, principally in the love
of God, then, and secondarily, in the love of neighbor--loves to which
the principal precepts of the divine Law refer. Yet it is important to
observe well that the love of God and of neighbor does not fall under
a precept according to any limitation, so that what goes beyond that,
would be a matter of counsel .... ’Charity is the end itself of the pre-
cept,’ in the words of Saint Paul. But there is no limitation on an end,
but only on the means to the end .... Perfection consists essentially in
the precepts" (ST IIa-Ilae q. 184 a.3).
s See the major light brought by Philippe Ldcrivain on the ini-
tial and fundamental propositum of religious life, which is translated by
the "vow of profession": "To vow oneself to the Lord does not mean
’to make one’s vows.’ These are two distinct registers: one expresses
the profound option of the person, the other an economy of decisions
rooted in this option and seeking to express it" [A Manner of Living:
Religious Today (Brussels: Lessius, 2009), 42].
6 Enzo Bianchi sums it up thus: "The evangelical requirements are
numerous and cannot be reduced to three; yet these three virtues (chas-
tity, poverty, and obedience), by their anthropological character, can
summarize and synthesize those requirements. The human sciences also
244 arrive at this triad when they indicate the three libidos that constitute
the human being in its depths: the libido amandi, the libido possidendi, and
the libido dominandi. We develop our personality, we mature, we become
more human in relation to these three areas, but in them we can also
become idolatrous, contradicting the living and true God and restoring

Review for Religious

a death-dealing logic into interpersonal relations. So the great spiritual
tradition has little by little held up chastity, poverty, and obedience as
being the fruits of an anti-idolatrous struggle, the fruits of spiritual
combat, the distinctive signs of following the Lord. It is through these
signs that religious are to show that they follow the Lord in practice;
they are to show it in the flesh, by their life, through doing and being:
they are to show that they follow the Lord, daily and concretely, in both
a communal and an individual way" [Si m savais le don de Dieu (Brussels:
Lessius, 2001), 74].
7 See Vita consecrata, n. 25: "The first missionary duty of consecrated
persons is to them themselves, and they fulfill it by opening their hearts
to the promptings of the Spirit of Christ."
s The handing over of self to God, the perpetual commitment
through a promise, and the fraternal life all, in fact, have a strong apos-
tolic bearing.
0 Theological reflection on religious life is currently discovering an
eschatological orientation. This is fortunate and fruitful.
~0 One impasse in the theology of Thomas Aquinas on this question
comes precisely from a difficulty in thinking of religious life in relation
to the world. If "religious engage themselves by vow to abstain from
worldly things, which they had been at liberty to use, in order to attend
to God more freely" (ST IIa-IIae q. 184 a.5), it becomes very difficult to
think of their relationship to the world.
n Such is the case in Thomas Aquinas, for whom "the religious
state can be considered under a triple aspect: (1) as an exercise by which
one tends to the perfection of charity; (2) as a life-regimen freeing the
human heart from external worries;... (3) as a holocaust by which one
offers oneself and one’s possessions completely to God" (ST IIa-IIae
q.186 a.7).
~2 Already present in Thomas Aquinas, this dimension is developed
in Suarez and very widely after him. Simon-Pierre Arnold seeks to rec-
tify this tendency in his last book, At the Risk of Jesus Christ: A Rereading
of the Vows (Brussels: Lessius, 2007).
~3 See, for example, Jacques Haers, Vivre les voeux aux frontiOres
(Brussels: Lessius, 2006); Simon-Pierre Arnold, op. cit., or JeanoClaude
Lavigne, Pour qu’ils aient la vie en abondance: La vie religieuse (Paris: Cerf,
2010).
~4 One of the merits of the last book of Simon Peter Arnold is to 245
recall this: "Our first mission is our vocation to evangelical conver-
sion. Our own human healing, for which the workshop is the religious
community and the Christian community of the people of God, thus

70.3 2011
 Robert * To Live Here Below from the Beyond

becomes the privileged sign of redeemed humanity, which we announce

and prepare by our work" (op. cit., p. 90).
15 To become convinced of this, one need only note how the exercise
of this vow can bring about a "replay" of parental relations!
16 See Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, nn. 184, 237, and 338.
17 1 Co 13:3.

Fi(ni)shing School
It made no sense.
Fish didn’t bite at that time of day.
A carpenter’s son from Nazareth --
what would he know about fishing?
Yet the command in his voice
sent us out to sea again.

I’I1 make you fishers of people,

Jesus said, after our abundant catch.
For three years we watched
as he hauled in sinners,
the blind and lame, the deaf and dumb,
those possessed of evil spirits,
those dispossessed.

One late afternoon

when we were far from any town,
we asked Jesus to dismiss the crowd -
they numbered in the thousands
and all we had to offer
were a few loaves an dfish.
Feed them yourselves, he said.

That day we learned

his most elementary lesson:
246 to fish for people
you have to put yourself
on the hook.
Irene Zimmerman OSF

Review for Religious

 An Interview with Sister Inigo by Fr. Amaladoss SJ

Religious Life in Asia Today

Sister Inigo, you attended the international conference on the

theology of religious life held recently in Rome. What struck
you most at the conference?
Consecrated life is being strongly challenged on all
the continents by a climate of increasing cultural secu-
larization.

Vocations to religious life seem to be going down even in Asia.

Why does that seem to be the case?
I think that the crisis is due to a perception of
the growing irrelevance of religious life, even in Asia.
Religious life is all about being seized by the living God.
If we make anything else primary, we are not talking
about religious life anymore. Whatever we are doing
and wherever we are doing it, we must work out of this
fundamental God experience.

Inigo Joachim SSA is a former superior general of the Society of the 247
Sisters of St. Anne, Chennai, India. She was interviewed by Michael
Amaladoss SJ after she attended an international theological conference
on the theology of religious life sponsored by the Union of Superiors
General 7-12 February 2011 in Rome. <[email protected]>

70.3 2011
 ffoacbim ¯ Religious Life in Asia Today

Religious are much appreciated for our efficiently

managed institutions of education, health care, and
pastoral and social services, which are still necessary
in Asia. But viewed from the traditional Asian values
of contemplation, mysticism, renunciation, simplic-
ity, compassion for the poor, and authentic love for
Mother Earth, we are not
perceived as God-realized
spiritual guides. Our
Religious life has become a professionalism and our
comfortable and secure
profession rather than a middle class lifestyle leave
call for radical living: people untouched because
they do not always see in
us credible witnesses of
Jesus and his radical com-
mitment to God’s reign. Our traditional interpretation
of vows and structured practices of prayer create confu-
sion in the minds of young people who often come from
rural backgrounds with their simple God experience.
Religious life has become a profession rather than a call
for radical living.
The globalized secular world provokes a profound
crisis in religious life. Young people no longer see it as a
relevant option to channel their idealism and generosity.
They are also reluctant to make life-long commitments.
The rapid entry of new means of communication like
the Internet, mobile phones, and social networks such
as Twitter and Facebook are distracting.

248 How can we reinterpret the vows today in an Asian context

in a relevant manner?
Our vow of poverty confuses young people who
have been forced to live in actual poverty throughout

Review for Religious

their entire lives and who are fighting to eradicate it
from society. It is ridiculous when religious have more
money or comfort in the religious community than their
families have in the village, and religious life itself is
seen as a way of sociooeconomic mobility. What differ-
ence does obedience make for someone who belongs to
a culture where one never decides on his or her own,
but is always expected to obey one’s elders? What does
the vow of celibacy mean in a culture where one is often
forced to give up marriage for the sake of a job or for
taking care of the family? And celibacy becomes even
more difficult to explain in the face of the sex scan-
dals within and outside the church. We are, therefore,
challenged to re-interpret the vows for young people so
they make sense to ourselves and to others.
In order to share our time, energy, talents, gifts,
finances, and knowledge with the poorest and the
unwanted, we voluntarily choose total personal posses-
sion-less°ness; through the vow of evangelical poverty,
we renounce the use of goods for personal benefits
and prestige, and work for justice. As a community of
service mindful of using power only with and for oth-
ers and never against or over them, we use prophetic
obedience to discern God’s design for the world. And
through the vow of consecrated celibacy we are called
to create relationships with nature, with God, and with
others in our fragmented and fractured society. This
vow is a commitment to equality in a society filled with
discrimination. A deep continuity with the radical spirit
of our founders should go hand in hand with a certain
discontinuity with past forms of religious life in order
to respond to the present signs of the times. [ 49
According to the thinking of Jon Sobrino SJ, the
vows make it possible for us to be present in the des-

70.3 2011
ffoacbim ¯ Religious Life in Asia Today

ert, at the periphery, and on the frontiers. In the desert

because chastity makes us present where there is no one
else or where no one wants to go because there are no
familiar and permanent roots. At the periphery because
being in solidarity with the poor not only removes
us from the center of power but also renounces the
prestige that material goods give. And on the frontiers
because obedience empowers us to be present where
the risks and dangers are greater and where prophetic
activity is more needed to denounce evil.

How does culture affect religious life?

Culture is a way of life of a group of people--the
behaviors, shared beliefs, values, customs, lifestyle, and
symbols that they accept and pass along by imitation
and communication from one generation to the next. As
religious we have to identify ourselves with the culture
of the poor and not with the culture of the dominant
group. Unless young candidates joining religious life are
helped to understand and appreciate their land, culture,
and people and their people’s way of living, beautiful
practices, and beliefs, our religious life becomes alien-
ating. The congregations in India, including the indig-
enous ones, still keep the Western model of formation
that is hardly suited to present-day India and to today’s
vocations. The training that young religious receive from
their formators, the location and setting of formation
houses, their lifestyle and outlook should facilitate an
ongoing interaction with the grassroots realities of our
country.

The Buddhists have their monks, and the Hindus have their
sannyasis. What is special about the Christian religious?
The Hindu sannyasis renounce the world because

Review for Religious

they consider it an obstacle for self-realization. The
Christian religious renounce attachment to the world
in order, paradoxically, to be involved in it with a view
to its transformation. Hindus can teach us values like
fasting, almsgiving, renunciation, contemplation, and
silence. From the Buddhists we can learn asceticism,
nonviolence, and meditation.

Community/communion has been an important dimension

of religious life. How can it be lived meaningfully in Asia
today?
We are called to communion. Some of the most satis-
fying moments in our religious life are those of together-
ness, of being loved, valued,
or missed. If we were to
look for the worst moments,
we would naturally recall
There is a community
being left alone, abandoned, in every religious house,
and rejected. Loneliness is
painful because we desper- but often no communion.
ately desire to be connected
irrespective of age, gender,
or status. Most of the problems in religious life are com-
munity problems. There is a community in every reli-
gious house, but often no communion.
Communion can have various dimensions.
¯ Communion with God: Our God is not an iso-
lated monad, but a communion of persons--the
Father, the Son, and the Spirit--living in perfect
unity and harmony. We, too, created in the image
of God, need to be in communion with God.
¯ Communion with One Another: Communion can-
not come merely by following a common time-
table, by living under a common roof, or by eating
together. Communion comes about when individu-

70.3 2011
Joachim * Religious Life in Asia Today

als are made to feel welcomed, valued, and loved.

We are related to each other neither functionally
nor hierarchically but as persons, as brothers and
sisters, as children of one God. Communion is a
relationship that transcends office and function.
¯ Communion with the Poor: By the poor I mean those
who are materially poor and live in situations of
inhuman poverty. In the poor in such situations, the
image of God is denied and scorned (Puebla Doc:
1142). Communion with them is necessary for all reli-
gious and is based on solidarity not on paternalism.
¯ Intercultural and International Communion: Many
Asians today are migrating to other Asian as well as
non-Asian countries. Living and working together
can be a challenge in multi-ethnic and multi-cul-
tural societies. The challenge can be met only when
one group does not dominate the others and when
each individual is respected and accepted, irre-
spective of his or her origin. A fusion of cultures,
which is at the same time rooted in the culture of
the place where the community is situated, should
be seriously attempted. This requires great sensitiv-
ity along with individual and collective self-empty-
ing, especially on the part of the dominant group.
¯ Communion with Nature: Instead of reverenc-
ing our oneness with nature, we tend to exploit
common resources to satisfy selfish needs.
¯ We can also speak of communion and partnership
with people of other faiths and with all people of good will.
Are there new forms of religious life emerging today? Are
there any examples? Can they be effective in Asia?
At the meeting in Rome, we did hear of new experi-
ences of people sharing a simple life of witness with the
poor in Brazil, Italy, and Australia.
The most significant mark of our age is evolution.
But traditional forms of religious life--often seen as a
closed system, basically monastic in structure--can no

Review for Religio,ts

longer adequately engage the newness of God who is
breaking into the world from the future. We are chal-
lenged by the perennial newness of the Spirit, by the
pluralistic context of the present moment, and by the
paradigm of a complexity determined by the profound
changes taking place in our global society through tech-
nology and communications.
Leadership: These new forms of religious life place
the leaders alongside rather than above the members of
their communities. Leadership is seen as service and not
as status or privilege. Power is exercised in a social pro-
cess where a group is called to collaborate, promoting
the diversity of gifts among the members while striving
for unity.
Community Living: Shared leadership--with each
member having clearly defined roles and responsibilities
for the fostering of life in community--becomes an
option. This calls for personal maturity and responsi-
bility.
Prayer: Meditation, contemplation, and creative
integration of life’s realities become the ground for new
forms of prayer to sustain and support an incarnational,
holistic spirituality. The recitation of the Divine Office,
with its plethora of words and non-inclusive language,
may yield to silence and interiority. Sharing on the Word
of God can bring more attention to feminine images.
Faced with the crisis in consecrated life--with
diminishing numbers and perceived irrelevance--we
should never give in to despair. We should let ourselves
be guided by the Spirit who calls for courage and daring
to accept the uncertainties and the complexities of a [
reality that is in continuous transformation. We must
acknowledge that we do not have the last word, but that
we are only one among the many voices and presences

70.3 2011
 Joachim ¯ Religio~s Life in Asia Today

through which God is present and active in the world.

We have to move beyond the logic of the world in order
to open ourselves to the logic of the Reign of God and
trust the words of the Lord: "Behold, I make all things
new" (Rev. 21:5).

What would be your one message to Asian religious today?

As we reflected in the seminar, only when religious
men and women are deeply rooted in God, open to the
action of the Spirit, aware of their radical call, humanly
balanced, professionally prepared, sensitive to the cry of
the poor, and capable of giving their lives until martyrdom
will apostolic consecrated life enjoy a new springtime.

The Four Friends: Mark 2:1-12

What possessed them ?
What was the name of their eagerness
that tore a hole
body size in a roof not their own?
Did they later say,
Thank you
Send us the bill
We will repay?
What drove them to carry such a weight,
perhaps for miles ?
What was in their loyalty
that was so creative even fearless in their approach ?
254 And did they also feel forgiven
so, they too, could walk away free?
Lou Ella Hickman IWBS

Review for Religious

 CHINYEAKA C. EZEANI

Religious Formation
and the Integral Psychosexual
Development of Candidates

Hc uman development and integration have a spe-

ial peculiarity: no one ever reaches a point of
being able to say "I have arrived!" The same can be said
of human psychosexual development and integration; it
is an ongoing human endeavor.
Human sexuality is fluid and dynamic, uncondi-
tioned by seasons, not totally subject to instinct. More
than an instinct, it "cuts through a person’s body and
penetrates every dimension of his or her life: the psy-
chic and the spiritual.’’~ Therefore, adequate psycho-
logical functioning demands that sexuality be brought
into harmonious co-existence with the rest of one’s life.
One goal of religious formation is to assist individuals
to develop their full human potential, a task involving
a holistic integration that includes the psychosexual
dimension.

