12 / The Most Holy Name of Mary 13 / St John Chrysostom 14 / The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
/ Our Lady of Sorrows
/ Sts Cornelius and Cyprian
/ 18/
/ St Januarius
20 / St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon and Paul Chong Ha-sang
21 / TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 22 / 23 / St. Pius of Pietrelcina
/
/ Sts. Cosmas and Damian
/ St. Vincent de Paul 28 / TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
/ Sts Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael
/ St. Jerome
Saint Cecilia & Beauty
BySisterAnnaLaura,O.P.
“I will espouse you to me forever.”
Cecilia
s you stand looking at this first stained glass window, your eye is immediately drawn to look at the central figure of a beautiful young woman, captured in a moment of joy, of happiness, of rapture She is exquisite in every detail: golden flowing hair, echoed by long flowing dress, framing the face of this young beauty. Radiant.
“Who is she?” the heart asks.
This is Cecilia Not gazing at herself in a mirror but captured by a beauty, a love, that takes her entirely out of herself.
The heart questions again: What vision gives her such total joy?
You follow Cecilia’s gaze and see only radiant light. We cannot see who has captured her so But we know it is Jesus
This first window depicts the life-changing moment when Cecilia meets Jesus, when she encounters Incarnate Love. And because she lived in Rome during a time of Christian persecution, such an encounter was not without risk. Yet she is free from fear, even fear of suffering, pain, and death. Indeed, “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18), for in this encounter, she glimpses the beauty of Jesus’ love, reflecting the Father’s infinite love; a love that conquers death, a love revealed again and again at every Mass: This is My Body given for you.
This first window tells us: Cecilia knows Jesus. He is real. His gaze tells her: “I see you. I know you. I love you.” She also hears His invitation, “Come, my bride, my beloved one” (Song of Songs 2:10). She understands that Jesus is inviting her to live in His love as a consecrated woman, set apart entirely as His bride. Cecilia says yes and makes a vow of chastity, which is the logical response of the bride to her beloved: “He has placed His sign upon my brow, that I may admit no other lover” (Mass of Religious Profession).
The heart sighs at the wonder of this. We too want to be beautiful like Cecilia.
So we look back at the stained glass window and notice another person not seen before, an older woman peeking through a curtain, spying on this scene. It looks like Cecilia’s nurse who was known to be a Christian. The nurse’s presence tells us that we too are invited to view this most intimate moment. Why? Because Cecilia wants us to know that this love is for each of us Whether we are called to religious life or to marriage and family, Cecilia wants us to know her beauty secret. Contrary to what the multi-million dollar cosmetic industry would tell us, we do not make ourselves beautiful: Jesus’ love does that. You only have to let His love find you.
How do we let ourselves be loved like this? How do we become beautiful like Cecilia?
One way is by entrusting to Jesus those places in your life that you think are not beautiful – places of shame or failure or sin or downright ugliness of body or soul. Gently, over time, take Him those things that you think make you unlovable, and entrust these most tender, sensitive things to Him. Then gradually, these places of shame, self-condemnation, and self-loathing become transformed as places where we experience being intimately known, and still infinitely loved. Often we experience the wonder of God’s love in the places where we think we are unlovable. As we grow in friendship with Jesus, He frees us from toxic striving or hiding by teaching us to rest in Love. He gives to us the radiant beauty of peace
As we leave this first window, we can almost hear St. Cecilia echoing the Psalmist’s encouraging words to us:
Look to the Lord, that you may be radiant with joy, with peace, with beauty, with love! (Psalm 34).
BeautyintheClassroom
By: Sister Amata Christi, O.P.
