Paul Zalonski – Page 586

Retreat for Priests in 2009

Each year, just after Easter, Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete and Communion and Liberation
leads a retreat for priests. This year’s theme is “Priests of the New Evangelization.” In 2009, the retreat for priests is being held at The Malvern Retreat House (Malvern, PA) from 13-17 April 2009.

Yes, it is very early to think about events in 2009. But sit too long on making plans for your retreat in 2009 and you’ll miss a great opportunity to meet the Lord and to be guided by Msgr. Albacete. Act now!!!!

The notes from the 2008 retreat are now available. Visit the CL webpage.

What is Communion and Liberation? In short, CL is a group of friends seeking the face of Jesus and working out their salvation, as St. Paul says, together. It is an ecclesial movement founded by Monsignor Luigi Giussani in 1954 and officially approved by Pope John Paul II in 1982; it is made up of laity, priests and sisters.

The essence of the charism given to Communion and Liberation can be signaled by three factors.

· first of all, the announcement that God became man (the wonder, the reasonableness, the enthusiasm for this): “The Word was made flesh and dwells among us.”

· secondly, the affirmation that this man – Jesus of Nazareth dead and risen – is a present event in a “sign” of “communion,” i.e., of unity of a people guided, as a guarantee, by a living person, ultimately the Bishop of Rome;

· thirdly: only in God made man, man, therefore only in His presence and, thus only through – in some way – the experienceable form of His presence (therefore, ultimately only within the life of the Church) can man be truer and mankind be truly more human. St Gregory Nazianzen writes, “If I were not Yours, my Christ, I would feel like a finished creature”. It is thus from His presence that both morality and the passion for the salvation of man (which is mission) spring up.

O Blessed Dominic! O light of the Church!

The summer provides us with many notable opportunities to honor some great saints: Benedict, Ignatius, Peter Emyard, Augustine and the Lancaster Martyrs. Today the Church remembers Saint Dominic, a 13^th century friar who set the world ablaze in the love of Christ.

On Saint Dominic’s deathbed he gave his brothers his last will and testament: “Have

charity, guard humility, hold fast to voluntary poverty.” Dominic promised them that he would be of more use to them in heaven than on Earth–a promise I believe he keeps even today but he has a lot of work to do yet. Our beloved father was buried according to his wishes, “under the feet of his brethren.” Saint Dominic was canonized in 1234 by Pope Gregory IX.

Following is a letter by Robert Kilwardby, an English friar of the Order of Preachers. He was Oxford educated, a popular teacher, held numerous positions in the Order, was the archbishop of Canterbury, he crowned Edward I as King of England, and he is known to publically oppose the works of his fellow friar, Saint Thomas Aquinas because of his use of Aristotle. This “Letter to Novices” provides an insight into heart of the Order of Preachers and thus into person of Saint Dominic.

Brother Robert, to the novices of the Order of Preachers, beloved in Christ: May you be enlightened by the grace of the sevenfold Spirit through your pursuit of holiness.

Consider your calling and notice its characteristics, so that you may magnify the Lord and exult in God our Savior.

First of all, you should know that, before our Order arose, certain holy people were vouchsafed revelations from God, which we now have in writing, showing that the prayer of the glorious Virgin obtained this Order from her Son, when he was angry at the sins of the world, for the reconciliation of sinners. And it is not unreasonable to believe that it is from her too that the Order’s progress and advancement and its guidance and preservation come. This has often been revealed from on high. So let us embrace our state of life all the more carefully, seeing how devotedly we ought to love such a patron, guardian and guide as we have in her, and how keenly we ought to honor her and how humbly we ought to reverence her.

Then you should know that this Order resembles the state of life the apostles, and that which our Savior deigned to display in his earthly life. Of him it is written, “Jesus began to preach and to teach, ‘Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven has come close.'” And again: “Jesus went about all the towns round about, teaching.'” Then he also laid his this job upon his disciples, saying, “Go into the world and preach the gospel.” And the apostle says, “He has put in us the word of reconciliation,” beseeching people for the sake of Christ, “Be reconciled to God.” Now what else, I ask you, does the Order of Preachers do, as it goes round so solicitously preaching the gospel and reconciling sinners?