Chinyeaka C. Ezeani MSHR is on the leadership team of the

Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, based in Dublin, Ireland.
<[email protected]>

70.3 2011
Ezeani ¯ Religious Formation

Our Focus
In psychological assessments of candidates for the
religious life and the priesthood, and in workshops with
celibate persons in Nigeria, the author has found that
a great deal remains to be done for affective and emo-
tional development and psychosexual integration. For
growth into the fullness of life for which Christ came
into the world (Jn 10:10), we need to reflect on and
integrate all aspects of our lives, including the psycho-
sexual--which has been described as "another phrase for
our pathway to love.’’2 Hence, this article aims first to
encourage the reader to learn to be at home with and
appreciate his or her sexuality. We will, however, be able
to touch only on certain dimensions of human sexuality
and its integration, such as how to embrace the call to
the religious and celibate vocation and how to live that
life more fully and joyfully so that sexuality is accepted
as a precious gift rather than a burden.
Specifically, we will clarify the distinction between
sex and sexuality, indicate some sexual issues found
among young persons in formation, and explore some
means toward healthy sexual integration and ways to
assist others toward that goal so they may live a mean-
ingful, loving, and happy celibate religious life.

Making Sense of Sex and Sexuality

While often used interchangeably, "sex" and "sexual-
ity" are not exactly the same thing. "Sex" can refer to
gender, intercourse, genital/physical pleasure, "making
love," copulation, or coitus. In this article, the word "sex"
will refer to sexual intercourse unless otherwise stated.
The sexual drive is strong but not like the drive
for food or drink. One will not die without sexual
intercourse as one would if deprived of food or water.

Review for Religious

"Sexuality," on the other hand, denotes our way of being
in the world as man or woman; it refers to the physical,
spiritual, emotional, psychological, social, and cultural
aspects of relating to one another as embodied male and
female persons. Broader than "sex," it is better under-
stood as something we are, rather than as something we
do. This gift from God embraces all the dimensions of
human life. It is that aspect of personhood that makes us
capable of entering into loving and life-giving relation-
ships with others. Right from birth when we are ejected
from the security of our mother’s womb, we feel incom-
plete and lonely. As a result, we tend to long for some
kind of union. Long before the genital sexual awaken-
ing at puberty, we reach out to others in friendship, or
at least long for it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
refers to our incompleteness in its teaching that each
person (male and female) expresses different aspects of
God’s completeness (2331-2400).

Our Legacy of Negative Attitudes

Many human societies have not viewed human sex-
uality positively, and the same sorry view is prevalent
in the church. Before Vatican II, sexuality was seldom
spoken of in religious settings. Catechism classes often
forged a connection between sex and sin rather than a
bond between sex, love, service, and spiritual integra-
tion. The Catechism of the Catholic Church still teaches
that every sexual thought, word, desire, or action outside
of marriage is mortally sinful (e.g., 2357, 2370); in this
area, there is no parvity of matter,3 no venial sin. The
same attitude is found in some families and in many tra-
ditional societies. In such societies it is rare to find indi-
viduals whose mother or father has ever engaged them
in a loving conversation about menstruation, nocturnal

70.3 2011
 Ezeani ¯ Religious Formation

emissions, the wonder of sexual excitement and arousal,

or the realities of sex and marital love. The classic admo-
nition for girls has been "Beware of boys" or, in Nigeria,
"Don’t ever let any man ’cross you’ or you will become
pregnant at once!" ("Crossing" is a euphemistic way of
describing sexual
intercourse. It is said
Catechism classes often forged.a that one young girl,
having received such
connection between sex and sin instruction, became
rather than a bond between hysterical and hit a
male classmate who
sex, love, service, and crossed over her
spiritual integration. legs as he dashed to
catch a mango his
friend had thrown
to him. The girl was terrified that as a result of the class-
mate’s action, a baby was already growing inside!)
Generally speaking, talking about sex is not easy in
any country or culture. Treating sex as a taboo subject
impedes wholesome integration and creates difficul-
ties in learning how to live with joy and gratitude the
gift that it is. These difficulties in turn fuel fantasy and
temptation that may lead to illicit sexual behavior. On
the other hand, what is recognized and accepted gains
heightened capacity to influence lives positively.

Sexuality and Candidates

Entering religious life does not divorce candi-
dates from their sexuality. It is important to explore
258 with them, in addition to other aspects of their lives,
their sexual history, their understanding of and attitude
toward sexuality, and their hopes or fears in embracing
the celibate consecrated life. Congregations and dio-

Review for Religious

ceses can no longer be complacent about these issues,
especially in view of the many cases in Europe and
North America of pedophilia and the sexual exploitation
of vulnerable persons that have left the victims wounded
for life. If there was ignorance in the past about the
seriousness and damaging effects of sexual abuse, today’s
knowledge leaves forma6~rs with no excuse for failing to
help candidates grow in healthy sexual integration and
to find help for those who may be living with a serious
inclination toward sexual deviations. It will not do to
wait until an abuse crisis, or to dismiss the issue as a
problem of the Western world.
Reverently addressing these issues early in the
vocation discernment and formation process is crucial.
Awareness of their own, sexuality, and a willingness to
explore it honestly, enables formators to better prepare
others to face the realiti’es of celibacy and to live it out
in a healthier, more initegrated commitment. Their
openness will encourage openness in those with whom
they work and can there, fore help the formator uncover
subconscious motivations in a candidate’s choice of reli-
gious life.

Some Sexual Issues Relating To Candidates

Past Sexual Experience. We cannot assume that young
people who enter religious life today are sexually inex-
perienced or ignorant. For those who enter at an older
age, it becomes even more important to explore with
them the sexual dimension of life. Formators or voca-
tion directors who think that they are being respectful
by avoiding any discussion of sexuality in the assess-
ment and formation of candidates for the religious life
are in fact not being helpful or discerning. For an aspi-
rant who had been sexually active, at least three years

70.3 2011
 Ezeani ¯ Relig~ous Formation

of abstinence is recommended before he or she enters

into formation. It will be equally good to explore with
the person how disposed he or she is to embracing a
celibate lifestyle permanently.
In some societies and cultures, homosexuality is still
shrouded in denial or silence. A pretense that homosex-
uality is a "foreign" problem, not "native" to one’s own
culture or situation, does not make the issue disappear.
The way forward is to face homosexuality realistically
and with openness. Some argue that those whose ori-
entation is homo-
sexual should be
discouraged from
It is important to recogniZe that entering religious
life because of the
regardless of sexual orientation, constant difficul-
every person is a child of God and ties from being in a
same-sex environ-
deserves love and understanding. ment. Others argue
that heterosexuals
_k__’. have to struggle
to live a celibate
life, and the homosexually oriented person is equally
capable of engaging in the same process. Recent studies
have indicated that sexual orientation is not the deter-
minative factor in a person’s ability to live the vow of
chastity. It is important to recognize that regardless of
sexual orientation, every person is a child of God and
deserves love and understanding. Nevertheless, explor-
ing homosexual tendencies with candidates and assisting
2601 them to respond appropriately is necessary. A clique or
"culture" of a particular orientation can constitute a real
danger to healthy integrated community living. If pur-
suing a religious vocation does not enhance a person’s

Review for Religious

life and growth in Christ, then a serious and honest
discernment and decision have to be made.
Masturbation or autoeroticism tends to be treated
with silence in religious circles. Unfortunately, some
people carry a burden of guilt and self-hatred as a result
of their experience of masturbation. Such a person
might think, "I am the only one around who cannot
control his sexual urges." Some masturbatory acts have
very litde to do with sexual gratification. Compulsive
masturbation (several times in a day) could indicate
a pathology--for example, an obsessive-compulsive
disorder ,driven by anxiety; in that case, masturbation
may be an anxiety-reduction mechanism rather than an
attempt to satisfy sexual desire. The obsessive thought
and compulsive behavior reduce anxiety and distress
but can create a repetitive and uncontrollable cycle,
immersing a person in self-preoccupation to the point
of being limited in or incapable of self-sacrificing love
and service. Occasional masturbation is often a devel-
opmental issue (interest in satisfying and gratifying self
and not another). In adults, masturbation can point to
unfinished aspects of sexual integration. In accompa-
nying people in formation, therefore, "it is important
to focus not so much on the action but on what the
action is signifying and revealing .... -4 It is simplistic
to jump to a hasty conclusion that every masturbatory
act shows a weak will and a search for erotic gratifica-
tion. For many, masturbation may indicate other life
issues that may have little or nothing to do with sexual
gratification. For example, it could be a compensation
for an experience of rejection ("I am self-sufficient"),
a self-centered outlet ("I will not give in to anyone"),
or a sign of a search for positive identity rendered pre-
carious by some failure (’.’I am capable of...,,).s For

70.3 2011
 Ezeani ¯ Religious Formation

younger people, masturbation could be a way of bodily

exploration or an expression of sexual curiosity, while
for others it could be used for anxiety management,
sexual gratification, or the release of tension. For all
these reasons, it is worth giving attention to the real
issue behind each act rather than simply generalizing
or making assumptions.
Because of the introspection required in religious
formation programs, memories of sexual abuse (another
"silent" and inadequately addressed psychosexual issue)
may surface for candidates, especially during initial for-
mation. Those who have been sexually abused usually
find it difficult to talk about the experience, fearing they
may be blamed or be seen as unsuitable for religious
life. If they are unable to talk about the experience,
they will carry their burden alone, which could have
huge detrimental consequences--overwhelming shame,
difficulty in forming healthy adult relationships, trust
issues, erratic behavior, and explosive anger and aggres-
sion which baffle others. Child sexual abuse especially
can have such effects.
The other side of this phenomenon is that a can-
didate may become a perpetrator of sex abuse. If a
candidate has a sexual attraction to little children and
minors, the issue is serious and calls for careful assess-
ment and discernment because of the vulnerability of
children and the human and moral obligation to love,
nurture, and care for them. If a candidate constitutes a
high risk to children, it may be advisable to encourage
withdrawal from the religious life because of the pos-
2621 sibility of working with children in the future. However,
the individual should be assisted to get professional help
because, whether religious or not, he or she is a poten-
tial danger to children in any setting.

Review for Religious

 A new form of addiction to sex, cybersex, has emerged
with the expansion of technology. It manifests itself in
excessive amounts of time spent accessing, viewing,
sometimes transmitting pornography. Long hours spent
viewing pornography--whether in print media or on the
Internet--takes its toll. An active addict is most likely to
experience difficulties concentrating on the process of reli-
gious formation. Prayer life and other human functioning
will be adversely affected or hampered. A person’s life can
become cluttered with images that do not enhance integral
growth. Although this form of addiction is more com-
mon among men, who are usually more affected by visual
stimuli, women are not immune to cybersex addiction.
Asexuality is the condition of not experiencing sexual
attraction and sometimes of not experiencing arousal.
The celibate religious life is about loving and channel-
ing one’s energies, including the affective energies, in
loving service, and in channeling sexuality in creative,
loving, and relational ways. The question therefore
arises whether an asexual person is capable of celibate
self-giving. Asexual persons seem to be less capable
of feeling and empathizing deeply with others, which
makes celibate self-giving difficult.

Reasons for Engaging in Sexual Intercourse

Because sex permeates all aspects of life, it can serve
many needs and can be motivated by issues that have
little or nothing to do with sex. For example, repressed
sexual instincts may appear as excessive anger, or a person
with low self-esteem may pursue a sexual relationship to
gain a sense of security and acceptance. M.A. Friederich6
proposes reasons people engage in sexual intercourse. Let
me illustrate their relevance for the consecrated celibate
vocation and for religious life/formation.

70.3 2011
Ezeani * Religious Formation

The use of sex as a release from anxiety, stress, or

tension is probably one of the most widespread non-
sexual uses of sex. Orgasm leads to a general physical
relaxation, and engaging in intercourse at a time of
emotional turmoil is similar to "drowning one’s sor-
rows in alcohol" or "tripping out" on drugs. Those fol-
lowing this path have litde if any concern for anyone
but themselves and can treat others as mere objects for
sexual gratification. Unless the underlying causes of the
problem are dealt with, the behavior will continue com-
pulsively in an attempt to gain a temporary sense of
well-being. In religious or priesdy life, such behavior
can become a manipulative use of people, which jeopar-
dizes a celibate’s integrity and authenticity as a religious
minister.
Some men and women need to prove that they are
competent to become biological parents, though they
may not even want a child. A woman may use pregnancy
to manipulate the man in her life who is hesitant about
marriage. Although unlikely, it is not at all impossible
that a female religious, feeling her biological clock tick-
ing away, could give in to an unconscious longing to
bear a child of her own. For the celibate religious man,
the temptation could be to fulfill a desire to show that
he, too, has the capacity for fatherhood.
Adolescents learn about their bodies by having them
touched by another. The young may use sexual inter-
course as an attempt to prove gender identity. Religious
who have not successfully negotiated the psychosocial
task of Erikson’s stage of "identity versus identity con-
fusion" may act like adolescents still struggling to form
a clear personal identity. Their interpersonal relation-
ships are superficial, immature, and stereotyped. Adult
religious who have not outgrown this stage of develop-

Review for Religious

ment--or "underdevelopment"--may spend years ~nov-
ing from one relationship to another and engaging in
sexual activity to find out who they are.
Personal identity is tied to self-worth. Those with
very little feeling of self-worth may be convinced that
getting somebody to sleep with them proves their desir-
ability, and thus may go to bed with anyone who comes
along. If they have not internalized the fact that they are
lovable and loved by God, they may feel inadequate and
worthless, may compare themselves with married sib-
lings or friends, and may fall prey to pressures, includ-
ing sexual pressure, to prove their worth.
Homosexual feelings seem to be present in every-
one, though they may be more obvious in early ado-
lescence. Some adolescents (and even adults) engage in
heterosexual intercourse as a means of denying homo-
sexual urges. Lay friends or colleagues may taunt young
religious in formation about being "homo" because of
their virginity, and those religious may use sexual inter-
course to prove they are heterosexual.
Celibates who have no family of their own may feel
vulnerable during times of grief, especially at the loss
of a parent, when the need for affection and assurance
is heightened. Those who are alone in aforeign coun-
try or are away from a familiar environment for the
first time are especially vulnerable to a sense of loss and
loneliness. Some, out of touch with how deeply these
feelings affect them, may engage in sexual intercourse
to assuage the feelings of loneliness or grief. Sex then
becomes a defense against their pain.
Sex can also be used to demonstrate power. We see
this in the man who boasts of "conquests" or the woman
who feels the need to prove herself attractive by seducing
as many men as possible. Promiscuity in the middle-

70.3 2011
 Ezeani ¯ Religious Formation

aged individual is frequently an attempt to deal with

feelings of inadequacy or of waning physical attractive-
ness. In such cases, sex can be a powerful force to ward
off the distressing reality that they are getting older.
The situation is compounded for celibate religious who
have not worked through and accepted the reality of not
having anyone to whom they are special in an exclusive
relationship.
Sex can be an expression of anger and destructive-
ness and can be used as a weapon to punish or control
others. A man may pursue extramarital affairs to punish
his wife, or young religious may engage in sex to rebel
against superiors and show that superiors cannot control
their lives. Rape can also be an expression of anger and
destructiveness.
V~ile sexual intercourse can be a means of sharing
love in a mature and secure committed adult relation-
ship, infantile love is not based on such a relationship.
A young woman may find herself attracted to a much
older man whom she sees as a kind, concerned father.
A young religious who may have had a conflicted rela-
tionship with a parent of the opposite sex (an emotion-
ally absent father or a nagging mother) may fall into a
relationship with an older person of the same gender
as the parent with whom there are unresolved issues.
That relationship becomes an attempt to obtain the love
denied to the young person by a parent.
Of course, sexual behavior is not used solely for
physiological purposes. This has implications for the
formation of celibate religious life.
266
Formation and Psychosexual Integration
The task of formation is to help candidates respond
to the divine action in their lives. That response includes

Review for Religious

working toward a healthy integration of all they are,
including their sexuality. The onus lies on formators to
work diligently in creating an atmosphere in which can-
didates can engage fully and fearlessly in the formation
process. Apart from one-on-one interaction with the
candidates in this regard, classes, workshops, and other
activities treating human sexuality can provide sound for-
mation in affective ....
development. The
area of feelings also
needs a great deal A healthy sexuality is the
of consideration. single most powerful vehicle
It is worth noting
that sexual integra- for fostering selflessness and joy.
tion embraces, and
is inclusive of, spiri-
tual integration. We cannot talk about a psychosexual
integration apart from psychospiritual integration.
A spirituality that neglects the body as if it were
of no importance in a life of love with God and others
fosters a dualistic attitude that undermines spiritual
growth. A healthy sexuality will embrace sexuality
within the context of a healthy spirituality. A healthy
sexuality is the single most powerful vehicle for fostering
selflessness and joy, just as an unhealthy sexuality creates
selfishness and unhappiness. It is important to integrate
these two drives of spirituality and sexuality.

