Rite of Final Profession of Katherine Frazier, OP
Preaching by Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP

 

Sunday, August 11, 2024
1 Kings 19:4-9
1 John 3:1-2
John 6:41-51

If you know Katherine, you know she loves fantasy literature. When we met to share about these readings, she immediately related them to The Lord of the Rings. Sam, Frodo, and the Fellowship receive something special from the elves called “lembas” or “waybread” to sustain them for a long and perilous journey. Of course, the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien, was deeply Catholic. One commentator said that, for Tolkien, the Eucharist “is an enchanted meal that gives us supernatural strength for the hard and difficult journey.”¹ We also know the Eucharist reflects the self-giving love God has for us all.

Katherine was also drawn to the first reading. Not just because it shows how helpful a nap and a snack can be for regaining perspective, though Katherine does love a good nap, but because it so well reflects the experience we all have at times of reaching an impasse and needing to pause, to rest, to ask for help, and, ultimately, to trust in God.

Poor Elijah was ready to give up when he sat under that broom tree for a little shade and some rest. He was met in his beleaguered state by an angel, a messenger of God, who offered him sustenance.

We can’t do it on our own. We need support and God wants to support us, to offer us bread for the journey, through an intimate relationship that will sustain us. God also does that through others, and many of you present here have been bread for Katherine’s journey.

This time of rest is a stopping point on the way. After the rest and refreshment Elijah did take one more nap, but then the angel woke him up and said, time to go.

We are fed for the mission, to be about sharing God’s life-giving word, to share the bread of our contemplation – as Dominicans that is our call. As Christ offers us a nurturing relationship, we offer that to others.

We may not know what the future holds, but, as the second reading says, “We are God’s children now.” We can live out of that knowledge. As children of the Divine, we bear a great family resemblance!

We are to live as we are called now, even as we recognize that “what we will be has not yet been revealed.” This is true for each of us, and, significantly for this moment, it is also true of our Dominican religious life. We don’t know how it will look in the future.

Katherine is committing to an exciting and mysterious journey whose end result is known only in the mystery of God. But she knows, and we are promised, that the sustenance and love needed will be provided. We trust in the God who calls us from the future.

Indeed, all of creation is on this journey toward the future. We recognize the uniqueness of the Eucharist at the same time as we grow more aware of the sacramentality of all creation. All is imbued with the Divine.

As Dominicans we come by this perspective naturally. Dominic began his preaching mission because he was in distress over people believing that matter is evil. He knew the goodness of God’s creation. We want to continue to witness to that in our care for Earth, which gifts us with bread, wine, broom trees, and one another.

In reflecting on these readings, Katherine shared that the Eucharist draws her into a deeper reliance on God and reminds her of our “not-aloneness.”

What a beautiful way to look at the commitment she is about to take as well. You will hear her respond, ‘Yes, I am willing, with God’s help and yours.” When we make our vows, we are recognizing our need for God and each other to live out our commitments.

We recognize we are not alone. We have each other as sisters, family, friends, and colleagues. Our Dominican tradition is to put our hands into the hands of the Prioress, signifying the giving of our lives to God through the Congregation. It is an act of self-giving, reflecting a call to be bread for others.

Katherine, today is a stopping point on the way of your journey. This commitment you and we are making to each other will feed and nourish you so that you can go forward and fully live the Dominican religious life you have begun with such fidelity, and fully become the woman you have been called to be by God, with us, and for the world.

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¹ https://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-gospel-according-to-lord-of-rings_22.html