We humans are funny creatures. We like our messages, especially those that come from the Holy Spirit, to be clear, directive, and loud enough so they won’t be mistaken for something else! That way we can be sure we’re following our life’s purpose.

I believe this is an issue of trust in our discernment, once we’ve opened our hearts to the workings of the Spirit and are considering how best to follow the path in our everyday lives. The desire for God can be experienced in prayer certainly, but also in the people who are really close to us. Those friends, family and colleagues who have spent time with us and who know us well can often see in us what we don’t notice – or haven’t named – in ourselves.

The whispers and nudges within can lead us closer to what God is calling us to do with our lives. Assuming we are open to look further, a spiritual director can help immensely because they are trained in the art of listening deeply to how the Spirit is communicating with us. She or he may suggest ways we also can listen more deeply and discern until we have clarity for our next step.

May your eyes be opened as were the two disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus. At one point those two people realized their “hearts were burning” (with joy and realization) within them.

May you experience such joy as you discern and discover,
Sister Tarianne

These videos may help: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuoxvsAgi-byOhboYP9fFoh3tcieUBcuu

Descubrimiento

Nosotros los humanos somos criaturas curiosas. Nos gusta que nuestros mensajes, especialmente aquellos que provienen del Espíritu Santo, sean claros, directas, y lo suficientemente ruidosos para que no se confundan con otra cosa! De esa manera podemos estar seguros de que estamos siguiendo el propósito de nuestra vida.

Creo que este es un tema de confianza en nuestro discernimiento, una vez que hemos abierto nuestros corazones al funcionamiento del Espíritu y estamos considerando la mejor manera de seguir el camino en nuestra vida cotidiana. El deseo de Dios ciertamente puede ser experimentado en la oración, pero también en las personas que están realmente cerca de nosotros. Esos amigos, familiares y colegas que han pasado tiempo con nosotros y que nos conocen bien muchas veces pueden ver en nosotros lo que no notamos - o no hemos nombrado - en nosotros mismos.

Los susurros y estimulaciones internos nos pueden acercar más a lo que Dios nos está pidiendo que hagamos con nuestras vidas. Asumiendo que estamos abiertos a seguir mirando, un director espiritual puede ayudar enormemente porque están entrenados en el arte de escuchar profundamente cómo el Espíritu se comunica con nosotros. Ella o él puede sugerir maneras en que también podemos escuchar y discernir más profundamente hasta que tengamos claridad para nuestro próximo paso.

Que tus ojos sean abiertos como lo fueron los dos discípulos que encontraron a Jesús en el camino a Emaús. En un momento esas dos personas se dieron cuenta de que sus "corazones se estaban quemando" (con alegría y realización) dentro de ellos.

Que experimentes tanta alegría al discernir y descubrir,
Hermana Tarianne

Estos videos podrán ayudar: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuoxvsAgi-byOhboYP9fFoh3tcieUBcuu

I made applesauce over the weekend and noticed how many seeds each apple contained. As I sliced about a dozen green Granny Apples, I suddenly realized each one of those seeds represents the possibility of new life, even orchards of apple trees in the future. Of course, that got me thinking about how much the seeds are like the ways we discern our future.

When other people look at our lives, they don’t see any more clearly than we can about ourselves what are possibilities for our life choices: Married? When and to whom and how will I know? Single? Forever? For now? Until I meet someone special with a mutual attraction for me? Religious Life? When? Where? Active or contemplative? Missionary?

So, you see, many “seed-questions” show up once we've opened ourselves to them. Much like the apple seeds, they only become visible once we go deeper into the apple’s core. The challenge is to take the risk of opening ourselves to God’s call to us. Each of us has a calling. Our happiness is linked with our response to that call.

Pray to be ready for the opening. Trust that God is never outdone in abundance! Our part is to slow down, listen and consider the possibility that God is calling you to a life full of meaning.