Means toward Sexual Integration

A principal goal of sexual integration is to enable
persons to embrace human life fully and to live it mean- 267
ingfully and joyfully. In this section, let me propose
some elements that can foster healthy sexual integration.
Central to the celibate vocation is an undivided

70.3 2011
Ezeani ¯ Religious Formation

heart. The fire of love that inspired a person to give

up everything and follow the Lord needs to be rekin-
dled and kept alive so that one’s celibate vocation may
continue to have meaning. It helps to recall the earlier
years when one first felt the zeal and desire to commit
one’s entire life to Christ. Is one still in love with Jesus
Christ after all these years? That love is the only effec-
tive motive that can keep the celibate religious vocation
and commitment alive. Being in love with Jesus has to
permeate one’s whole lifestyle so that nothing matters
more than manifesting the love of Christ in daily life
and experience.
Unless the individual sees the need for prayer and
reflection and develops a deep desire for a loving rela-
tionship with God, it will be difficult to live a happy
and meaningful celibate life. A life without meaning and
deep spiritual roots can impede healthy growth.
Adequate education is essential for anyone seeking
to live authentic celibate/sexual integration. It is not
a sign of holiness or purity of heart to be ignorant of
a basic understanding of human sexuality in both the
biological and the other dimensions of human relation-
ships. Enlightenment through good literature can be
quite helpful.
A part of self-knowledge and self-acceptance as a
sexual being is the awareness that God made us as sexual
beings but did not make us to be attracted exclusively
to one person. Clinical experience has shown that a cer-
tain amount of sexual electricity is in the air much of
the time when a man and a woman are together, even
when that electricity is not acknowledged. Because of
the emphasis in religious upbringing on the need to
control instincts, individuals can expend an enormous
amount of psychic energy in trying to repress sexual

Revieva for Religious

fantasies in order to "keep thoughts pure." Such efforts
can have two negative results.
The first is anxiety. Repression builds pressure.
Trying to cram the powerful force of our sex drive into
the unconscious is like trying to cap a volcano. The
second negative result is constant guilt about sexual
attractions, because attempts at repression are never
fully successful. The best approach to sexual feelings,
then, is to accept and befriend them for what they are.
Feelings are not wrong in themselves; they have no
moral value. So one -
can allow oneself to
feel. What, then, did
Jesus mean when he Central to the celibate vocation
said that when .you is an undivided heart.
lust after a woman
you have already
committed adultery
with her in your heart (Mr 5:27-28)? If we sin when-
ever we have a sexual thought, we are all hopelessly
"soaked" in sin. A more accurate interpretation is that
by "lust," Jesus meant deliberately plotting to seduce
another or allowing oneself to be obsessed with sexual
desire. And that is indeed dangerous, for then one has as
good as done the deed; the action can easily follow from
the obsession. There is a difference between a passing
feeling (which is normal) and a focused, single-minded
intent to seduce another person.
During the years I interviewed candidates for the
priesthood and religious life in Nigeria, it became
obvious that a significant number could not accu-
rately respond to a simple question about their feel-
ings. Training to be in touch with and identify inner
movements, or feelings, is one important step toward

70.3 2011
 Ezeani ¯ Religious Formation

personal integration as a mature human being. Being

aware of one’s feelings can indicate affective maturity. I
recall interviewing a young woman for religious life who
talked about having been a servant and babysitter in the
home of a rich couple. The lady of the house once made
her eat the food she had thrown into the bin the pre-
vious day as a punishment and as a deterrent to being
wasteful. Asked how she felt about this experience, she
said, "I feel that it is wrong to treat a child like that,
even if the child is someone else’s and not your own."
I made another attempt to see if she would express her
feeling, pointing out that when she used the word "that"
after "feel," she was expressing an opinion, not her feel-
ing. Her vehement response was, "Sister, I really feel;
it is only a very wicked and heartless woman that can
do that kind of thing to a child." We finished the con-
versation without her getting to the point of being able
to describe her feelings about that tough experience by
which she had obviously been very deeply affected.
Spiritual direction remains a great help in living out
the celibate commitment in one’s relationship with God.
However, because there have been abuses and because
many spiritual directors lack adequate training, it is
important to seek out competent directors. It is appropri-
ate for the formator to check with the person receiving
direction about any ethical issues in the relationship with
the director. For example, a spiritual director embracing
a directee in an intimate manner is a violation of ministerial
boundaries. People need to be aware of what constitutes
violation and to name it if it occurs. It is likewise impor-
.27oI tant to ask about the quality of spiritual direction so that
it bears fruit instead of being an obstacle to growth.
Spiritual direction could become spiritual destruction.
To know oneself is a worthy goal in the journey of

Review for Religious

psychosexual growth and integration, and the capacity
to allow oneself to be known is a good sign of human
maturity. K.P. McClone, reflecting the views of develop-
mental theorists, has maintained that "any adult intimacy
involves the capacity to share more of one’s authentic self
with another. This presupposes not only a certain self-
knowledge but also skills ofself-disdosure and taking the
risks to share with trusted others’’7 (emphasis added).
Verbalizing our sexual stirrings by journaling or con-
versations with God and appropriate others can assist us
to become familiar and more at ease with our sexuality.
Because good intentions and willpower are not
enough to check the human tendency toward self-indul-
gence, especially
in the area of sex,
individuals who Verbalizing our sexual stirrings
aspire to reli-
gious life have to by journaling or conversations
cultivate a good with God :and appropriate others
degree of asceti-
cal practice (self- can assist us to become familiar
discipline and and more at ease with our sexuality.
mortification) in
their lives. These ---
help one to integrate bodily and spiritual needs. The
goal of human life and of religious life is not the pur-
suit of sensual pleasures. Some people tend to view as
outdated any sort of bodily discomfort, mortification,
or other asceticism, but experience shows that these are
viable means of self-transcendence, self-discipline, and
integration.
Excessive time spent in chattering and small talk, or
an addiction to movies or the Internet, makes it hard
to hear the "still small voice" within. An atmosphere

70.3 2011
Ezeani * Religious Formation

of considerable quiet and opportunity for interior soli-

tude are important for the deepening of the spiritual life
and celibate commitment. Along these lines we need to
develop the capacity for solitude, which includes skills
for managing loneliness.

Respect for the Body and Whole Self

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Proper
care, appreciation, and nurture of the body are there-
fore essential for psychosexual development. Celibacy is
not drudgery. Regular exercise, good eating habits, and
other physiological care foster health. Care of the soul,
which is part of caring for the self, includes engaging
in hobbies or other enjoyable activities. Developing the
ability to play and learning to laugh at ourselves keep
us from taking life or ourselves too seriously. To keep
growing, everyone needs to attend to vital issues in one’s
past life that have not yet been dealt with. We have
a responsibility to find a safe place to deal with hurts
instead of inflicting on others the pain and anger that
we carry from those hurts.

Caring Presence and Generativity

Living out the gift of sexuality means transcending
one’s own needs and reaching out in love to the other.
Celibate religious life, lived authentically, can promote
the realization of this goal. The call to celibate chas-
tity has more to do with self-transcendence than with
self-fulfillment; a vocation to love, it renders the heart
more free to love God and others, unencumbered by
mundane worries (1 Co 7:32-34). Those called to celi-
bate life are freed from the duties of conjugal love and,
consequently, should become better able to offer gratu-
itous love to other sisters and brothers. Lear.ning corn-

Review for Religious

passion and empathy for others encourages such love.
One matures by moving from centering on oneself to
caring for others, bearing their burdens with them, and
sharing in their joys.

Good Friendships
We do not thrive in isolation. Everyone needs
human relationships and interaction to mature psycho-
logically and psychospiritually. A healthy sense of self
and "at-home-ness" with oneself make it easier to relate
well with others. Friendship and intimacy in the life
of the religious celibate facilitate community living and
availability for viable mission and ministry in the wider
faith community. In other words, a religious celibate’s
friendships should assist others to grow in the love of
all of God’s people and creation.
In The Velveteen Rabbit, the Rabbit asks the Skin
Horse what "real" means. The Skin Horse’s response
is remarkably wise: "It doesn’t happen all at once. You
become. It takes a long time."8 Becoming "real" does
not occur all at once. Nor do psychosexual maturity
and integration occur automatically or "all at once."
The process is gradual. Human sexuality is not easy to
understand. Neither is religious celibacy. That is prob-
ably why serious discussions on celibate and sexual inte-
gration are not as prevalent as they should be. Simply
being aware that one is living a countercultural value
will not automatically provide the day-to-day gift of
appreciation of and the grace needed to live the celibate
life. But commitment to ongoing formation can have a
significantly positive impact.
The religious celibate is challenged to nurture the
gift of self through prayer, retreats, discipline, and the
self-care of rest, relaxation, recreation, healthy friend-

70.2 2011
Ezeani ¯ Religious Formation

ships, intimacy, and creative activities. Self-neglect,

overeating, overdrinking, neglect of prayer, workahol-
ism, emotional withdrawal, or impulsive behavior indi-
cates immaturity and a lack of integration. We do not
move to the transcendent by skipping over the human,
but by knowing the human to the full.
Consecrated celibates cannot dismiss the basic
human sexual drive as insignificant or unimportant;
they need to face, accept, and embrace the reality hon-
estly while channeling its energies. Individuals have to
find out for themselves the productive and acceptable
ways of channeling these energies. Sexuality of itself,
however, can hardly bring us to wholeness and full-
ness of love. A conscious spiritual life and a growing
relationship with God and neighbor go hand-in-hand
with sexual integration. Our sexuality, like our celibate
vocation, is a means of growing in love and closeness to
others and to God through a relationship that calls us
to transcend ourselves in love for the sake of the other
and the Other. For that, a great deal of honesty and
trust is required.

Notes
~ C.U. Okeke, Love: With or VeTthout Sex--The thingsyou would want
to know about love and sex but might not know how to ask (Nimo, Nigeria:
Rex Charles & Patrick LTD, 2005), p. 21.
2 E Ferder and J. Heagle, Your Sexual Self Pathway To Authentic
Intimacy (Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press, 1992), p. 10.
3 In moral theology parvity of matter refers to an act in which the
matter is not serious so that the act is either a venial sin or no sin at all.
Some young people (especially those who tend to be scrupulous) feel
tormented for having normal healthy adolescent sexual fantasies. They
could grow up despising themselves as dirty or irredeemable. Another
risk of such focus on sexual sin is that cruelty, dishonesty, or a serious
lack of charity could be ignored as unimportant while sexual matters are
obsessively overemphasized.

Review for Religious

 4 To’~r,Krenik, Formation for Priestly Celibacy: A Resource Book (New
York: National Catholic Education Association, 1999), p. 29.
5 A. Cencini and A. Manenti, Psycholo~ and Formation--Structures
and Dynamics, trans. A. Plathara and A. Mattapallil (Bombay: Pauline
Sisters, 1985), pp. 331-332.
6 M.A. Friederich, "Motivations for Coitus," Clinical Obstetrics and
Gynecology 13 (September 1970): 691-700.
7 K.P. McClone, "Intimacy and Healthy Affective Maturity--
Guidelines for Formation," Human Development 30 (Winter 2009): 9.
8 Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (New York: Doubleday,
1922), p. 5.

Bevies of Taut Grapes

Bevies of taut grapes
cram August vines
with purple prophecies of wine
fulfilled when these flesh beads,
these Lenten rosaries,
plucked and crushed
have bled.

Patricia Schnapp RSM

70.3 2011
 CHRISTOPHER S. COLLINS

Pedro Arrupe and the

Renewal of the Society
of Jesus: Thirty Years Later

"I am convinced that there could be few proofs

focus of the spiritual renewal of the Society [of Jesus]
so clear as a widespread and vigorous devotion
on the to the Heart of Jesus." Such was the sentiment
sacred expressed by Pedro Arrupe on 6 February 1981
as part of his closing remarks to an annual
heart Ignatian spirituality conference in Rome. It
proved to be his last address to the whole
Society of Jesus. Months later he suffered the
debilitating stroke that radically diminished his
ability to communicate. His final public words
were a plea to place a renewed focus on the
Heart of Jesus as the genuine source of life
and power for his brother Jesuits and, through
them, for the life of the church.
Arrupe explained, "The Society needs the
’dynamis’ contained in this symbol and in the

276
Christopher S. Collins sJ is a doctoral student in the Boston
College School of Theology and Ministry; St. Mary’s Hall; 140
Commonwealth Ave.; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467.
<[email protected]>

Revlew for Religious

reality it proclaims: the love of the Heart of Christ.
Perhaps what we need is an ecclesial act of humil-
ity, to accept what the Supreme Pontiffs, the General
Congregations and the Generals of the Society have
incessantly repeated." Indeed, Arrupe saw this "act of
humility" in re-embracing devotion to the Heart of
Jesus as going a long way to help heal the many divides
that existed in the Society of Jesus and in the life of the
church. Only when opened to and focused upon the
Heart of Christ, can we, his disciples, know the source
of Christ’s own
love for his Father
and for the whole
of humanity whom In, thislove, we can authentically
he is sent to heal
and to redeem. In
live in the tensions that exist
this love, Arrupe between being committed to faith
asserts, we can
authentically live ~qnd being committed to justice.
in the tensions that
exist between being
committed to faith and being committed to justice. This
love, Arrupe goes on to say, bridges the gap between a
life of contemplation and activism, between discernment
and obedience.
At a conference on the Apostleship of Prayer, held
perhaps providentially in the same year as Arrupe’s last
address to the Society, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
gave a paper at a symposium on the foundations of the
devotion to the Heart of Jesus. He explained that the
devotion to the Sacred Heart is not one devotion among 277
many. It is, rather, the devotion for Christians as it
focuses on and leads the believer into the central paschal
mystery of our faith. That God takes on human flesh--a

70.3 2011
 Collins ¯ Pedro Arrupe and the Renewal

human heart--in Jesus, and then opens up that heart to

the piercings of this world only to have those piercings
transformed in love and made new in the Resurrection
of Christ, is the source of hope for every generation of
Christians in every corner of the world. Only in being
radically receptive to the love of the Father, as was our
brother Jesus, can we be inspired to be obedient with
Jesus and to join him in being sent into the world to
"take" the piercings that come with this life in order
to be a part of the redemption of the same world that
is the locus of such suffering and division. Essential to
this vision is St. Paul’s reminder that "we make up for
what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ" in our own
sufferings in the Body of Christ, the church (Col 1:24).
In being united to the Heart of Christ, pierced and
enflamed, our own sufferings, if entered into in love, are
no longer meaningless, and we are not alone in endur-
ing them. Instead, our sufferings become salvific. They
have a point, and we are not alone in them.
For my part, I stumbled upon those remarks of
Arrupe when I was a first-year Jesuit novice. They struck
a note; but, having been born in 1971 when devotions of
almost any kind were absent in my Catholic upbringing,
I did not really know what he meant by "devotion to
the Heart of Christ." But I was captivated by his asser-
tion that this devotion would mean the renewal of the
spiritual life of the order into which I had only recently
been received. I sought that spiritual renewal in myself
as well, so I took note of this "prophecy" of Arrupe.
By reading his addresses and homilies on the Sacred
278] Heart, I began to recognize a bit of what Arrupe meant.
But I also learned about the Heart of Christ more expe-
rientially in the course of a difficult "long experiment"
in the novitiate wherein I encountered powerfully some

