Carla Mae's Blog

Some time ago Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J (Pope Francis has removed the monitum on him) wrote of human suffering. He was a seminarian conscientious objector in the First World War, so was assigned as a stretcher bearer in the trenches. At night he would write by lantern-light.   As we prepare to enter into our Lenten season, what he says might surprise us. He reminds us that in our youth we are very busy. We teach, minister, care for our families; we are “on the move.” But in our later years, “We just can’t do what we used to do.” Guilt builds up. How can I be of service now? What good am I when I just don’t have the energy I used to have? We are diminishing, and this causes us sadness.   Then he turns this on its head. Pointing to the strange flow of Jesus’ life, he points out that Jesus had only three short years of active ministry. Then comes the diminishment of the passion. This is certainly not the way we would do things. But it is in that diminishment that Je...

  Our newly expanded Mission Statement first identifies a gate, a doorway: “ Through a communal and contemplative presence…” The word through surrounds you, like a blanket in a chill wind. It’s a way to be.   Next we identify our Dominican-ness: “Rooted in God’s transformative Word.” A subtle play on the meaning of the French word, Racine, yes? And take note, Word is capitalized. That means more than the scriptural word, although that is a primary place we find the Word-in-person. The Word here is the One who has come to be with us. The Word is Christ Jesus. How do we stay “rooted” in a person? Being rooted means being where your life-source is. It means you lose your life if you get “uprooted.” It means we have identified our life-source, the reason for our existence. We have also used an important adjective in front of it. This Word does not stand still. It moves. It moves in us and transforms us day to day. That means we are itinerant in the deepest meaning of...

The winter solstice has come. The light has shifted. Now the days grow longer. Light has won out, and the darkness slinks away, getting ready to return another time. Lights are everywhere. Christmas lights are still up, filling the night cold with multicolored beauty.   We are celebrating the greatest Light of all. The words of Genesis ring in our ears: “Let there be…Light!” Did you ever wonder how there could be light when, according to the ancient account, there was as yet no sun? What is the Light? Could it be the very Wisdom of God made manifest, and from this Wisdom, this very substance of God self-expressing in a Word, all creation spills out? Is it all made from Light? Now lest you think this is mere new age jibberish, scientists seem to be moving in this same direction. They keep looking for the most primary particle. So far the most basic they have found they have named the quark. And what is this very basic element in the universe? They have identified it as ...

Why do we have an entire liturgical season dedicated to longing for Someone who is already here? Yes, Jesus has come, and he has returned to his Father. But he has also said, “I am with you until the end of the age.” So which is it? Ah…or is it both?   The Eternal Word really never left his Father. But in his “coming” he bent down and entered space-time, and dwelt with us, taking on a physicality we can see and touch. But that isn’t all. He bent way down, into our grief, our corruption, our dying, and our crying. He got himself all bound-up in more than swaddling bands. More, now risen from all this dying, he will return, clothed with the cosmos, and wearing every atom, for he has not lost anything the Father gave him. I believe this.   So what is Advent all about? All this might be true, but it might not be true for me. It is one thing to know about this, and another to know it because it has made its home in me. This is the mysterious “coming” that Advent is al...

Common Life, Common Prayer, Study, and finally, Mission (Ministry), the pillars on which the lampstand of Dominican life stands as it shines in the midst of the Church; or if you prefer, the varied prism of the charism as shines with the Spirit’s light. For the vowed Dominican, and for those who journey with us in the light of this charism, a startling fact emerges. True, we are immersed in the Word, in person, and in the scriptures. But there is an effect that flows from this immersion. We become worded ourselves. We take on the very Word that entrances us. We gradually become worded women and men personally. We become what is called the holy preaching. The mission of Jesus, who is robed in our humble humanness, is two-fold. His mission often is voiced in the Alleluia verse of the liturgy: Jesus proclaims the kingdom and heals . This twofold mission is the Church’s mission as it travels through time, expressing itself in the rich ministries of the spiritual and corporal w...

The autumn is here in earnest, and the trees are ridding themselves of their leaves with abandon, knowing in some secret way that they will be back…all new and green. Harvests are in. We are getting ready for the winter sleep. The pace of the year slows down. It’s time to take stock. The readings of November are pointing to a way to do that. Their target will be the Feast of Christ the King as the liturgical year comes to a triumphant close, but on the way there we will be called to check out what takes top place in our lives. Baptism has firmly positioned us in Christ – that’s the truth. But we struggle with the day-to-day hangover of the sin-of-the-world trying to suck us back into the sin-sense of isolation from him – and that’s the lie. Nothing can separate us from him, no matter if we feel that way. So we are challenged to claim the deepest truth of our lives: I am clothed with Christ, and nothing…really absolutely nothing, can separate me from him. My s...

“They will study…they will need no other penance.” -      Statement attributed to St. Dominic When the white light of our charism of preaching a just word shows its colors, we speak of common life, common prayer, study, and   mission/ministry. Study is the characteristic that marks our difference among other religious orders. Other orders study when it is helpful. Dominicans study because it is constitutive to their identity. Ask religious orders who they are, and they answer, “We are vowed persons who live community by common life, common prayer, and a common mission.” (The Benedictines might add “stability in monastic life,” and the Jesuits, “faithfulness to the Holy See”) But that’s not how a Dominican will answer. The Dominican man or woman answers, “We are vowed persons who live community by common life, common prayer, common study , and common mission.” So how do we study together ? We understand this pillar of our identity to exempt no one ...