With great joy we celebrated the Rite of First Profession of Marilín Llanes this past Sunday! During our vow ceremonies, the Sister always makes a “statement of intent,” putting her commitment in her own words. This statement reflects what Marilín has discerned in order to walk forward on this path of vowed life:

Intent Statement for Temporary Vows – April 10, 2016

It is my intent with all my heart and soul to enter into a deeper commitment with my loving God, and my dear Adrian Dominican Sisters.

I pray that I may be open to God’s grace and invite the Spirit to create in me a clear, open, strong, full and joy-filled heart. 

I want to preach the living Word of God Creator with a persistent, insistent, and consistent voice that challenges systems that oppress, repress, and depress all of our natural life, and to be present in solidarity with the poor and suffering of people on the margins. 

Blessed am I to be called and to have found the way back home to my beloved Adrian Dominican Sisters. 

This week's reflection comes to us from Marilin Llanes. Marilin is a Bilingual School Psychologist in Chicago, and is currently a candidate for readmission.

The Welcome

The doorbell rang at my family home, and I opened the door.  Behind me comes my mother shouting over my shoulder to this stranger (at least in my eyes), “Adelante! Estás en tu casa!” – a greeting similar to “come on in and make yourself at home.” There was an air of warmth and joy in the room as we greeted each other with the customary hug and cheek kiss. I was reminded of the passage from Matthew 25:35, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

The Invitation

It’s the middle of the day I’m sitting quietly at Cor Gesu Chapel in my freshman year at Barry University, when I hear a voice from the pew behind me. I turned around and there was Sr. Alice Joseph, fondly known as A.J.  She asked me something like, “Have you given any thought to becoming an Adrian Dominican Sister?” Our eyes met, and I was speechless not knowing what to say to her. Then from somewhere in me I told her that I frankly had not given much thought to religious life (at the time I was in a serious relationship), but out of respect for her I would think about it. This invitation changed and transformed the course of the rest of my life.  The words of St. Catherine of Siena from “The Letters” best summarizes it, “… no matter what happens, we know that everything is done with God’s providence and tremendous love.” A belated thank you to Sister A.J.

The gift of welcome and the wisdom of invitation are transformative movements in my faith journey. Now, I want to practice them with you. Welcome/Bienvenida… Come And See Adrians (C.A.S.A). Peace be with you. 

It’s been a while since I have been on here, but things have been very full here in Adrian. We celebrated our Feast Day on Aug. 8 with two new women joining us in very intentional ways – Katherine as an official candidate and Marilín as a woman beginning the process of re-entering the congregation. You can read about their ceremony in this news article. 

You can imagine that these women don’t make the commitment lightly! They’ve put a lot of time and discernment into coming to this moment. Shortly before their ceremony, I sat with them and reflected on the scriptures for the Feast of St. Dominic. They said:

•  Stay focused on your call to mission, your call to mission together

•  Discipleship means being the good news.

•  Sometimes people won’t want to hear the good news of God’s reign of justice and peace, but you need to keep preaching it

Marilín and Katherine deepened their discipleship by choosing to walk in this particular path of Dominic. Religious life is not necessarily “in season” today – it is certainly not a common choice. But it is a good choice and a good path to live the call to discipleship.