Revino for Religious

of the life of the poor. Simultaneously, I discovered the
limitations of my own ability to help them. I was sent to
try to teach world religions and sacraments in our high
school on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation located
in one of the poorest counties in the United States.
In the classroom and outside of school as I drove the
school bus at the end of the day, I listened to the kids
and began to get a little sense of the difficulty of their
own lives. In addition to the historical context of grave
injustice done to their own ancestors--being margin-
alized through the "reservation" system--many had
also already experienced great loss in their own lives.
The students were growing up in families who were
often not only materially poor, but were also suffer-
ing a spiritual and emotional poverty--victims wounded
by the effects of alcoholism, drug abuse, and domestic
violence. All too often they were living in the midst of
a series of broken relationships in their own families.
Very few kids came from stable families with both a
mother and father at home to reflect the love of God
for them. Consequently, they struggled mightily to live
with any freedom or confidence. There was great hurt
in the lives of these kids, and it showed. And by all
objective standards, my efforts to teach them were not
exactly enjoying great success.
As I visited our community chapel at the end of
another "failed" day in the classroom, I began noticing a
statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I suppose I had seen
images of the Sacred Heart thousands of times, but never
knew exactly what it signified. I began to see the image as
if for the first time and noticed how Jesus was pointing to
his heart, pierced and enflamed, with one hand. With the
other hand he beckoned to me as if to say "This is the
only way to live." I experienced the woundedness of the

70.3 2011
 Collins ¯ Pedro Arrupe and the Renewal

students I was trying to teach and met the limitations of

my own efforts to "make a difference." The temptation
became strong to "give up" at the level of my own heart,
to feel defeated. But receiving that call from Jesus, to
keep my own heart
vulnerable in hope
and love--even
I had seen images of the if it meant being
Sacred Heart thousands of times "pierced" along the
way--I was drawn
but never knew exactly
into a new confi-
what it signifie d, dence that this is
exactly how my
heart could remain
on fire with love. I came to realize that this fire of love
is inseparable from the piercings that come in this life.
In that chapel where I saw for the first time the
image of the Heart of Jesus, I began to know his pres-
ence in a new way in the Blessed Sacrament. The statue
stood in the background, but in the foreground was the
tabernacle. I started to make the connection that Christ
in the Eucharist gives us his heart, quite literally. He
lets go of his heart freely, allows it to be continually
broken open and given away. I began to realize that
the Heart of Christ is present in the Eucharist. This is
love made concrete; he is constantly giving it away and
it remains constantly present for me to draw close to.
The desire struck deeply in my own heart, that this is
the way I want to try to live my own life as a Jesuit. I
want to live with a heart like the heart of Jesus, willing
280 to be pierced in union with those who suffer and also
remaining on fire with confidence that love can handle
these piercings, even transform them. Ever since I was
a novice on the reservation and read Arrupe’s writings,

Review for Religious

this vision of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been foun-
dational for my own prayer and has sustained me in my
vocation as a Jesuit, and now as a priest.
The current General of the Society of Jesus, Adolfo
Nicolas, has very recendy called for the "re-creation" of
the Aposdeship of Prayer, an apostolate of the Society
of Jesus entrusted to us by the pope. The aim of this
apostolate, begun in the middle of the nineteenth cen-
tury, is to promote:
1. devotion to the Heart of Christ;
2. the spirituality of the daily offering of our lives,
united to the Heart of Christ, for the salvation of the
world;
3. recognition that the Eucharist is the perfect pat-
tern--the source and summit--of the union we seek
with Christ and with whole world; and
4. union with the mission of the whole church by
praying for the particular intentions of the Holy Father
every month.
It is exciting to me that this desire to "re-create" the
Apostleship of Prayer is emerging not only from the
superior general, but at a more grass-roots level in the
Society of Jesus. I have discovered over the years of my
formation that the image of the Heart of Jesus has been
equally important to many of my Jesuit brothers. Often
we instinctually preach, teach, and engage in spiritual
direction and conversation in a way that has the Heart
of Jesus as the "lens" we use to focus what we are try-
ing to communicate. In "helping souls," as Ignatius puts
it, speaking the language of the heart never seems to
fail, especially when we speak of the desires of our own 281
hearts--the wounds, the hopes, the fears, etc.--and then
unite our own hearts to the hopes, desires, and love that
Jesus has for each of us from his own heart.

70.3 2011
 Collins * Pedro Arrupe and the Renewal

This past summer, I had the privilege of working

with half a dozen brother Jesuits. We offered mini-
retreats, sponsored by the Apostleship of Prayer, for
young adults in various cities in the Midwest. These
"Hearts on Fire" retreats helped to give the retreatants
a way of examining their own hearts and then seeing
themselves as fulfilled and made alive only when they
come in contact with the longing of God for their hearts
as expressed in the image of the Heart of Jesus. It struck
us, again and again, how this way of speaking and pray-
ing touches into something very deep for all kinds of
different people, in different states of life, with different
histories and challenges unique to them.
There is no doubt that integrating our own hearts
and the Heart of Christ in prayer and in our daily lives
is a most effective kind of pastoral approach. Perhaps
this can be, in fact, a key component of the Jesuit and
Ignatian contribution to "the new evangelization" of
our culture as we experience various wounds and also
seek a renewed fire of divine love in the midst of those
wounds. The "prophecy" Father Arrupe offered thirty
years ago just may be in the process of being fulfilled
today!

282

Review for Religious

 HEDWIG LEWIS

Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos SJ:

A New Model for Youth
and Young at Heart

Ta e name Bernard Francis de Hoyos (1711-1735)

y not be familiar. It came into the spotlight in
January 2009, when Pope Benedict xvI signed the decree
recognizing a healing and miracle through the interces-
sion of Venerable Fr. de Hoyos, thus paving the way for
the next step to sainthood. His beatification ceremony
was held on 18 April 2010 in Valladolid, the diocese to
which the Hoyos family belonged three centuries earlier.
Bernard was a young Jesuit "on fire," entrusted with
a specific mission by Christ while he was still studying
for the priesthood. It was a challenge that called for con-
viction, commitment, and courage--and Bernard had
them all. It demanded total trust in God and complete
confidence in Christ. It required gigantic "feats"--like
penetrating the papacy and palaces, yet our "David-

Hedwig Lewis SJ resides in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. His books

include Profiles in Holiness: Brief Biographies of Jesuit Saints. His web-
site is http://joygift.tripod.com.

70.3 2011
 Lewis ¯ Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos SJ

junior," though small in stature and ill-equipped physi-.

cally, felt up to the task because he was clothed with
the armor of Christ and wielded the power of grace.
Bernard was a magnanimous soul, who maintained his
humility, humor, and humanity through spiritual highs
and devilish lows.

Brief Biodata
Bernard was born on 21 August 1711 in the his-
torical capital of Castile, Torrelobaton, about 20 miles
from Valladolid in northwestern Spain. The de Hoyos
family belonged to the local nobility. Bernard’s parents
were fervent Catholics. He had a sister, Maria Teresa,
six years younger than he was.
He did his initial schooling in his native village, and
from 1721 he attended the Jesuit-run school in Medina
del Campo as an external student, lodging with an aunt.
In October 1724 he was enrolled at the famous Jesuit
College in Villagarcia de Campos.
On the physical side, Bernard was described as "deli-
cate," being lean and short of stature, but this in no way
inhibited him from being an extrovert. He was distin-
guished by his vivacity, enterprise, sportsmanship, and
piety. He was affable and kind by nature. He possessed
a sharp intelligence and had a remarkable capacity to
apply himself to study. On graduation from high school,
he could write and speak Latin with ease.
The Jesuit novitiate was next door to the college,
and Bernard was inspired by the novices. After college,
he sought admission to the Society of Jesus but was told
284 to wait a year because he was only fourteen. And then,
though he had not reached the mandatory age of fifteen,
he was granted a dispensation to enter the novitiate at
Villagarcia on 11 July 1726. Bernard spent nine years of

Review for Religious

his Jesuit life in formation, doing his novitiate, philoso-
phy, and theology successively. He was ordained on 2
January 1735 and did a short spell of pastoral ministry.
He went to the College of St. Ignatius at Valladolid for
tertianship in September 1735 but contracted typhoid in
November and succumbed to it on 29 November 1735.
His quality of life and apostolic reach were so excep-
tional that, though he was only 24 when he died, the
provincial asked the rector of the college to circulate a
brief biography to be read out in all the communities
of the province, a practice reserved only for prominent
Jesuits. It became a source of inspiration and motivation
for young Jesuits in training, as it revealed how a life
charged with the fire of love can set myriads of hearts
aflame with love for God and neighbor.

Spirituality
Bernard had his first mystical experience when he
was barely five months into the novitiate. Even though
such experiences continued throughout his short life,
he was not spared "the dark night of the soul," through
which he struggled for five months.1
Bernard was favored with visions and apparitions
that seemed to be comparable to those of St. Margaret
Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) and St. Claude de la
Colombi~re at Paray-le-Monial in France, fifty years
earlier. Our Lord’s promise to St. Margaret Mary that
"I shall reign in spite of My enemies" was fulfilled in
Spain, where the king and the church hierarchy unani-
mously asked the Pope to establish liturgical devotion to
the Sacred Heart in the church. Fr. de Hoyos’s impact
on royalty, ecclesiastics, and ordinary folk was so great
[
and extensive that he was acclaimed as the first apostle
of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Spain.

70.3 2011
 Lewis ¯ Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos SJ

"Bernard was the first among Spanish Jesuits to

grasp intuitively the transcendent nature of the cult
of the Sacred Heart as means of personal sanctifica-
tion and effective apostolic tool. For him the cult of
the Scared Heart is in substance the cult of the love of
Jesus, Incarnate Word, Redeemer, which reveals in itself
the love of the Most Holy Trinity loving us with a heart
of flesh in virtue of the hypostatic union, and present-
ing the heart as a symbol of this love to animate us to
imitate him and love him in return.’’2
Bernard felt close to God’s presence and, as would be
expected of a mystic, he genuinely considered himself a
great sinner--terribly short of the perfection expected
of him. During his annual retreat in October 1733, for
example, he was rocked with the apprehension that he was
in disgrace with God and that all his revelations and favors
were the false fruits of his vanity. He noted in his diary:
fears that everything was being lost, that everything
was an illusion, that I was fabricating these things out
of my own head, that I had incurred God’s displea-
sure and that I would have to carry shame stamped
upon my face when at the Last Judgment, before all
mankind, God would disclose my falsehoods, my
deceits and pretenses.3
Eventually, Christ reassured him that for all his unwor-
thiness, he was chosen to spread the new devotion to
the Sacred Heart.
Bernard kept notes of his experiences in his spiritual
journal. He wrote hundreds of letters, to those guiding
him in his prayer life. He wrote over 200 letters to his
spiritual director and biographer Fr. Juan de Loyola.
286 1 The letters contain such extraordinary experiences and
matters of spiritual depth that Fr. de Loyola had to
reassure the readers of the veracity of these documents
by stating that the originals were preserved and were

Review for Religious

accessible to anyone who sought verification. The letters
reflected the soul of the young man striving to find God
in all things and his commitment to spreading the devo-
tion to the Sacred Heart as he had been instructed to do.

Source of Inspiration
Bernard’s spiritual experiences climaxed in his "mys-
tical marriage.’’4 At the time the events were happening
and being recorded, no one ever suspected, least of all
Bernard himself, that they would be leading to his role
as a pioneer apostle of the
Sacred Heart in Spain. The
records of his spiritual expe-
riences reveal the depth of his Bernard’s life is invested
spirituality and how the Lord
was preparing him to carry with lessons for all of
out his mission. Bernard’s our contemporaries.
journals thus help us under-
stand the delicateness of his
soul, put his visions in per-
spective, and reveal his own struggle to discover their
authenticity and do justice to their demands.
One can draw a host of valuable lessons from
Bernard’s life. On the spiritual plane he was pliable to
God’s will, responded to Christ’s dictates, was sensitive to
the Spirit’s presence, was open to spiritual aids (guidance,
angels), was totally transparent, was fearless in following
his vision, and was gallant in pursuing his mission.
On the human plane he transcended his physical
limitations, accepted his human frailties, consulted his
spiritual guide regularly, and courageously approached [287
high authorities and royalty for the sake of his mission.
"Bernard’s life is invested with lessons for all of our
contemporaries. We ought not fix on the situational dif-

70.3 2011
 Lewis ¯ Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos Sz7

ferences but on what transcends them: the courageous

and unconditional response of Bernard in the dialogue
the Lord carried on with him, and how that provided
a way for him to contribute importantly to the renewal
and deepening of Catholic spirituality in the world and
especially in Spain.’’5 We learn not so much from his
specific actions, which are obviously historically condi-
tioned, but from his attitude and dynamism, his convic-
tions, commitment, and zeal.

Lessons for Seminarians

I have picked out a few lessons from Bernard’s biog-
raphy and present them here in brief.
1.Serious about Spirituality. Those who join religious
life must make a deliberate choice to develop spiritually.
It is only through the conscious and consistent coopera-
tion with grace that we make progress in reflecting the
divine image in which we are created.
Some young religious tend to believe that they will
grow in the spiritual life by osmosis, given the environ-
ment in which they spend their days and nights. But
eventually they learn that nature builds on grace and
they must make a deliberate choice to live accordingly.
From another perspective, grace builds on nature.
As we develop our unique talents and human qualities,
through divine grace, we feel called to a higher and higher
state with the assurance that an abundance of grace awaits
us to fulfill our dreams and goals for self-development
and social outreach. Bernard’s life and attitude reflected
this spiritual orientation. His classmates and teachers
288 in school, and his companions and superiors during his
training for the priesthood attested after his death that
Bernard was a channel of grace to those around him.
2. Faithfulness to Duty. The test of the genuineness

Review for Religious

of one’s call to religious life lies in one’s fidelity to duty
and joyfulness in fulfilling the tasks assigned. To help
create such commitment, Bernard and his co-novices
were given a set of "Common Rules," a manuscript of
more than a hundred pages of instructions and guide-
lines. One of their first tasks was to copy by hand the
entire manuscript of practices. Through this exercise,
the novices were -
forced to re-read
the document till It is important for seminarians
they had practically
memorized it. In .............. to have role models
the blank pages at
the end of his exer-
that provide a challenge
cise-book Bernard and sense of direction in life.
recorded his faults,
devotions, and
reflections. After Bernard’s death, Fr. Juan de Loyola
incorporated into the practices many of these notes. All
through his formation, Bernard was known to have kept
the rules "perfectly." Not a single one of his compan-
ions could recall anything with which to reproach him,
not even the slightest infringement of the smallest rule.
Bernard, in fact, was so mature and exemplary, that
in 1727, despite his very young age, he was appointed as
"beadle." It was his duty to assign common tasks to his
co-novices and to see that the orders of the novice mas-
ter were duly executed. This office gave him an oppor-
tunity to learn how to handle responsibility and how to
balance relationships between superiors and subiects.
It is important for seminarians and religious to 289
have role models that provide a challenge and sense of
direction in life. Bernard chose John Berchmans (1599-
1612) as his model and intercessor, a saint remarkable

70.3 2011
 Lewis ¯ Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos SJ

for his obedience to the rules. There was no autho-

rized biography of Berchmans at the time, except a
few notes circulating among the novices in Villagarcia,
which were copied and read avidly. In order to imi-
tate his saintly model more closely, Bernard requested
a picture of the saint. He reinforced it with thick paper,
added red paint to make it show up, and placed it on the
table in his room. Fr. Juan de Loyola, in his biography,
called Bernard de Hoyos "a perfect imitator of John
Berchmans and in turn a model himself, closer to us,
and worthy of imitation."
At the end of his course in theology, Bernard proved
that he was a man of convictions. He had not reached
the canonical age of 24, which meant he could not be
ordained with the others in his group. Everyone urged
him to apply for an exemption from the ruling, but
Bernard clearly indicated that he would seek no com-
promises. So, his superiors, who were greatly impressed
by his character and holiness, took it upon themselves
to obtain a dispensation so that he could be ordained
with his companions.
Fr. John O’Brien, who lived with him five years,
testified after Bernard’s death: "Nothing singular or
extraordinary appeared in him, although he was always
so completely adjusted to our rules that I ever considered
him, novice, student or priest, as a living copy of them.’’6
3. Application of mind and heart to study. Bernard
gave top priority to study during his formation. He was
keen on developing his soul and mind through extensive
reading and reflection. Because of his solid grounding
290 in spiritual matters, his superiors and spiritual direc-
tors assigned Bernard to instruct younger companions
in spirituality and asceticism, even though he was still a
student and not yet ordained. One of his instructions, to

