Celebrating Our Vows: Sister Meg

As we prepare to renew our vows this year, three Sisters share their perspective about our annual vow renewal. Read yesterday's post by Sister Joanne and check in March 25 for the last post in the series.

Part II by Sister Meg Kymes, D.C.

Sister Meg Kymes,
4 years vocation

When I was beginning formation with the Daughters I was invited by the local community I lived with to come to their Renovation (Vow Day) Mass. I remember sitting in the back of the chapel surrounded by the Sisters I lived with and other Daughters from the area. After the homily the priest invited the Sisters to renew their vows. All at once everyone in the chapel, except for me and the priest, stood for a few moments, not saying a word, then sat down again and Mass continued. I thought to myself, "What just happened?"

Today, I am a Daughter of Charity, but am considered "under vows," which simply means I have not yet made my vows for the first time.* Most days my life doesn't look any different from the other Sisters I live with. I wear blue and white just like they do, I go to chapel and pray the same prayers they do, I go to my ministry every day. Nothing seems different at first, but I can't vow my life to my Lord like my Sisters do. I have signed over everything I owned before I came to the community and feel like the vows are part of my life, but I can't pray the same words they do every March 25. Instead I try to live out the vows to the best of my ability by practicing chastity, poverty, obedience and serving my masters, the poor, as my Sisters do.

On March 25, I pray for my Sisters around the world renewing their vows and pray to our Lord that when my time comes, I can say my own vows to the Lord and mean them with my whole heart.

*Daughters of Charity are 5-7 years vocation before they make vows for the first time.

Celebrating Our Vows: Sister Joanne

As we prepare to renew our vows this year, three Sisters share their perspective about our annual vow renewal. Check in March 24 and March 25 for more posts.

Part I by Sister Joanne Vasa, D.C.

Sister Joanne Vasa,
39 years vocation

March 25 is the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the feast day that honors the angel's announcement to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she was the one chosen by God to bring Jesus Christ into the world. This is also the day thousands of Daughters of Charity around the world renew their commitment to a life of service of the poor, poverty, chastity and obedience. As a Society of Apostolic Life, the Daughters make annual, simple vows. This is not simply a refreshing of an original commitment, but rather a new pledge each year.

One of the ways I imagine the vows of the Daughters of Charity is to think of them as "pillars" that support my ministry and everyday life in the community. From the early days of the Sisters in the 17th century, the vows were seen as a framework to support them in their efforts to serve the poor. Making vows was a way to ensure the way of life and ministry of the Sisters would continue and not weaken with time.

How does this happen for me today? I think of poverty, chastity and obedience as three supporting columns and my service of the poor as the surface or "arena" where I respond to God's call each day. In fact, these structures are so much a part of my everyday life I often forget their impact on me. The time of vow renewal puts them front and center. Poverty is a commitment to embrace a simple lifestyle and a means of being in solidarity with poor persons around the world. Chastity places the person of Jesus Christ as first in my life and ensures all other relationships flow from that primary one. This makes me more conscious of how I proclaim the power of this relationship in each interaction as a celibate woman. Obedience–not a popular subject these days–challenges me to offer my service for the common good of the people I serve, the Church and the community. This means I choose God's will freely, no matter the cost. These three pillars are not so much "what I do," but really form the fabric of who I am as a Daughter of Charity. It's one package!

In my ministry I encounter persons who are homeless, people seeking a deeper relationship with God and our own Sisters discerning God's call in their lives. What I notice in these three diverse populations is they have something in common: They have a strong desire to be "at home with God." For me, the vows are an anchor around which I can extend myself in service to each person, confident in the way God will be present. Promises give stability and purpose. If I can be a source of encouragement and a person who deeply listens, then the vows are doing what they do best: giving meaning and direction to my life.

I am grateful for the vows because they both test and stretch me; they affirm me some days, but most often they remind me authentic gospel living does not come without cost. I pray for the grace to continue letting them provide the basis for "washing the feet" of those I serve.

Feast of the Annunciation and the Renewal of Vows for the Daughters of Charity

Luke 1:35, 37-38

The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you… For nothing is impossible with God.”  Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord.  Let it be done to me as you say.”  With that the angel left her.

Today all around the globe, Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul will renew their annual vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and service of those living in poverty.  The vows are simple and private.  In the context of a Eucharistic celebration, the Daughters will kneel after the homily and silently renew their vows.  The vows are with the intention of forever even though they are for one year.

