Carla Mae's Blog

                                                                        A Prudent Vote… Amid the noise and insults, the lies and accusations, what’s a responsible Dominican to do as this election draws near? It is tempting indeed to simply say, “I’m just not going to vote.” Yet we all know this is an abdication of one of our most treasured rights and responsibilities as citizens. Dominicans preach first from the pulpit of their lives, so our lives must speak from the voting booth too. The updated 2016 Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship from the American bishops can be of help to us. (USCCB website) The bishops call u...

More Than a Day…. Carla Mae Streeter, OP ‘Tis the month of Thanksgiving. It’s also the time of harvest, not only from the fields but in the community we call church. We gather the harvest of the fields, and we are approaching the end of Ordinary Time. This long series of weeks in the church’s celebration of time is the time of greening, the time of growth from the Paschal Mystery. The Easter glow is like Sonshine, cultivating the fruits of the Spirit in our souls. But thanksgiving for all the richness of field and human flourishing is not just for a day. It can be a way…of life. Scripture says it best: “In all circumstances, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” (1Thess. 5:18 ) Now I don’t know about you, but a typical response to this is, “You’ve got to be kidding! Give thanks for a cancer diagnosis, for someone rear-ending me?” Yes. Scripture doesn’t mince words: “In all circumstances…” So for the past three years I’ve been tryin...

…back to Basics… We have just come from an intense weekend of reflection on contemplation. We have always known it is the rich ground of our ministries. It is a fact that many of us never have had real training in its meaning or practice in our Dominican formation. So why is contemplation so significant in present-day religious life, especially among active religious? Let’s get very concrete. Rational analytic consciousness, the way our minds work in day-to-day thinking, is grounded in a more basic type of consciousness. This basic awareness is just plain wonder. It’s awe. It’s surprise, like the child on Christmas morn. As we grow, we get scolded if we “wonder” too much. We need to be responsible, you know. We need to get things done, and not be lazy. We need to accomplish something. This is the measure of our worth, right? Really? The gospel has another suggestion: “…unless you turn and become as a little child…” Wonder reclaimed has the ability to clarify our thinking. ...

Mercy me! But what about Justice? We will soon be completing the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The Dominicans will seal this special 800 th Anniversary year with final celebrations. The liturgical year is nearing end. The harvest time is upon us. Where is the fruit? What growth can we find in the rich loam of our humanness, in our very earthy human struggle? Lord, have mercy! Yes, indeed. When we learn that real mercy means compassion for one who does not deserve it, the shoe fits. This is not about somebody else. This is about me. I try, I really do. But inevitably I come up short. Always. So scripture these days seems to understand. We really want to “…do something beautiful for God…” as Mother Theresa would say, but we don’t quite make it. So I don’t know about you, but I come before God, holding the thimble of my puny efforts. I stand helpless, so much lacking. Then a voice next to me speaks up…”I will supply what is lacking, Father…” Then it clicks. I know how it works....

Reflections On Some Responses to Francis’ Amoris Laetitia Carla Mae Streeter, OP Francis released his Apostolic Exhortation, “On the Joy of Love,” on March 19, 2016, the Feast of St. Joseph. The document was the pope’s long awaited response to the Synod on the Family, which concretized Francis’ vision of the Church as a participative community engaged in a participative event. A questionnaire was issued beforehand, with the explicit invitation to speak freely on the issues. It was to be an experience of a truly listening Church.   What followed the publication of the Exhortation was a variety of responses. I will name two that the reader might want to pursue, while commenting mainly on one of them. The first response I reference appeared in Commonweal on May 20, 2016, and was entitled, “A Balancing Act: Reading ‘Amoris Laetitia.’ The article featured perspectives from Peter Steinfels, Paige E. Hochschild, William L. Portier, Sandra Yocum, and George Dennis O’Brien. ...

As September comes, we look toward the harvest in the fields, and liturgically toward the fruit the Spirit has coaxed into ripeness in the spiritual gardens of our souls. We have just celebrated the Transfiguration of the sacred humanity of Jesus and the Assumption of the humanity of Mary, his mother. Both of these feasts point to what we ourselves shall be.   As if the Church is deeply pondering this remarkable revelation, she offers us three more feasts of the Mother of God in this month: Mary’s birthday on September 8, the feast of her Holy Name on the 12 th , and then the feast of her Sorrows on the 15 th , right after the feast of the Holy Cross. Could the Church be trying to tell us something as the Sunday readings look for sweet fruit from us? Then, as though three were not enough, in the earlier calendars there was a fourth feast of Mary: Our Lady of Ransom on September 24. No longer on the liturgical calendar, this was the ancient feast of Our Lady of Mercy. It comm...

Have you ever wondered why Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is so prominent in Dominican spirituality? Yes, there are the stories of Mary’s appearances, guiding Dominic in the foundation of the Order, and the use of the prayer beads that became the rosary, to give folks access to scripture before the printing press arrived in 1443. But why would Mary take such an interest, not only in the Dominicans, but in other Orders as well? We might find a helpful clue from the lay woman Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare Movement, who died recently in Rome. Chiara calls Mary the transparency of God. Her insight suggests that Mary’s present state as a risen human is something like a “see-through lady.” Her humanness has become the very radiance of God, who shows in her and through her. This would give us a hint of our very own future. Is that how it will be with us? Will the grateful love we have lived day by day, and the faithfulness we have struggled to maintain, be the agents of our tra...