Review for Religious

Ignatius Enrico Osorio (1713-1778), was discovered in
1948; it reveals an important aspect of Bernard’s spiri-
tuality: his very frequent use of Sacred Scripture. This
instruction, written when he was only 21 years old, con-
tains no less than 160 citations from 32 books of both
the Old and New Testaments--signaling a noteworthy
familiarity with the Scriptures. Bernard had a copy of
the Bible always on his desk, and he never spent a day
without reading a chapter, generally on his knees.7
At the top of Bernard’s favorite reading list were
the works of St. Ignatius, St. Francis de Sales, and St.
Teresa of Avila, but he also regularly read other classical
authors like Luigi del Ponte, Alfonso Rodriguez, Luigi
de la Palma, Michele Godinez, Francesco Suarez, and
many others.
His wide knowledge gave Bernard a high degree of
self-confidence when it came to discussing intellectual
matters. It is not surprising that during the philosophical
disputations included in the weekly curriculum, Bernard
always remained cool and collected when temperaments
were wont to flare. Because he was looked upon as intel-
ligent and studious, he was chosen, toward the end of
his philosophy course, to lead the solemn academic
disputation--a role he fulfilled brilliantly.
The evaluation sent to Rome in 1730 requesting that
he be approved to study theology, stated:
Good health. Very penetrating intelligence
and judgment and prudence, quite admirable
in one as young as he. Works well at his phi-
losophy. Study in temperament, docile and ami-
able, and appears very apt for all future ministry,s 291
4. Transparency. A striking characteristic of Bernard
was his complete transparency before God and his
spiritual directors. He always fulfilled the obligation

70.3 2011
 Lewis ¯ Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos SJ

of giving an account of his conscience punctually and

meticulously. He routinely revealed his trials and tri-
umphs, agonies, and ecstasies in the spiritual life in all
honesty and sincerity of heart. He "made it incredibly
easy for his director to read his conscience, almost at
any time, as though it were an open book. He did so in
order to comply with the advice of his dear Father, St.
Ignatius, and also to protect himself from all illusion.
He was so scrupulous in this matter that, at the time
of Heaven’s great visits to him, he went every day, and
even several times a day, to account for his slightest
thoughts, his simplest affections and his least concerns.
As he was humble, he admitted that he had no experi-
ence an°d was afraid of mistaking the enemy for an angel
of light. His transparent and expansive conscience did
not keep anything hidden.’’9
This openness was particularly necessary since
Bernard was graced with an extraordinary spiritual
life of mysticism, especially his gift of visions. Bernard
responded to these divine favors graciously--but not
naively, as could have happened in a young religious.
He would discern the spirits carefully and check and
counter-check them for their authenticity. Bernard in
no way wanted to give in to any self-delusion; but on
the other hand, he was careful to comply with those
graces he considered genuine.
Y. Zeal. Bernard did not consider it necessary to wait
till he was ordained a priest in order to carry out an apos-
tolic mission, but strove to accomplish as much as he could
as a seminarian and a religious. His confidence came from
292 his prayer life and from his intimacy with the Lord.
Not being a priest had its limitations in his time
and age. But Bernard acted as an instrument in the
Lord’s hand to motivate others to do what was beyond

Reviezv for Religious

his reach. He persuaded the priests who were assigned
to giving missions in the parishes to proclaim the
devotion to the Sacred Heart. For instance, the gifted
young Jesuit priest Augustine de Cardaveraz, "busy at
Bilbao planning his sermon for the octave of Corpus
Christi, gave in to Bernard’s pleading and chose for his
theme the Sacred Heart. It was the first public sermon
preached in Spain on the subject.’’t°
Bernard asked his spiritual director, Fr. Juan de
Loyola, to write a short but substantial study on the
Sacred Heart. Bernard revised the manuscript and did
all in his power to have The Hidden Treasure published.
He brought the Sodality of the Sacred Heart to Spain
and was instrumental in establishing it in many cities.
Also, with the --
help of Fr. de
Loyola, he pre-
pared a novena Bernard acted as
to the Sacred an instrument in the Lord’s hand
Heart. The first
edition appeared to motivate others to do
in Valladolid and what was beyond his reach.
was immediately
out of print. Since
then, there have -
been hundreds of editions. Six months after Bernard’s
ordination, the first public novena to the Sacred Heart
was preached at the college of St. Ambrose at Valladolid.
Most significantly, Bernard won over the hearts of
the members of the Jesuit Province of Castile to his
293
cause. In the biography written shortly after Bernard’s
death, Fr. Juan de Loyola noted: "I consider it as some-
thing prodigious that so young a religious has been
able to set on fire, with so sacred an enthusiasm for

70.3 2011
 Ix, wis ¯ Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos SJ

a new and unknown devotion, men who were learned,

prudent, constituted in authority, the best brains of the
country. Among the Jesuits there were provincials, rec-
tors, masters of novices, preachers, missionaries--in
short, the eminent fathers of the Province of Castile.
But since the Sacred Heart Himself set fire to the words
and the writings of our young Aposde, human prudence
and wisdom could not resist him.’’~t
Through Bernard’s intervention, in 1735 the church
hierarchy in Spain, together with His Majesty King
Philip v, appealed to Pope Benedict XllI for the feast,
office, and Mass of the Sacred Heart for all the churches
of the country. Unfortunately, because of the expulsion
of the Jesuits from Spain in the following decades, their
request was not granted to the Spanish people until
nearly a century later, on 7 December 1815.
During the period prior to his ordination, Bernard
read the works of Margaret Mary Alacoque. His atten-
tion was drawn to Christ’s recommendation to the nun
to post far and wide the picture of His heart pierced
by the lance, crowned with thorns, and surmounted by
a cross. Bernard was aware that only one such picture
was available: it was the frontispiece of Fr. de Gallifet’s
Latin book on the Sacred Heart devotion. He wrote to
Fr. La Reguera in Rome and ordered a huge number of
prints, along with a fine engraved copper plate for strik-
ing additional copies. The packet of pictures was quickly
distributed, and thousands more were printed, wear-
ing out the engraved plate. More plates were ordered,
and in turn were fast worn smooth. The spiritual fruits
294 harvested from the issue of these little pictures were
much greater than Bernard had envisioned. It was easy
to mail the pictures, and anybody, even the illiterate,
could understand them. "Each person from every rank

Review for Religious

of society throughout the land had his illustration of the
Sacred Heart." 12

Influence
Bernard had not moved beyond the geographi-
cal confines of the Castile province, yet his spiritual
influence reached far and wide. Three years before his
death, the devotion to the Sacred Heart was practically
non-existent in Spain, but through Bernard’s efforts it
became popular from one end of the Iberian Peninsula
to the other. This is Bernard’s greatest miracle, consid-
ering that most of his work was done while he was still
a seminarian. Fr. de Loyola concluded the biography
with these words: "Thus the Divine Heart desired to
dominate the hearts of our illustrious nation!’’~3
Before the Civil War in Spain (1936-1939), Spanish
Christians erected a gigantic monument in honor of
the Sacred Heart on the Cerro de Los Angeles in the
geographical centre of the country. At the feet of the
statue of Christ were carved the images of all the saints
that were devoted to the Sacred Heart. Among them,
however, there was one uncanonized figuremBernard
de Hoyos. The Communists, in the spirit of their
Manifesto, had a firing squad destroy the statue.
At the cathedral of the Sacr~-Coeur in Montmartre,
France, in the chapel dedicated to the Society of Jesus,
there is a splendid mosaic depicting the many Jesuit
promoters of devotion to the Sacred Heart. The youth-
ful Bernard de Hoyos, with his eyes fixed on the Sacred
Heart, is placed between Fr. Henri Rami~re, founder
of the Apostleship of Prayer, and Fr. James Bigot,
founder of the Mission of St. Francis de Sales among
the Abenaki Indians of Maine, USA.14

70.3 2011
 Lewis ¯ Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos SJ

Conclusion
Bernard was a seminarian "on fire." He is a model
for youth and youthful hearts on how to convert mis-
sion into passion, love into action, and holiness into
wholeness. He enkindled countless hearts with flames
from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Notes
’ Henri Bechard, The Visions of Bernard Francis de Hoyos, SJ, Apostle
of the Sacred Heart in Spain (New York: Vantage Press, 1959), pp. 42-48.
The period indicated was from 14 November 1728 to Easter Sunday,
17 April 1729.
2 Paulo Molinari SJ, A New Blessed: Bernard Francisco de Hoyos
(Rome: Yearbook of the Society of Jesus, 2010), pp. 55-58.
3 Bechard, p. 129.
4 Bechard, pp. 88-92.
s Molinari, p. 58.
6 Bechard, p. 52.
7 Bechard, p. 126.
8 Bechard, p. 97.
9 J.-B. Couderc, Le V~ndrable P~re Bernard-Fran;ois de Hoyos,
(Tournai, 1907), p. 25, quoted in Brother Francis of Mary of the Angels,
"Father Hoyos, A Disciple of St. Margaret Mary," He Is Risen[, 23 July
2004. <http://www.crc-internet.org/HIR04/July23_2.htm>
10 Bechard, p. 115.
,1 Bechard, p. 122.
,2 Bechard, p. 164.
13 Bechard, p. 125.
~4 Bechard, p. 10.

296

Review for Religious

 PATRICK J. RYAN

Women as Prophetsm
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim

Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians

differ from the churches rooted in the prophetic
Reformation in many things, but the most
visible difference today is the fact that the women
Catholic and Orthodox churches still do not
ordain women to the ministry. Orthodox Jews
as well, unlike Reform and Conservative Jews,
do not ordain women as rabbis. Muslims of
every variety deny to women the roles of reli-
gious leadership over mixed-gender commu-
nities, although women can serve as leaders
(imams) in worship for other women.
Does this prohibition on women’s ministry
mean that these Jews, Christians, and Muslims
have no important religious role for women? I
suggest that each of these religious traditions,
to a greater or lesser degree, has recognized

Patrick J. Ryan SJ is the McGinley Professor of Religion

and Society at Fordham University. His address is Fordham
University; Bronx, NY 10458. <[email protected]>

70.3 2011
 Ryan * Women as Prophets

in its scriptural sources the role of women as prophets.

Among those of monotheistic faith, the prophet is one
who, like Moses, is raised up to speak on God’s behalf.
The prophet, whether male or female, is what we would
today call a spokesperson for God.

Prophetic Women in the Hebrew Bible

While most of Israel’s prophets were men, some sig-
nificant ones were women. Post-biblical Jewish tradi-
tion lists seven such women: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah,
Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther--not all of them
recognized as prophets in the Hebrew Bible. The first
woman prophet in the Hebrew Bible is Miriam, the sis-
ter of Moses and Aaron. She had seen to it that Moses
was rescued when the Pharaoh decreed that all male
Hebrew infants were to be killed. Cooperating with
Miriam was the daughter of the Pharaoh who eventu-
ally raised Moses as an Egyptian of the court after the
child had been nursed by a woman who turned out to
be the real mother of Moses (Ex 2:1-10). The late exe-
gete Tikvah Frymer-Kensky (d. 2006) has pointed out
that the survival of the infant Moses resulted from the
conspiracy of three daughters opposed to the slaugh-
ter of sons: the daughter of Levi who was the mother
of Moses; her daughter, Miriam; and the daughter of
Pharaoh.
Miriam is first called a prophet when she sings the
archaic Hebrew Song of Miriam, the core of what ear-
lier appears as the Song of Moses: "Sing to the Lord,
for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has
298 thrown into the sea" (Ex 15:21). The single verse of
Miriam’s Song sums up the whole of Exodus. It is the
Lord, not Moses or the Israelites, who has won this vic-
tory over the Egyptians. Note the identification in this

Review for Religious

text of Miriam as Aaron’s sister, but not as the sister of
Moses. This theme will return in the Book of Numbers
and also, by indirection, in the Qur’an.
The Book of Numbers narrates how Miriam and
Aaron, older siblings of Moses, overstepped their roles
as priest and prophet when they objected to Moses’ deci-
sion to marry a Cushite woman. The Cushites are often
identified with the dark-skinned indigenous population
of southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Are Miriam and
Aaron objecting to an interracial marriage by Moses?
Whatever the racial or ethnic identity of the Cushites
in the Book of Numbers, suffice it to say that Miriam
and Aaron criticize Moses for marrying a non-Israelite.
Miriam is punished by God in an astonishing fash-
ion: she is struck with leprosy (Nb 12:10). Why is Aaron
not struck as well? Is the failure of God to strike Aaron
with leprosy in the Book of Numbers an example of
divine male chauvinism? Or is Miriam paradoxically
more important than her priestly brother in this trans-
gression and punished more dramatically as a result?
Miriam is the guardian of the matrilineal descent that
defines Israelite identity. Although the people of Israel
inherit property patrilineally, Israelite (and later Jewish)
identity is determined by the Israelite or Jewish iden-
tity of a child’s mother, not the identity of the child’s
father. Miriam objects, on behalf of the matrilineage,
to Moses’ marriage to a non-Israelite; any child of that
union would by definition not be an Israelite. But God
is apparently not so enamored of this matrilineal defini-
tion of who is or is not an Israelite or Jew.
Other women are referred to as prophets in the
Hebrew Bible or are considered to be prophets in the
Talmud, but in only two cases are their stories highly
developed in the biblical narrative. The judge Deborah

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 Ryan ¯ Vdomen as Prophets

is called a prophet (lgs 4:4) but also shows great talent as

the brains behind the lines for the commander-in-chief
in Israel’s battle with indigenous people of the Promised
Land, the Canaanites. Significantly that battle comes
to an end when an apparently non-Israelite woman (or
an Israelite woman married to a Kenite), Jael, nails the
head of the Canaanite general, Sisera, to the floor of
her tent (Jgs 4:17-24). In thanksgiving, Deborah sings a
prophetic victory song much longer than Miriam’s. The
point of Deborah’s song is the same as the point made
in the Song of Miriam: God, not human armies, wins
the victory. The point is underscored by the triumph of
the woman Jael over Sisera. "Most blessed of women be
Jael .... She put her hand to the tent peg and her right
hand to the workman’s mallet; she struck Sisera a blow,
she crushed his head" (Jgs 5:24, 26).
Late in the era of the Kings, when the upright
Josiah was ruling Judah (640-609 BCE), the discovery
of what was apparently the core of Deuteronomy drove
the king and the priests to seek divine guidance from a
prophetic woman named Huldah. She has nothing but
woe to prophesy for Jerusalem and its temple. But she
does prophesy that Josiah will not live to see the disaster
(2 Kgs 22:16-20).