So those who are called by a divine prompting to such a state of life ought rightly to boast in Christ, seeing that they desire to apply themselves to carrying out the very job of Christ himself and his apostles.

But some, who profess other states of life, say, “We too are likewise preachers, just as much as the members of the Order of Preachers.” To them we reply, in accordance with the truth, that there are indeed people in other states of life who preach, but they do not do it in the same way. For the friars of the Order of Preachers do it by virtue of the institution of their Order, by virtue of their job which gives them their name; others do it, certainly, but in imitation of them, because they cannot find anything better or more useful that they could do. So what our Order does essentially by virtue of its original institution, others try to do in imitation, incidentally and beside their formal profession. So we, who have been chosen precisely for this purpose, should rejoice that we are right, in virtue of our foundation, what others imitate out of devotion.

Then you should notice the usefulness of our state of life, my beloved novices. In this, unless I am mistaken, our state of life ought, on any true calculation, to be preferred to all others. For all our Chapters and discussions and debates and all the Order’s study aim at nothing else than to prepare people and to make them fit for the salvation of souls, and, when they are prepared and equipped in their way of life and in knowledge, to direct them to the task of converting sinners. So I reckon that no other Order works as hard in its concern for this as ours does, or achieves so much by its work.

Therefore, those who have such a vocation ought rightly to rejoice, since it is well known that at the last judgment the reward is to be meted out in accordance with what a man merits by his useful labor.

In addition to this, please look thoroughly at the special arrangements made in this Order about penance and austerity. The brethren of this Order are not prevented from edifying their neighbors in the fierce cold by the torment of having to go barefooted, nor, on the other hand, do they receive the comfort of going barefooted in the heat of summer. Also when they go out they do not enjoy the luxuries and delicacies of worldly cuisine. We believe that they reason for the first point, in God’s plan, is to avoid being prevented in any way from teaching people. The second and third points are to given an example of the austerity involved in salutary penance and of the perseverance in it. The one is necessary of truth is to be made known, the other is give an example of how to live.

Who would not cleave to such a state of life, once he had tasted its savor in his spirit?

If a question arises about poverty, on which many people vaunt themselves, I consider that our state is the one which is truly to be praised. Who would dare deny that the poverty of Christ and his disciples was more perfect than that of any other? Well, we read that most perfectly holy company of Christ and his disciples had purses and carried in them what they were given for their livelihood and brought food for them. We know that the Order of Preachers lives in just the same way, with the addition that they own houses and gardens and schools to hold their teaching in.

At this point some people claim that they possess nothing at all, either in common or individually, they hold no cash or money either in their own persons or through intermediaries, which is a far higher degree of poverty than the one I have been describing, which I said belonged to the company of the apostles. To this we reply that we do not wish nor should we wish to engage in quarrels, so we readily grant that their profession is as they say it is; may they do well in keeping it thoroughly! But it is enough for us in this regard not to go beyond the perfection of that apostolic poverty which Christ taught in the gospel.

In addition, I would point out that nobody ought to regard himself as superior to the rest because of his material poverty, unless he is conscious of being more poor in spirit than the rest. It does not say, “Blessed are the poor in things,” but “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” If there are any who regard themselves as better than the rest because of their state of poverty because of this make less of others or reduce them in the eyes of men, then they ought to ask themselves whether they can reasonably be said to possess that poverty of spirit, in which humility resides, without seeking to make itself public, and in which humility resides, without charity too principally resides, which seeks always to commend other people.

And, finally, since neither receiving nor possessing is a vice, nor is non-possession or non-receiving a virtue -it is the use of things which matters: if it is intemperate it is vicious, if it is temperate it is virtuous -what good is it boastfully to regard yourself as better than anyone else just on the strength of not receiving or not possessing anything, as if this constituted a more excellent state, when it is in fact indifferent, as far as vice and virtue are concerned?