Dominicans have always prized truth and studied it with vigor. We are even bold enough to claim this transcendental as our Order’s motto: Veritas! Dominican preaching is thoroughly imbued with a passion for the truths of the faith, and as Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia we heartily take up the daily torch of preaching truth for the salvation of souls. Jesus Christ is himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), and so the many little truths we teach all day long– from multiplication facts to the periodic table–are meant to lead our students to the very person of Jesus Yet, truth is never found alone she is always found with her inseparable sidekicks, goodness and beauty In fact, the great St Thomas Aquinas claims that beauty essentially is the very splendor or radiance of truth. That provides a lot of food for thought. If we want people to embrace the truth of the faith, presenting it in a beautiful way is crucial. Beauty is the grand evangelizer. It “attracts us, or captures us with a ray capable of igniting marvel” (The Via Pulchritudinis, Way of Beauty, 11.2). So, just how do we go about preaching truth with beauty? The intentional cultivation of beautiful spaces, lessons, and moments of prayer and liturgy are a few places to start.
Beauty in the classroom environment is a simple but powerful tool in education. The key is paying attention to the little things around us that have the power either to cultivate peace or to unsettle it with chaos or ‘visual noise’. St. Augustine once said that “peace is the tranquility of order,” and so teachers who build an ordered, balanced, harmonious environment work hand in hand with the Holy Spirit to make space for peace For it is in peace and tranquility–a space of external and internal beauty– that the truth can be more easily received. Simplicity of designs, moderation in colors, and a lack of clutter can go far in cultivating this environment. Students who walk into an organized, beautiful space take a deep breath and relax. They smile, feel at home, and focus more intently on the truths being taught. I’ve even seen students’ conduct improve when the surrounding space helps them elevate their minds and hearts to what is noble and transcendent. It is as if the beauty of the environment inaudibly communicates their personal dignity: they are children of God, destined for eternal glory, and are worthy of a lovely space in which to learn.
Beauty can also be intentionally woven into the content of lessons. I have been repeatedly delighted by the hunger of students of all ages for meaning in what they learn. Their souls seem to be demanding, “Why is this important?” and this curiosity provides a powerful window of opportunity for teachers I love to cultivate a taste for meaning and beauty by doing nature journaling and art study with my students. When we take the time in a busy class day to gaze at a spider building its web outside the school, to count its legs, marvel at its web, render it on paper, and ask “wonder” questions, our eyes are opened to God at work in the natural world. Students begin to see the Creator’s fingerprints all over the things he created and are led to receive and reverence the world he made as a beautiful gift.
Art study can also cultivate this way of wondering and looking at the world. When we take time to gaze at a lovely piece of art simply for its own sake, just because it is beautiful and worth admiring, something very real is communicated. The unspoken lesson is, “Beauty is worth your time The most important parts of education are not just on a test. What I want to teach you goes way beyond utility and skills for a future career, necessary as they are Your heart longs for more. Michaelangelo’s Pieta, or Mozart’s Requiem have something to speak to your soul. Can I teach you how to hear the message beauty is speaking?”
The religious culture and liturgical rhythm in a classroom also are key places to incorporate beauty. Many sisters arrange “religion corners” in their classrooms where students can gather to sing a song, pray, and read Scripture or the lives of the saints. In older grades, a board or table shrine with pictures of modern saints and inspiring quotes might be used to cultivate a form of beauty that inspires young people and draws them together in shared prayer If these spaces are beautiful, restful places, the Catholic faith becomes more tangible and attractive. When the heart is drawn toward what is worthy of love and devotion, the doctrinal content presented alongside it can be more easily received by hearts and minds. Further, the very routines of prayer shared in these spaces can communicate beauty. When students sing a beautiful hymn together in unison, recite a classic poem, or crown Our Lady with roses in the month of May, there is a strength and power from the universal Church’s shared piety that they can “tap into” If they step into the power of this spiritual current, they can more easily hear the voice of the Church singing alongside them and know they do not worship or believe alone. This can truly be an experience of inculturated beauty that moves both mind and heart to love the faith.
The goal of education is to bring souls to heaven Dominicans will always strive to do this by a hearty dose of doctrinal truth, as is right and just! Yet, by exposing minds, hearts, and souls to beauty we more effectively draw our students to beauty’s source–Christ himself. By crafting beautiful spaces, lessons, and school culture, we hope to form students who will joyfully and wholeheartedly commit themselves to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2) for all their lives.