Prophetic Women in the New Testament

There are two passing references to prophetic
women in the New Testament, but their work is not
developed at great length. Peter on the day of Pentecost
explained the prophetic gift that had been poured out
300 that day as a fulfillment of words of Joel: "I will pour out
my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daugh-
ters shall prophesy" (Ac 2:17 quoting J1 2:28). Luke also
narrates how Paul, on a return journey to Jerusalem,

Review for Religious

stopped in Caesarea at the house of Philip, who "had
four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy"
(Ac 21:9). Are the prophetic daughters of Philip the first
indication of unmarried women who dedicated them-
selves to prophetic ministry in the church?
Luke’s Gospel features more fascinating women
than does any other Gospel. The most obviously pro-
phetic women are found in the infancy narrative (Lk
1-2:52). Elizabeth and Mary are outspoken, but a more
taciturn prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, also
plays her part.
The aged Elizabeth stands in a long line of child-
less women in Israel who eventually give birth: Sarah,
the wife of Abraham; the nameless wife of Manoah, the
mother of Samson; Hannah, the mother of Samuel;
Ruth, the childless Moabite widow of a Judean who
eventually married a second Judean husband by whom
she has one child, the grandfather of King David. Note
that, as a Moabite, Ruth cannot hand on Israelite iden-
tity to her son matrilineally.
Before Luke narrates the story of the virginal con-
ception and birth of Jesus, and interspersed with that
story, he tells the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Virtuous as he is, the priest Zechariah does not put his
complete faith in the angelic word proclaimed to him
(Lk 1:13). He is struck mute because he has refused to
accept God’s word, and the term of his muteness coin-
cides with the months of the gestation of the prophet
John the Baptist. Elizabeth, by contrast, recognizes the
Spirit at work not only in the conception of her own
son but also in that of her much younger, unmarried 301
relative, Mary of Nazareth, who comes to visit and serve
her. The prophetic Spirit awakens not only John in the
womb but also Elizabeth:

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And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of your
womb.And why has this happened to me, that the
mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as
I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in
my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who
believed that there would be a fulfillment of what
was spoken to her by the Lord." (Lk 1:41-45)
The prophecy of Elizabeth, not unlike the proph-
ecy of Miriam in Exodus, sounds the leitmotiv of the
entire New Testament, but especially of Luke’s work.
The pregnant teen-
ager who is coming to
Elizabeth and John the
The prophecy of Elizabeth, Baptist is another Jael,
sounds the leitmotiv of the "most blessed of women"
(Jgs 5:24). This event is
entire New Testament. the New Covenant, the
reconciliation of God and
humanity, acted out in
what seems a simple story of a younger woman com-
ing to help an older woman, both of them mysteriously
pregnant and bearing sons.
We must turn now to Mary as a prophet in Luke’s
Gospel, but, as we shall see, the Song of Mary that we
normally call the Magnificat--the Song of Elizabeth in
a minority of Greek manuscripts--is possibly the song
of both prophetic women. It fits well with the senti-
ments of Elizabeth, pregnant after long childlessness
(not unlike Hannah, the mother of Samuel, on whose
302] Song the Magnificat is obviously modeled). But it also
fits Mary, who takes on herself so willingly the role of
Servant of Yahweh, even before her Son does so in his
trajectory toward the Cross.

Review for Religious

 The account of Mary’s prophetic call, the
Annunciation, depicts her, like every prophet, as over-
whelmed by the angelic greeting: "Hail, favored one!
The Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28). This greeting recalls
the Exodus promise of the Lord: "I will be with you" (Ex
3:12). Luke admits that Mary is "much perplexed by this
angelic greeting" (Lk 1:29) even before the angel gets
around to the shocking news that Mary is to become a
single parent. "How can this be," she asks, "since I am
a virgin?" (Lk 1:34). The angel tells Mary that she will
become a new sanctuary of the divine presence covered
with the columns of fire by night and cloud by day:
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of
the Most High will overshadow you" (Lk 1:35).
Even though Isaiah and Jeremiah were terrified by
their prophetic calls, after her simple question Mary
responds with the utmost calm: "Here am I, the ser-
vant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your
word" (Lk 1:38). We have so long translated the Greek
word doulg--female servant--"handmaid" that we have
tended to forget the reference this passage makes to
the Servant of Yahweh passages in Second Isaiah. Like
mother, like Son.
Hannah, Elizabeth, and Mary all surrender their
only sons to a prophetic vocation. Notice, though, how
little their songs dwell on the subject of their sons; they
leave that theme to Zechariah and his prophetic song,
which celebrates first the birth of Jesus (Lk 1:68-75)
and then--quite subordinately--the birth of John the
Baptist (Lk 1:76-7~). Note also how subversive both
the Song of Hannah and the Magnificat are, how curi-
ously political they are in their themes. Hannah’s joy
concentrates less on the birth of her son than on God’s
mighty deeds as a warrior. "The Lord makes poor and

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Ryan * IVomen as Prophets

makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts" (1 Sm 2:7).

Similarly, the Magnificat praises God the Warrior: "He
has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and
lifted up the lowly" (Lk 1:51-52).
In their songs, Hannah, Elizabeth, and Mary fol-
low the prophetic path earlier taken by Miriam and
Deborah. Prophetic women of the first and second cov-
enants focus attention not on themselves but on God
the Warrior, who alone rescues the People of Israel
from bondage.
A final prophetic woman appears in Luke’s infancy
narrative, "a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel,
of the tribe of Asher" (Lk 2:36). We have no words of
Anna, who shares the name of the mother of Samuel,
but much is made of her age and status: "She was of a
great age, having lived with her husband seven years
after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-
four" (Lk 2:36-37). Curiously, we know the length of
Anna’s marriage but not the name of her husband. Her
father’s name--her surname, as it were--we do know,
and the tribe to which they belonged. She is defined
not by her marriage but by her widowhood and by her
lineage and tribe. We have a summary of her song of
praise: "At that moment she came and began to praise
God and to speak about the child to all who were look-
ing for the redemption of Jerusalem" (Lk 2:38).
Simeon had earlier prophesied that the Child Jesus
would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for
glory to your people Israel" (Lk 2:32). Notice that Anna
does not emphasize the importance of Jesus for Gentiles,
but only the fact that he was important for those
"looking for the redemption of Jerusalem" (Lk 2:38).
Israelite/Jewish identity is inherited, as I mentioned ear-
lier, through the matrilineage. I suggest that Anna, the

Review for Religious

daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher, reminds us
that Jesus is important not only for Gentiles but also
for his fellow Jews. Prophecy and, eventually, kingship
in Israel began with the child of Hannah, whose story
of infertility and God-given fecundity begins the literary
corpus Jews refer to as "the former prophets." The silent
Anna of Luke’s infancy narrative speaks volumes in her
taciturnity, reminding us of Jerusalem and its redemp-
tion, of the fact that "salvation is from the Jews," as Jesus
declared to the woman of Samaria (Jn 4:22).

The Prophetic Woman in the Qur’an

There is only one woman mentioned by name in
the Qur’an, Maryam, the mother of the Messiah Jesus,
who also seems to have been conflated with Miriam,
the sister of Aaron. The Qur’an, interestingly enough,
has even more to say about Mary or Maryam than the
New Testament does. The stories of Mary found in
the Qur’an bear a strong family resemblance to those
found in the extracanonical Protoevangelium of James,
an apocryphal gospel of the second century CE.
One reference to Mary in the Qur’an seems to
describe something similar to what, in the Catholic tra-
dition, has been called the Immaculate Conception of
the Virgin Mary, that is, her preservation from sin from
the first moment of her entry into history--the moment
when she was conceived in her own mother’s womb:
"The angels said to Mary: ’Mary, God has chosen you
and made you pure: he has truly chosen you above all
women’" (Qur’an 3:42). The great body df prophetic
tradition in Islam, collected in literary form as Hadith,
includes a saying attributed to Muhammad that "every
child that is born, is touched (or stung) by Satan and
this makes it cry, except Maryam and her son."

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The Qur’an also preserves early Christian stories that

Mary grew up under the guardianship of Zechariah, the
father of John the Baptist, and was kept in the Temple
in Jerusalem, where she was miraculously fed (Qur’an
3:37). Curiously enough we still have a Catholic litur-
gical commemoration of "the Presentation of Mary,"
celebrated on 21 November, that takes its origin from
the apocryphal gospel tradition that the Virgin Mary’s
parents dedicated her at the Temple.
In several different passages, the Qur’an asserts the
miraculous nature of the manner in which Mary’s child
was conceived, following an angelic annunciation. "Mary
¯ . . guarded her chastity, so We breathed into her from
Our spirit" (Qur’an 66:12). Elsewhere in the Qur’an the
conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary is linked with
the creation of the world from nothing as the result of a
word of command enunciated by God the Creator: "This
is how God creates what he will: when he has ordained
something, He only says ’Be’ and it is" (Qur’an 3:47).
It is in the context of Mary’s being located in the
Jerusalem Temple and eventually bearing a child con-
ceived by divine intervention that Mary, the mother
of Jesus, and Miriam, the sister of Aaron the priest in
the Hebrew Bible, seem to fuse in the Qur’an. Thus
Mary’s presentation of her newborn child is challenged
by her own people: "They said, ’Mary! You have done
something terrible! Sister of Aaro!! Your father was not
a bad man; your mother was not unchaste!’" (Qur’an
19:27-28). Is this simply confusion in the oral traditions
about Christianity that Muhammad heard in the years
306 before he began to experience revelation? Or is some-
thing more interesting at work in this passage?
Associating Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Miriam,
the sister of Aaron, links two prophetic women in the

Review for Religious

context of Temple worship. In the Book of Numbers,
Miriam is struck with leprosy and excluded from the
worshipping community of Israel for seven days because
she had challenged the marriage of Moses to a woman
outside the peo- -
pie of Israel. In
the Gospel of
Matthew, Mary In the Hebrew Bible
also comes under
a shadow of sus- and the New Testament,
picion when her theseprophetic women
fianct, Joseph,
discovers that have unique vocations:
she is with to declare the victory of God--
child (Mt 1:19).
Both of these ~ not the victory of fallible human
women, Miriam beings--in their songs of joy.
and Mary, have
interpreted the
saving work of
God; and each in her unique way experiences rejection
by God’s people. But in the Hebrew Bible and the New
Testament, these prophetic women have unique voca-
tions: to declare the victory of God--not the victory of
fallible human beings--in their songs of joy.
To the present day, the AI-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
commemorates not only the terrestrial destination of
Muhammad’s Night Journey (Qur’an 17:1) but also, to
judge from the inscriptions in its mosaic interior, the
place where Mary lived-out her very special vocation as
a child. But even if Miriam in Exodus and Mary in Luke’s[3’07
Gospel speak prophetic words, can the same thing be said
of Maryam in the Qur’an? Most scholars of the Qur’an
would answer that question negatively. But the confla-

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 Ryan ¯ Women as Prophets

tion of Mary, the mother of Jesus in the Qur’an, with

Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses, who is called a
prophet in the Hebrew Bible, raises interesting questions.
Hosn Abboud, a Lebanese Muslim feminist scholar, has
pointed out that certain major scholars of Muslim Spain
in the Middle Ages, Ibn Hazm (d.1064) and al-Qurtubi
(d. 1273), maintained that Mary’s reception of an angelic
annunciation established her status as a prophet.

Prophetic Women Yesterday and Today

Are prophetic women a phenomenon only of the
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim past? Several notable
women of recent centuries give hope for a present and
a future graced with the witness of prophetic women--
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim.
In the nineteenth century, Emma Lazarus (1849-
1887), the daughter of a Portuguese-descended fam-
ily of Sephardic Jews who had lived in New York City
since the colonial era, spoke up for the human rights of
immigrants, and especially for the victims of the Russian
pogroms of the 1880s. Most Americans rightly connect
Emma Lazarus with her poem "The New Colossus,"
inscribed on a bronze plaque at the foot of the Statue of
Liberty. Emma Lazarus’s words are prophetic not only
for the late nineteenth century but for our day as well,
when so many are trying to close the borders of these
United States to the immigrant poor:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
308 Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
What few people have realized until quite recently is
that Emma Lazarus, who died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma,

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had inspired her friend, Rose Hawthorne Lathrop
(1851-1926), the Catholic convert and daughter of
Nathaniel Hawthorne, to found in the Lower East Side
of Manhattan a hospice serving poor immigrants dying
of cancer. After the death of Rose Hawthorne Lathrop’s
alcoholic husband, from whom she had separated, she
founded in 1900 a congregation of religious women
called the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer, better
known today as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
Their whole mission to the present day is to serve with-
out payment destitute victims of cancer.
Muslims also have their prophetic women today,
some of them paying with their lives for their cour-
age. I will mention one, a 26-year-old Iranian named
Neda Agha-Soltan, who was shot down by an Iranian
government paramilitary thug on 20 June 2009 while
she was participating in a demonstration in Tehran
against the rigged presidential reelection of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. Neda Agha-Soltan had studied theology
and philosophy as an undergraduate. She was also an
aspiring popular singer and was accompanied by her
music teacher at the time she was killed. The image of
her as she lay dying on the sidewalk~a prophetic image
that travelled worldwide via the Internet the same day--
reminds us that two of every three Iranians alive today
were born since 1979, the year of Khomeini’s clerical
revolution. At least half of those young Iranians are
women. How much longer can the clerical tyranny in
Iran survive?
"The words of the prophets," Paul Simon famously
sang in 1964, "are written on the subway walls." Today
other walls provoke a prophetic response: the wall being
built to separate Palestinian and Israeli in contemporary
Israel, the wall some Americans want to erect between

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 Ryan ¯ Women as Prophets

Mexico and the United States, the wall that continues

to keep Iranian women in purdah. Wherever those walls
are today, we who are Jews, Christians, and Muslims
must attend to what women who are prophets are
writing on them, writing about them.

Sunflowers

The wattage of crammed sunflowers

lights acres of farmland
along Route 12.
Like ragged coins
these neon amazons
invite a new gold rush.

How long before night chill

and planet’s tilt
will dim their garish gilt
I don’t know
or until they are harvested
for seeds, oil, food, and a new planting
to shock next year’s drivers.

But today
bowing in monastic synchronicity
they blaze
brazen as Byzantine haloes
on ancient saints.
Patricia Schnapp RSM
310

Review for Religious

 JOHN E RUSSELL

A Journey of Risk:
The Spirituality of Mother Angeline
Teresa McCrory OCarm

Io n considering the marginalized in our society, we

ften think of the homeless, the desperately poor,
the undocumented, and the seasonal farm worker. Yet
there are many other forms of marginalization. The
aged and the infirm, for example, may experience dark-
ness that can arise from a feeling of being abandoned
in a nursing home, or the elderly and infirm may lack
the normal sweep of relationships that provide life with
meaning and energy. It was to serve the elderly that
Mother Angeline Teresa McCrory OCarm founded the
Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and the Infirm. Her min-
istry was to provide the elderly and infirm with some
sense of living at home where they could enjoy as much
freedom and independence as possible in an atmosphere
of loving care.
311
John E Russell OCarm recently completed 28 years of teaching in
the School of Theology at Seton Hall University~ His address is Our
Lady of Mt. Carmel; I0 County Road; Tenafly, New Jersey 02670.