So if anyone is to boast, it should be people who reckon that they excel in poverty because of their more sparing and temperate use of things, always provided that they attribute this to Christ and do not wish to be known in order to be praised, nor to be preferred to others in such a way that the others are despised; for it is the case, not only have they not won their reward, but because they have jettisoned humility and charity, they will actually be in a state of sin.

So let Christ’s poor receive and possess what is necessary for this mortal life, saving always the apostolic principle, which the Savior and his disciples observed, “Having food and enough clothing to cover them, with this let them be content.”

Maybe some wag will say, “Why, then, do you possess books and church furnishings, which are neither food nor clothing”? to this the answer is that the text of the apostle, “Having food, etc,” refers to people’s bodily life but this objection raises a matter of a person’s own spiritual benefit and that of his neighbor. The apostle did not neglect his books. And the primitive church established the principle of the faithful living together and having things in common, the first of which is necessary if the truth is to be preached, the second to give form to charity; for the first, there is no doubt that books are needed, and for the second, where men live together in a common life, church furnishings are needed.

Having said all this, to foster love of our state of life, we must go on to say that we should despise nobody and no state of life; it is profitless to fuss over human statutes and neglect the command of God which bids us love our neighbor as ourselves -on which St. Augustine teaches that “neighbor” must be taken to mean everybody. So let no individual person or state of life be found to be debarred from our love, which we have in God, because in commanding us to love even our enemies, he plainly showed that he wanted no one at all to be excluded from love. So, far from us be all detraction, criticism, insult, gossip or cursing, whether of people or any state of life, far from us be all comparisons at the expense of others. If we hear anyone telling stories of this kind or insinuating criticisms, we should rebuke him and deny him our attention, turning our faces sadly away from him. For, though we are bound by charity to commend our state in accordance with truth, we cannot detract from any other state.

From The Early Dominicans, Paulist Press

This Wondrous Glory

Transfiguration

They glorified God in me

I SAW thee once and nought discern’d

For stranger to admire;

A serious aspect, but it burn’d

With no unearthly fire.

Again I saw, and I confess’d

Thy speech was rare and high;

And yet it vex’d my burden’d breast,

And scared, I knew not why.

I saw once more, and awe-struck gazed

On face, and form, and air;

God’s living glory round thee blazed–

A Saint–a Saint was there!

John Henry Newman
Off Zante
January 8, 1833

The Transfiguration

Quicunque Christum quæritis

O YE who seek the Lord,

Lift up your eyes on high,

For there He doth the Sign accord

Of His bright majesty.

We see a dazzling sight

That shall outlive all time,

Older than depth or starry height,

Limitless and sublime.

‘Tis He for Israel’s fold

And heathen tribes decreed,

The King to Abraham pledged of old

And his unfailing seed.

Prophets foretold His birth,

And witness’d when He came,

The Father speaks to all the earth

To hear, and own His name.

To Jesus, who displays

To babes His beaming face,

Be, with the Father, endless praise,

And with the Spirit of grace. Amen.

A Matins Hymn

John Henry Newman

The Modern Jeremiah Laid to Rest

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk, a Caucasus town known for its
spas. Mr. Solzhenitsyn was born on December 11, 1918 and died, Sunday, August 3, 2008. The cause of death was a heart condition.

Mr. Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia on May 27, 1994, after settling in the hamlet of Cavendish, Vermont, for 18 years. He never became an American citizen while the rest of the family did.

His return to Russia was a dramatic event; beginning in Vladivostok where “he and his family began a two-month journey by private railroad car across Russia, to see what his post-Communist country now looked like. The BBC was on hand to film the entire passage and pay for it.”

