Solitude in the woods

If you do decide to visit the Franciscan sisters in Tiffin, Ohio, you have the option of lodging in a rustic and peaceful cabin in the woods. 

St. Francis used to retire to a hermitage in a remote woods to get away from the demands of leading a community, to pray and reflect.

Nothing but the sounds of crickets and the crackling fire.  Ok, and maybe a raccoon or fox rummaging around outside.  Sister Mouse may join you in the cabin...but her nearest relation met an untimely demise with a trap.  Oh dear.  St. Francis would probably have given her some cheese. 

Tiffin, Ohio

I come from a major metropolitan area.  People rush, they always think you are in the way, they don't work to build community much because they want to retire someplace else.  Bosses can be harsh and it is not uncommon to have an experience with a person who is being just plain rude.  Of course there are kind people, but they are sprinkled in like roses among weeds.

Out here in Tiffin, it is different.  People are decent almost as a rule.  The teller at the bank waived a fee for me the other day.  That doesn't happen where I come from.  A stranger I met in a café offered to introduce me to a woman he knew who had access to a horse stable, after I passingly mentioned I like to ride horses.  A faculty member in charge of my attendance at classes, and whom I have never personally met, sent me a get-well email after I came down with a stomach bug.  People from Ohio just typify that saying: "Midwest nice."  Now I know what it means.

Seneca County had its annual heritage festival and parade this weekend.  There were baton girls, and tractors--lots and lots of tractors.  The actual Budweiser Clydesdale horse team was present and it was a magnificent sight.  The sisters marched in the parade with a float to raise awareness about peacemaking in a conflict ridden world, and another one to highlight their work to help the victims of human trafficking.

Enjoy the photos.  Come visit us.

The Vows: Chastity

Chastity is the second vow made by religious.  Actually, all people are called to live in a chaste manner, and the issue is explained in detail by the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Follow this link: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm Chastity 

It is an idea that involves self-control, self-mastery, and right relations with others.  Just look at what sexual scandals have done to some prominent politicians, and you get the idea.  Yes, even married people must be chaste, and treat their partners with reverence and respect, not commit adultery, and so forth.   Consider what sins against chastity do to women, especially.  Women are made into chattel, into objects of lust and pleasure, and are not valued as whole persons.  Pornography is an example of the evil that results when chastity is thrown out the window.  Men who frequent brothels around the world sin against chastity, and the result is human trafficking and de facto slavery for many women.  On that note, many women's religious communities are working to free people who have been the victims of trafficking, and to stymie this horrendous practice.

Some young people have taken vows of virginity until marriage, and wear a chastity ring to show their commitment.  It is a positive rejection of media images of women who are perpetually tarted up like Vegas showgirls...little more than sex toys.  Chastity elevates the status of women, in particular, and preserves the dignity of men.

 For members of religious communities, chastity means that they will not marry, will of course refrain from all sexual union, and this leaves them free to be a brother or sister to everyone.  They are not bound in an exclusive relationship but can relate freely to their community with their time and resources, and reach out to the larger community.  Sins against chastity are, because of the vows, particulary egregious among the religious.  Observe how even non-Catholics are appalled at the sexual abuses of some priests.  Somehow, people expect more from a priest, who is supposed to lead us to goodness.  As it should be.

It is also a sort of asceticism, one that requires we channel our energies for the works of love to which our faith compels us.  Chastity calls us to a higher kind of love, a broader love.  Granted, the value of chastity is sometimes taken to extremes.  For example, a woman in Pakistan or some other Muslim countries can be the victim of an honor killing if she is unchaste, or worse yet the victim of a rape.  Chastity in some countries consigns women to walk about covered head to toe in burqas and abayas.  In Europe women had to wear chastity belts.  As in all things, the vows and virtues must be gentle burdens and viewed with an understanding eye.  We all stray from the right path, and it is with patience and gentle encouragement that we get back on it.

The vows, #1: Poverty

The vow of poverty is not exactly what you think.  When most people think of poverty, they think of the destitution and disease and squalor of third world slums.  That kind of poverty is not good, it is a sign of the presence of evil in the world.

There is such a thing as good or healthy poverty.  What religious mean by poverty is living simply, having what you need and not to acquire excess possessions or wealth.   This is what Hilaire Belloc meant by sufficiency.  It means, in a somewhat Buddhist attitude, of non-attachment to material things and social position.  St. Francis eschewed property because, as he said, if they had property they would have to get weapons to protect it, and that would be a source of conflict with others.  Remember the state of Italy when he lived:  small kingdoms across Italy were constantly fighting with each other over territory, resources, and power.  Francis chose to live off that particular grid.