70.3 2011
Russell ¯ A.~ourney of Risk

Born in Ireland, Bridget McCrory moved to

Scotland with her family because her father was in need
of work and found it in the steel mills of Glasgow. Her
father, however, died in an accident at the Clydesdale
Steel factory in 1911, when he was only forty-one years
old. The family pulled together during this difficult time
and remained in Glasgow. It turned out that Bridget was
quite successful in school, and in high school she began
to discover an attraction to a religious vocation.
The Little Sisters of the Poor had established them-
selves in Glasgow in 1862 and were well respected for
their dedication and care of the sick and the elderly
poor. The McCrory family knew the sisters since they
came through the Glasgow suburb of Bellshill each week
to collect alms in support of their ministry. Bridget was
drawn to embrace their charism and was accepted in
the community in August 1912. In 1915 she made her
first profession of vows in the motherhouse in La Tour,
France, and as Mother Angeline de Ste. Agathe was sent
off to a mission, a residence in Brooklyn, New York, in
the United States. Ten years later, in 1925, she made
her final profession.
After some years Mother Angeline along with
six other sisters decided to leave the Little Sisters in
order to begin a new community, which they believed
might more effectively serve the needs of the elderly
and infirm in the United States. Mother Angeline’s
concern, shared by the other six sisters, was that all
community decisions came from La Tour. Such a style
of governance fitted the institutional poverty of the
French homes, but disregarded the specific needs of
the elderly in the United States, where many middle
class and wealthy people sought the residential care
that the sisters could provide. From the time of their

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founding, the Little Sisters were always committed to
the very poor. Directives from La Tour in France, how-
ever, did not endorse American national celebrations
like Thanksgiving, and did not allow conveniences like
butter patties at meals. Strict poverty was to character-
ize the lives of all. Mother Angeline also experienced a
formidable tension between the vow of obedience and
the vow of hospitality that marked the life of the Little
Sisters. She needed the freedom to provide an American
response to the needs of the elderly and infirm. Since
the leadership of the Little Sisters thought that Mother
Angeline was creating disunity in the community by her
concentration on the American milieu, Mother Angeline
and her six companions left the Little Sisters in 1929 to
begin a new community that would embrace the needs
of the American elderly.
The departure from the Little Sisters was not with-
out struggle. In a 1979 interview in the Evangelist, the
newspaper of the Diocese of Albany, New York, she
stated: "I have always loved my former congregation
and value the spiritual foundation that was mine and
the reverence and respect for the aging that I learned
in the congregation."~
Mother Angeline approached ecclesiastical author-
ity in New York (1929) to seek acceptance and approval
of the group as a new community and received a gra-
cious welcome as well as helpful support. In the pro-
cess of transition to a new community life, she met
Fr. Lawrence Flanagan OCarm, the provincial of the
New York Province of Carmelites. It was through his
hand that she sought to affiliate with the Carmelites,
and thus the group of seven would become known as
the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. Mother
Angeline had great devotion to St. Teresa of Avila as

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 Russell ¯ A ~ourney of Risk

well as to St. Th~r~se of Lisieux. She believed that the

Carmelite charism provided a way of life that suited the
new community in the United States. The Carmelite
way embraced a life of prayer, a call to community life,
a Christocentric spirituality as well as strong devotion
to Mary, Mother of all Carmelites. Mother Angeline
viewed the Carmelite charism as a basic support for the
mission of the new community: to serve the elderly and
infirm in the United States by providing a residence
that would serve as a home.z

A Journey of Faith
The spirituality of Mother Angeline was rooted in
faith. One of the early members of the community put
it: "Oh, she had great faith. I think the very fact that she
started our community during the Depression was an
evidence of great faith.’’3 Sr. M. Bernadette de Lourdes,
another early member of the community, noted: "I think
Mother had great faith. I think in a way she showed
her faith because she had complete trust in God and in
Divine Providence. She would undertake a new founda-
tion with nothing but a complete mortgage on it, with
no sure source of income to pay it off except collecting,
and we did it then, and God always provided.’’4
The Positio, which was prepared for the process of
her beatification and canonization, is replete with testi-
mony to her faith as well as to her hope and love. She
believed that God would sustain this new community. In
fact, within a short time the new community flourished,
new homes were founded, and a steady flow of vocations
31 4] blessed the community’s life and mission.
Mother Angeline’s spiritual life led her to trust and
have confidence in God’s guidance and protection. She
nurtured her faith through prayer, especially in prayer

Review for Religious

before the Blessed Sacrament. Her great devotion to
the Eucharist, which was also evident in her love of the
liturgy, marked her daily prayer. She seemed to fore-
shadow the words of Pope John Paul II in his encyclical
Ecclesia de Eucharistia: "Truly the Eucharist is a myste-
riumfidei, a mystery which surpasses our understanding
and can only be received in faith .... " (n. 15).
Mother Angeline wrote semiannual letters to
the community in order to provide reflection on the
Carmelite vocation,
to make observations
about her annual visits
to the communities, The very fact that she
and to encourage the
sisters to be faith-
started our community during
ful to their vocation. the Depression was an
She always empha-
sized the centrality of
evidence of great faith.
prayer and the impor-
tance of an encounter
with Jesus in the scriptures and in the sacramental life
of the church. She knew that the ministry of the sisters
was difficult. Stress would pull at the quality of relation-
ships. Therefore, Mother Angeline insisted that daily
prayer, the Eucharist, and devotion to Mary would assist
each sister in her commitment to the elderly as well as
to Carmelite community life. Mother Angeline set an
example by her own Christocentric lifestyle. She never
sought favors for herself; nor did she complain about
the hardships that arose in her own life from her min-
istry as the founder of the community.
She also manifested confidence that God would
enable new foundations to flourish. She entrusted the
Congregation to Our Lady, placing hope in her inter-

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 Russell ¯ A ~ourney of Risk

cession. Occasionally Mother Angeline would have

some sisters serve at a bishop’s residence or at a semi-
nary as a way of gaining a foothold in the diocese. Her
ultimate purpose was to establish a home in the diocese.
She never committed the sisters for long to a ministry
that did not reflect the purpose of the community.

Mother Angeline’s Spirituality: A Summary

Mother Angeline’s "circular letters" (written
twice a year) express the convictions that shaped her
spirituality. Many of them spring from her early life,
and many reflect
the thrust of the
Carmelite charism.
She never committed the sisters I) Her spirituality
is both theocentric
for long to a ministry, and Christocentric.
that did not re~qect the purpose In particular she
was devoted to
of the community. Christ’s presence
in the Eucharist.
Prayer is critical to
the Carmelite vocation. She wrote in 1940 to Mother
Alodie: "As Carmelites we are supposed to be contem-
plative as well as active." 2) She emphasized the call to
a community life in the service of the aged and infirm
as well as in the life of the sisters in communion with
each other. 3) Mother Angeline manifested deep devo-
tion to Mary, the Mother of God. She had confidence
in Mary’s power of intercession. 4) Her spirituality
316 revealed a strong ecclesial sense through her love for
the church’s sacraments and her respect for authority in
the church. 5) The prophetic dimension in her spiritual-
ity is found in her commitment to seek and to live the

Review for Religious

truth of the gospel. Often enough she would point out
in a circular letter the need for some correction in the
life of the home, for example, charity for the aged and
mutual respect among the sisters. 6) She would often
remind the sisters of the importance of living the virtu-
ous life, in particular the virtue of charity. 7) Finally, she
noted in a letter of 8 December 1944: "There is no joy,
there is no hope, there is no love without the Cross.’’5
She experienced the Cross in her own life, sometimes
arising from her relationships with an ordinary of a dio-
cese, sometimes from the challenges connected with her
service to the community.
Mother Angeline was quite aware of human foibles.
She wrote in her circular letter of 8 December 1953:
"I know that there will always be abuses of some sort
when we deal with human personalities, but it is my
duty.., to nip these things in the bud .... " In the same
letter she noted that a religious community often has
people who do not quite fit in, but she asks superiors
to be patient and kind to them. Mother Angeline was
convinced that kindness could promote new life within
community.
Why is it that Mother Angeline seemed to be able
to handle the shortcomings and, indeed, the sinfulness
found in religious life? She knew that humanity is fallen
and can only rise up through the grace of Jesus Christ.
Thus, her letters consistently recommended a committed
prayer life and a generous heart in relating to the elderly
and to the members of the community. The goal of life
in Carmel is union with God. As Eugene Boylan OCR,
wrote, "To a religious whose heart is not in his or her
search for union with God, life is a perpetual misery.’’6
On 15 October 1956, Mother Angeline wrote a let-
ter to all of the superiors. She described their role as

70.3 2011
Russell * A Journey of Risk

"an honor, a care, and a grace." It is interesting to note

that in the 1970s Mother Angeline gave a new emphasis
to describing the role of the superior as a "servant."
The model of leadership shifted from an authoritarian
image to one of service toward others. She also noted
that superiors had the grace of office to carry out their
responsibilities "with prudence, firmness, and kindness."
Prudence suggests good judgment; firmness would
include acting with conviction, and kindness suggests
the goodness of God.
Mother Angeline’s admiration and love for Mary the
Mother of God is evident in her circular letters and in
her conferences, which she gave both to novices and
those preparing for final profession. In December, 1956,
she wrote that Mary "will nourish and sustain the spiri-
tual life in us." The life of her sisters was, above all, one
of giving, and such charity needs the strength of Mary’s
intercession.
When Mother Angeline was re-elected superior
general in 1960, she sought religious renewal within the
community. She wrote that fervor must be the mark of
religious life. As 2 Tm 6 notes, "I remind you to stir into
flame the gift of God .... " For Mother Angeline fervor
is the outcome of being faithful to the vision of the com-
munity, which embraces prayer, community, and mission.
Just as Vatican II in Bishops in the Church (n. 16) called
for a bishop to "unite his flock into one family," Mother
Angeline, in a letter to superiors dated 8 December 1961,
wrote that their primary task was to promote unity.
She did retain some of the characteristics of the tra-
ditional culture of religious life: for instance, the habit
was important to the identity of the sisters and the com-
munity as they "traveled the road of perfection." More
fundamentally, she retained in a persuasive way the

Review for Religious

Christocentric character of religious life. Article 219 of
the Constitutions of the community states: "The sisters
should regard it as their principal duty to receive, feed,
alleviate and care for the aged with the same love and
joy they would show in caring for our Lord."
In a 1963 letter to the superiors and sisters, she
wrote of a rebirth of dedication and commitment to
religious life: "It is edifying to see the fervor of our
postulants and to watch the anticipation and joy of our
novices who will soon join the ranks of the professed
sisters. Once, you also felt this anticipation and enthu-
siasm as you looked ahead to the great things you would
do for Christ. Are you as generous now as you were
then? Have you been faithful to the ideals you set for
yourselves then? If not, Easter and springtime are sea-
sons of new birth and life. Why not make a sincere
resolution to rise up from your spiritual lethargy and
begin again? Perfection is attained by new beginnings."
She was quite clear that perfection is never attained in
this life and that being transformed into Christ is a life-
long process of turning away from sin and developing,
through grace, a truly virtuous life.
Mother Angeline’s first mention of Vatican II
occurred during a superiors’ retreat in 1963. She wrote:
"we are in a different age .... Everything is much faster
in the 1960s and tension is greater. Even the church
is aware of this; and the Council is a great renewal in
which the church is enabling us to meet the challenge
of this new age .... To do this, she must define many
of her doctrines in the light of a changing era. We, as
superior, can learn much from the Council, and keep in
step with the times."
Mother summed up in brief terms the goal of the
Council, but she was also aware that the purpose of the

70.3 2011
 R~ssell ¯ A ~ourney of Risk

Council was not simply to change everything. Thus in

her later years she struggled to maintain a balance in
community life, to retain the values that created the
community in the first place. In a letter written to the
superiors and sisters in December 1965, she stated that
we must "continue the fine spirit of unity that has existed
among us through these years of change. I believe in
progress, but also I am a strong advocate of balance."
In an Easter letter of 1967, one can see that Mother
Angeline was aware of the crisis going on in religious
life. The issues she was most concerned about were self-
centeredness and self-fulfillment. As many professed
departed religious life, Mother Angeline wrote, "The
spiritual life totters if we are not faithful to prayer, medi-
tation, spiritual reading and faithful to the vowed life and
to the practice of virtue .... The purpose of a religious
community is to carry on the work assigned to it by the
church and thus honor God and further His kingdom
.... If we want our congregation to fulfill its work in the
church, we want it to be holy...." And on Easter, 1968,
she offers a further reflection on the religious life: "It is
not a way of life for the weak or the ambitious. It is not
an escape from the world. It is not a career. It is a total
commitment to God alone. This means absolute unself-
ishness. It is a pledge to give God nothing less than all."
Mother Angeline had a wonderful understanding of
humanity. Early on in life she wrote in an unpublished
notebook that "there is no going to heaven on roller
skates." She knew that a holy life requires a recollected
heart. For her, the indwelling Trinity provided a deep
320 source of consolation.
Her love for priests was shown in the guest
rooms she created for priests at the Motherhouse in
Germantown, New York. But more importantly, she set

Review for Religious

aside each Saturday in the life of the congregation in
order to pray for priests, a tradition that continues in
the life of the community.
Mother Angeline completed her long years of ser-
vice to the community as the Mother General in 1978.
She was in failing health, suffering from anemia and
an enlarged heart. Her condition was particularly acute
from 1981 until her death on 21 January 1984 at the
age of 91. Her funeral was attended by a large number
of Carmelite Sisters as well as two Little Sisters of the
Poor. Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, New York,
was the celebrant, and concelebrating priests and bish-
ops numbered over 60.
In her lifetime she was the recipient of two honorary
doctoral degrees (Siena College and Manhattan College),
the Papal Benemerenti medal as well as the medal Pro
Ecclesia et Pontifice. She also received the National Award
of Honor from the American Association of Homes for the
Aging, presented at the Eighth Annual Convention in St.
Louis, Missouri, in 1969. But perhaps the most touching
presentation to Mother Angeline was the Universal Decree
of Recognition, signed by all the sisters of the commu-
nity at the Chapter of 1981. The community recognized
Mother Angeline as the Superior General emerita for life.
Presently, her cause for beatification is before the
Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican
in Rome. Her spirituality will forever be a tribute to a
profound commitment in faith, hope, and love to God’s
will for her.
Notes
~ From an interview with Mother Angeline in the Evangelist of the
Diocese of Albany, 18 October 1979, and quoted in Jude Mead CP,
The Servant of God: M. Angeline Teresa OCarm (1893-1984) (Petersham,
Massachusetts: St. Bede’s Publications, 1989), p. 22.

70.3 2011
 Russell ¯ A ~ourney of Risk

2 A good measure of historical material can be found in Mead’s work

cited in the previous footnote.
3 Sr. Mary Gabriel OCarm, quoted in Positio Super Vita, Virtuti Bus
El Fama Sanctitatis, Congregatio de Causis Sanctorum (Roma: Tipografia
Nova Res s.r.l.: Piazza di Porta Maggiore 2, 2009), p. 110.
4 Ibid., Summarium, p. 29.
5 The circular letters remain in manuscript form, without tide or
pagination. Therefore, they are best cited by the date of the letter.
6 Eugene Boylan OCR, Difficulties In Mental Prayer (Princeton, New
Jersey: Scepter Press, 1997 reprint) p. 87.

About Love
at last it is about love
why you came and stayed
and why you died
it is about love
not the frothy love of valentines
or even the posed love of liturgy
and holy talk
no, the dirty stuff of fact and reality
the messiness of money and mouth in
the same place
the ordinariness of rubber hitting road
unromantic, hard and decisive
and it breaks my heart to be loved so much
makes me question my worth
makes me glory in my worth
to be loved beyond life
322 to be cherished into eternity
Brother Robb Wallace FSC

Review for Religious

 Why Read the Biblical
Prophets Today?

Most believing Christians feel that the biblical

prophets are important and should be held in scripture
high esteem today. Nevertheless, the motiva-
tion for this feeling points more often to the
scope
past than to the present. The biblical prophets
are part of our rich Judeo-Christian tradition
and thus should be remembered. These diverse
intermediaries brought the word of God to
Israel in crucial periods of her ancient past.
They confronted kings and even their own
people with oracles and proclamations that
often shocked and angered those for whom
they were intended. Recalling their role in
ancient Israelite history can still stir the emo-
tions and inspire religious pride.