In 1970, Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel prize laureate. Among his memorable literary works were: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1963), The Cancer Ward (1968), A Lenten Letter to Pimen, Patriarch of All Russia (1972), The Nobel Lecture on Literature (1972), Candle in the Wind (1973), The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: an Experiment in Literary Investigation (1974).

Mr. Solzhenitsyn was to be buried at the Donskoi monastery in Moscow today after a Russian Orthodox funeral service with no state funeral ceremony. The L’Osservatore Romano paid tribute to this great conscience. Also, Andrew Cusack has written a marvelous piece on Mr. Solzhenityn; take the time and read it. May his memory be eternal!

Pruining the Overgrown Soul

Sometimes you can get inspired by reading the blogs. Today, Fr. Mark posted on his blog the Apostolic Exhortation Haerent Animo by Saint Pius X.
Given that today is the 100^th anniversary of the exhortation’s publication and the feast of Saint John Baptist Mary Vianney, reading Haerent Animo was excellent spiritual reading. It took me the better of the morning to ponder what the saintly pontiff was saying, not because the prose was difficult, or the concepts too mysterious but because I kept stopping to reflect on my concrete experience of priestly formation and thinking of the lives of priests I know. I was sadly dwelling on the problems the priesthood has had in recent years.

In writing this exhortation on the occasion of his 50^th anniversary of priesthood, the Pope is taking seriously his “responsibility of forming Christ in others.” So, what’s revolutionary about Haerent Animo? Nothing! AND that’s the point. We already know what we have to do to be men of God, holy priests, men of “high dignity” called to be priests, i.e., servants of the Lord and the Church. A good reminder is helpful. Therefore, objectivity the pope presents in Haerent Animo relates to the following work one has to do if a holy priesthood is to exist. The Pope re-proposes:

-daily meditation

-daily examination of conscience

-daily celebration of the august rites of the Church with beauty by proper preparation spiritually and intellectually

-daily prayer, particularly the Divine Office

-frequent confession of mortal and venial sins

-self denial

-seeking the Lord’s clemency

-yearly retreat with others

-Lectio Divina (attentive reading of sacred Scripture)

-develop good friendships

The point is that the priest’s conduct must be stellar for fear of causing scandal in others. But fear of causing scandal ought not be the criterion for doing what the Pope re-proposes: the encounter with honesty, faithfulness, love and Christ ought to be included. Say it another way, an overgrown plant will bear no fruit. So our responsibility is to be watchful, be vigilant, and pray. This work will lead us closer to Christ in His words and in His actions; this work will lead to a deeper friendship with the Lord; doing this work will lead to holiness of life.

One thing the pope mentions is forming priestly associations to create a closer union among priests, to help one another in difficult times, to develop a taste of sacred learning, to have a solicitude for each other’s vocation, and to identify the skills needed to effectively preach the Gospel. It is a fact if one wants to be “good priest” then it being a part of such associations from the first day of one’s ordination. Either join a group or found one: But do something. Seminarians in the Archdioceses of Denver Saint Paul-Minneapolis recently founded priestly associations of type such as Saint Pius recommends.

I recommend that you read Haerent Animo soon. It will be good for you!

Coptic Christians under siege

Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior was brought to Egypt by the Evangelist Saint Mark around the year AD 50. Many would consider Saint Mark as the first bishop and patriarch of Egypt. Our Christian brothers and sisters in Egypt,

known as Copts, both Catholic and Orthodox, are
being threatened by the Muslim majority. Of 80 million Egyptians 10 percent are Christian.
Of this 10 percent, the Orthodox outweigh the Catholics. To give you an example, the 2007 statistics show that there are 7 Catholic dioceses (eparchies) caring for the spiritual and human needs of 161,327 souls. The Saturday edition of the NY Times carried a story with a slide show about the plight of these spiritual sons and daughters of Saint Mark.

Consider supporting the excellent work that the Catholic Near East Welfare Association
(CNEWA), a papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support. Your prayer and financial resources would be welcomed.

May St. Mark and St. Menas pray for us.

