‘The Vowed Life’, Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Initial Formation Weekend, was held at Holy Family Convent, Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Religious formation is a dynamic, life-long process of growth, It includes the stages of postulancy, novitiate and temporary profession. Novice Sister Michelle Marie Ozuna reflects on the experience with talks on the vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity. Fr. Joachim Studwell OFM, Franciscan Friar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Province, was the guest speaker.
The weekend held many blessings for Sister Concepción Medina, Sister Catherine Peter Logan, Sister Michelle Marie Ozuna and Cyan Reed who were especially thankful to Sister Theresa Feldkamp, Sister Kathleen Murphy and Sister Julie Ann Sheahan for their preparation of such an enriching and memorable weekend.
The weekend began with the viewing of the film All or Nothing: Sister Clare Crockett. On January 12th, less than a month before our formation weekend, Sister Clare Crockett (Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother) was declared as a Servant of God which made the viewing of the film very special. Following the movie we had time for discussion. The transformation of Clare that we witnessed in the movie as well as all the accounts of the lives impacted by her throughout her life as a Religious Sister were so inspiring and moving. She was quoted in the movie many times but one scene was very memorable. She had taken a group on pilgrimage to her hometown of Derry, Ireland. After visiting with her family, a pilgrim asked her “Don’t you worry about your family?”. She replied with confidence, “If I take care of God’s things He will take care of mine!”. Whenever another Sister would ask her for a favor or something they knew was cumbersome she would reply without hesitation, “Of course.” She did nothing with half-measure she lived with an “all or nothing” disposition where she gave all to the Lord.
After the discussion of the film, we prayed a very special and meaningful night prayer prepared by Sister Kathleen that wove scripture readings on the vowed life with writings of St. Francis.
Due to illness Cyan was unable to join us physically for the entirety of Formation Weekend, but Sister Concepción, and Sister Catherine Peter and Sister Michelle Marie were able to connect with Cyan. Everyone was able to be united for a few moments via video while Cyan remained quarantined. Though we could not share physical space we felt the togetherness.
The first full day of Formation Weekend started in St. Francis chapel with morning prayer followed by Mass for the intentions of all of those in formation. Father Joachim Studwell, OFM, the speaker for the weekend, was the presider at Mass. Following Mass, we heard Father Kim’s first talk titled, The Vow of Poverty – Depending on the Lord. Father Kim provided historical information about the evolution of our faith and the rich history of Christian faithful who have tried to live a privileged life of poverty. He explained that to undertake poverty is a grieving process and we should ask ourselves, “What am I letting go of, what am I clinging to, and what does it symbolize?” Another thing we took note of from Father Kim’s talk was that poverty removes all shame. He painted the image of St. Clare when she presents herself to her angry family after having run away to follow Francis. Without shame she presents her cut hair to her family signifying her free choice of poverty while clutching the altar cloth with one hand. The attitude of poverty is dependence on the Lord and his Divine Providence. He explained that the fruit of poverty is joy and that it is the center of our solidarity with God, creation, and all those we encounter in our ministries.
After his talk Father Kim joined those in formation for lunch where he listened attentively to our vocation stories. He shared memories of his own time in formation and spoke highly of Father Placid Stroik who was his formation director after first vows.
In the first talk of the afternoon titled, The Vow of Obedience – Surrendering My Will, Father Kim explained that as humans we all have a vocation to worship God. He defined worship of God as obedience to God with the fruit of that obedience being eternal life. Living the vow of obedience comes from a foundation of love. Moving away from self-interest, self-absorption, or self-entitlement we are able to consider the needs of the other and the greater good.
Before Father’s final talk, all took a small break to visit and share treats of ice cream and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. It was just the needed burst of sugar before heading-into the final talk titled, The Vow of Chastity – Sharing My Heart. Father started the talk with reading the Gospel of Mark 10:28-30 in which we hear Peter tell Jesus “We have left everything to follow you.” Jesus speaks to him of eternal life and the hundredfold. It is natural to count the cost of what we are giving up but we do it all out of a sense of love and go into the future in and with faith. Love is truly the foundation of all the vows. Father Kim also made the point that integrating our human sexuality is a lifelong process. We live our celibacy by channeling our sexuality into service for others and for something “more”. Father shared we have to open our hearts to God and allow God to open his heart to us—He is not ashamed of our humanity. At the completion of the last talk, all expressed thanks to Father Kim for his generosity in preparing such an enriching day.
Thankfully after evening prayer and supper Cyan was finally free from quarantine to join the group for recreation. Cyan and Sister Michelle Marie were charged with planning the evening. We all hiked through a little snow to the green hut where we built a fire, shared a few laughs, listened to music, made s’mores and drank Mexican hot chocolate. It was a fun evening and we cherished our time together. The next morning, we participated in Morning Prayer and Mass with the whole Motherhouse Community. Sister Natalie joined us for a nice Sunday breakfast. We ended our amazing formation weekend with dinner with our directresses.
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