Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare TO PRAISE, TO BLESS, TO PREACH 801 Dominican Drive, Nashville, Tennessee 37228 ~ www.nashvilledominican.org ~ vocation@op-tn.org The Year of Consecrated Life November 30, 2014 February 2, 2016 Today we too, like Mary & Simeon, want to take Jesus into our arms, to bring him to his people... LET US BRING OTHERS TO JESUS, but let us also allow ourselves to be led by him. Pope Francis ~ February 2, 2015
Remembering events from the Year of Consecrated Life Open House In February, our Motherhouse and many of our missions hosted Open Houses. Guests were able to visit with the sisters, and to see something of our consecrated lives as Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia.
On September 13, guests joined us at the Motherhouse for Vespers, Rosary, and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Before coming to the chapel, the sisters and guests enjoyed a reception and a presentation on praying as a family.
Symposium on Religious Life Above, Sister Marie Bernadette with sisters from various CMSWR communities St. Louis, Missouri November 13-14, 2015 Archbishop Augustine DiNoia addresses the Symposium Above, a screening of "For Love Alone" at the University of Notre Dame The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) supported various initiatives for the Year of Consecrated Life, including a Symposium on Religious Life which our sisters attended. Keynote speakers included Archbishop Augustine DiNoia, O.P., Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Sister Prudence Allen, R.S.M., & Sr. Ann Shields, S.G.L. With Grassroots Films, the CMSWR also produced a documentary entitled "For Love Alone," the trailer for which can be accessed at www.cmswr.org. A drone was used to film the Motherhouse chapel for scenes such as the one below
Sharing with students In November, PHONE one of our schools 06 in 17 Nashville 381 celebrated 789 a "Day of Consecrated Life." ADDRESS After watching Lane street "For Love Nov. 20 23 Alone," SAN students FRANCISCO enjoyed 15 classroom visits with "guest sisters" who came from the Motherhouse for the occasion....men & women religious will be all the more committed to the apostolate the more personal their dedication to the Lord Jesus is... Saint John Paul II, Vita Consecrata
L E T U S C O N F I D E N T L Y A P P R O A C H The Throne of Grace T O R E C E I V E M E R C Y On February 2, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI's Homily for Vespers of the Presentation centered on words from the Letter to the Hebrews: Let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help. During these last moments where the Year of Consecrated Life and the Year of Mercy overlap, we offer excerpts of this homily for your reflection. Processional cross carved by Sr. Mary Julius, O.P.
You have approached with total trust the throne of grace that is Christ, his Cross, his Heart, his divine presence in the Eucharist. Each one of you has drawn close to him as the source of pure and faithful Love, a Love so great and beautiful as to deserve all things, indeed more than our all,...for a whole life does not suffice to reciprocate what Christ is and what he has done for us.
But you have come close to him and every day you come close to him, so as to be helped in time of need and in the hour of trial.
Consecrated people are called in a special way to be witnesses of this mercy of the Lord in which human beings find their salvation. They have a vivid experience of God's forgiveness, because they know that they are people saved, that they are great when they see themselves as small and feel renewed and enveloped by the holiness of God when they recognize their sins.
For this reason, for contemporary men and women too, consecrated life remains a privileged school of compunction of heart, of the humble recognition of one's poverty but it likewise remains a school of trust in God's mercy, in his love that never abandons us.
Actually the closer we become to God, the closer we are to him, the more helpful we are to others. the anxieties and expectations of human beings, especially those who are far from God. Consecrated people experience God's grace, mercy and forgiveness not only for themselves but also for their brothers and sisters since they are called to carry in their hearts and prayers
Full of trust and gratitude, let us therefore also renew the act of the total offering of ourselves, presenting ourselves in the Temple... Let us make this inner gesture in profound spiritual communion with the Virgin Mary... Virgin, poor and obedient, As we contemplate her in the act of presenting the Child Jesus in the Temple, let us venerate her as the first and perfect consecrated one, carried by the God whom she carries in her arms... totally dedicated to us because she belongs totally to God. At her school and with her motherly help let us renew our here I am and our fiat. Amen.
From January 6-10, twenty-seven young women joined us for the retreat preached by Father Ambrose Little, O.P. In addition to retreat conferences and the Sacraments, Vocation Retreat January 2016 the retreatants enjoyed meeting with our retired sisters, visiting the apostolate, performing household duties, and recreating with the community. Alabama (Auburn, University of Alabama) ~ February 1-2 ~ University of Florida ~ February 3-7 ~ Providence, Rhode Island ~ February 3-8 ~ Vancouver, British Columbia ("Encountering Christ" Retreat) ~ February 17-22 ~ Louisiana (University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Tulane, Nicholls State University) ~ April 5-11 ~ Texas (Houston, University of Dallas, Texas A&M) ~ April 12-16 ~ See the next page for a special Year of Mercy event being held while we are in Providence
MARCH FOR LIFE The first-year professed sisters joined the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on their pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life. Although the weather forced the pilgrims to leave earlier than planned, the sisters were grateful for the opportunity to join so many young people in witnessing to the sanctity of human life....men and women religious, in traditional and ever new forms, have consecrated and continue to consecrate their lives to God, freely giving of themselves out of love for their neighbor, especially for the weak and needy. These deeds strengthen the bases of the "civilization of love and life", without which the life of individuals and of society itself loses its most genuinely human quality. Even if they go unnoticed and remain hidden to most people, faith assures us that the Father "who sees in secret" (Mt 6:6) not only will reward these actions but already here and now makes them produce lasting fruit for the good of all. ~ Saint John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae ~
Photo by Br. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P. Postulants at the March for Life...and in the snow
Snow at the Motherhouse Sister Mary Rachel & our native Australians found particular joy in the snowfall