I pray with you for this grace,
Sister Tarianne

Semillas de Posibilidades

Hice salsa de manzana este fin de semana, y me di cuenta que tantas semillas cada manzana tiene. Mientras partí una dozena de manzanas tipo “Granny”, de repente me di cuenta que cada una de esas semillas representa la posibilidad de nueva vida, aun huertas de manzanas en el futuro. Por su puesto que esto me hizo pensar en cómo las semillas son como nosotras dicernimos el futuro.

Cuando otras personas miran nuestras vidas, ellos no ven algo más claro de lo que vemos de nosotras mismas cuales son las posibilidades para nuestras decisiones de la vida: ¿Casada? ¿Cuándo? y ¿Para quién y ¿Cómo sabré? ¿Soltera? ¿Para siempre? ¿Por ahora? ¿Hasta que conozca alguien especial con una mutua atracción? ¿Vida Religiosa? ¿Cuándo? ¿Dónde? ¿Activa o contemplativa? ¿Misionera?

Como te puedes dar cuenta, hay muchas “preguntas sobre las semillas” que aparecen al momento que nos abrimos a ellas. Como las semillas de las manzanas, solo se hacen visibles al momento que nos profundizamos al corazón de la manzana. El reto es de tomar el riesgo de abrirnos al llamado de Dios. Cada una de nosotras tenemos un llamado. Nuestro gozo está ligado a nuestra respuesta a ese llamado.

Reza para estar lista para la apertura. ¡Confía que la abundancia de Dios no tiene fin! Nuestra responsabilidad es de ir más despacio, escuchar y considerar la posibilidad que Dios te está llamando a una vida llena de significado.

Rezo contigo por esta gracia,
Hermana Tarianne

Mary’s “yes” to the angel when told she was favored and chosen to bear the Son of God, inspires us by its simple consent and its leap of faith into an uncertain future. She knew she couldn’t fully know or understand what she was getting herself into. But Mary placed her trust in God.

None of us when discerning our future path knows for sure that this or that is the right choice for us because there is no way to know the unknown. It really is all about our willingness to trust that God loves us. In our love and trust, when we have done our best to listen to what the Holy Spirit has in mind for our lives, we step onto the path, continuing to trust in God’s love.

In these days of Advent waiting we can allow ourselves a little extra time to be still, to welcome silence into our lives. Silence is God’s best way to communicate. Our listening and really hearing is best done in silence too.

May you be still enough to hear the still, small whispers of God,
Sister Tarianne

To jump start your listening: http://www.adriandominicans.org/BecomeaSister/EnteringtheLife.aspx

Pexels (CC0)

One of the most challenging virtues for us to practice is patience. Another is trust. As we try to learn what God calls us to in our lives, we need a helpful dose of each.

Think of what it’s like to wait at a red light or stand in line at the store. If you’ve ever planted a vegetable garden and were eager to see what the carrots, beets, or potatoes looked like, you know what patience is needed. Recall how you feel when waiting for an important social or sporting event you’re going to attend. Whether you’re feeling patient or impatient, the waiting line moves as it does and you take your turn. The time for the events arrives. The vegetables come up fully formed or not. It’s our experience of waiting for that anticipated moment that stays with us.

Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, penned a poem entitled “Trust in the Slow Work of God.” As the title implies, be patient and trust that God is with us all the way through the process of listening for what our call is, what God would have us do with our lives. 

Most of us do not have a brilliant, clear, and memorable announcement by an angel as Mary, the mother of Jesus, had. Most of us need to develop our heart-skill of patiently listening for God during our times of prayer or in conversations with a spiritual director or in the words of our friends who say aloud words that echo inside us and confirm where God is calling.

Let’s actively engage with God, embracing our patience and trust, listening to learn what we can.

Blessings,
Sister Tarianne

This week’s blogger is Sister Ellen Burkhardt, OP.

“I don’t believe you brought me this far to leave me.”

These words are from a hymn we sing in my parish in Detroit, one of my favorites. We sang it one week while I was discerning a call to religious life, and honestly, I thought the words were jumping off the page and into my heart with a message specially formulated for me! God seemed to speak directly to me through the words “I haven’t brought you this far just to walk away from you now. Trust me, now and into the future.”