Eugene Hensell OSB writes this column to help our read- 323
ers in their theological understanding and prayerful use of
the word of God. His address is St. Meinrad Archabbey;
100 Hill Drive; St. Meinrad, Indiana 47577.
<[email protected]>

70.3 2011
Scripture Scope

Reading the biblical prophets today for meaning and

relevance, however, is another matter. We are centu-
ries removed from ~he times and issues faced by such
prophets as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others. While
their poetic imagery is fascinating and their boldness
is inspiring, do they really have anything to say to us
today? Their history, social settings, anthropologies, and
theological presuppositions are so different from our
own contemporary times that some dismiss this material
as suitable only for museums and religious archives. It
is considered valuable for what it meant in the past but
not for what it might mean in the present. I would like
to suggest that such an attitude is short-sighted.
Let’s begin way back with the long forty-year reign
(ca. 960-920 B.C.E.) of king Solomon, successor to the
great and famous king David. Solomon was an aggres-
sive diplomat and a consummate builder. He is famous
for building the great Temple in Jerusalem and expand-
ing the kingdom by oppressively taxing the people and
implementing forced labor. He is responsible for creating
what some scholars refer to as "royal consciousness"
among the Israelites. It was almost the total reversal
of what Moses had established with the covenant faith
that mutually bound Yahweh to the people. With royal
consciousness, equality is replaced by the affluence of
some, justice is overshadowed by oppression, the Mosaic
religion of God’s freedom is replaced by a religion of
God’s accessibility guaranteed by the Temple. Solomon
was clever, and he attempted to control the people by
satiating them with a religion of optimism and self-sat-
isfaction. No longer were there mysteries to be probed
but only problems to be solved. Economically the rich
got richer while the poor became poorer and marginal-
ized. The king took control of the nation by manipulat-

Review for Religious

ing tradition, confiscating all authority for himself, and
redefining community in terms of loyalty to the king
rather than faithfulness to God.
Royal consciousness continues beyond the time of
Solomon and the breakup of the kingdom into Israel
and Judah. It becomes the major preoccupation of most
of the biblical prophets from the eighth century down
through the exile of 586 B.C.E. The biblical prophets
confront the strong ideology of royal consciousness
direcdy through their preaching and indirecdy through
their prophetic actions. The dynamic of the prophet
versus the king becomes a way of life for all those called
to deliver God’s oracles of judgment against the ever-
growing corruption of oppressive nations, which include
Israel. Idolatry in a wide variety of forms is the preemi-
nent sin these prophets attack. Power, wealth, influence,
and control are the gods these people and their leaders
chase. The God of the Exodus and the Covenant is no
longer needed.
The biblical prophets hold a mirror up to the king
and the nation, showing them clearly what they have
become. They emphasize the lack of ethical conduct
that is rampant throughout the nation. Internally and
externally, justice has ceased to be a value, and no one
seems to care about the plight of the widow or the
orphan. The language of the courtroom is employed
by the prophets as God puts the nation on trial, bring-
ing forth overwhelming evidence that the commands
of God have been thoroughly neglected; the guilty ver-
dict is proclaimed again and again. Contrary to how the
nation and its leaders carry on, the prophets continue
to stress that God, and God alone, is the divine sov-
ereign. Those who continue to ignore this truth will
suffer dire consequences. The biblical prophets are not

70.3 2011
 Scripture Scope

overly optimistic that their direct and oftentimes harsh

accusations will be heeded. Still they are not without
hope. Repentance is a possibility, if only for a few.
If we move from the time and world of the biblical
prophets to our own time and world of the twenty-first
century, we discover that there are more similarities than
we might ever have thought possible. Economically,
politically, socially, and religiously, our world today is
in trouble. Royal consciousness can be found in nations
large and small. The environment is in trouble, the gap
between the rich and the poor continues to grow, people
are controlled through the process of useless satiation
with everything from junk food to the latest electronic
gadget. Power and wealth continue to be gods every
nation strives to serve. The world’s major religious tra-
ditions are all fighting among themselves while their
members continue to drift away in ever increasing num-
bers. Granted that all these issues and situations are
highly complex and that there are no simple solutions,
still the patterns are familiar. Where should we turn for
guidance? We cannot seek out modern day prophets
because we do not know who those people might be.
The person I think might be prophetic, another person
sees as a villain. Prophets are not certified during their
own lifetime. History ultimately determines authentic
prophets from merely loud charlatans.
For believers formed in the Judeo-Christian tradi-
tion, however, there is a source to which we can turn.
We have the biblical prophets available to us, and they
have clearly passed the test of time. We believe that
326] they not only have preserved for us important insights
from the past but also that they present us with the
word of God for the present. The biblical prophets will
not offer us clear solutions to our current problems,

Review for Religious

and we should not expect that. These prophets were not
primarily social reformers whose function was to scold
and reprimand a wayward people. What these prophets
did that was of such enduring value was to bring to
public expression what was really going on in the lives
of the nation and its people. They found ways to get the
people’s attention, and they expressed publicly the real
fears and terrors the people were experiencing. They
made it clear that if changes were not made, real death
hovered over the people. In other words, the biblical
prophets spoke the truth in loud and unadorned words,
and these words were also the word of God.
For believing Christians, of course, this prophetic
function did not cease with the last of the biblical
prophets. It is right at the heart of the teaching and
preaching of Jesus, who is understood throughout all
the gospels as a prophet. Many of the concerns of the
biblical prophets can be found echoed in Jesus’ Sermon
on the Mount (Mt 5-7). For Jesus the alternative to
the death-dealing royal consciousness is the life-giving
kingdom of God. The good news is that business as
usual is no longer the only option available. However,
Jesus and his message often received the same skeptical
rejection as did the biblical prophets. He reflects this
reality when he says, "Prophets are not without honor,
except in their hometown, and among their own kin,
and in their own house" (Mk 6:4).
So, why read the biblical prophets today? The kind
of prophet represented in the Bible is one who appears
when God determines that a radical change in human
history must come about. Are we at that point once
again? What are the questions that need to be asked?
What are those perennial issues that need to be con-
fronted? There is no need to think that we have to

70.3 2011
 Scripture Scope

reinvent the wheel. Maybe the wisest thing we can do

is return to those who have gone before us and learn
from them what questions we need to ask. Knowing the
relevant question will serve us far better than settling
for the quick and simple answer.

Poets’ Addresses
246 Fi(ni)shing School 275 Bevies of Taut Grapes
Irene Zimmerman OSF and
3601 South 41st Street 310 Sunflowers
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53221 Patricia Schnapp RSM
<[email protected]> 614 Oakwood Road
Adrian, M149221
254 The Four Friends: <[email protected]>
Mark 2:1-12
Lou Ella Hickman IWBS 322 About Love
2930 Sou~th Alameda Brother Robb Wallace FSC
Corpus Christi, Texas 78404 The Lasallian Educational
328 <[email protected]> ’Opportunities Center
P.O. Box 3238
Oakland, California 94609

Review for Religious

book.shelf.life
Faith in the face of grief, says Granger West (Good
Grief, Fortress Press, $5.99) should not be equated with
stoicism. The author died in 1999. This 50th-anniversary
edition of his book again makes available an oudine of
what can be expected from oneself or another when one reviews
has lost a job, a home, a spouse, health, one’s childhood
faith. It is helpful to be reminded that it is normal to feel
anger, resentment, or guilt (about what we did or did not
do for someone who has died--or for not having been
there when someone died). And it is normal to assign
blame--to the doctor, the surgery or lack of surgery, even
to God. Those who grieve do not return to "being their
old selves." Rather, they come out stronger or weaker,
healthier or unhealthier.
Living with or through adversity is a perduring theme
in Christian reflection, as shown by three books in the
Classic Wisdom Collection of Pauline Books and Media.
In her preface to Solace in Suffering: Wisdom from Thomas
h Kempis ($6.95), Mary Lea Hill FSP blames the saints
for her love-hate relationship with suffering ("I loved
theirs and hated mine," p. xvi). Nevertheless, according

Materials for this department should be sent to: Book Review

Editor; Review for Religious; 3601 Lindell Boulevard; St. Louis,
MO 63108. Reviews published in Review for Religious are
indexed in Book Review Index. Neither Review for Religious nor
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inquire at their local booksellers or direcdy from the publishers.

70.3 2011
 to Thomas ~ Kempis, "you will always find something you have to
suffer .... For wherever you go, you carry yourself with you" (pp.
24-25). Some sentiments here jar with twenty-first-century views.
(Does "a virtuous life [make] one dear to God"? Jesus seemed to
find sinners quite dear.) But there is also contemporary wisdom:
"Many seek to flee temptations and fall more grievously into them"
(p. 8). With patience and grace, one can overcome temptation "bet-
ter than by harsh measures"; and to others who are tempted, "Offer
the same understanding you would hope to receive yourself" (p. 8).
The author does not promise that we will be protected from trials
but does point out that God is often closest at the point of seem-
ing distant and that God "knows the time and the way you will be
delivered" (p. 13).
The onset of a "dark night" can be a call to growth and is there-
fore a normal part of the spiritual life, John of the Cross assures
us (Strength in Darkness: Wisdom front John of the Cross, $6.95.
Compiled and with a foreword by Margaret Kerry FSP). This "friar
and a half," as Teresa of Avila calls him, compares such darkness to
the care of a mother who withdraws a child from the breast and sets
the child toward new growth. John distinguishes between sensory
and spiritual purgation in a dark night. In sensory purgation, one’s
usual meditation becomes dry, even distasteful. Those who try to
counteract the dryness with attempts to meditate will impair God’s
action in them. But in faithful, quiet attendance to God, they will
eventually know God’s friendship. We become enflamed with love
for God, but the reverse is also true: God "becomes... more cap-
tivated by and enamored of" us (p. 80). Transformed into God’s
love, we are given God’s own strength by which we can love. It is
as if God puts an instrument into our hands "and shows [us] how
it works by operating it jointly with" us (p. 91): God thus shows us
how to love and gives us the ability to do so.
The family of Th~r~se of Lisieux enjoyed wealth, love, tender-
ness but also separation, illness, death. When she was just four,
Th&~se lost her mother. She chose her sister Pauline as her new
mother, and lost her when she entered Carmel--and still again
when her next mother, Marie, entered Carmel. Their gentle father
at one point showed a sudden change in temperament and had to
330 stay in a mental institution for three years. Th~r~se says that in
times of aridity she found nourishment in very slow recitation of
the Lord’s Prayer or the Hail Mary (Comfort in Hardship: Wisdom
front Tb?rbse of Lisieux, $6.95. Compiled and with a foreword by

Review for Religious

Germana Santos FSP). But a later dark night of temptations against
faith and a lack of spiritual consolation lasted till her death from
tuberculosis. The darkness seemed to say to her that death, rather
than bringing heaven, would bring nothingness. Despite that pain,
she said, "while I do not have the joy of faith, I am trying to carry
out its works" (pp. 49-50).
From the moment Henri Nouwen saw his mother on her hos-
pital bed, he knew he was in for something totally new. As she
faced death, this gende woman had a great struggle before her, and
Nouwen could not understand why. But since he does "not even
know why we live, why should I expect to know how we are to
die?" (p. 14, Henri J.M. Nouwen, Sorrow Shared, Ave Maria Press,
$12.95). Anyone who has lost a mother can relate to the sense of
how the whole world changes at her death. Even the family photos,
says Nouwen, now tell a different story. He, too, was different; he
became a man without a mother. And he kept losing her every time
he noticed another aspect of their lives that she had left. What
good, he wondered, were all the things he had shared with her--his
lectures, writings, experiences--"when my stories remain hanging
in the air" (p. 42). Nevertheless, he was soon back to normal activi-
ties that kept him from listening to his own inner cries--until he
made a six-month retreat at the Abbey of Genesee, when the tears
began. In the second part of this book, Nouwen shares "A Letter
of Consolation," written to his father six months after his mother’s
death. Convinced that comfort will "be found where our wounds
hurt most" (p. 58), he wants to grieve with and console his father,
but not by covering up pain. His writing becomes a religious medi-
tation on the meaning of his mother’s death. Those who have expe-
rienced a recent death will find the first piece helpful. The second
is best absorbed after a period of mourning, when one can be more
open to the religious insights Nouwen offers.
Susan Pitchford (God in the Dark: Suffering and Desire in the
Spiritual Life (Liturgical Press, $19.95) says that the church prepares
us for dealing with suffering in our work for justice, in turning
from sin, and in enduring life’s trials, but not for spiritual dark-
ness, when God seems to be absent. How do we keep passion for
God alive "when there’s no delight in sight" (p. 119)? Pitchford
reminds us that what is important "is not to feel close, but to be 331
close" to God (p. 83), and she suggests asking God to increase our
love and draw us near (a prayer that will not be denied), continu-
ing to pray (for which there’s no shortcut), and "faking it" by doing

70.3 2011
 Reviews

what "you would do if you were closer to God, to the extent that
you can" (p. 83). If you compare this advice with that of Th~r~se of
Lisieux (above book entry), you will get an idea of how Pritchard
incorporates the wisdom of the tradition into grappling with today’s
questions. She uses traditional images of desert, tears, and darkness
to talk about what God may be up to in times of darkness. When
she discusses evil (chapter 6), she doesn’t resolve the mystery any
more than anyone else does, but her probing reflections will prob-
ably make as much, if not more, sense than anything you’ve heard
before. Another chapter shares her own experience with back pain
when she was far from home and husband, and even God seemed
to have disappeared. How can back pain be redemptive, she asks.
How does that work? "I’m pushing against mystery here, and it’s
pushing right back" (p. 105). Her response to the experience will
not relieve anyone of pain, but it may lessen the feeling of guilt
about asking honest questions.
When Avery Cardinal Dulles SJ was affected by post-polio
syndrome, he asserted that a "benign providence has governed
my days" and described his diminishment as part of "full human
existence." Those quotes in the last chapter of Patrick W. Carey’s
Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ: A Model Theologian (Paulist Press, $49.95)
are best appreciated after traveling the whole way from Dulles’s
childhood and years of education (which included a weekend in jail
during his freshman year at Harvard) to his conversion, becoming
a Jesuit, development as a U.S. theologian, and eventual appoint-
ment as a cardinal. Carey’s own background in U.S. Protestant and
Catholic religious life equips him well to treat Dulles’s theologi-
cal development in the contexts of U.S. Catholic history and the
history of the Jesuits in the U.S. before, during, and after Vatican
II. Despite the author’s protest that the subtleties of Dulles’s work
cannot be summarized, Carey masterfully describes the phases of
Dulles’s theological positions. Dulles’s use of a "models" approach
in theology was an attempt to embrace different aspects of an idea
and to allow for the strengths of one model to correct the weak-
nesses of another. It also kept him from identifying too closely with
any one theological stream, even when he later became associated
with neoconservatives like John Neuhaus. While Dulles had earlier
332 viewed opposition to the ordination of women as sociological and
psychological rather than theolog!cal, after 1994’s Ordinatio sacerdo-
talis he regarded the matter as closed. Even then, he urged patience
with dissenters, affirming that their arguments could stimulate the

Review for Religious

magisterium to clarify and deepen its own arguments. Carey also
explores what he believes is a little known aspect of Dulles’s work:
a "pastoral ministry of correspondence" with those who sought
his advice or opinion. Photos appear on the pages that describe
the events depicted--no need to flip to a "glossy" section to find
them. More explicit captions for these would have helped in some
instances. In the photo of John Foster Dulles receiving an honor-
ary degree at Fordham (p. 113), you can identify the Dulleses, but
future generations will wonder who the other three figures are.
Occasional humorous anecdotes brighten the story. My favorite is
Dulles’s response to a relative’s comment that it must be hard for
Dulles, now paralyzed from the effects of post-polio syndrome, to
be imprisoned in his body (see p. 574).
---Rosemary Jemnann

books received
AVE MARIA PRESS: Grace Abounds: A Call to Awaken and
Renew Your Faith by Edith Prendergast RSC, pp. 110, paper,
$12.95; Fragments of Your Ancient Name: 365 Glimpses of
the Divine for Daily Meditation by Joyce Rupp, pp. 416, cloth,
$22.95; Pathway to Our Hearts: A Simple Approach to Lectio
Divina with the Sermon on the Mount by Archbishop Thomas
Collins, pp. 140, paper, $12.95; My Other Self: Conversations
with Christ on Living Your Faith by Clarence J. Enzler, pp. 236,
paper, $I 3.95; Difficulties in Mental Prayer: A New Edition of a
Classic Guide to Meditation by M. Eugene Boylan OCR, pp. 160,
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255 Religious Formation and the Integral Pys~hosexual
Development of Candidates°
Chinyeaka C. Ezeani
276 Pedro Arrupe and the Renewal~of the Sdciety of Jesus:
Thirty Years Later
Christopher S. Collins
283 Blessed Bernard Francis :de Hoyos SJ:
A NewModel for Youth and Young at Heart
Hedwig Lewis
297 Women as ProphetsEJewish, Christian, and Muslim
Patrick y. Ryan
311 A Journey of Risk: The Spirithality of Mother Angeline
Teresa McCrory OCarm
John E Russell
323 Scripture Scope: Why Read the Biblical Prophets Today?