Sister Theresia Elder 70th Anniversary of Religious Profession

CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF VOWED LIFE

On February 12 of this year 2025, I celebrated my 70 years of Vowed Life. I remember so well this day in 1955 when I took these vows. I was even happier than on the day of my First Communion. But this relationship began there, with the desire to consecrate my life to Him! Through the years of growing up, by the time I reached my 18th year, this relationship had deepened greatly and I wanted nothing more than to give my all to him. And this, not so much on my own part, but Jesus working in me.

I want to share this with you my reflections on this vowed life of many years.

VOWED FOR LIFE
The counsels Jesus calls us to through the Gospel carry a wisdom we will never fully fathom. Even as Jesus revealed to the Emmaus disciples the deep mystery and meaning of the Calvary experience, so the Spirit unfolds for us throughout our life, in the very living of the Gospel counsels, new depths of meaning and significance, and a new power for the cleansing of our hearts for growth and for new and fuller life.

I remember that on the day I professed my vows a Sister said to me: “This is only a beginning, you know.” No, I didn’t know. After all, what more was there to chastity, poverty and obedience than I had been taught in the novitiate! But, I’m still finding out.

Chastity, poverty and obedience are, above all else, postures of the human heart. They have to do not only with exterior conduct but even more, with the heart, with our interior disposition. Chastity lived in a celibate life is our answer to Jesus’ question: “Am I alone enough for you?” The singleness of heart of the consecrated celibate frees her to love inclusively as the reign of God demands. Our Covenant of Love tells us: “We remain celibate so that all our love can be given to Christ and His members. Through prayer and sacrifice, womanly love and concern we witness to the love of God poured into our hearts.”

Loving as God loves is not easily met by our own resources. Our own intimacy with the Lord is the only well-spring from which we can love one another, indeed, love everyone, with unselfish love.

Poverty is about allowing God to smooth my rough edges, to hollow out my heart, to empty me of “me” in order to more fully release in me the compassionate presence and love of God. Our Constitutions state: “In becoming man, the Son of God emptied Himself and chose to be poor, carrying His poverty to the extremity of the cross.” Poverty is really about recognizing my own frailty and limitation and then allowing God’s power to work through my weakness so that I can stand in solidarity with the brokenness and suffering of my sisters and brothers, so that I can stand with Mary at the foot of the cross, emptied of self, one with the Redeemer of the world hanging on the cross.

The vow of obedience is radically saying YES to the lead of God’s Spirit in our lives. I quote our Constitutions: “Led by the Spirit of Love Jesus did always what was pleasing to the Father. This same Spirit will lead us, as disciples of Jesus, to take up the will of the Father by freeing us from the bondage of self-will.”

As Bishop Sherlock said at Sr. Annabella’s perpetual profession: “Obedience is accepting the mystery of God’s leading in my life.” How God leads us into His will for us through obedience to our religious superiors is part of the mystery. What faith is needed to believe that He does! Our Constitutions directs us: “In faith, let us walk in the footsteps of Jesus who came not to do His own will but the Father’s.”

Chastity, poverty and obedience are postures of the human heart. Let us consider that further. The basic sin, the original and continuing sin of the world is rebellion against our creaturehood and what creaturehood implies, namely, our utter dependence on God. What really crucified Jesus? Surely it is theologically correct to say that the idea did not originate with the Father. The Father sent His Son into the world, released Him into the human scene and humanity did the rest. Was it not “the will to power”, the desire to control, in the ruling powers of His day? Was that not the very sin that crucified Him? Was that not the original sin – the will to have power through “knowledge of good and evil “?

Yes, that is the way of the world. It is what we see operative today behind wars, oppression and various kinds of conflict, including interpersonal conflict. We have all learned to make our way in life by exercising dominance in our own little sphere, by getting everything and perhaps everyone under control. We spend the first half of our life trying to get everything under control. We spend the next half trying to let go of that – accepting, releasing, surrendering to the will of God, through our circumstances, I see our vows as cutting right through our “will to power”.

Consecrated chastity calls us and leads us to a love that does not desire to possess another nor have any power over others, but desires only to bring them God’s love, in our love for them.

