by Sister
Therese Maria Touma, MSCL
“To do your will, O my God is my
delight and your law is in my heart.” (Ps 30:8-9)
As
I am preparing for my Perpetual Profession of Vows as a Maronite Servant of
Christ the Light, I was grateful to receive a letter from a monk and friend of
our community. In these encouraging words I was given the opportunity to
further reflect on the gift of my religious profession. I read these words with
joy and gratitude and saw them as a sign of God’s benevolent providence and
love. In particular, I was sent three insightful words to ponder that are
signified by the letters of the word vow:
V=
Vision
As
a religious I am reminded that I need vision
not just to see the world from my eyes but “the ability to seek and look upon
things that others don’t see, things that God reveals to us, and to see
differently.” In order to see as God sees with his merciful eyes, I need to
gaze upon Jesus, the lover of all people. In continuously contemplating and
seeking Jesus, “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrew 12:2), I will
find all the virtues and graces I need to love like Jesus and live religious
life in union with God.
O=
Openness
If
I am not open to listen and to be obedient, to receive the word of God and live
it, to sacrifice my own will, I cannot truly imitate the obedient Christ, who
humbled himself and personified obedience to the Father unto his death (Phil
2:8). As our friend wrote “Obedience resides not chiefly in the ears of our
body but in the “ears” of our minds and hearts.” The key for true openness lies in opening the ears of my
mind and heart to hear God’s voice, and to grow in interior freedom in order to
completely offer myself, my entire will, as a “holocaust” of love to God. Our
Maronite Servants’ Typicon #17 affirms: “Religious obedience is the fruit of
love, and of an interior freedom borne of our divine relationship in following
Jesus.”
W=
Whole
In
surrendering myself with confidence in his mercy, I am called to offer my whole self, body and soul, and all else
to God. A beautiful excerpt that stood out to me from the letter on the
significance of perpetual profession: “Thus you entered the state of
perfection, when you made the offering and sacrifice of your whole self: the
good of your body, by chastity; the goods outside your body, by poverty; and
the good of your soul, by obedience. Your perpetual profession seals that
offering for good. And by this, you will undo the damage of sin in a remarkable
way.”
I
am humbled by God’s invitation and in awe of this call to offer myself
completely to God in religious profession as a Maronite Servant. In my spousal
union with Christ, and through living out my vows in service to the Church, I
am continuing the work of salvation in bringing souls to Jesus. This gift of consecrated
life is a needed witness in our wounded world!
Join the sisters
in giving thanks to God for the awesome gift of consecrated life in our
Maronite Church! Please pray with us for an increase of vocations to our
community and that young women will open their hearts to generously accept the
invitation to follow Jesus as a religious sister. The Church needs more
consecrated sisters to serve alongside our priests, and to share the healing
light and love of Christ. We appreciate you sharing about our community
especially with young women who are searching for their calling in life. For
those ladies (ages 18 to 35) who are reading this and are interested in taking
time away to discover God’s will for your life we invite you to consider
joining us for a Discernment Retreat
on April 6-8, 2018 at our Mother of the Light Convent in Dartmouth,
MA. Please contact Sister Marla Marie for more information 508-996-1753 or sister@maroniteservants.org. To learn more about our community and mission
visit www.maroniteservants.org.