I was reading our "Common Rules"--our rules from the beginning.  It begins, "The principal end for which God has called and established the Daughters of Charity, is to honor our Lord Jesus Christ as the source and model of all charity; serving Him corporally and spiritually in the persons of the poor, whether sick, children, prisioners, or others who, through shame, dare not make known their wants."

This remains our principal end no matter if we are in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Columbia South America, Eritrea, Bethlehem, Taiwan, France, Poland, Kenya or any of the 93 countries that we call home. Being an advocate for the marginalized and invisible people of society is not always easy--people often don't "get it."  It is amazing how small our world view can be even with technology making information so available.  Nothing can replace our experience and if our experiences are narrow our view can be also.

I am grateful to be part of an international community.  I hear about the impact of the tsunami in Japan from those seeking to help.  I hear how our Sisters in Mexico experience the challenges of being safe in the midst of the drug wars just like the rest of the population.  I have been able to rejoice to hear how a trafficked woman was able to get back to her homeland with the help of our Sisters.  I have been blessed to visit other countries and see the impact of our actions or inaction here in the U.S.

Being vowed as a Daughter of Charity bonds me to over 17,000 other women of faith who have consecrated themselves to Christ in service as women of the Church.  I believe that as women of prayer--women who not only pray but pray regularly together--God will use us to face many types of misery that remain hidden from general view.

As I prepare to renew my vows later today, I pray that my local community may live closely united in prayer as our founders challenged us to live the example of the Blessed Trinity.  May we continue to seek ways to live a simple lifestyle in the midst of a consumeristic society.  May we spread and nurture seeds of faith, hope and love in the midst of so many weeds.  May I live the gift of faith and compassion which I have received to its fullest.  May I  find Christ in each person I meet, especially those who act hateful.  May I see their woundedness and reach out in faith in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Check out Sr. Honora's reflection on the Annunciation at Catholics on Call: http://www.catholicsoncall.org/let-it-be-done-me

Ready to say "YES"

March 25th, the feast of the Annunciation to Our Lady who would become the Mother of God.  Would you have been so brave to say "yes" with so little information?  It would have been overwhelming had she known what she was getting into.  Yet, once she said "yes" she had all the graces she needed as she went along to meet the events in her life with faith and love.  She stayed close to God through all she "pondered in her heart".  She wasn't just going through the motions of being a good Jewish woman.  She opened her heart in love and trust to God not just at the Annunciation, but many times after that also.

Today, the Daughters of Charity around the world are renewing their annual simple vows.  At 5:30 tonight my local community will have Eucharist in our chapel where we will each renew our vows--poverty, chastity (really celibacy since we are all called to live chastely), obedience and service of those who live in poverty.  It is hard to believe that I am 18 years vocation!!  I made my annual vows for the first time in 1998, 13 years ago.  It is interesting how each year the "yes" is a little different.  Each year I am in a different "place" physically, spiritually or emotionally and so my "yes" reflects that too.

The picture above is from the crypt chapel in Chartres in France.  Each year the worldwide leader of the the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul makes a pilgrimage to Chartres in the footsteps of St. Louise de Marillac, our foundress, to dedicate the community to Blessed Mother.  Below is what St. Louise wrote to St. Vincent before and then after the pilgrimage.


"I beg you most humbly to allow me to make a pilgrimage to Chartres during your absence so that I may entrust all our needs and the suggestions I have made to you to the care of the Blessed Virgin. The time has surely come for me to reflect on myself in the sight of God. I must tell you that I am convinced that the good of our little Company requires it." Spiritual Writings of Louise de Marillac p.120
 
"On Monday, Feast of the Dedication of the Church of Chartres, I offered to God the designs of His Providence on the Company ofthe Daughters of Charity. I offered the said Company entirely to Him, asking Him to destroy it rather than let it be established contrary to His holy will. I asked for it, through the
prayers of the Holy Virgin, Mother and Guardian of the said Company, the purity of which it stands in need. Looking upon the Blessed Virgin as the fulfilhnellt of the promises of God to mankilld, and seeing the
fulfillment of the vow of the Blessed Virgin in the accomplishment of the mystery of the Incarnation, I asked Him for the grace of fidelity forthe Company through the merits of the Blood of the Son of God and of
Mary. I prayed also that He might be the strong and loving bond that unites the hearts of all the sisters in imitation of the union of the three Divine Persons." Spiritual Writings of Louise de Marillac p.122

I pray that as we celebrate this feast day and renew our vows that our hearts and therefore the "little company" may also be renewed in our serving Christ in those who live in poverty with humility, simplicity and charity.