Gospel poverty brings us to live out that total dependence on God which is fitting for a creature. Possessions can give an illusion of independence, of being in control, whereas our Constitutions state that “our material dependence on the community disposes us to live in total dependence on God. Awareness of our constant need and admission of our personal poverty bring us to realize that everything is the gift of a loving, provident Father.”

Religious obedience is the surrender of our will to God as becomes the creature before the Creator. Living the vows and counsel of obedience, day by day, brings us to our knees. Keeping this posture of creatureliness, we are healed of our “will to power”, our need to dominate and control. In place of these, our lives are to be marked with a deep respect and caring presence toward all that comes from God’s creating hand – both persons and things. How changed our world would be if our stance toward all that is was one of respect and caring presence.

Our Constitutions tell us that “the Spirit will lead us to the adoration which disposes us for total surrender.” There are two sides to everything. There are two sides to surrender: releasing and receiving. Mary’s Fiat, her surrender to the creative plan of God made her capable of receiving, of conceiving in her body, the very Son of God. That is what total surrender is about: it invites and allows the creative activity of God to be alive in us. We are not only creatures; we are beloved daughters of God, consecrated spouses of Jesus, the dwelling place, even – the playground of the Spirit. Our creator God has creative designs on each of us. What opens the door for the action is our surrender.

Do you believe that “He who is mighty” wills to “do great things” in you? He does, indeed, as you surrender, as you obey Him.

The primary obedience of every baptized person is to be faithful to becoming the unique creation God intends them to be. All other forms of obedience, including vowed obedience, must support, encourage and make possible this primary obedience.

That is why discernment, seeking to know what God desires of us, what God wants to do in and through us, must be a part of our life. Our Constitutions link obedience and discernment:
“In a spirit of obedience we prayerfully seek to discern God’s will” and “Through the practice of the Awareness Examen, a daily prayer of personal discernment, we grow in sensitivity and responsiveness to the Lord’s gifts.” To grow continually in the knowledge of myself and in particular, of my giftedness, in order to put that gift at the disposal of the community, is deeply connected with the living out of my vow of obedience.

In his book on the vows, Fr. L. Patrick Carroll, S. J. says: “the promise to be obedient can perhaps best be summarized as a promise to pray, to listen to the voice of God speaking” in all the diverse elements of our life. This kind of prayer, he says, “is a strange blend of active-passive, thinking-listening interaction with a living God who, I know in faith, wants to speak to me, call me, challenge me, love me.” This kind of prayer is a deep paying attention to how much God loves me in the concrete realities of my life.

To let God lead me by my promise within a community I must be as honestly open with that community – superiors and others – as I can possibly be. Superiors are called to discern too on the double. They must strive to know what God desires of the group or of the Congregation and at the same time, what God desires of the individual person. Now that is not always put together easily! That is why there must be dialogue. Our discernment is not complete until it is submitted to authority. Those in authority must have regard for our discernment but they are not expected to accept it unquestioningly.

Both have access to the light of the Spirit, as Vatican II taught us. God’s will is made known through the shared findings. The aim of this prayer, discernment, listening and dialogue, is mutual understanding and truly enlightened graced decision-making. The fruit hoped for from the process is wholehearted, life-giving obedience, the kind of obedience Jesus gave His Father.
The slogan has it that “Attitude is everything.” Well, it is not, but it does affect everything in our life. Out of our attitudes, our actions come forth.
When my attitude is that of a truly celibate, poor, obedient religious, then the daily actions called for by the profession of the counsels will come forth. For example: showing love for the seemingly unlovable as well as for the easily lovable; accepting what the community provides or asking permission for what I need; yielding my preference when the good of the community requires that I take on a task that would not be my choice. Yes, the practical living of the Gospel counsels is the fruit of my attitude.

Adoration and reparation are first of all in our attitudes. Our vows can bring us to an attitude of adoration, that is, the abiding posture of the creature living in the right relationship, in a love relationship with the Creator who holds all things in His hands.

The link with reparation is obvious. To stand in opposition to the sin of the world, to accept to be creatures of God, to leave control to Him through surrender, as Jesus did, is to be one with Jesus in His atoning sacrifice.

And to quote from one of my poems “Dandelion Experiences”:

“To be a compassionate listener
when someone’s heart is breaking,
In prayer, to take them to Jesus,
Reparation is in the making.”