Book Recommendation
Life of Saint Cecilia: Virgin and Martyr—A Biography and Her History in the Christian Church
by Dom Prosper Guéranger
(1866)
“Pre-eminent among [the martyrs] is St. Cecilia, the gentle queen of Sacred Song, distinguished alike for her attachment to holy Virginity, her apostolic zeal, and the ‘unfaltering courage by which she won the martyr’s crown.’”
-FromthePreface
Transporting readers to the time of Christian persecution in ancient Rome, Dom Prosper Guéranger eloquently and thoroughly recounts the fairy-tale-like story of Saint Cecilia. Dom Guéranger draws from the ancient ActsofSt.Cecilia, as well as several historians to most accurately portray the milieu and heroic acts of St. Cecilia’s life. But his book does not end with her martyrdom. He also provides plentiful and vivid descriptions of events surrounding St. Cecilia’s legacy through the nineteenth century. Truly, St. Cecilia’s presence in the world is still felt today!
Summer Blessings
JUBILEECELEBRATIONS
RIGHT / SisterMaryReginald(picturedwithMother AnnaGrace)celebrated60yearsofreligiousprofessionthis summer.
CENTER RIGHT/ GoldenJubilarianSisterMary ChristopherrenewshervowsduringtheMasscelebrating 50yearsofreligiousprofession.
CENTER LEFT /SisterMaryChristopherpicturedwith somemembersofherfamily
Our sisters who celebrated their 25th anniversary of profession of religious vows with Mother Anna Grace (left to right): Sister Mary Juliana, O P, Sister Mary Edith, O P, Sister Mary Grace, O P, Sister Vincent Marie, O P, Sister Maria Fidelis, O P, Sister Anne Frances, O P, Mother Anna Grace, O P, Sister Anne Catherine, O P, Sister John Paul, O P, Sister Mary Barbara, O P, Sister Marie Celine, O P
The newly professed sisters pictured with Mother Anna Grace, O P, Bishop Mark Spalding of Nashville, and Sister Mary Rachel, O P Director of Novices: Sister Amata Lucie, O P, Sister Zelie Marie, O P, Sister Teresa, O P, Sister Marie Elisabeth, O P, Sister Veronica Mae, O P, Sister Jordan Caeli, O P, Sister Martina Sofia, O P, Sister Margaret Gemma, O P, Sister Maria Savio, O P, Sister Fiat Joy, O P, Sister Mary Sophia, O.P., Sister Victoria Christi, O.P.
My journey to the convent is intimately linked to my journey to the Catholic Church. In high school I learned that God is real. A teacher at my non-religiously affiliated high school shared with me that God loves me immensely. Very quickly I fell head over heels in love with God and when I shared my growing faith with this teacher, she burst out, “You’re not going to become a nun, are you?!” I was quick to reply, “I’m not even Catholic!” But deep in my heart I knew I would. I started R.C.IA. my freshman year of college, and at the Easter Vigil I was baptized, confirmed, and received my First Holy Communion. After Baptism, my heart was truly exploding in gratitude and I knew that I could never repay the Lord for the joy He had given me in my faith. I knew with certainty He alone could satisfy my heart, which He had set apart for Himself. Over the next few years, I felt increasingly called to break my alabaster jar and pour out the precious ointment of my life out upon His feet.
God knew I couldn’t wait to be His and so things unfolded quickly! A priest friend encouraged me to contact our Sisters, who taught in a local high school. I did, and I met them the next day since the vocation director was in town! The best decision I ever made in life was becoming Catholic My second-best decision was following the Lord to the convent three years after my Baptism. Every day when I put on the holy habit of St. Dominic, I am overwhelmed by God who has such tender love for each of us, and I am filled with joy knowing that I am totally His!
Sister Mary Bethany professed her perpetual vows in July 2010.