Encountering the Will of God: Saint Alphonsus Ligouri

Today is the feast of a great bishop, founder and doctor of the Church, Saint Alphonsus
Ligouri (1696-1787). The saint’s spiritual, dogmatic, liturgical and systematic writings are remarkable sources of inspiration and challenge. Little recognized but nontheless true is Saint Alphonsus was a poet and a musician. After all, the saint is from Naples! It is reported that Giuseppe Verdi said of St. Alphonsus’ great Christmas carol: “Christmas without ‘Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle’ is not Christmas.”

Among the writings that you’ll find helpful are his Way of the Cross, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, The Moral Theology and The Glories of Mary.

For our lectio I propose the following:

Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: “Charity is the bond of perfection”; and perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s: “The principal effect of love is so to unite the wills of those who love each other as to make them will the same things.” It follows then, that the more one unites his will with the divine will, the greater will be his love of God. Mortification, meditation, receiving Holy Communion, acts of fraternal charity are all certainly pleasing to God — but only when they are in accordance with his will. When they do not accord with God’s will, he not only finds no pleasure in them, but he even rejects them utterly and punishes them.

Conformity to God’s Will
St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri

O God, Who did inflame blessed Alphonsus Your confessor and Bishop with a burning zeal for the salvation of souls and through him did enrich Your Church with new offspring; grant we beseech You, that imbued with his wholesome precepts and strengthened by his example, we may come happily unto You.

Listen to Mother

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta taught: “God needs our poverty, not our abundance. These are means of being humble:

Speak as little as possible about oneself;
Take care of one’s personal matters
Avoid curiosity;
Do not meddle in the affairs of others;
Accept contradictions with good humor;
Do not focus on the faults of others;
Accept reproach, even if undeserved;
Yield to the will of others;
Accept insults and abuse;
Accept feeling uncared for, forgotten, despised;
Be courteous and sensitive, even if someone provokes you;
Do not try to be admired and loved;
Do not hide behind one’s own dignity;
Yield in arguments, even if one is right;
Always choose what is most difficult.”

Source: Mother Teresa, Heart of Joy: The Transforming Power of Self-Giving, Servant Books, 1987.

Looking to Our Destiny with Saint Ignatius of Loyola as a guide

On the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola there are many things that can be said of the Pilgrim-Saint and the Jesuit Order. Today, let us pray using the words of Loyola’s The First Principle and Foundation:

The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit. All the things in this world are gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily. As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal. In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation.

We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God. Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to the deepening of God’s life in me.

– St. Ignatius as paraphrased by David L. Fleming, S.J. from the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises

The witness of a vocation

Reading this article on vocations made terrific sense and corresponds to what I’ve been thinking about for some time. It is clear to me now there are some things are necessary for verifying a vocation to a religious community (diocese?) without which it would be difficult for me to see how one can fulfill the destiny God has planned. That is to say, if a vocation candidate does not see in a particular order just what Sister Catherine says below, namely, that there needs to be an evident sense of tangible joy, youthful zeal for the Kingdom of God, a realization that God has a plan, and fearless love then one does not have a vocation to that charism (religious order). Ask the question: What is the long history of faithfulness of this group that I am looking into? Is it faithful to the papal magisterium or not? Let me also say that Sister Catherine is right when she points out that the job of the vocation director is not to make a sales pitch (yuck!!! how repugnant to think that a vocation director is making a pitch to join a community, but it is true) but to expose the vocation seeker to the beauty of serving God and the beauty of that particular charism in the Church. If you are being recruited, run away fast!!!

So, the beauty of the life lived alone and with others, the beauty of the liturgical life according to the mind of the Church (and not some trendy, self-serving liturgist or superior) and personal prayer, the beauty of the particular observance and the religious habit, the beauty of the service rendered to the Church…is what will lead others to this form of consecrated life. The 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s are over; they have not borne much fruit; the Church wants priests and sisters who are joyful and faithful to the Lord and the sacrament of the Church. It is time to go to the sources, to live according the Gospel and the way the founders wanted without romanticizing the life… Sorry, Sister has the right way of proceeding.

