Vocation Letters: Thanksgiving for Community
This is the latest installment in the Vocation Letters of our fictional novice, Sister Mary Rosaria. We remembered all our friends and benefactors in our grateful prayers yesterday.
Ave + Maria
Dear Mom and Dad,
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever! Happy and blessed Thanksgiving! I hope you were able to get together to celebrate Thanksgiving yesterday. Did Grandma make her special cranberry relish like always?
We had a lovely Thanksgiving here yesterday. Each Sister made a different dish -- the turkey, potatoes, relish, rolls, pies, etc. -- and we enjoyed the festive meal in the community room. (We usually have silent meals in the refectory with reading, so this makes it extra-celebratory.) Everyone pitched in and we had a delightful time.
As we talked about the things we are thankful for, I was reflecting particularly on the importance of community. At the beginning of his Rule, which is the foundation of our Dominican religious life, St. Augustine states that the first reason for which we are gathered together in community is to live in harmony, having one mind and heart in God. The theme of community united in God is very prominent in the Rule, and the section on common life that follows comes even before the section on prayer. When we studied the Rule of St. Augustine in our novitiate classes, one commentator's observation struck me very powerfully: this shows that living community life is our first act of worship.
What a profound statement! Living in community is not always easy. There are certainly many delightful times, but it can also be a challenge to live all day every day with nuns of a large variety of ages, temperaments, and backgrounds. To do it well requires charity and humility; it really is a "school of charity" because even the times we fail become moments of grace for us to grow in love of God and neighbor. Our novice mistress reminds us of this here in the novitiate quite often!
Because the common life is so foundational to everything in our Dominican life--from liturgy, to work, to study, even to the observance of our vows--living this out as an act of worship of God is both sustaining and fruitful in a very deep way. I know I am only scratching the surface after a few years in the monastery, but may God grant me the grace of a lifetime to give myself to Him in and through community. What a gift to be grateful for.
I remembered all of you, too, our many Thanksgivings back home, and how grateful I am for the community of family I had while growing up! It is such a blessing for me to have that foundation for living community life today.
Looking forward to sending you our Christmas newsletter soon! There is so much to pray for right now in our country, the Church, and the world, all in such need of the only authentic community in Christ. I keep all of you in my prayers as well.
Love in Our Lady,
Sister Mary Rosaria, O.P.