Reflection at the Reaffirmation of Vows
of Sisters Sharon Bossler, OP, and
Emmy Chelagat Choge, OP
Saturday, January 7, 2012
by Sister Carol Johannes, OP
Today’s texts provide us with a wonderful framework for our reflection upon the mystery of God’s call, and also upon the wondrous gift of our capacity to respond to it, witnessed by two extraordinary women, whose reaffirmation of vowed commitment we celebrate this morning. The texts, as well as the nature of the journeys taken by Sharon and Emmy, remind all of us that, no matter our age or our circumstances, God’s call to each of us continues on forever, throughout our lives and on into eternity. For us who are limited, there can always be deeper penetration into the mystery of the life of God; there can always be more newness, more life, more love.
If we look at the passage from Genesis and back up just a bit, we read that Terah, Abram’s father, had moved the family from Ur of the Chaldeans and intended to go to the land of Canaan, but stopped en route and decided to settle in the town of Haran. I presume the family intended to make their home there permanently. But, after a time, God surprised Abram. God had a different idea.
This is so often one of the characteristics of call. God surprises us over and over again. In a lighter, more personal vein, I still remember the day shortly after Sister Rosemary Ferguson was elected when she sent for me. I thought she probably wanted me to carry a package home to Regina to save postage. Instead, she told me that “from all eternity,” God wanted me to be novice mistress!
And I’m sure that Sharon and Emmy’s call also came as a surprise. I suspect that 10 years ago they never would have dreamed that they’d be here today!
So, God surprised Abram. This is what Genesis 12:1-4 says: “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great.’ . . . So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.”
We might find ourselves asking what Abram actually had by way of guarantee of a future. The answer is: nothing but pure, raw faith in God’s promises. And really, that kind of faith was all that Sharon and Emmy had, as they, too, left all for a new land and a new life. Actually, it’s all any of us ever have as we move through our lives. We’re not in control. We don’t often get to choose our circumstances.
But Abram learned – as have Sharon and Emmy, and as have we – that God is fairly reliable and keeps promises made. None of us has been promised to become a great nation, but we have been promised friendship with God and fullness of life, and a call to more and more and more fullness of life with the passage of each day. It never stops.
The text from Peter’s letter is replete with God’s promises. We’re told that God has given us “a new birth into a living hope” through Christ’s resurrection, and “…Although you have not seen (Jesus), you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1: 3, 8-9).
Again, the author here is speaking in the realm of hope and faith and promise. We’re brought to “new hope.” We don’t see, but we have faith in the promise, and that alone can fill us with joy. But always, there is God’s promise of something more that we await.
And finally, the passage from John hints at the ultimate test of faith. “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). This is God’s call to let go of everything, costly as that might be, for the fulfillment of the promise of new life. This is what Abram did, let go of everything; it’s what Jesus did, let go of everything. It’s what Sharon and Emmy have done, and it’s what all of us in this enterprise of Adrian Dominican life are striving to do: to go for broke in trusting God’s promise.
Jesus warns us here that if we hold on to our lives, if we hold back, if we’re cautious in measuring out our gift, we’re likely to lose it. There has been nothing of holding on, holding back, or cautious measuring in Sharon and Emmy’s gifts of life. And we thank them for this.
But Jesus promises that if we can let go and give all for him and for the Gospel, we will discover who we really are, recipients and sharers of the very life of God, more and more fully, forever. (We could sneak in “saecula saeculorum,” as the new Latin translation might!)
Can we ever thank God enough for our faith in God’s promises and for our experiences that they have been kept? Can we ever begin to appreciate this gift? It’s meant everything to us! Can we even imagine our lives without it?
In describing the gift, theologian Walter Brueggemann addresses God:
You give more than we ask or think or need,
enough for all our futures,
enough for joy,
enough for well-being beyond our trembling neediness.
And he goes on:
Sometimes we only thank in amazement,
Sometimes we yield in gratitude,
Sometimes we turn our joy into sacrifice and give back,
Sometimes we become more fully yours
in obedience and gladness.
And now, this moment, is some such sometime. We pray in thanks. Amen.
(Brueggemann, Walter, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, p. 134)