3 PRIORITIES FOR PROMOTING VOCATIONS

By Kathleen Naab

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, JULY 27, 2008 (Zenit.org).- There are three high priorities in fostering vocations to the religious and priestly life, said a Dominican sister with 15 years of experience in vocational work.

Sister Catherine Marie Hopkins is now the executive director of the Dominican Campus in

Nashville where the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia own and operate Overbrook School, St. Cecilia Academy and Aquinas College.

Recently named a member of the U.S. bishops’ national advisory council, Sister Hopkins suggests the three highest priorities in fostering vocations: education, sacramental devotion and youth ministry that exposes young people to both prayer and evangelization.

ZENIT spoke with Sister Hopkins about supporting young women who are discerning a vocation to the consecrated life, and about how she discovered her own call.

Q: You worked for 15 years as vocation director for your order. What was the key to finding your own vocation? Did your own experience help you to aid other women in discerning theirs?

Sister Hopkins: The key to finding my own vocation was the realization that God had the plan and I just needed to discover exactly what that plan was. It began with inner turmoil at the thought that God could ask such a thing of me, but I very quickly found out that if he were calling, everything that I needed in order to respond would be provided by him as well.

That brought me tremendous freedom and my turmoil was replaced by a very strong attraction.

I was 24 years old and very happy, but not at peace since I couldn’t say for sure what God’s will was for my life. All I knew with certainty was that daily Mass had made me hunger for more, and so I went in search of where I could best root a growing desire to give of myself. I finally investigated religious life so that I could rule it out and marry with a clear conscience. When I actually visited our community and saw very tangible joy, youthful zeal and a long history of fidelity, fear was reduced by a newly formed conviction that this is what God had created me to do.

I would say that my own experience made me sensitive as a vocation director to the fact that successful discernment takes place apart from any pressure and within the challenging silence of prayer. When I looked for God’s will, I sought advice and asked lots of questions, but I wanted to make a decision that, while informed, drew strength from an interior conviction that I recognized as coming from God.

The Dominican Sisters in Nashville understood that it wasn’t a matter of recruitment but of exposure.

As a vocation director, I made it a point always to respect the delicate interior struggle through which most people must pass. My job was not to make a good sales pitch, but to convey the beauty of our life and to expose young women to it through a visit or retreat experience. I had to help those who had the inclination, but struggled with uncertainty, realize that the simultaneous fear and attraction they felt was normal; and that a sense of unworthiness is not a bad thing since really none of us is “worthy” of divine espousal! Making the choice entails a movement away from a career mentality to the realization that religious life is about giving yourself to a love that is without limit.

Q: You have three brothers that arepriests. Do you think there is a different strategy for discerning and fostering the vocation of young women than for young men? In what ways?

Sister Hopkins: My experience has been that, in general, men take a lot longer in the discernment process, whether it regards marriage or religious life. Once a woman has “conviction” she is usually impatient to begin a process.

I wonder if men tend to intellectualize it in the beginning, whereas most women religious begin intuitively and very privately. They may struggle longer before admitting they are considering the idea, but once they discern, it is very much a matter of the heart and they are propelled past fears and natural ties to offer that gift of self without reserve.

Men need to balance their discernment with devotion and women need to consciously anchor the process with an intellectual understanding of the call.

In guiding women in discernment, the idea of espousal is a considerable attraction since we are all programmed by our feminine nature to love and to nurture in a unique way. I had aspirations of a big family and came to understand that God wasn’t asking me to deny that desire but to expand it!

Both men and women need to know that a desire to enter into the married state is not only good, but is even necessary if one is considering religious life. The absence of such natural desire may signal a problem of selfishness or difficulty in giving or receiving love. Such an emotional handicap would make happiness in the religious life impossible.