As is often the case for those struggling with a discernment issue, I was filled with questions: How can I know that this is where God is leading me? Why won’t these questions go away? I also had concerns about giving up my home and a career I loved. I worried about entering religious life and then discovering that it doesn’t fit me. What would I do then?

Over time, with the help of prayer and spiritual direction, I came to a deeper trust that the same God who led me this far, will accompany me today and each day that follows.

This week's blogger is Sister Judith Benkert, OP.

For many years, I was a practicing midwife. I used the undergraduate science degree to become a registered nurse. Some years later, I was working with Nurse Midwives at our hospital in Santa Cruz, California, and then became a certified nurse-midwife.

When I look back on the path I chose, it seems obvious that the pieces of the puzzle of discerning a ministry were rather clear. I’m not the type of person who discerns using a list of pros and cons or a great deal of discussion. My discernment comes in the form of putting one foot in front of the other, and the path seems to open before me to the next step. My answers come in the form of excitement and comfort that the path is right for me.

Another part of discernment is trust. Sometimes it’s a little shaky putting your foot out in a space that is not tested. As a midwife, I felt a major part of my work was to help a woman trust her body. We spent a major part of the prenatal time building trust, letting the woman know that her body was doing the “right thing.”

A midwife is a guide. In discernment, the Spiritual Director is a guide to help us develop trust in the call of God and to become the witness we are called to be. The best we can do is simply to ask God to show us the footpath. 

Sisters Katherine and Lorraine (on right), pose with Sister Cathy Arnold, Dominican Sisters of Peace Formation Director, and Sisters Ana Gonzalez and Margaret Uche, Dominican Sisters of Peace Novices, at the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate.

I have just returned from taking our new novice, Sister Katherine, to St. Louis, to our Collaborative Dominican Novitiate. She will spend the next ten months there with two other Dominican novices and two Dominican Sisters, the co-directors of the novitiate. It’s a big step. She is far away from the motherhouse and with all new people. She will grow in her identity as a Dominican Sister, and yet Adrian will remain her home. She will have many new experiences in an unfamiliar city and a new graduate school. To take this step, Katherine had to be willing to risk so much newness all at once. She also has to trust that these new people will care for her and help her on this journey and will need a spirit of adventure to really enjoy all this change.

In so many ways, these words describe any big life choice we make when we are following the Spirit of God. We need to be willing to risk. There are no guarantees and life is not easy. We also need to trust that God is walking with us and that good people will appear on this path. And, we need the joy to see it as an adventure – one more step in our life-long adventure with Jesus.

Eighteen years ago, I was in Katherine’s exact position, being dropped off at the Novitiate by my formation director. I was really nervous. But the openness to risk, to trust, and to a spirit of adventure served me well then. They have served me well as I have continued on this path that never ceases to bring new challenges and adventures.

When have you been asked by God to step out to risk and trust in a new adventure? Is God asking that of you now?

Blessings,

Sister Lorraine

Would you like to attend a nine day meeting with 200 people during which you have to discuss, come to agreement, and make decisions that affect your life for the next six years and beyond? Not only that, you want to do it in a spirit of prayer and with a desire to follow God’s will. On top of it, the people you are with aren’t simply colleagues, but the very people you have committed to share you life with. 

We just did it. We just had a General Chapter, which is pretty much what I describe above. And we are still here, possibly more united, having taken time for silence, for prayer, for deep listening, for heartfelt discussion, for putting the common good ahead of our individual agendas, and for fun and laughter. That’s how you discern God’s will with 200 people. You have to invest yourself and let go at the same time. You have to listen for the voice of God in your sister, in small groups, in large groups, and in the words of prayer and scripture. You have to care deeply and let go in freedom. 

A gathering like this is an act of trust in God and in your sisters.

Have you lived an experience of this type of large group discernment and trust?