Sisters do take vacations, although they are not staying at five-star resorts.  Some communities maintain modest vacation homes so they can go for rest and refreshment, just like most people do.  They content themselves with shopping at budget stores and thrift stores.  They do not need to be slaves to fashion and feel that they are somehow less than socially acceptable if they lack designer goods.  They have opted out of the consumerism of secular society, so they can devote their time and resources to their ministries in the interest of helping others.  They are putting the word and work of God first, and their comfort second.  They do receive a small stipend from their communities for clothes and toiletries, etc.

That is the essence of the vow of poverty. 

The vows

Today Sister Lisa took her final solemn vows.  The vows in religious life are three: poverty, chastity, and obedience.  I will deal with each of these in turn at a later time. It was a great celebration and many people were present, sisters, Lisa's natal family, friends and coworkers.  Lisa looked serene and happy.  The Tiffin Franciscans have a great sense of family and are a very joyous group.

Sr. Lisa is on the right, and the Community Minister, Sister Sara is on the left.

Some older sisters maintain the habit.  This sister is actually from a different community that lives nearby.

This is at the beginning of the Mass.  They are not bowing to the priest, but to the altar which is a sacred space because the consecration of the bread and wine takes place on it.

Trying to upload a video for you, so you can hear the music that nearly blew the roof off the chapel.  Oops, sorry the upload is not working.  Will have to stick to pictures.

Please feel free to post questions or comments.  It's been pretty quiet out there.....

 

The call to service

For me, living the gospel, and living the Christian faith, is a call to action.  Action in the sense of service, to help others lead a life of greater dignity.  This can take an infinite number of forms.  It is not so much what you do, but how you do it that constitutes service through work.

 

I am attaching a profile of the Franciscan spirituality type, which pretty well describes me personally (and many others.)  It is somewhat different from a Dominican type, for example. 

 

Enjoy.

 

 

Your Spirituality Type: PATH OF SERVICE (Franciscan prayer)

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About 38 percent of the population is this spiritual type--but far fewer of this type come to church regularly.

Like Saint Francis of Assisi, those who follow the path must be free, unconfined, and able to do whatever their inner spirit moves them to do. They don't like to be tied down by rules. One thinks of Saint Peter impetuously jumping into the water to join Jesus as a typical action of this type.

Franciscan spirituality leads to acts of loving service which can be a most effective form of prayer. The gospel stories about Jesus have a special appeal, particularly the Incarnation of God in the life of Jesus, which is the center around which Franciscan life and spirituality revolve. Franciscan prayer is flexible and free-flowing making full use of the five senses and it is spirit-filled prayer.

Those on this path can make a meditation on the beauty of a waterfall, flower, meadow, mountain, or ocean—all of God's creation. There is more stress in payer on the events of Jesus' life than on this teaching Like Saint Therese of Lisieux, prayer is done with total concentration—as if this is the most important thing to be doing at this moment Therese did all tasks knowing that each was a part of the total harmony of the universe.

Single versus communal

The single life is a concoction of the late 20th century.  As Eberhard Arnold points out in his book, "Why we Live in Community," it is the nature of all created life to live in community, not alone.  Animals move in packs, herds, flocks, schools, and humans naturally form families.  The desire for family is strong.  Look at the current debate about same-sex marriage, which I will not delve into except to say that even among those living a very non-traditional lifestyle, the desire for permanent committed bonds to others is present.

Renowned author and Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister remarked in a recent retreat in Erie, Pennsylvania, that John Wayne's movie characters epitomized what has become an American value: that of rugged individualism.  His films glamorized going solo, living single, a solitary figure riding across the plains of life. Secular feminism does the same thing, essentially telling women to ignore  the emotional and spiritual need for others for the sake of self-seeking career success.  Certainly, careers can be satisfying.  But is this freedom and happiness?  Or the drudgery of loneliness, a solitude unbroken by the ability to share and celebrate the passages of life with others?  I am thinking of Meryl Streep's character in the film,  "The Devil Wears Prada," whose obsession with her personal success alienates her husband and drives away intimacy.  Is that what I wish to become?  Where is the sweet spot of work for the mind and sharing for the heart?

For me, I realized that being the maiden Aunt was losing its charm.  On a recent beach vacation I was supposed to go with one other friend.  The friend, who is currently in the dog house, bailed on me at the last minute.  I could not get out of the hotel reservation and off I went.  I envied the families I saw playing and relaxing on the beach, the women enclosed in the embrace of husband and children.  That for me has become the emotional reality of single life.

I am reasonably independent on a day to day basis, but for the long haul I much prefer the security of knowing that others will be there for me if I fall, in illness, in joy, and in my old age.  I have no children to visit me in the nursing home, and I have no spouse with whom to share a lazy Saturday morning.  

So, I thought, why suffer?  Hundreds of thousands of single childless women find joy in each other in holy community.  I will profile some of them for you in days to come.  I wish you could see their joy in the littlest and biggest moments of life.  They shower affection on the oldest members of their communities and some have known each other for years and years, sharing a deep history and a trove of memories.

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