Regarding my brothers, each of them was different in his discernment. A discussion about them is a real study in temperaments. I used to hold them up as examples to illustrate that there is no “one type” that God calls, but that each of us with our unique characters can contribute in unique ways. And yes, my brothers are “unique characters.” We weren’t born religious and occasionally have to remind people that we were in the mainstream in our youth and that none of us was voted “Most likely to become a religious” in high school. There is hope in that fact.

Q: There are certain orders of both men and women religious — including your own — that have enjoyed tremendous growth in the last decades. What do you see at the key to this growth?

Sister Hopkins: I believe the key to growth in vocations is found in the witness of joyfully living an ideal that is single-hearted, Eucharistic, faithful to the Church and her teachings. It is lived in the vibrancy of community life while rooted in prayer. That was what I experienced with the Dominican Sisters in Nashville.

I believe that young people today are as idealistic as they always have been and they are looking for a way to channel their zeal and to find support in a desire to grow in holiness. I do not think it is fancy programs or complicated spiritualities that attract, but rather simple fidelity.

There are movements of the Holy Spirit lighting fires in many directions today that are picking up significant momentum and should fill us with hope. The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious is an organization of religious communities who are committed to living the essentials of religious life and are supportive of one another. I would recommend that young women exploring a religious vocation visit the CMSWR Web site to see the many communities which are growing today, in spite of reports to the contrary.

Q: There is much talk of the vocations crisis and whether or not it is nearing an end for priestly vocations. How about vocations for women religious? Is the crisis nearing the end?

Sister Hopkins: Women religious have been the backbone of social service, education and health care in this country. The drop in the number of women entering religious life has impacted these fields and it will take many years to see a significant return.

I am reminded, however that the Holy Spirit is not limited by Gallup Polls or the predictions of sociological studies.

Consider the simplicity and tenacity of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta at a time when the numbers of women religious were declining. Her response to God’s call yielded a new religious order that grew to over 4,000 sisters, an associated brotherhood of 300 members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries.

What our world needs is more Mother Teresas, people with zeal, humility and a fearless love. Over the past 20 years I have seen the numbers of women inquiring into the religious life grow both in numbers, quality and openness. Given the fact that our culture is not supportive of such ideas, nothing short of grace can explain it.

Q: You were recently named to the U.S. bishops’ national advisory council. On the heels of Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States, what do you see as the priorities for fostering vocations in the States?

Sister Hopkins: I think that in order to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life the three highest priorities should be in the areas of education, sacramental devotion and youth ministry that exposes young people to both prayer and evangelization.

Young people are hungry to learn the faith and quickly recognize the unreasonableness of relativism. They have a natural desire to “know” God and will be more likely to devote themselves to a life dedicated to him if they have been educated in the faith. I think that this generation is quick to identify the need for such an apostolic focus since the lack of it has produced such confusion and suffering. It is important that the Church continues to strengthen Catholic education that is focused, faithful and rooted in excellence.

Devotion to the sacraments is key to discovering as well as nurturing a vocation. When young people benefit from regular reception of the Eucharist, confession and begin to develop a prayer life, then God’s call has a chance of being heard. Eucharistic adoration is drawing many vocations to the priesthood and religious life, a fact which makes sense if you consider that such time spent in God’s presence brings light and warmth to our souls.

There is a movement of the Holy Spirit in progress that increases in intensity whenever youth affectively influence one another. There is nothing more powerful than the witness of young people striving to know and do God’s will. Love is not meant to be contained, and so when we discover the Person of Christ, it is natural to experience an interior compulsion to share that discovery with others.

Substantial youth ministry which prompts conversion, devotion and exposure to positive peer influences has been successfully producing vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Of course, it is important for young people to be exposed to priests and religious who are joyfully and faithfully living that commitment.

Pope Benedict put it best to the youth he spoke to in Dunwoodie when he challenged them saying, “Strive for a pattern of life truly marked by charity, chastity and humility, in imitation of Christ, the eternal High Priest, of whom you are to become living icons.”