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Religious
Life Religious choose a life fraught with tension
By ELIZABETH WEST
Recently I sat through a
re-screening of Star Wars. The auditorium was filled with young
children and their attendant parents -- many of whom I suspect were original
viewers of the movie. The same spectacular effects captivated a new generation,
even as they made this mature woman cope with vertigo as small fighters flew
their paths down canyons. Age has its impediments I find.
As an epic story of good vs. evil, with a great catch line
(May the Force be with you), Star Wars posits some
interesting perspectives: Listen to your inner voices, do not capitulate to
evil, allow yourself to love rather than be drawn into the violence of hatred
and work for good and the communion of the entire universe. As I watched the
movie, I was again struck by how much the power of the Force -- the
power of the mystical over the pragmatic -- still held its appeal, and the
challenge of living out the purity of intent of the Jedi knight recalled a
chivalry and morality that are often degraded in our world.
Overall, I thought, this is not a bad message in a world in which
greed, violence, individualism or rank opportunism reflect the dark side of the
human condition. We still need heroes, even small heroes, and if Star
Wars is to be believed, the shape, size or gender of those heroes does
not matter. Courage is nothing more than integrity in context, and the hero is
one who holds firm to his/her values and ideals in the face of opposition.
In many ways, the movie offered me a chance to reflect on the
meaning and purpose of religious life and the demand it makes upon its members
to live out their prophetic calling with courageous integrity.
If religious life has a meaning in modern society, I believe its
fundamental reality is to live out the ideals and values it contains. It is,
however, a life that is lived in an increasing tension as attacks on its
veracity continue. With the demise of habits, walls and buildings, which
communicated a sense of mystery to those who stood outside them, many have
experienced a sense of loss. Religious are no longer seen as
spiritual heroes -- giving their lives to the enclosure, to the
service of education, health or welfare. The demise of the good
sisters and religious life in general is variously blamed on the Second
Vatican Council, renewal, a loss of integrity among the members of
congregations and victims of a pernicious cult of feminism. There
is little doubt that women religious have come under increasing suspicion as
being dangerous to the church, are even equated with a new breed of
witchcraft -- as illustrated by the first chapter, From Convent to
Coven, of Donna Streichens 1991 book, Ungodly Rage: The
Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism.
The young dont see it
Nor do our young see it as a way of life that calls forth heroism
or demands courage. Perhaps that is because we live in a society that has
defined its heroes in a physical sense, rather than in the philosophical
meaning of the term. Fundamentally, however, religious life is a way of life
that demands a huge amount of courage, for it is essentially concerned with
living out the vocation of a prophet and thus is a call to live out the
terrible tension of Gods infinite desire for humanity and humanitys
persistent unfaithfulness. It is a vocation not simply to speak, but also to be
a prophetic word -- a word uttered from a heart seduced by Gods
unreserved tenderness, and from a heart that has learned, and continues to
learn, how to see with Gods eyes. It is a call given by God, which asks
its recipient to feel the divine pathos and to respond by allowing oneself to
be assimilated into it. It is a vocation that no one in her right mind would
take upon herself, for it is a life guaranteed to bring its own suffering. To
learn the necessary compassion of the prophet is to live through and with the
passion of God. It is to be challenged to walk beyond ones own
preconceived boundaries into an infinity of helpless love. It goes against the
grain, but in the end it is a life shaped by Gods desire to speak the
words of love, compassion and integrity the world needs to hear.
Like Jeremiah, religious are called to embrace a vocation that is
a cry of Gods heart to the world. The very public vows of religious men
and women illustrate the life and its potential. Obedient, they wait on
Gods word to fill their hearts and minds and move them to action; poor,
they embrace the needs of others; chaste, they are to be lovers of humanity as
God is the lover of humanity. Radically committed to a vocation to be
word of the Word that is Jesus, religious and religious institutes
follow Christ in accord with their particular charism. The courage necessary to
live that life of following Christ remains the ability to live integrity in
context -- to live the charism of a particular institute, embracing a life of
witness to the overarching groan of love God has for all creation.
Solitary and communal
It is almost a redundancy to state that the living of such a life
will create its own tensions. If religious life is to be lived with integrity,
the religious vocation is one that of its nature is to speak the word of God in
season and out of season. It is a life that must of necessity challenge the
human systems of religion and culture, which can bend out of shape and thus
undermine the essential vocation of all of humanity to be made one in the heart
of God. It is a life vowed by public commitment to let my heart be seduced by
God in order that I may be a word to the nations. It is both a solitary and
communal vocation and is, I believe, the vocation of the few not of the
many.
This is not to say that religious are special. They
are not. They are simply human beings who have been drawn by their God into a
relationship of service, a service that is uncompromisingly directed by the
belief that God, in the words of Abraham Heschel, is compassion not
compromise; justice though not inclemency. The purpose of the vocation
is, in some ways, to be unbearably extremist, overwhelmed by the grandeur of
the divine permeating through all things and enlivening all things. It is a
life of proclamation -- a testimony to the overpowering desire God has for
humanity. It is a vocation to intimacy with God, to being an emissary of God
through word and deed and witness: It is a vocation to lay down a life that
others might have life and have it to the full.
Historically, the world has never really loved its prophets, and
it is small wonder that religious life and religious orders are often seen as
subversive systems within structures. It is a life fraught with tension and one
that others will attempt to constrain from assuming radical faithfulness to its
fundamental mission. Small wonder too that few will embrace the call to live
such a life of sympathy and communion with God and with Gods longing for
humanity. Sharing Gods own compassion, religious men and woman are also
called to an extreme sensitivity to human suffering and are challenged to break
the barriers that cause it. It is a calling to live on the edge uncompromised,
to embrace the utter intimacy and essential loneliness of the prophetic life,
and there are relatively few who are prepared to live that loneliness and
terrible beauty.
But, for all that, I believe the future of religious life is
assured. God will continue to call unlikely heroes to be words of love,
challenge and hope for the world. Ordinary men and women will continue to
courageously embrace their call to live out the creative tension of Gods
longing for peace, justice and love in the land, while standing against their
own very human desires for success, privilege, harmony and/or acceptance.
If Star Wars and its Jedi knights were a product of a
filmmakers imaginative quest for ultimate meaning, the fact is that
religious life will always utter its own word about the creative longing and
compassion of God for truth, justice and love in the very real world we
inhabit.
Sr. Elizabeth A. West is a member of the Australian Province of
the Little Company of Mary. She is the retreat director for the Overdale
Retreat Centre in Harefield, Australia. Her e-mail address is
ewest@lcm.org.au
National Catholic Reporter, February 23,
2001
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